#3ds hardware lock
40 messages in this thread
I am a new participant on the "Asoft forum", However I am a long time user of
Autodesk software, begining with the release of "Animator" years ago. I was
very disapointed in the overall performance of 3ds v 1.0, 3ds v 2.01 made up
for
it however.
I have a question regarding 3ds v 2.01 and the hardware lock. The problem:
With in an hour or more of working in the 3d editor I get a message that says
the
hardware lock is not present, gives me the oportunity to save the project,
after which 3ds closes down. I can re-enter immediatly and continue working.
This
has been happening for the last two months or so, I have had 3ds v2.01 since
its release last year.
Current hardware: Tri Star 486/50 EISA, 210 mb SCSI hard drive, 32 bit EISA
controler (4meg on board cache), ( 3ds running from SCSI drive) , 160 meg mfm
hardrive, sony cd rom, Matrox illuminator 16 frame buffer, trident tvvga 1meg
video card, Soundblaster pro 16, Magni VGA Pro, ( not currently used, using the
Willow "laptop TV") . 3ds is currently configured at 1024x768x256., 20 meg
ram.
I have verified the actual physical connection is tight (hardware lock to
port),
par. port verifies "good", I have a Citizen gsx140 attached following the lock
but have tried running with nothing attached and this problem still occurs.
Do you guys have any suggestions or ideas as to why this is happening?
It is getting to be a REAL pain in the you know what….I am looking foward to
upgrading to v3.0 but that will not be untill October.
P.S. I am what you guys call an orphan end user, I have, frankly, little to no
faith or confidence in any of your local dealers (Orlando), so please do not
suggest I
look to them for help .
Thanks in advance…
Dan MacKenzie – Mac Arts Imagineering
Hi Dan,
Just gonna jump in gere real quick and ask if you have tryed re-installing the
executable, 3DS.EXE yet. Just a hunch — I hope you get the problem
straightened out soon — another thing you might try is asking a 3DS-oriented
associate (or dealer, if you can stand it) to borrow their lock for test
purposes. I guess it is possible that your lock has a problem, and if it does,
you'll find out this way. I have no idea what Adesk's position is on broken
locks, but in my opinion, this is the BEST place to try to get some help…
Good luck,
-Alan Iglesias
I think they will replace a broken lock without problems. Not an "stealed" one,
of course 🙂 That's why they insist on the lock insurance.
Ana
Thanks Alan for the quick responce. No I have not tried reinstalling the
executable. It had'nt occurred to me, everything else works very well.
That does raise another question of sorts, I've been on the ASOFT Forum for
about
six weeks, I,ve spent the majority of the time "learning", including reading
back
messages to about the time of release of 3ds r2.0, It surprised me and raised
some
curiosity to read how often the suggested "fix" was reloading the executables.
Is
there somthing I'm missing here ?
In any case I am pleased with the rapid responce from yourself as well as the
YOST
GROUP and Dave Rhoten.
Lastly, regarding "local dealers", I should likey keep my personal opinions to
myself,
however I do think it is important note that there is a market segment that is
grossly
neglected, in fact that is where I find my source of business, SMALL
operations,
artists, independent developers and producers, students, ect., in other words
those without the DEEP pockets. I understand the "business sense " of it, but
it
makes for a very frustrating experiance to try to "get off the ground" in this
rapidly
expanding world of "mutimedia". For the record I am not a software/hardware
reseller, if there is any one here in the Orlando, Fla. area thats looking for
knowledgable and dependable dealers I, after much searching, highly recommend
the following two dealers: Don Madle, STS Electronics (south florida), and
Cliff
Johnson, Media Management ( Norcross, Ga.)
Ok I'll get off the soap box, Thanks again Alan, I'll get back to you later in
the week to update you on the success/failure of this minor yet bothersome
little bug.
Dan MacKenzie
Hi Dan,
As I understand it, after the IPAS-related improvements were implemented in
r2.01, 3DS became a bit sensitive to anything that may have even slightly
altered the executable. I not being an expert at this sort of thing, maybe Gary
could comment on this. Also, things like viruses, stacked drives, and those
software-based dongle-busters have all been known to cause a bit of a problem
now and then, or so I've read more than once…
The flap about dealers is well-known on this forum. There are a number of
dealers here who would gladly help you out and have the kind of support you may
be looking for. Give 'em a shout if you need them.
Good luck,
-Alan Iglesias
It's pretty simple… we sped up the IPAS PXP and AXP interfaces by
reorganizing the way the data structures were built. Since we don't store
things like face normals in the file (we build them on the fly), the program
got extremely sensitive to anything that would corrupt the data structures.
I've seen simple viruses cause havoc, and bad hard disk controllers are a
nightmare as well. Ah… hardware.
– G
Thanks for the clarification, Gary.
-Alan
Ah…. the glories of electronic arts ! Thanks for the additional insight. I
have yet
to have any virus infiltration ( knock on wood ) and the best as I can tell I
have no
hard disk controller problem, well, sort of, I did have a nighmare back when I
first
put this Tri Star on line, more than a year ago, this was with windows 3.1.
emm386,
it seems that if I load it with the drivers for the scsi controler, regardless
of order,
everything looked fine until I accessed the scsi drive, then for what ever
reason
the 210 meg drive instanly became a 40 meg, the fat table was "rearanged"……
A very unpleasent experiance ! I now use QEMM386, with no problem.
For the record the configuration ( autoexec/config.sys) I use for 3ds is
exclusive, nothing is included that is not required for 3ds.
Regarding hard drive controllers, I am using a DTC (Data Technology corp.)
dtc3290, 32 bit EISA board with 4 meg of cache.
To update you on my hardware lock problem, following my reading my messages
last
night I put in 2.5 hours without a problem, I powered up the printer prior to
initializing 3ds, so it's looking good, I'll have a better "feel" when I'm into
my next
project marathon, I'll keep you posted.
While I have "your ear", I find the YOST GROUPS' informative communications
with
the "end users" excellent, that includes product anouncments ect., be nice if
ADESK did as well, I'll say no more on that because it will get me ranting on
obout
dealers again…….I am currently using the Silicon Garden, nice start……..
Dan MacKenzie
I'm glad that the printer power situation solved your problem. And thanks for
the feedback!
– G
Alan,
I guess I need to realign my "idealism", nothing is perfect I
guess………
I have had no problems to date ( five years) with viruses, I have made the
mistake
of using "stacked" drives in the past, I do not use them, I leared that lesson
the
hard way and I do not recomend them to clients unless they intend to run what I
call "plain vanilla" systems and applications. As for software
"dongle-busters" I
could write a book on those (perhaps someday I will ) but I have found, over
all,
that Adesk software is above average in that regard, that is why I was so
supprised.
Regarding "dealers", I too have seen the "notes" on that subject, again I guess
I need to re adjust my expectations and ideals.
To update you on the hardware lock problem, I did spend 2.5 hours late last
night
following my reading the responces, I turned the printer on prior to
initializing 3ds,
and low and behold, no occurences, do we have a fix ?, I'll say a relieved yes
when I get thru my next major project with out the hitch, it does look good.
Thanks again……..
Dan
I'm glad that things are looking a little better for you, Dan.
-Alan
Daniel:
I know you mentioned trying this without a printer hooked up, but just thought
I'd mention, if you _do_ have a printer attached, the printer should be ON
prior to starting 3DS (and it should stay on). If it's off, this problem can
occur. Have you tried using a clean-boot set-up?
Dave
Dave:
You know as I was composing my message to ADESK, the only area that I
could not verify that I knew the state of during these occurences was the
printer.
Interesting thought, as such that is the first angle I will try.
I am not sure what you mean by "a clean boot set-up". I use a
"boot.sys"
utility that gives me the choice of several configurations, depending on what I
am
going to do, each is exclusive, optimized for specific applications, 3ds being
one.
Are you suggesting that there may be a "corruption" in the 3ds autoexec/config.
?
Thanks for the rapid reply and input…..I'll keep you posted
Dan MacKenzie
By "clean boot setup", I mean try eliminating everything from your CONFIG.SYS
and AUTOEXEC.BAT that are not _essential_ to running 3DS. This way you can
make sure that some little driver or utility that seems totally unrelated is
not throwing a spanner in the works.
I know it seems odd that the executeable should become corrupt, when every
other program on your machine is (seems) just fine, and at first, I thought all
the messages suggesting such things were just "covering-all-the-bases" type
ideas — but I found out personally that somehow, it _does_ happen on occasion.
Good Luck!
Dave
David,
Well, as I mentioned last night, the autoexec/config contains only what
is required for 3ds. I have had executables "go south", but I have been using
ADESK
software since the original Animator hit the streets and had not seen a
problem, at
least none that I could attribute to the exe. file, thats why it never occured
to me.
I did manage to get 2.5 hours in late last night, with out a problem, I powered
up
the printer prior to loading 3ds…….I'm hopeing this was the source of the
problem,
I'll know more when I'm once again up to my elbows in a project…should it
occur again the exe. will be my next point of attack.
Thanks again Dave……..I'll keep you posted…..
Dan
Not to rain on your parade Daniel, but it always seems like every time I lick
one problem, I find a new one waiting for me in the wings.<g> I hope you've
got it licked!
Dave
I know, believe me I know, as I stated, I'll holler hurray loudly when I get
thrugh my
next marathon without the hitch bittting me again…….All things considered
I've been very pleased with Adesk stuff and have had very few "major problems"
for some time,
getting to this point required a considerable amount of "learning", as I'm sure
you
know……
mucho thanks to ALL…..keep in touch……
Dan
I ***always*** have to have my printer on to use 3DS or I get a message that
the dongle isn't there. It is really a pain to have to mave my laserprinter on
all the time…
Chris
What kind of computer do you have Chris?
– J
Jack,
In follow on to my previous question to Greg Pyros, is there any way possible
to anchor an animated map to a particular frame number? If not, the sure would
be a powerful feature for R4! I really never thought of it until now, but the
possibilities are endless… I know this kinda doesn't make sense since
animated maps are a part of a material and have nothing to do with the
naimation, but it seems like there might be a hook in there somewhere. Of
course, then someone would want to start his animated texture on frame 10,
animated opacity on frame 20 and animated bumps on frame 37. Geesh! What have I
done???
Doug:
>> Is there any way possible to anchor an animated map to a particular
>> frame number?
You can do all this using an IFL to define the frames you want things to
happen on. Very exact, just requires some tweeking if you change the
animation!
Greg Pyros
Doug Wolfgram
You mentioned to me in Philly NCGA that
changing opacity and texture of an object in the middle of
a flick was trivial. Is this what you are discussing here?
Can a material change, a building becoming transparent for example
AND the same object begin to morph into something else.
P.S. What is newest and best morphing ipas of late?
I haven't seen a morphing IPAS routine, but I wouldn't doubt that someone is
working on one! And yes, it is EXACTLY what we are discussing here. My
questions were raised because of my failure to follow the popular credo, RTFM.
By sliding the positions of the keyframer object in Video Post, I was able to
control which frame the animated opacity map began and ended on.
I've been running on a Tri Star 386/33 machine with a Laserjet II on LPT1. I've
never been able to run 3DS without having the printer on.
I just moved 3DS over to a Gateway 66 MHz 486, but I have not tried 3DS with
the printer hooked up but not on.
Chris
Thanks Chris. We're trying to see if we can track this down.
– J
Thanks. All that I have on the I/O board is what it says on the cover of the
manual:
AT MULTI I/O
AD-450 User's Manual
It looks to be a far-eastern product (or at least the manual is) because of
paragraphs like this:
"In order to insert the peripheral cards, you have to open exterior covering
case before you can access to interior. There are majorly two different
catagories which independent of machine appearance. The catagory is ground
under the opeational method of the case…"
Chris
Chris:
Pardon an off-the-subject note. I'm in the middle of rewriting some of that
"far-Eastern" prose. Your example went around the office and made everyone's
morning.
Thanks.
Jim Gateway 2000 Tech Publishing
FYI- I use 3DS with a Gateway 4/66 and don't have to turn the printer on to use
3DS – never gotten a message about the dongle.
Same thing on a Compaq Deskpro/M – printer does not have to be on…
Dave Mennenoh
Thanks. I just checked my new Gateway and it dosen't need to have the printer
on either.
Chris
BINGO ! So nice to know I'm not compleatly crazy ! (well ok most would say I
am),
thanks for the verification……
Dan
Well, at least not about the printer having to be on sometimes… <g>
Chris
Chris…….just out of curiosity, what hardware are you using, cpu ect., maybe
there is a correlation (?)……..
Dan
Tri Star 386/33 with HP Laserjet II on LPT1. I get the message saying that the
hardware lock isn't on if the printer is attached but not powered up.
I just switched to a Gateway 486DX2 66 machine, but I haven't run 3DS on it
since I hooked up the cable. Maybe this weekend…
Chris
Well there is a correlation here as well, I'm using a Tri Star 486/50 E, same
lpt1,
printer is a Citizen gsx140 color. Very interesting, now the next question is
can it
be narrowed down to the actual com port, the card is likly to be some generic,
or is
this a Tri Star problem………….In general I like the Tri Star, very rugged
and so far
dependable. I really dread having to " OPEN" the tower, because it is so well
built,
not to mention ALL the cables and attachements (frame buffer, sound card ect.)
but perhaps it might be worth getting in there and change out card just for the
heck of it……
Well for now powering up the printer prior to initializing 3DS seems to work,
so what
ever I do next in this "investigation" is as a time availability basis……..
Stay in touch
Dan MacKenzie
I have a problem with the dongle. After rendering overnight, I was preparing
to start another rendering, and it came up with a message saying that the
dongle was not connected. I tried restarting 3ds, and it occured about 3 min
later. As I remember, I tried a warm reboot, and still had the problem. Only
after a cold reboot did it go away.
This is the first time I have used 3ds since I installed an Adaptec 1542 SCSI
controller, Micropolis 1 Gig HD, and Toshiba CD. Since I've never seen this
problem before, I have to suspect the SCSI. Any of you folks having dongle
problems running SCSI ?
Joe:
I am also using a SCSI drive, DTC 32 bit EISA, however I do think my
problem
with the hardware lock was related, for whatever reason, to my printer not
being powered up prior to initiallizing 3DS or the com port card………..
Just a thought, but having just compleated a "new hardware" installation
in your system, have you verified that ALL hardware is tight………..
Dan MacKenzie
I checked out my new Gateway and it does ***not*** seem to need to have the
printer on for 3DS to find the dongle. It may very well be the fault of the
generic (cheap??<g>) 2Serial/1Parallel/1Game port card in the Tri Star. I've
been thinking of replacing it and the IDE controller with one of the "deos
everything" cards to get a slot back.
Chris
Let me know how ya make out………if it is the card I will not be too
disapointed in
the TRI STAR…..this would be the first problem I've found with it, and this
is a cheap one to fix………
Dan
As Dave mentions, it may be that you have to turn your printer on. You can
avoid wasting printer power by getting a double printer A/B switch and
switching to an open printer line, which is the same as pulling the printer
from your system.
– Jack
Thanks Jack, the printer option is the first place I'll look……..
I'll keep you posted
Dan MacKenzie