I Too Get 0 Byte Imports with MS Demo

[admin]

1. Have you done all the Windows Updates? This can cause various and random problems, such as you describe. New computers (except from MTU) RARELY have the updates performed for you. It takes about 4 hours for us to upgrade the SR2 release to full status.

2. What version of Hoster are you testing with? We just uploaded 3.314 last night, so if you have 3.313, get the new demo now.

3. What is Hoster reporting as the CDROM drive data in the left column for the drive in the CD/DVD Default Drive dialog box?

[ddouglass]

Originally Posted by Admin

2. What version of Hoster are you testing with? We just uploaded 3.314 last night, so if you have 3.313, get the new demo now.

3. What is Hoster reporting as the CDROM drive data in the left column for the drive in the CD/DVD Default Drive dialog box?

He is using Microstudio...not Hoster Admin. I know too much work and not enough sleep!

[bernie]

Yes, all Windows updates have been installed.

And I'm glad you mistakingly asked about the version of Hoster I was testing. Although it was Microstudio I was testing (demo ver 3.004) I decided to downloaded and install the latest demo version of Hoster to see if it provided any additional clues. Well, low and behold, Hoster has no problems with that drive (D:MATSHITA UJDA330 1.05).

I went back and retested Microstudio and duplicated the original findings. It recognizes the disc, lists all the tracks but the lyrics screen opens and then immediately closes when I try to play a track added to the Play List.

There is a second drive in this laptop which Microstudio reports Yes for Read, No for Write. It's identified as TOSHIBA DVD-ROM SD-C2502 1D13. For test purposes I made this the default drive and the results were identical (disc recognized but lyrics screen immediately closes and the import feature produces a 0 byte file).

If nothing else, the last set of tests rules out the problem being unique to the Matshita drive. Behavior was identical with the Toshiba drive.

However, one observation that may be significant. In Hoster the drives are identified with their assigned drive letter. In Microstudio they are not. In Microstudio the Drive Label for both is the @ symbol.

@: MATSHITA UJDA330 1.05
@: TOSHIBA DVD-ROM SC-C2502 1D13

In summary, Hoster has no problem with either drive, Microstudio does. Is there a clue in here anywhere?

[admin]

Hoster 3.314 has totally new code that identifies and interfaces to CD/DVD drives. It no longer uses any kind of "drive list" file as Microstudio 3.004 still does. I'd say 100% certainty that is the reason.

We are working on Microstudio 4.0 now, to come out this year (no commitment yet). It will have the same new CD/DVD Drive interface code now in Hoster 3.314.

BTW: Our new code only works with newer drives (back 3 years or thereabouts) that support Microsoft's MMC Interfacing, versus the older ASPI driver interfacing. Thus, some older drives won't work with our newer code that will work with our prior versions. So far, there have been few drives reported that didn't work with the new, and more drives that now DO work.

[ddouglass]

Admin, is it possible the demo was created from the earlier beta instead of the final where drives were reversed?

[admin]

Originally Posted by ddouglass

Admin, is it possible the demo was created from the earlier beta instead of the final where drives were reversed?

Missing your point Dale. Hoster is working correctly with both drives.

Do you mean the Microstudio 3.004 demo? I don't think it is wrong. We build both at the same time. The Demo is a conditional compile of the full. It's unlikely they are different.

[ddouglass]

Originally Posted by admin

Missing your point Dale. Hoster is working correctly with both drives.

Do you mean the Microstudio 3.004 demo? I don't think it is wrong. We build both at the same time. The Demo is a conditional compile of the full. It's unlikely they are different.

The Microstudio demo was the one I was referring to. This seems to be like the problem we had with the drive info being incorrect.

[bernie]

Were I to purchase one of the software packages for this laptop it would be Hoster, so it's good to see the demo works so well (I'm already a satisfied customer with Microstudio on a different pc).

At this point it's more an accademic exercise to understand why the Microstudio demo does not work. Is the explanation that Hoster 3.314 uses different code to interface with the drives really the answer? If so, your "Recognized Drives" page has been overly aggressive for some time. Both of the cited drives have been listed under the heading "Hoster 3.310+ and Microstudio 3.000+ Recognized Drives".