SL2004 problems (crashes, copyprotection?)

[mart]

Hi all!

We had massive problems with the sunlight sl2004 software:
We have different computers in our lab and different USB-Boxes
(EC and FC)...
Strange things happening with the sl2004 software all the time:
Besides the normal crashes (like for example with the audioanalyser, which hangs up from time to time...)
And the annoying EasyShow Window-Behavior (Always on top, Toolbar not visible when switching from 2 monitors to 1)

We did not get it working with our interfaces:
Although it always detects the USB-Box-ID (FC-Version) at startup
we have on one system no DMX-Output (although on the same system: EasyStandAlone has DMX output)...
When we try to use another Interface, we have output but the interface looses the connection to the sl2004 and goes into some strange standalone
mode...
on the other computer, the same interfaces work with the same software-installtion (same build date).
We also had the situation where the FC interface did nothing and the EC interface put out some DMX-Data, but did not recognized the AUdio2Light
patterns anymore...alllthough these where visible in the software-monitor...


I thought it might have somethign todo with the USB-Port configuration,
but why is EasyStandAlone working then?

After several nervous breakdowns and additional nightshifts, windows reinstalltions...format c:....driver installation over and over again...

i found out that sl2006 is actually working...well...
but still it would be nice to now, why sl2004 is not....

another thing is:

is there a solution for automatic startup and playing of scenes or cycles
or even better easyshows after booting up a pc
(something like batch-scripting or so?)

Autostart of sl2004 works but it only plays the init-scene and then
someone has to trigger a cycle or scene or fire up easyshow and hit play...

i recognized that easy show loads shows, which you give it over the commandline...are there any other commandline options like: autoplay or so?


please let me know...I starting to get a bit bored by all these difficulties...

[bruno.falip]

First of all, pease make sur that you use the latest version of Sunlite 2004 available from our website. There is no reason to get that much problems with this software. Then, for the problem of connection, this might come from the USB cable. We found a problem with some of them. Here is the newsletter that has been sent to all our customers and dealers:

We have experienced some difficulties with USB connectivity during the past few months. Ocassionally, some of our customers' USB interfaces have lost their connection to the computer while the software is running. We found that the the source of the problem was the USB cable that came with the package.
This is not a common problem, but if you have experienced this, we recommend you simply use a different USB cable. The possibly faulty USB cables are white in color, with reference LL84201 or E188601. You should replace it with a regular USB 2.0 cable with ground connection. Of course, we will replace faulty cables. Just mail in the bad cable to the nearest office (Europe, America or Asia). Additionally, we will provide end users with a EUR 20,00 ($20 USD) discount in their next order.

Hope this will help.

[mart]

Hello,

thanks for your answer, I think my problem is not with the USB cable, but I will
try to find out...

Another Problem:
we make use of the audio2light program
(slmm.exe, fft-analyser)

it likes to freeze often.

If you do not touch it, it seems to be stable...but if you dare to
move the window around or maybe even change volume with windows mixer, it crashes from time to time...and cannot even be shutdown...

I know as a programmer, that you cannot really debug this, if I dont give you more detailed description...but it is defintely a problem of your software.
(this is more adressed to the sunlite people not to the forum)

I know that fft-calculation needs CPU-power, but the processor seems
not to be the problem (1Ghz,512MB,CPU-usage 50%-79%)

let me know if this can be fixed.

I also dont like the fact, that SL2006 slmm.exe its not compatible
to the 2004 (you changed the frequencies)

and it would be good if it could also save the state of the auto/manual-button
for volume control...
should be easy or?

anyway our show is tommorrow,
we had to switch to another system now, because we couldn't get
the sl2006, firstclass edition to run.
also our german distributer could not help us in time.

thanks a lot, hope there will be a solution in the future?

mart