Problems with ActivDriver

[tobiaswilson]

One for the techys out there...

Does anyone know how to solve the following problem? I have been having issues with ActivDriver for months, but have failed to come up with a solution.

There is a conflict between the bluetooth on my Sony Vaio laptop and the ActivDriver services (ACTIVcontrol.exe and ActivDRVservice.exe) which means on startup the services take up 99% of the CPU power (not a good idea on a hot day!)

Promethean Tech support sent me a registry patch for an older version of the driver that consists of:

'Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\Curr entVersion\Run]
"Starts Activdriver Manually"="net.exe start activdrvcontrol"
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Servic es\ActivDRVcontrol]
"Start"=dword:00000003'

and another version

'Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Servic es\ACTIVdrv\Parameters]
"StartDelay"=dword:00000030
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\Curr entVersion\Run]
"ActivDRVAutostart"="C:\\Program Files\\ACTIV Software\\ACTIVdriver\\ACTIVcontrol.exe /startup"
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Servic es\ActivDRVcontrol]
"Start"=dword:00000002'


that is supposed to work around the conflict by slowing down the service start ups, by opening a command window a few seconds after start up saying 'ActivDRVcontrol is starting...........' but now doesn't close as the service locks up running at 99% and the dots just keep on appearing!

I was hoping Promethean would solve this problems with a new version but have just tried the new ActivDriver v2.7, with (and without) the registry patch, this time it gets to running both services, and the 'AV' symbol appears in the system tray, but it still locks up.

I tried the older version (2.5.5) that used to work on my machine before I had to flatten the hard drive, but this no longer seems to work either even with the patch.

The registry patch seems like a bit of a cop out, they seem to send it out as a cure-all for various problems, I wouldn't expect the users I train to have to install Registry patches on their machines just to get ActivDriver to work!

[Daniel Turner]

Hello


We have seen this on sony laptops and it seems to be that the driver is looking for a static serial port and not a dynamic one (bluetooth). If you only use USB boards you can disable the activdrvcontrol in services and set the startup type in activcontrol(av icon in system tray) to manual. USB will still work. If you use Serial boards with keyspans you will have to set the startup type to manual in activcontrol and start the driver manually when you want to use the board.


I would advise uninstalling the driver and installing the latest 2.7.0 of the promethean website before proceeding with the above.


Let me know if you want help setting this up.


Best Regards

Daniel Turner
Escalations Manager
Promethean Customer Support

[tobiaswilson]

Thanks Daniel, with your suggestion I have successfully got v2.7 installed and working on manual startup with no locking up of the CPU.

I am still having trouble getting the computer to see the board across my Keyspan. I will try and find time to experiement further with it. (It used to work fine) Are there any settings in the Keyspan assistant that I need to change? I have tried changing the com port assisgnment but it didn't help.