Sonicstage 2.3 Problem Solved Maybe..

[phish]

[MY PROBLEM]

I met big trouble after updating my Windows XP SP1 system. I updated DirectX 9.0c, IE 6 SP1 security issue KBKB889293, installed new nVidia driver 66.93 and turned on Hyper-threading of dual CPU.

Oh, my goodness! SonicStage 2.3 was no longer starting. It showed starting logo image and then automatically closed. MD Simple Burner was working OK though. I had no idea where the problem came from. I did many things done at the moment.

I re-did multiple re-installations followed by NetMD Software FAQ, http://forums.minidisc.org/index.php?showtopic=4171 . Right after installation, everything worked. I could open SonicStage and worked. However the problem came with re-launching. Only the first execution was working. If I wanted to use it, I had to re-install whenever I need it.

I searched all problem solutions related with SonicStage 2.3 and found many people have solved by removing Windows Security Update KB840987. I didn't have any single problem after I applied KB840987 since I patched the update KB887811. If you have updated with KB840987 and your SonicStage has troubles, you SHOULD check this page, http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=887811.

Finally, I removed KB840987, but there was no better change. The worse thing was that I lost all connection to my application on my system. No longer the apps working. I doubted DirectX 9.0c, but there was no point to uninstall DirectX or going back to older version. I heard there's one utility for that purpose, I didn't try though.

I decided to re-buildl my whole system since many unnecessary files and registries have accumulated.

[MY SOLUTION]

I re-installed Windows XP SP1. Updated security issue, KB840987 and Open-MG patch KB887811, and KBKB889293. I installed DirectX 9.0 NOT 9.0c. Original DirectX of Windows XP SP1 is veriosn 8.1. You can check your DirectX version, START > RUN > type dxdiag and enter.

I install (really fresh installation) SonicStage 2.1 from original CD came with my MZ-NH1. I updated it to 2.3 at www.connect.com.

Everything works without any problem so far.

[NOTE]

SonicStage 2.3 updater is available at www.connect.com, but it is not full version app. It is a small update utility that downloads necessary zipped files from sonypictures.com, extract them to temp folder and launch the update procedures.

The update procedure un-installs SonicStage 2.1 first and then install 2.3. After the installation done, the necessary 2.3 update files are removed from your system.

If you want to capture the SonicStage 2.3 files, go to your temp folder after download finished before installation starts.

If your Windows drive is C:\, the SonicStage 2.3 files are temporarily stored in C:\Documents and Settings\YOUR_LOGIN_NAME\Local Setting\Temp\SSWebUpg

There are four zipped files: 33.7MB

Launcher-CONNECT.zip

OpenMGSetup.zip

SS-ADD-English-CDDB-EMD-XPCD.zip

SS-English.zip

These files are extracted to the folder named Extract,

C:\Documents and Settings\YOUR_LOGIN_NAME\Local Setting\Temp\SSWebUpg\Extract

[sUGGESTION]

My assumption, ONLY MINE not proved, is the problem coming with DirectX 9.0c since SonicStage uses DirectX 9.0b. I saw SonicStage installation updated my DirectX 9.0 to 9.0b. It's the latest DirectX has good chemistry with SonicStage 2.1 and 2.3.

Windows XP SP2 may install DirectX 9.0c-I don't update yet I'm not sure. If you plan to update XP SP2 or DirectX 9.0c, you may set System Restore option.

SATRT > MY COMPUTER > PROPERTIES > System Resotre

How to set?

START > PROGRAMS > ACCESSOIES > SYSTEM TOOLS > System Restore

GOOD LUCK!

Edited January 6, 2005 by phish

[Christopher]

Sonicstage 2.3 is available to download from the minidisc.org servers. I turn the announcement on during the evenings eastern standard time.

..and in the future, install SP2 people! It nullifies the one hotfix for OpenMG/etc as it corrects the issue in a different way. So don't even mess with hotfixes if you have XP, just install SP2.

[DaveH]

Sonicstage 2.3 is available to download from the minidisc.org servers. I turn the announcement on during the evenings eastern standard time.

..and in the future, install SP2 people! It nullifies the one hotfix for OpenMG/etc as it corrects the issue in a different way. So don't even mess with hotfixes if you have XP, just install SP2.

←

Do you know of any way around having to install SP2? I have upgraded to Sonicstage 2.3 and most of the time it is behaving reasonably - at least better than 2.1. However, I know that SP2 causes one of my main applications (that I use a lot for my work - a bibliographical management system) to hang up and there does not seem to be an upgrade to it, or a work around on the horizon.

[Christopher]

The program is probably getting choked by SP2's data execution prevention. If you have some time on you, upgrade to SP2 and we'll try something. Alternatively, send me a link to the program and I'll test it with the aforementioned adjustments on my machine.

[OCedHrt]

I have SS2.3 running just fine on my XP SP2. My running environment is different though:

XP SP2 clean install, not upgraded.

SS2.3 Full Install, not upgrade. <- this may be a big difference since 2.3 uses newer openmg.

AMD system. <- highly doubt it has anything to do with this. I do have DEP enabled with default settings (only enabled for OS specific files).

[Damage]

DEP only works natively with AMD Athlon64 line of Processors, and some software based emulation on all other systems. I use Athlon 2800+ with DEP On and there are no problems crashwise, so I suspect this plays very little part in actual problems.

Turning off DEP may help in programs that were previously working with XP. I can't at the moment tell you how to do this (this workstation is in Korean), but you can stop DEP.