XXHighEnd

Hi,

I am just wondering if this possible issue is by design or not? With 0.9z-8-3a, if I select the "Stop ALL Services" option, I receive a message telling me that this can only be applied to Windows 7. I am, however, running Windows 7, but only windows 7 Starter 32 bit (I will probably be getting a new laptop before year end, but for the next little while I will be stuck on Windows 7 Starter).

So I was just wondering is Windows 7 Start not considered to be Windows 7 in terms of this particular option, or is XXHighEnd not recognising Windows 7 Starter correctly?

Thanks

Must be the latter Jon.

If you have a spare minute, can you make a screenshot of the empty Playlist Area (where the XXHighEnd version shows) ?

Also, can you post an XX log file ? I think I need one which was subject to pressing Play. So, play something (just Attended) and grab the newest XX log file (not X3 or X3PB).

Thanks ...
Peter

Here you go. btw, I have not yet activated this version yet since I was wanting to know if this was actually something fixable or not. In the case where it can be fixed, I thought it better to wait and activate the "fixed" version.

Also, does selecting the Stop ALL Services option override the options further down where you can specify that certain services and processes are to remain running? In my case, I have to keep a couple of touchpad related services running, otherwise my touchpad does not work properly after unattended mode. I have these services entered into the relavant part of the XXHighEnd screen so that they remain running whilst in unattended mode.

Jon,


No, that won't override. However, it is to try whether all remains consistent, hence that your "keeps" run in the "all stopped" environment. Easy to try though (ok, once activated).

That Win32NT I recognize from my own audio PC and I don't even know how that happend (it really being Ultimate). Shut off too much at some stage is my estimated guess, but I can't get it undone (or don't know how to). Strangely enough I created  something to cover for that, and it doesn't seem to work for your situation.

And sadly ... your XX log file starts at switching on logging while -as it appears now- the data I need emerges earlier. So, can you put up your XX log file again after starting XXHighEnd when Logging was on already ?
Sorry for the inconveniency !

Peter

New log files attached. I turned the log on, then rebooted, then started XXhighEnd played a file, so it should have logged everything possible.

Thanks - that did it.
But odd, like in my own case your OS is reported to be Win32NT;

Do you recognize that it "started to say" this at some stage ? (like it happened to myself)

For me I solved it with the Windows (version) build number, like 6.1.7600. What is yours (please be precise with the dots and such, so I can check for that) ? You can find this under :
Start button - All Programs - Accessories - System Tools - System Information - the second line in there.
Notice that in my case it nicely shows "Microsoft Windows Ultimate N" on the first line, so I guess I can get it from the Registry somewhere anyway. Until I decide, please mention your first line as well (behind OS Name) and here too, as precise as possible.

Thanks,
Peter

I don´t know if it can give some clue to solve this, but I had the same problem ( Windows NT 32 ) when I was messing with the soundcard (inhabilitate, uninstall and change the PCI slot) while XXHE was in minimized OS. I didn't realize at first state but after some problems with unexpected stoppings and some strange behaviour, I noticed the Windows NT 32 issue. After that,  I uninstalled the soundcard  and change into normal OS, installed the soundcard again, played some music and everything went normal. After that, I minimized OS and everything is OK.

Maxi

Hi Peter,

It's OK - I have figured out what the problem is. I have the Windows Management Instrumentation service disabled. Without that service running, it isn't possible for the OS to provide the required information.

As soon as I re-enabled the service, XXhighEnd showed it as Windows 7 again and I was able to select the Stop ALL Services option.

I don't actually run that particular service - ever - on the laptop dedicated to XXhighEnd only, and when I boot my main machine into "music" processing mode, amongst a large number of other registry tweaks, it disables that particular service as well. But I will re-enable it so I can experiment with the new option in XXhighEnd.

Is there a specific reason why you can't get the OS version information from reading the registry rather than relying on the Windows Management Instrumentation service?

I remember I had a similar issue when I was writing an addon program for Microsoft's Flight Simulator - I had to make sure anyone who attempted to install and run it could only do so with Windows Vista and Windows 7. But in that case there was a specific visual basic command that could directly read the OS version into a string, so that made it easy.

Just with some further testing today, all that seems necessary is to have the Windows Management Instrumentation service enabled when the Stop ALL Services option is checked within XXHighEnd. After that, the service can be disabled without any problems, since XXhighEnd won't perform any further validity checks. So all is good.

Hi Jon,

Thanks for your further analysis, and although there will be some truth it in, it is hard to imagine it is the whole story. I mean, that service doesn't run anyway in MinOS BUT I take care that when it needs to run it does. So two things :

1. Nobody complaints (and thus your story of shutting it off must be correct for your situation);
2. With me it sure runs (because I make it that) and it doesn't help for me.

But if we take into account Maxi's story, anything can have happened here.

Summarized for your situation : just let it run and once in MinOS all will be taken care of. Notice that this is so when Unattened Playback is going on. Not outside of that (read : not when playback not is going on).

Addendum :
Maybe it is no coincidence that in my situation the Win32NT thing started to appear when I was playing around with the latest Stop ALL Services feature. But it must have fixed something somewhere and I can't find where (like Registry).


No. But it just wasn't needed before so I used the property concerned for it. Today now I know ? ... well, the only problem is that I don't know what can be in the Registry for literal text to check for. Possibly it is 100% the same as that property should tell, but I don't know. And quite some Windows versions exist (don't count out the Server versions). So when not careful nothing works anymore or worse : it works with errors because when the wrong OS version is seen, quite many things will work wrongly (this is not supported here, that is not supported there - you will get the idea).

Again, thanks,
Peter

Yes, well I purposely kept toggling that service on and off on both my netbook and main PC yesterday and the title in the XXHighEnd playlist window dutifully changed between Win NT 32 bit and Win 7 depending on whether the service was on or off, so obviously at least in my case it is clear cut as you say.

Anyway, I have really being enjoying the sound out of this new version - I think it is so close to digital "perfection" it would be very hard to improve from here. Certainly this version of XXhighEnd has now equalled or even by now upsurped the capabilities of my best hardware.

Obviously my dual-core Atom netbook does not sound nearly as good as my Core i7 machines (sounds a bit "motheaten" by comparison), but I am actually getting a new Lenovo Core i3 (3227U CPU) in a couple of weeks. I am hoping to bridge the gap in sound quality between my study workstation and loungeroom system with better transport hardware. Sadly the new Lenovo won't specifically be available for full-time use with XXHighEnd, though I will most certainly activate XXhighEnd on it to compare with the current Atom-powered netbook. I hope to get a slightly cleaner and smoother sound with a blacker background and crisper transients, because that is what I notice is the main difference with the Core i7 machines versus the Atom netbook.

So I will probably have a couple of new activations over the next two or three weeks :)

Thank you for the kind words and feedback Jon.
I hope your new Lenovo works out.

Regards,
Peter