XXHighEnd

Hi Peter, Happy New Year!

I've just installed 2.07 onto my music PC [edit: I meant audio PC] and also onto my server (for use with Tidal), using the upgrade patch in both instances. The former worked with no issues whatsoever (I'll post about the SQ later), but I have an issue with latter.

Trying to launch XX, I get no response at all, except a second or so of the windows 10 loading blue circle.

I then decided to load the full 2.07 onto the music server. But I'm getting the same result - a second or so of the blue circle then nothing.

Do I need to do something more than simply double-clicking the 'RunThisFirst' file? Any other thoughts?

Mani.

Hi Mani,

At this moment I may have the feeling that I need combinations (permutations) which are beyond my capabilities of thinking over. I mean, reading your issue on this matter, it far sought can be so that this RunThisFirst thing is not "allowed" to be performed on the PC where all has already been arranged for. So if I'd allow you to freely do this, in any combination you like yourself, BUT when being in Normal OS first (I understand ... small problem if you are not at this moment) :

Your UAC will be "down" because of the previous XXHighEnd install (like 2.06). Consider this the culprit which I did not anticipate (not even sure, but say I never thought of that state). So, slide it up one step and reboot.

Assumed you ran that RunThisFirst, then in your XX folder a UACUp.tst exists and this file is checked against, meaning that when it exists, the lot assumes you're in normal UAC (up) operation (and can run apps). But this really must be so, and in your case it was not when you created that file (you ran the RunThisFirst but maybe shouldn't have).
Notice : when you find a UACUp.tss file in there, it means that UACUp.tst does not exist (and the .tss file is not checked against).

At this moment you need not to worry about the contrary situation : UACP.tss must exist together with the UAC Down (put in that state by XXHighEnd because manually that can't be done - thus slider down does not mean down at all).

WARNING : If you are in MinOS DO NOT mangle with the UAC slider, or your OS will be rendered useless forever. This most probably also means that when in MinOS you will not be able to start XXHighEnd. Remedy : re-install 2.06(a); this should normally start; with that, go to Normal OS (this is allowed, never mind you're demo).

If something is not clear because of too many typos or too much of Dutch, let me know.

:wacko:
Peter

Hi Peter, thanks. I actually tried launching XX before running the RunThisFirst file, but it wouldn't launch. That's when I thought I needed to run RunThisFirst.

In any event, I've just put the UAC slider up and rebooted. XX is still not launching.

I've just checked the XX folder and I have UACUp.tss in there (not .tst).

Any ideas what I should try?

(BTW, this really isn't a big deal - I was thinking of cancelling my Tidal subscription anyway, especially if they replace all 16/44.1 with MQA.)

Mani.

OK, I think I've found the culprit. The mobo in my music server has no integrated audio device. I've been using an old Audioquest USB DAC just for the purposes of launching XX. For some reason, this is now not being recognised correctly by the mobo - it appears in Device Manager but not in Manage Audio Devices. So as far as XX is concerned, there are no audio devices. I have no idea what has suddenly caused this - the Audioquest USB DAC has been working perfectly in the music server for ages, and I've just tried it in another PC and it works fine.

Oh well, I'll probably just stick a sound card in the music server at some point...

Mani.

Nah... the audio device isn't the problem. I've got the Audioquest working and XX still won't launch.

Mani.

Mani,


This is not right;
You might run this RunThisFirst.bat one other time to check and be sure, but this renames that file to its .tst counterpart. If that does not work you have no write rights to that folder or something. And if that is so it is my gues that XXHighEnd will have troubles right from its start, all over.

?

Peter

PS: XXHighEnd can start without Audio Device just the same. But Activation will be a bit problematic. :evil:

On Tidal and MQA :
I don't think that an MQA encoder will exist for 16/44.1 - only higher (like 24/88.2 and beyond).
This means that no 16/44.1 will be replaced by MQA versions.

Peter

Peter, do you think has anything to do with using a Remote Desktop Connection? Sliding the UAC slider up seems to have worked (it's still there after the reboot). But what about my rights management?

Mani.

Hi Mani,

If that makes a diference, then I don't know about it. Sure, some things are not allowed/possible over an RDC connection (changing the monitor's resolution is an example), but rights like this ? nah ...

Btw, you did not confirm whether this "rename" indeed fails.
If it does, what happens when you try it via explorer ?
Of course you must have the extensions visible because otherwise renaming the extension is a bit difficult ... :thankyou:

Peter

The 'rename' fails - it seems to do nothing. What do you mean when you say, "... what happens when you try it via explorer"? Do you mean simply changing .tss to .tst manually?

Mani.

There were some early reports on CA that 16/44.1 files were actually being replaced and not simply augmented by MQA files. I hope they were wrong...

Mani.

Yup.

No, doing it manually doesn't seem to help. Any other ideas? Otherwise I'll try doing things locally (not via RDC) to see if that works.

Mani.

Nah, this would be crazy.

What is the path you installed XX to ?

Peter

The path on the music server is C:\XXHighEnd\2.0x.

Mani.

Mani,

OK. What about the rights to that folder or all the files ? Something should be wrong with it ...
(for example, when you first copy all to a CD and then to the hdd, something like this can happen)

Peter

All I did was extract the 2.07 upgrade patch into the 2.0x folder where 2.06a was sitting, and working perfectly. I've just checked all the rights to this folder and everything seems OK.

Anyway, I have just created a new 2.06a folder and extracted 2.06 and then the 2.06a patch to it. 2.06a seems to be working fine. I will extract the 2.07 patch over this and see what happens.

Mani.

OK, there is something strange going on...

I have managed to get 2.07 working on my music server. BUT... as soon as I close it, XXHighEnd.exe gets replaced by the previous 2.06a version. I'll try to replicate this and take a few screen shots.

Mani.

I think I already know what is going on ... your super duper non-NTFS system !

Ahhhhh... All solved.

The problem seems to have been using a screen shortcut for XX, with 'run as administrator' checked, which is what I've always done for software players. Everything works fine if this is not checked.

Mani.

Nah, the c: drive is a regular drive. Anyway, see above...

Mani.

Everything does seem to work now, but I thought I'd share these just in case there is something untoward still going on.

Mani.

Hey Mani,


Yep, that explicitly does NOT work. Odd eh ?
But apart from that we may all  recall that from the very early XXHighEnd days (at very first we had to run as Administrator, which soon after changed in NOT doing so), I tried with regard to the UAC stuff the other day and this still is not possible. I forgot a bit why and did not really pay attention to that because my focus was on the UAC stuff (of which I am glad I could get that to run now).

Any idea what -in the end- cause that rename to fail ? is it in the same realm (somehow) ?

Thanks,
Peter

OK, my excuse is that I still feel jet-lagged from coming back from holiday...

I now realise that xxhighend.exe is not being reverted back to the 2.06a version at all. It just so happens that the 2.06a version was dated 12/(can't remember month)/16. The 2.07 version is dated 23/12/16. So when I saw 12/x/x in the date, I thought it was going back to 2.06a. But actually, it says 12/1/17. I never realised xxhighend.exe was 'updated' after each use.

Sorry for any confusion.

Mani.