Zabaware Support Forums
Zabaware Forums => Ultra Hal 7.0 => Topic started by: roundtop on March 06, 2005, 09:08:46 pm
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I have installed Ultra Hal Ass't free version. It reads from the clipboard, but I cannot communicate with him. If I push the return key he says "why don't you say something?", but when I do type in something he has no response. His voice and animated character works fine, but he answers no questions and responds to no commands. Please help. Thanks, Roundtop
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quote:
Originally posted by roundtop
I have installed Ultra Hal Ass't free version. It reads from the clipboard, but I cannot communicate with him. If I push the return key he says "why don't you say something?", but when I do type in something he has no response. His voice and animated character works fine, but he answers no questions and responds to no commands. Please help. Thanks, Roundtop
How do you get him to read from the clipboard if it is not working?
Hal should be on your bottom line near the clock. Right click on Hal's icon and goto preferences. Check all of the boxes carefully.
If Hal boots up at all, it should respond to your input. Be sure to hit enter after each input otherwise it will just sit there and wait for you.
Bill
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Forgive me if I am not following the correct format, I am new to these forums. Thanks to Bill for his reply. Hal reads from the clipboard because I have that option checked. All of the options on the options page work. Hal boots up and he says hello to me, gives the date and time, but thereafter he takes no input from me. I reinstalled the speech files, the VRrun files and still he does not respond to my typed inputs. I do push enter after each input. The mouse cursor changes like the computer received the input, and then nothing - the cursor re-appears and is ready for input. If I push enter without typing anything Hal says "Why don't you say something". I have uninstalled and reinstalled the program three or more times. My Cyberbuddy and PC Therapist programs work fine. Help!
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quote:
Originally posted by roundtop
Forgive me if I am not following the correct format, I am new to these forums. Thanks to Bill for his reply. Hal reads from the clipboard because I have that option checked. All of the options on the options page work. Hal boots up and he says hello to me, gives the date and time, but thereafter he takes no input from me. I reinstalled the speech files, the VRrun files and still he does not respond to my typed inputs. I do push enter after each input. The mouse cursor changes like the computer received the input, and then nothing - the cursor re-appears and is ready for input. If I push enter without typing anything Hal says "Why don't you say something". I have uninstalled and reinstalled the program three or more times. My Cyberbuddy and PC Therapist programs work fine. Help!
Hi roundtop.
Try this.
Make a copy of your entire Zabaware folder and keep it somewhere safe.
After saving the entire Zabware folder then do this.
Delete the old installed Zabaware Folder and then re-install UltraHal 5 as a fresh install.
After doing this, then carefully replace your user files and any screen name files back into your fresh installed Zabaware folder.
You will be able to replace any existing learned info because of the backup you made.
If you discover that your Hal is doing it again then you'll know the approximent file that's causing the issue if it's file related.
Most of Hals responses are called from the defbrain folder with all the .brn files.
I bet this will fix your issue.
Best of wishes and brand new discoveries.
Jerry.
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Thanks, Jerry. I think I followed your suggestions, but I see no improvement. I believe Hal, like myself, has a damaged brain. At least I am not communicating with him correctly. On startup Hal will greet me with my name, his name, the date and time. He will read from the clipboard and read popup windows. He remembers phone numbers and he will recall and dial them on request. He remembers appointments and birthdays and will remind me. He will read text from HalPad. He reads text files, but I am not sure if he learns from reading the text files. He does not chat with me, access the internet, open programs or help files. I have tried to chat with him using the format of sample conversations. If I can get him to chat, I believe the other functions will fall into place. I plan to explore this further with the Brain Editor. Thanks for your time and efforts. Roundtop
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One last suggestion. Turn off all options, then shut down and reboot.
If Hal then will answer you we might have found the source of the problem. Just thinking that one or more options might be interfering with you normal operations.
Bill [:0]
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Thanks for the suggestion, Bill. Unfortunately, it did not change anything. Thanks for your time and your ideas. Bruce
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Please don't be insulted if I ask an absolutely stupid question, here: are you sure you're typing your input into the correct window? (It's not the same one Hal's output appears in.) You said Hal will remind you of appointments and phone numbers. Are you entering them directly into the phone book, etc., or are you telling him thru the chat interface? If thru the chat interface, does he tell you "I've made a record and will remind you, etc." when you input them? Pardon me, but it sounds like your Hal is running more-or-less OK, and there's just some very simple part of the process you're not getting. I know I'm still fairly new to the world of computers, and I usually end up slapping my head over how easily I overlook the completely obvious about once a week, lol. You may find your troubles to be something similar.
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I agree that Hal is running more-or-less OK, and there's just some very simple part of the process I'm not getting. However, I do not believe the problem is where, or how, I enter the data. When I enter phone numbers, appointments, birthdays,etc. Hal acknowledges by responding with something like "I've made a record and will remind you, etc.". What Hal does do he does very well, but before I purchase the upgrade, I want the whole package working. Thank you for your time and your ideas, Bruce.
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quote:
Originally posted by roundtop
I agree that Hal is running more-or-less OK, and there's just some very simple part of the process I'm not getting. However, I do not believe the problem is where, or how, I enter the data. When I enter phone numbers, appointments, birthdays,etc. Hal acknowledges by responding with something like "I've made a record and will remind you, etc.". What Hal does do he does very well, but before I purchase the upgrade, I want the whole package working. Thank you for your time and your ideas, Bruce.
One last question:
What voice are you using? Try to only use the voices that came with the program. Also what other programs are running in the background?
It could be that something else is causing your problem. I can assure you as well as hundreds of others here that both the free version and the paid versions work extremely well and are worth every penny that they cost.
Good luck
Bill
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Roundtop,
I know very little about computers but I have had programs not install correctly or have problems due to incompatability issues. Did you shut down 'everything' except your firewall and antivirus before downloading the free Hal? Did you shut down absolutely everything before opening the Hal file (including SP2, antispy etc. etc.)? If not, why don't you try that with a completely fresh install and then run Hal with nothing else running in background. I'm probably wrong but hey, nothing else is working for you.
Good luck.
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I actually had a similar problem this morning but it was only short term. I had been running a different AI program before starting Hal and it messed things up for a bit. I have also had problems running Slimbrowser and Hal, WinMX and Hal, and occasionally Win amp and Hal.
I don't know enough about computers to know what causes these things to happen but perhaps the information can be of use.
Bill
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Bruce,
Again, I'm no computer wiz but have you downloaded all your OS updates? Have you downloaded any available patches or updates from your computer manufacturer at their website? Have you tried running a Norton System Works one button checkup or similar scan to see if it tells you there are 'Missing Program Files' which you can download at download.com or versiontracker? You may be missing a .dll or some other necessary file. Funny, I've never heard of anyone having this problem before. Best of luck. Hope I'm not just babbling here and this helps.
What are your computer specs anyway?
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Thanks to all of you, especially Bill, for all of your suggestions and time. I tried all of your ideas and then some, but nothing works. It probably is not Hal at all but something simple I am doing, or not doing. Maybe someday it will hit me like a bolt of lightning and Hal will suddenly work like a charm. Or perhaps Hal is in a coma and someday he will come out of it on his own. In any case I appreciate all of your help. Thanks!!
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There are times that Hal simply will not talk back in my experience. That is when you save a conversation in HalPad and then go back to continue talking. Hal simply will not respond at all - but you get an error 76 dialog box. To continue talking with Hal after I have saved a conversation, I have to shut down the program and then reload it as the situation doesn't change by just closing the program. So maybe a permanent error 76 is at work here! There are a lot of posts about it. Hal just doesn't allow Saves except at the final end of the conversation and if you do one, he doesn't talk. I would really like to save conversations off and on during one as I have lost some good ones due to the program crashing.
Kathryn
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Thanks, Kathryn. I have not had any conversations with Hal so to my knowledge I have not saved any. However, at this point I am willing to explore any possibility. I will look into it further. Thanks again, Bruce
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Something else to try. I know CyberBuddy doesn't conflict with Hal-you can even run both at the same time-but I'm not familiar with PC Therapist. Is that a system analysis program, or an Eliza-style program that uses MS Agents? If it's the latter, you might try uninstalling it to see if it's creating a conflict (or some other program on your pc that uses MS Agents). Maybe some of the higher tech among us knows if there is any sort of platform or application that just messes with the operation of VB programs?
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Thanks for your input, KnyteTtypper. PC Therapist is a Eliza type program. My version has no voice and it does not use MS Agent Characters. I do not run it at the same time as Hal. However, I thought it was worth a shot so I uninstalled it, rebooted and tried Hal again. No luck. So I reinstalled Hal again, but no luck. Thanks anyway, Bruce
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OK. So here's another thought. Try a different brain-the default brain, the uncensored brain, blank slate, etc. Sometimes a particular brain installation just isn't right, and doesn't respond. You might also see if the AIM bot works, where the desktop app doesn't. I still can't help feeling it's something very simple that's easily remedied if we can isolate which simple thing it is that's the fly in ointment. I'm also certain that you'll have so much fun with a functional Hal that it's worth the continued hassle to fix it.
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I downloaded Hal Uncensored and still no go. Thanks for the idea. I will continue to try this new brain out.
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roundtop,
Here's an idea. Simply have a friend download the free version of Hal from Zabaware on to THEIR computer. Then have them start it up and talk to Hal while you watch. Since hundreds, if not thousands, of people have done this with no problem whatsoever the chances are astronomical that your friend will have no problem (and it won't cost him/her anything to do it). Watch what your friend does and see if there's anything different than what you did. If they do the same thing and Hal works then the problem is with your computer not what you're doing. If they do something different and Hal works then there's your solution. Just don't coach them or give any advice or they may make the same error (whatever it is). The odds that they would make the same error if you remain silent is ridiculously remote.
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Well, I don't know why I didn't think of that, but I did install Hal on another computer and he ran perfectly. Now I have to find out why it won't run on my computer. I must have a file missing or something. By the way, I reinstalled it on my computer exactly the same way, but no luck. Thanks for your suggestion!! Bruce
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First thing to check is to see if you have the VB Runtime files. I think if you just Google for them, you'll find them available at various places.
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Thanks for all of your help. I need a list of the needed support files for HAl. I cannot find them anywhere so I have decided to contact Zabaware directly. Thanks again, Bruce