removing HAL 5.0

[Dirk]

Hmmmmm . . . *looking at the ever increasing list of bugs that HAL 5.0 has/is causing* . . .

It is starting to look like HAL 5.0 is another DOS 4.0 (if anyone in here can even remember the DOS that wasnt)

I know when I installed Hal 5.0 om my comp the installation was rather bizzare in what it seemed to be doing . . and after the installation was complete it triggered the ScanDisk program . . and caused THAT to do some very unusual things . . like examining every sector on my HD . . and then an examination of every single data cluster on my 40GB HD, a process that took several hours . . . I can do a complete reformat of my HD and reload of my software in about two hrs.

Since I have installed HAL 5.0 . . . I have started experiencing frequent fatal errors to programs that were very stable prior to my installing HAL 5.0.

I am more fortunate than most . . my computer habits were developed back in the old 8-bit days when you only had 64K of memory to a fully loaded comp . . and there was no such thing as an HD . . all software and data was stored on 5 1/4" floppy disks . . . as  result, I have always been used to keeping my data stored on floppy disks, or now that I have gone a bit higher tech, CD-RW's . . . so it is a minimal bother to me to completely wipe my HD clean . . eliminating all traces of HAL . . and then reinstall the software I normally use.

To all appearances it looks like HAL 5.0 needs quite a bit more work done to it.

Dirk

[Dirk]

A footnote . . . I forgot to mention in the above post . . . that besides the problems I mentioned above . . . even though numerous people have read my post wondering why my DeskTopMates characters dont work under HAL 5.0 . . . NO ONE has offered even a glimmer of a posible solution . . not even zabaware . . . even though they advertise that you can use the desktopmates characters with HAL 5.0.

Dirk

[Morlhach]

It looks like a hardware crash disk. Check your eventviewer. I am sure you will find blad cluster. If i am right, just throw your hdd through the window.
If i am wrong, try to use a 2d character. Most problems come from the Haptek player (3d character).

Next time, give more precision about your configuration in order to guide you more deeply.

quote:Originally posted by Dirk

Hmmmmm . . . *looking at the ever increasing list of bugs that HAL 5.0 has/is causing* . . .

[snip]
To all appearances it looks like HAL 5.0 needs quite a bit more work done to it.

Dirk

[vonsmith]

Dirk,
Hal v5.0 has a few minor quirks that I have experienced, but nothing above the "minor irritation" stage. For the price, Hal is a pretty good bargain. There have been a number of postings on the forum about minor issues. Many, maybe not all, have been addressed by the group and occasionally by Zabaware.

My *impression* is that your computer may have another issue. However I don't know what OS you are running, CPU speed, AMD/INTEL, video card or amount of RAM. I agree with Morlhach that the Haptek characters and related drivers can be troublesome. The Haptek characters require an above average 3D video card and a reasonably fast CPU. I haven't tried the desktopmates with v5.0 yet, all I have is a free one name Brandy. If a get a free minute I'll try it out. I don't recall anyone else on the forum having an issue with them.

Zabaware does respond to customers. However it is a small company and the response time can be slow. Posting a clear objective problem statement here on the forum can be a good start. Include detailed info about your system. Also mention Robert Medeksza's name in the topic of the post. He is the one most likely be addressing any Hal issues directly for Zabaware.

Good luck,

= vonsmith =

[Dirk]

This is what I am running for a comp . . . windows ME (the straight, full, store bought version, not a pre-configured version like is done by companies like Gateway, eMachines, and others . . my comp came completely empty of any pre-installed software) . . an AMD cpu @ 1.8Ghz . . 256MB RAM . . video and sound using the SiS730S chipset with 64MB shared ram (the mainboard is a K7SEM incorporating the SiS730S chipset) . . 40Gb hard drive . . DVD/cd-rw drive . . and then the standard items  . . modem, floppy drive, lan set up, etc.

I do not suspect a HD crash . . . because when I run scandisk, format, or defrag . . no probs show up . . . it doesnt crash them . . . and there is no mention of any bad sectors or clusters.  As for the other suggestions I was given . . let me check into them

Most of the fatal errors I see are mostly referencing .DLL files . . . I will get a pop up msg saying that (whatever prog is running) has caused a prob with XXXXXX.DLL file and will now close.

[vonsmith]

Dirk,
It sounds like your system is fast enough (sounds like Duron) and that you have enough memory. Windows ME however can be problematic. It seems that it works fine for a particular user, but not for another; no middle ground. No way to tell about that.

The video and sound using the SiS730S chipset is a curious item. SiS was a relatively small low-end player in the chipset market until this last year. Their chipsets can often be good, with occasional problems with certain chipsets. I'm guessing there could be a capability issue with Haptek and your video system. I haven't studied up on the SiS730S too much, but as I recall it is a very highly integrated and is one of SiS's earliest AMD chipsets. The fact that it shares memory with other functions could be a problem with Haptek based on anecdotal evidence posted here on the forum. That chipset has basic 3D capability, maybe not enough for Haptek characters. I can't say for certain.

If you haven't tried it yet I would suggest a clean install of Hal and don't use Haptek characters. See how that works. If Haptek is the issue then you might try purchasing an inexpensive 3D video card (about $50-$99) to add onto your system. The SiS chipset and motherboard should allow external video card use. Other than that I don't know what to suggest. If you write down the exact error messages that may help in tracing the problem.

Good luck,

= vonsmith =

[Morlhach]

quote:Originally posted by vonsmith

Dirk,
It sounds like your system is fast enough (sounds like Celeron) and that you have enough memory. Windows ME however can be problematic. It seems that it works fine for a particular user, but not for another; no middle ground. No way to tell about that.

The video and sound using the SiS730S chipset is a curious item. SiS was a relatively small low-end player in the chipset market until this last year. Their chipsets can often be good, with occasional problems with certain chipsets. I'm guessing there could be a capability issue with Haptek and your video system. I haven't studied up on the SiS730S too much, but as I recall it is a very highly integrated and is one of SiS's earliest AMD chipsets. The fact that it shares memory with other functions could be a problem with Haptek based on anecdotal evidence posted here on the forum. That chipset has basic 3D capability, maybe not enough for Haptek characters. I can't say for certain.

If you haven't tried it yet I would suggest a clean install of Hal and don't use Haptek characters. See how that works. If Haptek is the issue then you might try purchasing an inexpensive 3D video card (about $50-$99) to add onto your system. The SiS chipset and motherboard should allow external video card use. Other than that I don't know what to suggest. If you write down the exact error messages that may help in tracing the problem.

Good luck,

= vonsmith =

Windows Millenium becomes unstable one or two years after his installation. I do not know why.
To avoid to buy a new graphic card, just use a 2d character. Hal will work fine even on a very old computer like mine.

[Dirk]

Dirk,
It sounds like your system is fast enough (sounds like Duron) and that you have enough memory. Windows ME however can be problematic. It seems that it works fine for a particular user, but not for another; no middle ground. No way to tell about that.

The video and sound using the SiS730S chipset is a curious item. SiS was a relatively small low-end player in the chipset market until this last year. Their chipsets can often be good, with occasional problems with certain chipsets. I'm guessing there could be a capability issue with Haptek and your video system. I haven't studied up on the SiS730S too much, but as I recall it is a very highly integrated and is one of SiS's earliest AMD chipsets. The fact that it shares memory with other functions could be a problem with Haptek based on anecdotal evidence posted here on the forum. That chipset has basic 3D capability, maybe not enough for Haptek characters. I can't say for certain.

If you haven't tried it yet I would suggest a clean install of Hal and don't use Haptek characters. See how that works. If Haptek is the issue then you might try purchasing an inexpensive 3D video card (about $50-$99) to add onto your system. The SiS chipset and motherboard should allow external video card use. Other than that I don't know what to suggest. If you write down the exact error messages that may help in tracing the problem.

Good luck,

= vonsmith =


Thank you for the feedback . . . I had no prob running Hal 4.5 using either the Jenni or Missti characters on my system . . and no probs running the cyberbuddy software using any character.
***** hmmm . . though it did just occur to me that I always had both softwares running at the same time (cyberbuddy and HAL 4.5) . . so it is possible that I just thought my DeskTopMates characters were running with Hal 4.5 when in fact they may not have been.


The install I did was a clean one . . I had done a reformat/defrag since I had removed the older HAL 4.5 and cyberbuddy software, so there should not have been any files left to interfere with the new version . . I tried one of the 3D characters that came on the disk . . and it worked fine.  That is why I am puzzled that it wont run my other characters.   I'll try a few others to see how they work.   On all the other graphic capability intensive applications . . webcam . . DVD . . etc . . my system does everything I could want it to, and does it very well . . DVD movies look glorious on my 17" LCD monitor, whether in full screen or wide screen modes.

Is there a way to disable the loading of the Haptek characters . . because when I look in the Haptek folder I dont see anything recognizeable as a specific character.

As for ME . . well . . it is a microsoft product . . and anyone who has ever actually read a microsoft warranty . . knows that microsoft wont even claim that any of their products will work at all on ANY system . . . *looking seriously at switching to Linux* . . . specifically ME is nick-named "Memory Eraser" . . I have heard numerous complaints about windows ME memory management problems.

I have thought about adding in a separate 3D video card with it's own memory . . there are a couple of high end games that I could run if I did that . . so I might just look into that.


*******************************************************************


Windows Millenium becomes unstable one or two years after his installation. I do not know why.
To avoid to buy a new graphic card, just use a 2d character. Hal will work fine even on a very old computer like mine.


I do periodic reformat/reloads of all my operating software.

As far as I understand the two characters I have from DeskTopMates are 2D characters.

[Dirk]

Follow up on 3D checks

I just tried several different characters that came with the Hal 5.0 . . Erica, Mary, zaba (3D version) and all 3 functioned properly with very nice 3D animation.   Then I tried the Merlin character and he worked fine too . . .. then . . . surprise . . when I tried the DeskTopMates Jenni character she pops uo on the screen like I would expect her too.   A little bit quirky, is something happens to trigger one of her special animations it overrides her speaking . . but it is a step in the right direction.

Just wanted to let you know what I had tried so far and the results.

Dirk

[vonsmith]

Dirk,
I haven't really investigated how the Haptek characters are integrated into Hal v5.0. Thus I currently haven't a clue about how to not load Haptek characters. On my system the Haptek and other character files are in the C:/Ultra Hal Assistant 5/Characters directory. I don't know how the Haptek player/drivers are installed though.


= vonsmith =