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[x10dude]

I was just looking at the "software download center" (http://www.x10.com/support/support_soft1.htm) hoping to find a less buggy VA12a driver than the one I have, and noticed that a new driver has been released for the CM15a as March 23, 2009.

Here's what it says:

DRIVER: CM15A, CM19A, ALL USB Transceivers Version 3.239 - Released Mar 23, 2009 - Windows XP, Vista 32/64 bit, Windows 7 32/64 bit. For FireCracker and ActiveHome Pro.

Has anyone tried this? Aside for 64bit and Windows 7 support, should I care? I sometimes find it difficult to get my CM15a to clear its memory and reload updated timers & macros. Could this have fixed it? Could this have fixed the locking up issue that many people have run into with the latest AHP version?

Anyone care to share his experience with the driver?

Thanks!

[Tuicemen]

This may be the driver I was testing  as I have 3.238.
If so it includes  a RF Remote program that is added to the Windows Control Panel.
It allows a X10 RF remote to control Windows Media Player and Media Center also some functions in IE.
I am running AHP 3.236 but never dug into it to see if it affected it! It certainly didn't make it any worse!

[Tuicemen]

Just installed it so a bit more info!
This driver seems to be geared to Vista and Windows 7 as XP doesn't tell you a reboot is needed afterwards (and it is needed)
The new RF/IR Icon was built to utilize this remote driver however the driver wasn't made for it(obvious in the setup screen)!
I see no improvements with AHP but I don't have a VA12A vista or 64 bit windows either   
This may help users with 64 bit windows versions!

This will allow you to control the master volume up/down and mute and place your PC into standby as well as control the programs already mentioned(with a X10 Remote)!
 

[x10dude]

Thanks Tuicemen,

Because I finally seem to have a stable system, I'm going to wait a few weeks to see if anyone else reports any issues after using it for a while. The new features do sound interesting though!

When you say 3.238, do you mean the driver version or AHP version?

BTW, technically, there's no need for a reboot in Windows XP. Most developers require a reboot because they're used to programming for older versions of Windows and try to write a monolithic driver that would apply to multiple versions of Windows. If WinXP is the lowest version this driver requires, and they want it to work with Vista and Win7, then the only way to get the "Windows logo" is for the driver installation not to require a reboot. That would imply using the Windows driver installation services instead of their homebaked installation process.

Frank

[Tuicemen]

When you say 3.238, do you mean the driver version or AHP version?

driver is 3.239 now! AHP is still 3.236

BTW, technically, there's no need for a reboot in Windows XP. Most developers require a reboot because they're used to programming for older versions of Windows and try to write a monolithic driver that would apply to multiple versions of Windows. If WinXP is the lowest version this driver requires, and they want it to work with Vista and Win7, then the only way to get the "Windows logo" is for the driver installation not to require a reboot. That would imply using the Windows driver installation services instead of their homebaked installation process.

True!
Actually if one doesn't reboot after loading this driver you'll experience all kinds of failures! and not just x10 stuff!
Had I not loaded this on Windows 7 I would have suspected a virus!
XP doesn't ask to reboot, Windows 7 on the other had does!
Oh, and it does work on Windows 7 and very well with Media Center too!
 

[Dan Lawrence]

Just for giggles, If you only have the CM15A, nothing else, do you really need this driver?

[Tuicemen]

Just for giggles, If you only have the CM15A, nothing else, do you really need this driver?

I guess that depends on what OS you have AHP or the CM15A on!
 

[Dan Lawrence]

XP Home right now, may upgrade to Windows 7 in the future.

[Tuicemen]

Right Now Dan you don't need the driver! Once you move to Windows 7 (32 bit) just running AHP and no plug-ins, you still will not need the driver! 

[x10dude]

Alright, so now, I definitely know that I didn't need the updated drivers. I made the mistake of installing them on my AHP 3.228 machine.

After doing that, my macros stopped working and a bunch of other "weird" stuff started happening. It's probably because these drives did not allow AHP to "register" the add-ons.

Going back to 3.228 was quite an adventure too. Going to 3.204 was easy, but I couldn't get it to update automatically. I had to go to the site that tuicemen had previously pointed to and manually run "ahp_updt.exe" on top of "ahp_updt204.exe", then .228 installed automatically..

phew!! that was a close call 

[WildBill47]

Speaking of drivers, how does X-10 deal with them? As in the same as XP where you can roll back a new driver, and if you can what is the name of the currente driver and where might I find it so I do't have to reinatall all of AHP to roll back?

Thanks,
Bill

[x10dude]

From what I've seen, X10 doesn't test any drivers with anything other than the current version of their sofware, so beware!

The concept of "roll back" doesn't exist in their vocabulary either. What's worse is that they don't use Windows driver installation APIs to install drivers. They simply use an "install program", which copies the drivers where THEY expect them to be, update the registry, and do whatever else they need to.

If you install the new drivers and, later on, want to go back to another version of AHP, you'll have no choice but to install the other version and hope that it will overwrite the newer version of the drivers... Now that I think about it, I don't even think they do version checking of their drivers.. hmmm.. scary!

If you really want to play with the new drivers, check out the link at the beginning of this thread.

[Brian H]

Not completely sure here as software is not my best subject. 
In XP. If one did a restore point just before the new driver install. Would this maybe help in backing up to an older driver?

[x10dude]

Unfortunately, XP doesn't work that way. It has a predefined list of included & excluded components that are backed up or ignored as part of a "restore point".

To top it off, because X10 doesn't even use the driver installation APIs, no restore point is created when their drivers are installed.

As a result, the user would manually have to create a restore point BEFORE installing the drivers. By doing that, however, the ONLY relevant part of the restore point is the system registry.

In essence, what ends up happening is the following:

* user creates restore point before installing X10 drivers. The most valuable component here is the registry.
* user installs X10 drivers, whose installation deletes older drivers
* user finds problems with new x10 drivers
* user restores the "restore point" from step 1
* system now has pointers to older drivers (through the registry), but physically the new drivers are still present

At this point, the user ends up with a very "confused" system. The only way out is to install the older drivers from scratch, which is what the AHP "downgrade" does.