Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[chomlee]

I am trying to start a business setting up computers with home/outdoor monitoring and I thought that I would give x10 a shot since it is apparently the most economical thing out there and you seem to get the biggest bang for the buck (internet monitoring, tilt swivel, night vision, wireless, outdoor etc).  I purchased the internet package for 100.00 that comes with the VA12A usb video adapter, the ninja camera setup with tilt swivel, the wireless reciever, and motion sensor, and the Vanguard software.

Ok, the problem I am having is 2 fold.  When I run the vanguard software, my cpu usage pegs at 100%.  I also get the dreaded rundll.exe error when it finishes recording video.  I have tried deleting the my images folder, returned the old va12a video adapter and got a new one, installed the software on 3 different machines (low power machine in xp, medium power machine in xp ,and a high power dual core machine with vista).  The odd thing is, I get the exact same problem on every machine.  First off, I can't uninstall the software, it is totally impossible.  I have been able to reinstall the software but have never ever ever been able to uninstall it because it does not put an uninstall.log file into the operating system (vista, or xp).  I was able to remove it from one of my machines by rolling back the system, but again, it will not or cannot in any way uninstall on any machine I have tested.  That to me is totally unacceptable and cannot for the life of me understand why I am the only one with this problem.

The other problem which is the main concern is that the system is no good to me if I can't record video.  When I record the video, I get a rundll.exe error when it finishes recording, and it does it on every machine.  I can record a couple of seconds of video on low quality without this error, but if it is longer than 5 seconds the rundll.exe error occurs (again, this is the same on every machine I have tested).

I went through all the steps with tech support and the only thing he could think of was maybe I just got a bad usb adapter so I returned the va12a and got a new one.  I also searched all the forums and only found people who either solved the problem by deleting the myimages folder or others who just gave up and returned the entire package.  Although I am frustrated and hate them right now, I don't want to give up if there is something simple I am missing.  The big question is has anyone used the internet package and successfully got it to work and record flawlessly without any rundll problem??  Also, what kind of hocus pocus magic do you have to do to uninstall this software??

My experience level is somewhat high on computers, I have installed my own media server, built many pcs, etc. and I have to say, this is the weirdest most difficult problem I have come accross.

Any help would be appreciated,
Thank You

[suesloan]

I get the rundll error after a video is recorded too. I cannot rename the folder because it says it is in use.

Any fixes/other solutions? Sue

[unactive home]

CHOMLEE,
I AM IN THE SAME BOAT AS YOU, I HAVE TRIED EVERY POSSIBLE SOLUTION THAT I COULD FIND ON THE INTERNET AS WELL AS X10 TECH SUPPORT. THEY KNOW ME BY FIRST NAME OVER THERE! AFTER NEARLY A MONTH OF TROUBLESHOOTING HARDWARE AND INSTALLING AND REINSTALLING BOTH VANGUARD AND SENTINEL ON FOUR PCS/LAPTOPS WITH XP AND VISTA, I TOOK A LONG SHOT AND TALKED THE TECH SUPPORT REP INTO LETTING ME TRY ACTIVE HOME PRO WITH IWATCH. I HAVE USED THE X10 CAMERA SYSTEMS FOR SOME YEARS NOW, BUT NEVER ANY OF THEIR HOME AUTOMATION SOFTWARE/HARDWARE, SO I WAS TOTALLY LOST ON THE FUNCTIONALITY AND OPERATION OF IT. I JUST HAPPENED TO NOTICE IN ONE OF THEIR MANY ADVERTISEMENT EMAILS, THE ACTIVE HOME PRO PROGRAM AND THAT THERE WAS A CAMERA MONITORING FUNCTION. SORRY ABOUT THE LONG WINDED DETAILS, BUT JUST WANTED TO GIVE YOU A LITTLE BACKGROUND!
AFTER GETTING THE "TEST/DEMO" VERSION UP AND RUNNING ON MY PC, I HAVE LUCKILY HAD NO TROUBLE! KEEP IN MIND, AHP IS NOT AS SIMPLE OF A PROGRAMMING INTERFACE AS VANGUARD. HOWEVER; WITH A LITTLE TWEAKING AND TESTING WITH THE MACROS, I FIND IT MUCH MORE CUSTOMIZABLE. ONCE I TESTED IT OUT FOR A FEW DAYS AND REPORTED BACK TO TECH SUPPORT, THEY SENT ME A FULL WORKING VERSION OF ALL THE AHP PLUGINS AND REGISTRATION KEYS, AS WELL AS THE CM15A INTERFACE MODULE AT NO CHARGE.
I DONT HAVE ALL OF MY SYSTEM UP AND RUNNING LIKE I WANT IT YEY, AND WITH MY PAST EXPERIENCE WITH X10 PRODUCTS, I KNOW NOT TO GET MY HOPES UP YET. BUT SO FAR I AM PLEASED WITH OUTCOME OF AHP AND IT LOOKS AS IF IT WILL SUFFICE FOR ME. HERE IS A RUNDOWN OF MY EQUIPMENT AND PLANS:
- 4-5 CAMERAS (STARTED WITH WIRELESS, BUT UNABLE TO GET RECEPTION THAT I NEEDED. CONVERTED CAMS TO WIRED)
- ACTIVE HOME PRO SOFTWARE WITH IWATCH/IWITNESS AND MACRO PLUGINS
- PC RUNNING WINXP PRO WITH AMD 1.6GHZ AND 1GB RAM (RUNS MUCH BETTER ON LAPTOP WITH AMD 1.4 WITH 2GB RAM, BUT ACCEPTABLE)

I DONT WANT TO GET YOUR HOPES UP JUST YET. I FORGOT TO MENTION THAT I DID GET A RUNDLL ERROR ONE TIME ON THE PAVILION LAPTOP. HOWEVER; THAT WAS BEFORE I WIPED IT CLEAN FROM VISTA PREMIUM AND INSTALLED XP PRO. WITH ALL OF MY TESTING, I HAVE FOUND THAT XP PRO SEEMS TO BE MORE RELIABLE. OTHER THAN THAT I AM KEEPING MY FINGERS CROSSED THAT EVERYTHING WILL WORK OUT. DONT GET TOO DISCOURAGED, I THINK WE ALL KNOW THAT ANY PRODUCT THAT IS WORTH PAYING MONEY FOR, SHOULD HAVE MOST OF THE BUGS WORKED OUT OF IT BY THE TIME IT HITS THE END USER'S HANDS, BUT I HAVE TO KEEP REMINDING MYSELF THAT THESE ARE CHALLENGES NOT PROBLEMS! (THATS JUST MY WAY OF NOT OVERDOSING ON STRESS MEDS!)

I COULD GO ON FOR DAYS, BUT HOPEFULLY THIS GIVES YALL AN IDEA OF WHAT I HAVE EXPERIENCED. LET ME KNOW IF YOU NEED MORE INFO ON ANY PARTICULAR THING OR WANT PICS. I WILL REPORT BACK PERIODICALLY AND GIVE UPDATES AS I PROGRESS WITH THIS PROJECT.

[hawk1]

To Unactive home:  Just to let you know that typing in all CAPS indicates that you are yelling and is also hard to read.  Just thought I would let you know.   

[rsreign]

On the other hand, if you want to live life on the edge and work with a server with the newest, shiniest features, (or want to run on a Windows platform, ip pbx...