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[just a former customer]

If you are considering purchasing X10
products beware of the tactics X10 is
employing.  If you have done your research
and have been reading this forum you
probably wont purchase the CM15A. If you
become one of the poor suckers who did,
make sure you don't exchange your CM15A
because by the time you do exchange it, it
will be past the 30 days money back
guarantee (it takes them forever to make
the exchange...that's where they get ya!).
You need to return the one that doesn't
work for a refund and, if you haven't had
enough convincing evidence that these
things don't work, purchase another so you
will still have 30 days to return it (which
you probably will). This is what I did and
in the end was refunded my money in full.

[martin]

Glad for you! What's your point?

[raym]

I have to agree.

I have spent a few hundred $ in the last
month on software.

Today, I got an automatic Win XP update for
the the 'Intel Camera Pro' that the X10
folks seemed to have ripped off.

Since then my Cm15a is nothing more than an
expensive plastic thing.

I did the 'remove batteries wait 10 minutes'
thing several times.

These people should be ashamed of them
selves for charging money for beta software.

I am going to cut my losses and go back to
the cm11a and whatever third party software
I find that works.

Bad x10, bad x10, you all should not take
advantage of trusting people.

Ken

[X10 Pro]

Ken: I'm sorry for the bad experience you've
had. What specifically happened after the
Windows Update? Do you get any error messages?

The Intel PC Camera Pro device conflicts with
our USB Video Capture Adapter (VA11A), and
unfortunately that's not something we can
fix. However, if you reinstall the driver
(just run the installer that did it the first
time) it should come back just fine.

That shouldn't have affected ActiveHome Pro
or the CM15A, however, except for video input
if you have iWitness. Does AHP still run?
Does it tell you the CM15A is not connected?

[raym]

AHPcomes up and detects all of my software
and then a message box pops up that says
something like 'unable to detect compatable
input device'.

I can probably unscrew this problem but I am
thinking that home monitoring software
should be able to be used by anyone who has
bought it, not just by software gurus.

If you all would like, when I get an extra
hour or two to spend on this, I will help
you all troubleshoot your software.

You all have my email address.

Ken

[X10 Pro]

Ken: That message is generated by iWitness
when it can't find the VA11A USB Video
Capture -- it's a direct result of the Intel
PC Camera Pro update, which wiped out the
driver for the VA11A. If you run the iWitness
installation again it will be fine.

From the sound of it, you should still be
able to control your lights and appliances,
and the CM15A is almost certainly unaffected.
You should be able to use AHP without a
problem; you just won't have video appearing
from your cameras until you reinstall the
VA11A driver.

[raym]

FYI

I removed and reinstalled and shut down and
restarted until I got sick.

This is my day off, so far I have spent most
of it in front of a silly computer worrying
about why the cm15a doesnt work on my
machine. I thought that I had a good
security system.

I am tired, again, you all have my email
address and I will be glad to hire on as a
consultant so that we can fix this.


Ken

[raym]

Sorry, I apoligize, I guess I am stupid.

The last time (after about 3) that I removed
and reinstalled, shut down, and restarted
everything, My cm15a was detected.

Everything now works fine. X10 customer
support wins the day.

My consulting offer still holds.

Ken

[raym]

One more time.

I know now that I am stupid.

AHP comes up and recognizes the the three
plug ins that I purchaced.

My camera no longer has a 'video' option.
oh well.

I'm going to watch baseball and play with my
grand children now.

Ken

[raym]

Hi all,

Reference: I accidently let 'windows XP
update service' load a new driver for
the 'Intel PC Camera Pro'.
That killed my X10 video capture ability.

I have my video capture back again, here is
the sequence of events:

1. In the device manager delete any usb
unknown devices and 'Intel PC Camera Pro'.
2. Restart computer.
3. Go through the 'New Hardware Found
Wizard', wizard reports 'can not find
driver'.
4. Reload X10 video software.
5. Restart computer.
6. Start AHP.
7. I then discovered my camera was changed
into a lamp module.
8. I changed it back into a camera.
9. Select 'Live Video' on camera and watch
AHP crash. Windows Error Report - AppName
activehm.exe .... ModName ahp.dll ...
10. Delete camera.
11. Add new camera.
12. Delete camera macro (it had some 'turn --
unknow -- on' steps mysteriously added).
13. Add new camera macro.

This software is definitely beta quality and
is not for the faint hearted.

Regards,

Ken

[ripley]

I spent a lot of money on the CM15a system and have been unable to even have the software run on any of my three machines (but one is a mac).  I am not a programmer, but had no idea that i would have to be to use these products.

Must I be connected to the internet to access the software?

I promise i am not stupid, just incredibly frustrated and embarrassed that I spent money on this equipment and software that appears to have more bugs than anything else.

I just wanted to make a few macros and have some lights turn on automatically.
is anyone else this frustrated?
ripley

[Charles Sullivan]

Ripley:
The computer on which you intend to install the software must be connected to the Internet.  You download the installer software, but then running the installer software downloads and installs the actual ActiveHome Pro program on the same computer.

Provide some details as to your problems and perhaps we can help you.

[geekasaurus]

The Intel Camera issue is vexing. I found a solution to this problem that I found in the forums a while ago. I had it in a text file, so I do not remember who the poster was, but thanks to them...

"The root problem is that the device IDs for 
the newer VA11A units are identical to the 
built-in drivers for the Intel camera 
(vend/prod 0x733/0x430)  The ONLY way to 
prevent this conflict is to disable the OEM 
Intel camera drivers before connecting the 
VA11A. 
 
To disable the built-in drivers, execute 
these commands in a command prompt: 
 
ren %windir%\inf\icam4usb.??f *.*.old 
ren %windir%\inf\oem48.??f *.*.old 
 
 
After you run those two commands, install 
your X10 drivers if you haven't already, 
connect your VA11A, and XP will recognize 
everything without a hassle. 
 
Oh, don't worry.  Your original Intel camera 
drivers are still there.  They're just 
disabled.  If you need them back, go into 
your Windows INF directory, and look for 
four files with ".old" at the end.  take 
the ".old" of the end and your Intel drivers 
are back."

Also I felt like an idiot this evening. I had to replug in my USB things and as usual I got the uknown device message for the USB controller. I took the batteries out again and again only to realize after half an hour I had to UNPLUG it too!

Between the command prompt fix above and the disconnecting power fix for the box things have gone more smoothly with the frustrating X10 and XP war.

[jelester]

For the past 2 weeks I have tried to get my home computer to answer when I call it one time and let it ring two times and then hang up and repeat it again for 2 rings and then hang up.  This is supposed  make my computer connect to my dial up connection.
I talked to X10 expert "STEVE" and he told me I could not do this and that I had to leave my home computer`s dial up connected all the time.  I guess the program is useless.  He did not have a cllue as to what I was talking about.  I was promised that some one would be in contact with me but no such luck.  I am very disappointed in the lack of knowledge by the so called experts.

Jerry

[Tuicemen]

For the past 2 weeks I have tried to get my home computer to answer when I call it one time and let it ring two times and then hang up and repeat it again for 2 rings and then hang up.  This is supposed  make my computer connect to my dial up connection.
I talked to X10 expert "STEVE" and he told me I could not do this and that I had to leave my home computer`s dial up connected all the time.  I guess the program is useless.  He did not have a cllue as to what I was talking about.  I was promised that some one would be in contact with me but no such luck.  I am very disappointed in the lack of knowledge by the so called experts.

Jerry

Not having dialup I can only guess AHP isn't running. AHP needs to be running inorder for that option to work. I've read post in the Myhouse Online section about diferent problems involing this plugin. Perhaps check that section out for Ideas. If this is a problem alot of users are having I can add the option to start AHP with Alertdialer but you'd have to have callid.