Giveaway of the Day Forums

1. 

   ziwjawk
   Member

   I have encountered an overall activation failure.

   I was having same scrambled screen problems on original turtle odyssey as mentioned in the odyssey forum thread trying to run under Vista. Tried many different compatibility modes, no luck. Suspected possible corrupted download, redid, tried to re-install, since noon PST get continuous "Activation module failed to connect.... Software activation is not possible at the moment." No such problem installing any other packages previously. Thought it might be the package but am now getting same for niksaver and dwarves even with GOTD site open in browser. Worked fine yesterday on first install of turtle. I have tried with all security software off, still no go. Tried a different isp, nogo. Looked through all the threads returned on search for "activation module", cannot find any other solution.

   I tried over a period of thirty-six hours attempting to install the three products. If the install does not run even without activation there is no way I can do any useful registry tweaks. As a suggestion perhaps the activation connection could be done at the end of the install instead of the start.

   There have been no configuration changes to my system since the first download of turtle. Running Vista home premium on Sony VAIO, 2g mem, dial-up, Firefox 2, tried through PeoplePC and copper.net.

   Any assistance will be greatly appreciated. This does make any further downloads futile until I know the cause.

   Posted 16 years ago #
2. 

   RunesageMagik
   Member

   ziwjawk, you are aware of the 24-hour time window to INSTALL AND REGISTER, correct? The only reason I mention this is your comment about trying over a period of 36 hours. If a program isn't BOTH installed AND registered correctly within the 24-hour window, future attempts to install won't work. If registration wasn't done correctly, you might have unknowingly been able to run an appl as a trial.

   As a general rule, to be sure of proper installation/registration, you have to:
   a) witness the grey pop up window that states that that GAOTD has been activated
   b) get the congrats window that asks you to consider recommending your friends and co-workers
   c) check to see that it's registered (usually to GiveAwayoftheDay) in the Help> About menu (or somewhere on the main screen of the program)

   Posted 16 years ago #
3. 

   ziwjawk
   Member

   Good day RunesageMagi.

   Good comments to remember as to the time limits, I have seen many questions where the questioner apparently thought the download in 24 was sufficient and install/activation could be done anytime.

   This particular problem is, however, of a different nature as the install does not even make contact to determine if the timeframe is valid. Hence no installed program of any kind.

   Perhaps my mention of 36 hours was a bit misleading. I had tried for twelve hours on the turtle second download, then twenty-four on the other two as I downloaded them as soon as they became available. The problem was not one of timeframe, I did stop my attempts when the appropriate 24 hour window ended.

   I could not even get to the point of running as a trial as the installation aborted immediately, no output whatsoever. That is the basis of my suggestion for activation at the end of the installation.

   Posted 16 years ago #
4. 

   RunesageMagik
   Member

   Thanks for posting your PC's specs! So many posters with problems fail to do that. If I understand you correctly, you downloaded the programs and verified that the full download occured, right? (on my machine, occasionally a download breaks... the progress bar shows "Download Complete", yet only a small piece of the complete file was actually saved. You always have to check and verify file size to what's actually been saved. Many people use a download manager to ensure that if the transmission breaks, it'll resume automatically. I recall Bubby (or someone else) recently posting a bunch of links to good D/L managers, but GAOTD's search feature sucks and I couldn't find that post. You might want to have a look here.

   If you've successfully d/l'd and installed/registered GAOTD appls before with no problem, and you say you haven't changed anything on your system (firewall, hosts, etc) that might block the latest appls from even calling out to GAOTD when you initiate the registration process, I'm not sure what could be the problem.

   The primary cause of most registration/activation failures seems to be that people ignore the README file. The steps listed in that file must be followed in the correct order, and many people are under the mistaken impression that every README file is the same. Oh contraire!
   The steps inside the README file can vary from day to day, as I mentioned in this thread.
   Just the other day, Bubby made everyone aware that the README file steps for that day were very different, one of the rarer cases when you literally had to copy and paste a unique registration key to complete the activation process.

   A secondary problem can arise if a PC or OS doesn't meet the requisites of the application, that is, the appl is designed for "up to" WinXP. If Vista isn't a listed OS, the program may work but often doesn't.

   Posted 16 years ago #
5. 

   ziwjawk
   Member

   That is correct, I did verify the download's completeness. I have also had the problem of the built-in download manager showing 'complete' and the actual file being somewhat less than advertised. In this particular case the second download of TO was exactly the same number of bytes as the first. As to a download manager I use FlashGet along with FlashGot, an excellent freeware combination for use with Firefox.

   As an aside on downloading I have found that the file link through wikifortio changes over time making resumption of an interrupted file impossible. The link also changes over time, in my experience making downloads longer than an hour impossible as Flashget breaks the download into multiple streams and uses the ftp restart capability.

   The lack of system changes is an item that bothered me as well. I knew enough to redownload from scratch, clicking the link on the wikifortio page instead of attempting to re-use the prior link (see above). Not even a reboot had occurred at that time. I did try reboot later, still nogo.

   I did check the readme even though length and date were identical to priors, just in case.

   As far as OS incompatibility the only problem there would be the setup.exe not working in Vista. Since it had worked earlier in the day the possibility of this is slim, especially since there were no other such comments and other setups also failed. I tried previous setups, all with the same 489 byte readme dated 4/17, for programs from GAOTD that are currently running on my system, both games and utilities, all setups now get the identical failure.

   I get the feeling this is either something very subtle or something so incredibly obvious that I am looking directly at it but can't -see- it. Sigh.

   Posted 16 years ago #
6. 

   ziwjawk
   Member

   Just properly recalled, there -was- one configuration change, I installed Turtle Odyssey. I will spend time this afternoon uninstalling and insuring I get all the bits and pieces it may have strewn. It's gotten so bad that now HelpSmith will not install, gets the same message. Even though the readme gives a different activation method it still tries to access GAOTD for activation. This does seem odd as it is not supposed to use that method, instead it registers from inside the program -after- installation, said installation which it will not do because of the lack of contact with the website. A good Catch-22: install it then activate it, but first activate it in order to have the ability to install it, which can't be done because it must first be installed.... Some sort of glitch with the 'software key wrapper version 0.9'.

   Posted 16 years ago #
7. 

   ziwjawk
   Member

   That was it, the TO install. I got it cleaned out and everything started working again. I'll try to go through the registry copies to see if I can find anything significant.

   Unfortunately I completed the reboot after the cleanout just barely too late. Blasted Vista took twelve minutes to restart. I was -exactly- one minute past the time for getting the license for HelpSmith after it installed without a hitch prior to the expiration. Sigh.

   I would like to know more specifically the cause. All the previous installs now make it through the contact portion to tell me I am beyond date, which they did not do yesterday.

   Posted 16 years ago #
8. 

   goodgotd
   Member

   I noticed this and passed it on just a bit ago- from pac-nw usa, (drain, oregon) centurytel.net, running other stuff just fine @ 200+k/s, no problems to ny times, australia, etc- but...

   "One mystery I should pass on- gaotd & ggaotd plus *dslreports* of all places were having waves of synchronized 'taking too long to respond' errors most of the day- the dns lookup went through, and then all 3 sites would drop out for up to 1.5 minutes."

   And it's still going on.

   Posted 16 years ago #
9. 

   LeKanaw
   Member

   Hi Ziwjawk
   When u say "TO" u do mean Turtle Odyssey, right?
   I hope it is, otherwise I'll look like a fool for not getting it! ;-)

   So do u mean to say it was Turtle Odyssey that caused the subsequent problems w the other dwlds?? How so?? How odd!

   Very sorry u missed HelpSmith. Haven't played w it yet, it does look quite nice.
   I got it activated/reg. on my PC+laptop, but tried for several hrs on my husband's laptop, but it was a no go till the end!! And he was the one who needed it.
   I added it to mine just out of frustration... *sigh*
   Peace, Manu

   Posted 16 years ago #
10. 

    ziwjawk
    Member

    @goodgotd - thanks for the info, could explain it. I do find it a far stretch of coincidence that the comm errors would cease just as I uninstalled and rebooted. Nothing has failed since. Also the error dialog showed instantly, no time for a timeout, and no sign at my end it had even tried. Quite odd.

    @lekanaw: yes, correct on abbrev. I did much want helpsmith even though I was not intending to use it soon, figured I best grab while available. Oh well. :-(

    I would like to see a better method of activation. If the item is downloaded within the offer period the activation should be automatic. Once the time is over remove the possibility of download. Many problems can occur between the end of download and installation/activation. Due to dialup I set the downloads to run while I sleep.I have had it occur that upon awaking I found that the download was finished and so was my ability to get a dialtone, by the time the phone company repaired the time had passed for activation.

    Posted 16 years ago #
11. 

    LeKanaw
    Member

    Hi Zin
    Yeah, it is rather frustrating! Specially after having dwlded on dial-up(!) and be unable to activate/register!!
    But I don't think GOTD can do anything about it or has the power todo so...
    I think some Companies *demand* certain rules be applied to *their* s/w, I guess...

    I'm lucky in the sense I can decide at the last minute to dwld or not dwld, after the dust settles down from the craziness in the front page, one has a better idea if it's worth it or not. But I suppose u have to make up ur mind right after the s/w or game is posted. That must be tough...
    Peace, Manu

    Posted 16 years ago #
12. 

    LeKanaw
    Member

    Hi Zin, me again
    Hey, have u gone back to the HelpSmith offer in the front page, since it finished??
    I went there just now. I left a message(#115) there for the developer, just b4 it expired and also on the website, juuust in case he wanted to help out...
    It's my first time doing so, many ppl here say sometimes it works... We'll see. Till now, haven't rcvd anything via eMail, so I thought of checking there...

    Anyway, u should go back and read all the entries after mine.
    Maybe that could help compensate for the frustration of loosing out on HelpSmith.
    I don't know the product at all. http://www.vizacc.com/
    The way he was talking, he thought probably his posts were going to be deleted.
    Peace, Manu

    Posted 16 years ago #

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