|
Yeah, that's a fun little error isn't it? I partook in a wasted few weeks of tech support exchanges with Sprite Support, which seems to have been contracted out, and they never resolved the issue. I do not know why the error happened on my notebook PC (my only PC), but it started perhaps 1 major and 2 minor releases ago in terms of Sprite. I tried just installing with the old version intact, which failed. I tried uninstalling the old version from the PPC and PC as they later recommended once they finally got back to me. I tried re-installing an old version to the PC and then uninstalling that, and still this version can not be determined error. I tried deleting every trackable component from the filesystem and registry of PC and PPC, and tried installing with two different PPCs connected, but nothing worked. Sprite Support was not able to resolve the issue, and though I asked, they ignored my requests for just a CAB file. Apparently they are not able to send these out or release them on their site, though over 2 years ago a Sprite staff member promised me that they were actively at work on a 'mobile version' of the site where CAB files could be downloaded. That never happened.
What finally changed for me was completely bizarre, something I have not been able to explain. One day I was rebooting the notebook because it had locked up. This was a forced power-off reboot, something I try to avoid but seems inevitable with Win98SE at least a couple of times per week. During the boot, a strange totally blue screen appeared, then a line of text flashed for about a second saying something about a registry recovery... I didn't see it clearly, just out of the corner of my eye and as I rapidly glanced towards the screen... Watching in complete horror, I saw the OEM's splash startup screen, something I'd not seen since the last time I reinstalled the OS on a cleaned disc. My desktop was a mess. None of my program settings survived, though it seems no registration codes got forgotten, just settings, preferences, customisations.
My last registry backup had been about a month earlier (I know, stupid me - I'm doing them twice a week now), and given the number of things I'd changed since were just too many to make a lot of difference from what I was seeing, so I decided to just start working on this new monster as it was. Over the next few weeks I modified settings as things came up, including DUN, email accounts, folder customisation, whatever. After about a week it occurred to me that trying to install Sprite might work now, as the registry might have been wiped of whatever bug was blocking me. Presto! It installed flawlessly to both PC and PPC! Since it was the registry which somehow reverted to something sort of halfway to virgin, I can only assume that Sprite had been corrupted somehow, or had corrupted something, which can only be fixed by wiping things back to something like factory-new condition. I'd thought it might be Activesync's records of installations and had uninstalled that and reinstalled without saving settings, but that had not made any difference. Nope, it must have been the registry.
So what can I tell you? Email me, gerard @ luthier.ca without the spaces, and I'll send you the CAB if you like. I forget if I've saved out the WM2003 version of the CAB or not, but will check if you like. No problem at all. Except, of course, that you still won't be able to install the PC side of the software... I'm not going to suggest that you wipe your PC hard drive and start over just for this, but it does seem that Sprite is unable to offer other solutions.
|