Windows Installer woes

[bb7]

I've been a very satisfied user for a few months.  I've been running 907c with much success using a PVR250 and the MVP.  

Just today, I started having major problems.  Some but not all of the time, when I try to run one of the GBPVR executables (config.exe, or the gbpvr client), Windows starts an installation process ("Please wait while Windows configures GB-PVR&quot.  This is months after I installed GBPVR.  

Windows asks for the location of the GBPVR msi ("The feature you are trying to use is on a network resource that is unavailable...&quot.  If I provide the correct location, Windows goes thru the "installation" and basically messes up my config.xml and other settings (e.g., for the Weather and DVDtoMPEG plugins).  Most everything reverts to the defaults.  I can go in and change everything back, but this whole process starts over whenever I reboot.

If I "cancel" the installation, I get the message "Error 1706. No valid source could be found for product GB-PVR. Windows Installer cannot continue."  I can then go to the GBPVR root folder and rename "config.retained.xml" back to config.xml, but some of the plugin settings (Weather, DVDtoMPEG) revert back to defaults.  Also, the default stations for the NetRadio plugin show up again in the NetRadio folder.

The obvious question is "what did I change right before this started happening?"  Answer:  I installed the TheatreListings plugin and enabled GBPVR's web administration feature.  But undoing/changing those things doesn't seem to make any difference.

I've been poking around for hours, trying to read log files and figure out what's going on.  I've searched the forum and can't find mention of any similar problems.  I'm guessing that GBPVR is thinking it needs to update something, but I don't know why or what.  I noticed it was trying to update the database but erroring out because the columns it was trying to add were already there.

I'm out of ideas and really frustrated.  It's worked so well up until today.

Any ideas?  I can post/email log files if that would help -- just let me know which ones.
Thanks.

brian

[adi2004]

Did you move the start menu shortcuts for GB-PVR? If you did, then you will get this error. It's the same problem that affects Norton Antivirus 2005, which will not allow you to move the shortcuts from the location they are initially placed in.

I think the issue is with InstallShield rather than the app, but it is a royal pain because I like to decide where my shortcuts are going to go, not have the app force it on me!

[stefan]

Maybe this thread can help you?

[bb7]

hmm... I feel like an idiot. I swear I searched the forum for "installation", "installer", "reinstall", etc... Thanks for the link & the help. Seems like the problem is now solved.

brian

[stefan]

The search can be a little tricky; you have to fill out which forum to search and during which time period. It's easy to search only for messages during last week or so by mistake.

[rscheller]

Hate to resurrect this thread but last evening I had exactly the same problem bb7 is describing. The only change I'd made to GBPVR was I was dongle testing. My GBPVR 97.13 has been solid on my PC since I'd installed it in late July 2006.

Any help is appreciated.

Please note the link stefan references in this thread, post #4 which may be what I'm looking for is not a valid URL.

Thanks

Rick

[replaytv]

Did you remove or rename the original dongle.bin? I think GBPVR installation is triggerred because some files from original installation is missing. As for testing a new dongle, just drop it in the dongle folder and have the config screen load the new dongle.

Dan L.

[sub]

If the Windows Installer needs to run to correct an application installation, it'll typcially add some messages to the Windows Event Viewer to tell you why exactly.

[rscheller]

Thanks replaytv.

That's exactly what it was. I had just finished experimenting with 4-5 different dongle version and I had moved all dongle files except the good one to a folder within the dongle folder named 'bad_dongles'. This move included dongle.bin.

I moved dongle.bin back into the main dongle folder and all is well again.

Thank you again.

Rick