ToToTEK.COM

[missyrelm]

I just got my MD-PRO 64 from the mail at home around noon today, and have been trying to get it to work non-stop for about 9 hours straight.

The problem is when I try to start DreamWriter v2.1, I get the message
"NT Port Driver couldnt start. Something Wrong!!!!!!!!!!!" (yes, with all the exclamation marks) and then Dreamwriter comes on but doesn't show any games or anything at all.

I am using Windows XP Home Edition.

I tested the md-pro out on my Genesis and it worked fine with the pre-installed games that came with it, so its not that.

I went into the BIOS of my computer and changed it to "EPP". I connected the programmer to my computer using the Parallel cable and USB cable that I bought here from Tototek so I know its not that either.

I set the setting of the DreamWriter to the right port (378) so its not that.

No matter what I try, or what order I turn things on and plug them in, nothing seems to stop it from saying "NT Port Driver couldnt start. Something Wrong!!!!!!!!!!!"

So I tried using drivers for the printer port. First I tried out Tinyport for about 3 hours until I found out that it doesn't work on PCI Bus type, just ICA. So I gave up on Tinyport and uninstalled.

So then I tried UserPort as a driver for the port and while it wouldn't open port 378-378, it *would* open port 378-37b. Dreamwriter still gives the same error, so no luck.

I also tried turning off XP Windows control of the ports. The idea is that NT won't allow two drivers to share a port, so If I'm going to use UserPort to drive the port, then I can't let the Windows Driver conflict with it.
I went to Control Panel -> System -> Hardware -> Device Manager, then opened the Ports branch where there was only one thing thing which said "ECP Printer Port (LPT1)" and telling that to uninstall (there was nothing that said EPP).

This didn't work either. And When I tell Device Manager to Scan for Hardware Changes, it just bring back the "ECP Printer Port (LPT1)", same thing if I restart. I've tried both disabling and uninstalling and restarting and checking the BIOS again it always comes back. But then I'm not even sure if this has anything to do with the problem...

Please help if anyone has any ideas, I'm at my wits end!

EDIT: It's now been 12 straight hours since I started with this, and finally at least partial success!!! It's stupid but I had tried to install v2.1 of Dreamwriter without installing v1.6 1st. So when I installed it right, it stopped giving the error, but couldn't find the flash cart!
So I tried Removing Userport and got the "NT Port Driver couldnt start. Something Wrong!!!!!!!!!!!" again, so I re-installed Userport and the error went away but couldnt find the flash cart again. Then I re-enabled "ECP Printer Port (LPT1)" in the Device Manager and it saw the Flash Cart!
But it did not show any of the games that were pre-installed. I was able to write 3 games onto it and they worked! They did erase the pre-installed games though, and I'm unsure how well it will add and erase games. But its 10 till midnight here and I started at noon, so its time to stop while I'm ahead and go to sleep....

[Tomy]

"NT Port Driver couldnt start. Something Wrong!!!!!!!!!!!" mean your installation directory missing a NT driver called "zlportio.sys". It is not using userport.sys. So, please check if zlportio.sys there ?

For Parallel port, you should use EPP mode v1.7 or v1.9. I personally use v1.9.

Please test and report here, sorry for your trouble.