Vista Windows Media Center Extender fails to connect with new HP MediaSmart Connect x280n
- From: CarterJonathanB <CarterJonathanB.3dt6o6@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Fri, 8 Aug 2008 10:25:03 +0530
Problem: New HP MediaSmart Connect x280n does not connect with Windows
Media Center on HP Pavilion tx1000 Tablet Notebook PC running 32-bit
Windows Vista Home Premium.
Background: After 7 days of trying to get the new home entertainment
device from HP to connect to Windows Media Center on my HP notebook PC,
I finally called HP Customer Service. While I kept telling the HP folks
over in India that my router, firewall, NIS, and spyware programs were
functioning properly and recognized the device, they kept telling me
that the problem was one of the items noted above on my end. After
turning things off, uninstalling software, and actually moving the
router and server so that they could be hardwired to the new device near
my HDTV, HP Customer Service finally gave up and agreed to escalate the
call to Defcon 1 or something and promised to email me some links to
their Knowledge Base and call me back with a solution. That was three
days ago. The links were useless and sent from an email address that
could not receive replies. And I still have yet to hear back from HP by
phone.
Solution: Two days ago, I was once again attempting to install the
Extender after making some adjustments to my router and NIS when by
sheer chance I noticed the VeriSoft Access Manager 'Fingerprint Scan'
icon pop-up in the System Tray for a second or two. I thought that this
was strange because there was no reason for that icon to appear. There
was nothing in the process that required a password. Once again, the
process stalled and that pesky error message appeared on my HDTV screen
stating that the Extender could not connect to Windows Media Center and
that I should restart the device and try again. I did, two or three
more times, each time noticing that the VeriSoft icon appeared in the
System Tray each time before the process stalled. Finally, I disabled
the actualy fingerprint scanner in Device Manager. No success. Then I
uninstalled VeriSoft Access Manager. When I attempted to connect via
the Extender, it finally worked! It appears that there is a software
compatability issue between the HP MediaSmart Connect's Windows Media
Center Extender and the VeriSoft Access Manager software that came
pre-installed for my fingerprint scanner on my HP Pavilion tx1000 Tablet
Notebook PC. Since I also couldn't connect the device to my wife's HP
Pavilion dv9000 Notebook PC, which also has a fingerprint scanner
running VeriSoft Access Manager, I conclude that the HP MediaSmart
Connect will not connect to any HP PC running the pre-installed VeriSoft
Access Manager.
Moving Forward: Please, HP/Microsoft, get it together. I understand
that bugs happen and compatability issues arise. However, I am a very
technology savvy consumer. If I had this much trouble trying to install
this solution, how is John Q. Public going to have success using this
product? I was planning to return the unit the next morning before I
figured out the problem. I imagine many people will be returning this
product if it doesn't work with an HP notebook PC like my two computers.
Further, HP Customer Service did not seems to have a clue. And more
troubling, they didn't seem to care whether or not my customer
experience was successful. Not good... this is why more and more people
are moving away from PC/Windows solutions!
--
CarterJonathanB
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