The Dongle

[L33tace]

Hi
This is my first program to have a dongle so here goes the silly questions :). Is there anything I should do or not do to keep it functioning. I was following a WIP thread on another forum and the guy's dongle got damaged some how and wouldn't work for him, what happens in those situations? can I get a replacement?
Is it ok to keep it plugged in all the time?
Thanks. :)

[StephenBlair]

Hi

If your dongle is damaged, you can exchange it for a new dongle. Contact support@softimage.com if that happens.

It is ok to leave it plugged in all the time.

In general, just be sensible :-) Don't throw it around, step on it, break it open see what is inside, ...

If you decide to play around with your computer system time (eg set it into the future), unplug the dongle while you are messing about.

[Sarford]

Ah, yes, I've ran into that problem.
I had my dongle laying about on my desk for a couple of months. After plugging it back in and trying to start XSI I got some message that there was a time problem. XSI also gave the option to correct it so there was no hasstle.
But what does XSI store on your dongle beside the time? And can the battery run out or does it get charged again through the usb power? And if the battery runs out are you alowed to change it yourself or should you send it back?

thanks, Simon

[dwigfor]

There's no battery in it... I've had the back of the dongle (little bracket) break off. Avid rep even drove thru LA traffic to deliver a new one (thx Reed!!!) to me. And this was even for my personal XSI copy, not Nickelodeon's.

FANTASTIC support!

-Dave

PS. If this does happen to you, whenever you're registering a new version, make sure to remind SI support that you have a new dongle.

[StephenBlair]

Ah, yes, I've ran into that problem.
I had my dongle laying about on my desk for a couple of months. After plugging it back in and trying to start XSI I got some message that there was a time problem. XSI also gave the option to correct it so there was no hasstle.
But what does XSI store on your dongle beside the time? And can the battery run out or does it get charged again through the usb power? And if the battery runs out are you alowed to change it yourself or should you send it back?

thanks, Simon

dwigfor is correct, the dongle does not have its own power source.

So when the dongle is unplugged for awhile, the timestamp on the dongle is not updated. And when you plug the dongle back in, SPM will display a message about the system time being far ahead of the dongle time (http://softimage.wiki.avid.com/index.php/How_To:_Reset_the_dongle_time).

As long as the system time is correct, you can allow SPM to reset the dongle time.
However, if your system time is in the future and you reset the dongle time, then the dongle time will be permanently in the future.

[Sarford]

Thanks for the reply guys...

Now, I don't wanna be a smarta$$, but here a a few pictures of my XSI dongle, and it DOES seem to have a batery. And this is not a normal capacitor couse you can remove it. Maybe there are more then one type of dongle out there?

[StephenBlair]

It may seem to be a battery, but it is not. It's the iButton (http://www.maxim-ic.com/products/ibutton/ibuttons/) itself.

[dwigfor]

That part on the back is what broke on mine.. Be carefull.....

(and no I didn't purposefully remove it...)

[Sarford]

Ah, StephenBlair, I stand corrected. I never knew this was an i-button (never removed it) and I'd never heard of i-button. Thanks for the information.

@ Dwigfor: Yeah, the back piece is a bit loose on my dongle too. Maybe better to glue it shut.

[L33tace]

Going to bookmark this for future reference, thanks.

There's no battery in it... I've had the back of the dongle (little bracket) break off. Avid rep even drove thru LA traffic to deliver a new one (thx Reed!!!) to me. And this was even for my personal XSI copy, not Nickelodeon's.
I came across the Avid office here last weekend, its about a 5min cycle or so from where I live.

[druitre]

Ah, I just had the message "do you want to IRREVOCABLY reset the timestamp on your dongle as your computer is far ahead of etc etc". Scary stuff! Had been working abroad for a month and had my dongle unplugged during this period. Good to find this thread, it may be worth a sticky note at the top: "dongle issues"?

[StephenBlair]

This is covered on the wiki too:

http://softimage.wiki.avid.com/index.php?title=How_To:_Reset_the_dongle_time

[druitre]

That's good, thanks for the info.

That page though isn't linked to any other. Maybe someone can link it to a troubleshooting/list of error messages directory? (Someone with higher access permission than me as a wiki-user, I don't think I can do that sort of re-ordering in the basic index)