busTRACE 2003 FAQ

1. Why do I get a "Class not registered" error during installation on Windows 2000/XP?
This error message is caused by the installer package we use and is usually caused by not installing the software with administrator privileges. Unfortunately, there isn't a way for us to alter this behavior and display something more user friendly. We apologize for the confusion. Please log on with administrator privileges and try again.

2. busTRACE 2003 is not detecting my parallel port dongle. Why?
This may be caused by one of the following issues:

Make sure you boot your system with the parallel port dongle inserted.
A "paused print job" on a parallel port is capable of preventing us from detecting the dongle.
If connecting through a docking station, there are some laptop docking stations and/or port replicators that do not extend the parallel port connections properly. Connection of the dongle directly to the laptop parallel port will usually take care of this problem.
Make sure the dongle is plugged into the parallel port, and not into another port on your computer.
If installing under Windows 2000/XP, please make sure you have Administrator access rights.
If none of the above is the issue, go into your CMOS BIOS settings and check the default setting for the parallel port. If it is set to "Automatic," try changing it to "Enabled."

3. I am receiving this error -> Failure:StartService:Parclass Error code: 0x37
If you are seeing this on a Dell Dimension 8100, you can resolve this issue by following these steps:

Start the computer and press F2 to go into BIOS setup
Within the BIOS setup, scroll down to Integrated Devices and press Enter
Choose Parallel Port and press Enter
Press the space bar until the mode changes to PS/2
Press Esc Twice
Scroll down to Auto Power On
Press the space bar until Auto Power On is Disabled
Press ESC
Press Enter to save the changes and exit
From a command prompt type "net start parclass"

4. I am unable to uninstall busTRACE 2003. Why?
On a rare occasion, the busTRACE 2003 uninstaller is not able to completely remove itself from some systems. This is not an issue with newer versions of busTRACE. If you experience this issue, our uninstaller will notify you of this error. Please contact us and we will provide you an updated uninstaller to remove the product.

busTRACE 2003 - General Questions

1.What changes were made to the most recent revision of the software?
Click here to view our busTRACE 2003 Change Log.

2. Does busTRACE support USB 2.0?
Microsoft provides USB 2.0 drivers for Windows 2000 and Windows XP. busTRACE fully supports these drivers. busTRACE also supports 3rd party USB 2.0 drivers under the Windows 9x/Me operating systems.

3. Does busTRACE support USB scanners?
NOTE: busTRACE 6.0, and later, captures all USB low-level I/O activity.

In general, no. USB scanners process what are called URBs. busTRACE does not process these types of I/O activity. If you have a SCSI scanner, busTRACE can capture its I/O activity.

4. Why is busTRACE reporting the number of "Bytes Transferred" as being greater than what I know was actually transferred to/from the device.
The first thing you need to check is whether or not you are seeing this on an IDE/ATAPI bus. There is a limitation with the IDE/ATAPI bus, and miniport driver, in that it cannot properly return the number of bytes transferred when configured for DMA mode. The end result is that the miniport driver will report the number of bytes transferred as the number of bytes requested. For example, you pass in a 256 byte data buffer for an Inquiry command, and you only receive 36 bytes. The "Bytes Transferred" would incorrectly return back 256 bytes. The only known workaround is to disable DMA and leave the transfer to PIO mode. You typically alter these settings through the Windows Device Manager.

5. I currently have a product I use on my system that uses a parallel port dongle. If I purchase your product with the parallel port dongle, will I be able to use both applications at the same time?
There are some cases where the dongles can be daisy chained. However, if you purchase a parallel port dongle, you should assume that you will only be able to use one product at a time (requiring a reboot each time you swap the dongle). If you have the need to run our software at the same time as the other vendor's product, you can do one of the following:

When you purchase busTRACE 2003, you are offered the choice of purchasing a USB or parallel port dongle. If you choose the USB dongle, you will not have this issue. This option requires that your system have an available USB port to plug in the dongle.
If you prefer a parallel port option, you can insert the other company's dongle on your system. Under Windows 2000/XP, you can then use the remote connection capability to remotely connect to the system you would like to capture I/O activity against. On the system capturing I/O activity, you will not need a dongle attached. On the system viewing the I/O activity, you will need to have the dongle inserted. Note that this option will only work for busTRACE and not for busPROBE.

6. Can I have busTRACE running when I suspend/resume my system?
NOTE: This feature is supported in busTRACE 6.0 and later.

Unfortunately no. Due to a variety of issues, some beyond our control, this is currently not supported.

7. Sometimes busTRACE shows a different device name than busPROBE. Why?
busPROBE sends down an actual Inquiry CDB to the device to get its device name. busTRACE, on the other hand, asks the operating system what the device name is. While these names usually match, they are sometimes different. You will find that busTRACE matches what Device Manager reports. This is normal behavior.

busTRACE 2003 - Windows 98/98SE/Millennium

1. Why does busTRACE/busPROBE see my type 7 optical memory device as a type 0 hard drive?
Both busTRACE and busPROBE are reporting to you the device type that the operating system tell us it is. In the case of Windows 9x, Microsoft appears to be forcing type 7 devices to appear as type 0 devices. This was likely done because the type 7 command set is nearly identical to type 0. This is not an issue under Windows 2000/XP/2003.

Detailed technical explanation: In the Device Control Block (DCB), you can find the device type in the DCB_device_type field of the DCB_COMMON structure that is part of the DCB. It is this DCB_device_type field that is being set to type 0 by the operating system instead of the expected type 7.

busTRACE 2003 - Windows 2000/XP

1. Why doesn't busTRACE see my 1394 device under Windows 2000/XP?
There could be a variety of reasons. One thing to check is whether you installed the 1394 controller after installing busTRACE. If you do, we will not see the device by default. The reason for this is that our installer is designed to insert our filter driver into bus architectures that are known to the operating system at the time of installation (whether they have devices connected or not). One quick thing to check is to run busTRACE and select the "Tools->Driver Settings..." option. Select the "Bus Filter" option and you should see a 1394 option, along with the standard SCSI, IDE/ATAPI, and USB. If you see no checkmark next to the 1394 option, place a checkmark next to it, click on "OK," exit the application and reboot your computer.

The second thing to check is whether or not your 1394 device processes CDBs or not. For example, a DV camera does not, and will not appear to busTRACE.

2. My Windows 2000/XP system sometimes crashes. This happens when I go into Device Manager and rescan for devices, I change the firmware revision, or when running Microsoft's WHQL HCT tests. Why?
If this only happens when you have busTRACE 2003 installed, this could be a known conflict with the ATAPI.SYS driver in Windows 2000/XP. We have worked around this problem in v2.0.053 of busTRACE 2003. Please make sure you update to our latest revision of busTRACE and try again.

3. My device isn't being detected by busTRACE 2003. Why?
If you just installed a new device, there are occasions when busTRACE will not detect the device or capture I/O activity against it. While this is rare, it can occur. The solution is to reboot your computer and run busTRACE again. You should not see the problem again.

4. I am using Via's 4-in-one IDE/ATAPI bus drivers and busTRACE 2003 is not detecting my IDE/ATAPI devices. Why?
We currently only support these drivers when you configure busTRACE as a class or device filter, not in its default bus filter setting. You can adjust this value by selecting the "Tools->Driver Settings..." main menu option.

5. When attempting to remotely connect to a system, I am receiving an "access denied" error message. How can I make this work?
When it comes to our remote connection, we use Microsoft's underlying remote protocols. You receive this message when your client computer cannot log into your remote server. It is not always obvious why this does not work but we suggest the following steps to try.

Each system needs to have the same user account, such that the client system can log into the remote server without any user prompts. How do you verify this? What we recommend is to create a shared folder on the target server. Then go over to the client system, browse with Windows Explorer, and find that shared folder on the target server. If you can see the contents of that folder WITHOUT being asked to enter a username/password, then busTRACE 2003 remote connection should work equally well. Other things you can try are to make sure that both computers are in the same domain or workgroup.