I just installed WinCap and am getting an error when it starts up?
A: There are several messages that can appear in WinCap:
WARNING! FILE LOCK DETECTED
"WinCap32 has detected the lock to prevent multiple instances of WinCap32 from running simultaneously. You can exit, or WinCap32 will continue normal capturing in: xx seconds"
This message appears as a separate window as WinCap starts up. This window appears when WinCap is already running (on this machine or another across the network), or if WinCap was shut down incorrectly (after a computer loses power and just shuts down). The message is designed as a warning, because errors can occur if 2 instances of WinCap are trying to write to the same capture file.
If your computer has just restarted, this message indicates that WinCap did not shut down correctly. Let the timer count down to 0 seconds and WinCap will start running.
If you receive this message on a reboot after shutting down Windows correctly, or are starting WinCap on a machine that is not normally the "capture" computer, click the Exit button to prevent WinCap from starting. Then check the other machines on the network to see if WinCap is running anywhere else.
Cannot open w:\wire\capture\$capture.cap
This message appears in a separate window as WinCap is starting up. Either the capture file listed in the path does not exist, or WinCap cannot get exclusive access to it. This could be due to a networking issue, where the specified drive letter is not mapped to the computer. Check the drive letter, path and file to see that they all exist. Check to see that the capture file ($capture.cap) is not read-only. Check to see that WinCap is not already running, either on this computer or any others on the network.
Cannot initialize w:\wire\capture\$capture.cap
Either the capture file listed in the path does not exist, or WinCap cannot get exclusive access to it. This could be due to a networking issue, where the specified drive letter is not mapped to the computer. Check the drive letter, path and file to see that they all exist. Check to see that the capture file ($capture.cap) is not read-only. Check to see that WinCap is not already running, either on this computer or any others on the network.
Unable to initialize alarm. Invalid COM port
This message is stating that in the WinCap setup, the COM port listed is not valid for use with the alarm. If you are not using the alarm and get this message, it can be ignored. If you are using the alarm in WinCap and get the message, check to see that the port it is configured for exists and is not being used for a wire service or any other program.
Port not Open for Service1 29,1,9600,E,7,1
This message means that WinCap is unable to communicate with the COM port that the service is configured for. The COM port is the "1" in the example above (the format for the Service line is wire service driver #,COM port,baud rate,parity,data bits,stop bits). Check the Windows Device Manager to be sure that the COM port exists and shows it is working correctly. If it is, try using HyperTerminal to see if the incoming data can be captured by it. Try another COM port (if the computer has more than one that is free) to see if WinCap gives errors with that device.
Unable to rebuild index for w:\wire\capture\$capture.cap
There are 2 files involved in the capture file: the file that holds the data ($capture.cap) and the file that holds the index of stories ($capture.idx). If either one of these files is locked open by another process (like another instance of WinCap) or is read-only, then WinCap will be unable to write to the capture file correctly. This message specifies that the index file is not available to WinCap to write to. Check the properties of the $capture.idx file to see if it is read-only. This message could also mean that the Windows user logged into this machine does not have permission to write to or edit the index file. Check the properties of the Window users to ensure it has read/write permission.
Stories labeled "Unknown" scrolling quickly down the screen.
If WinCap cannot communicate with the COM ports, it will start scrolling "Unknown" as the headline. Even if no data is coming in thru the COM ports (or if the wire service in not connected to the port), this message may still appear.
This may happen in WinCap versions prior to 3.210. Versions prior to 3.210 required COMMX.OCX to be registered in order for WinCap to communicate with the COM ports. COMMX.OCX can be found in the \wire\install\nr32\at1616 folder on the drive letter that the WireReady software was installed to.
To register COMMX.OCX, copy the file to the c:\windows\system (or c:\winnt\system32) on the machine that is running WinCap. From a DOS box, change the directory/prompt to the c:\windows\system, then type "REGSVR32 COMMX.OCX" and strike Enter. You should get a window that the registration succeeded. You have to restart the computer.
Unable to write story
This message shows that a text story was sent from the wire service, but WinCap could not write it to the capture file.
Either the capture file listed in the path does not exist, or WinCap cannot get exclusive access to it. This could be due to a networking issue, where the specified drive letter is not mapped to the computer. Check the drive letter, path and file to see that they all exist. Also check to see that the capture files ($capture.cap and $capture.idx in the \wire\capture folder) are not read-only. This message can also occur if more than one instance of WinCap is running. Check all the other computers on the network are not also running WinCap.
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