DVDA 5.0 installation fails

Velcro Face wrote on 7/9/2008, 9:33 AM
The DVDA 5.0 installation fails on my system with the message: "The Installation Wizard has ended prematurely! Your system has not been modified..." I've corresponded with Sony technical support, exchanging 15 messages over a course of more than a week, and we're getting nowhere. Yestersay I spent about an hour on the phone with Sony, trying all sorts of things, to no avail. Their latest suggestion is to first uninstall all Sony software on my system (and I have lots of it). Before I try that (which I fear will be another exercise in futility), I'd like to know if anyone else has experienced this problem. Sony says nobody has reported any installation issues on DVD 5.0.

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Michael

Comments

TheHappyFriar wrote on 7/9/2008, 9:49 AM
i had no install issues. doesn't give any other message? try deleting the install folders. Normally it's "C:\Program Files\Sony Setup". If a file is bad there it could be an issue.
Velcro Face wrote on 7/9/2008, 10:32 AM
No other messages from the installer. However, Sony support asked me to run dvdarch50_enu.msi, and it returned the message:

Internal Error 2721. SfWMF4Setup

I've tried deleting the install folders. I also downloaded the installation file three separate times, rebooted clean, disabled my antivirus.

By the way, my OS is Vista Ultimate 32-bit on an Intel Quad-core box with 3 GB RAM.

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Michael
warriorking wrote on 7/9/2008, 2:18 PM
Have you tried reinstalling Architech 4.5 and then running the DVDA5 setup .....
nolonemo wrote on 7/9/2008, 4:31 PM
Or installing while running in safe mode? (Not a clue if this would make any difference)
PeterWright wrote on 7/9/2008, 6:34 PM
I've not been able to instal DVDA5 either - it tells me to make sure I have local administrator privileges on the system

I already do - I have every single Sony Program already installed and working on the same machine - Vegas, DVDA4.5, Sound Forge, Acid Pro 6, Cinescore, CDArchitect.

Sony support told me to make a few changes in regedit, which I did but it made no difference.

They've now told me to uninstall EVERYTHING Sony, delete all Sony folders etc., remove Microsoft SQL Server Desktop Engine, NET frameworks and MS C++
then reinstal. I'm loathe to do this unless there's no choice - it will take hours - the PC in question is not connected to the internet so I'll have all that "other computer" stuff - and I'm not fully confident doing all that will make any difference.

I don't have any urgent need for BluRay authoring, but I will eventually. Does anyone know any other things to try before I do all that uninstalling? There must be something different about the DVDA5 installer, as I've never had that message before, including with DVDA 4.5, which I believe this new version replaces.

edit:
Velcro Face wrote "Sony says nobody has reported any installation issues on DVD 5.0."

Not quite true - I submitted my problem on 2nd July, and have had two responses from them.

Velcro Face wrote on 7/9/2008, 10:22 PM
When it gets to the point that they start asking you to uninstall everything, then that strikes me as an act of desperation. That's the advice they finally gave to me, and I refuse to take it. I'll wait for the next release, thank you.

DVDA 5.0 is the only software that refuses to install nicely on my system. You'd think that they'd stop and ask themselves, "What did we change in the installer?" and try to track down the issue on their end. You have to wonder if Sony suspects their own software is the culprit, then they should be a little more concerned about rooting out the problem.

By the way, one of their suggestions was to install in Safe mode, but the Windows installer won't work in Safe mode. You can try installing in quiet mode, but that's like sticking your head in the sand: If there are error messages, you won't see them.

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Michael
TheHappyFriar wrote on 7/9/2008, 11:35 PM
if you don't need blueray then there's no point in DVDA5. i've had issues with it on my DVD projects, so I went back to 4.5.

here's an idea: what's the md5 checksum of the installer? Maybe something is messing with the installer you downloaded. I used this program & it works good.

md5 of my dvda5 installer (the .exe): 27b54c41124debd4328637e850a8bd30
PeterWright wrote on 7/17/2008, 11:55 PM
Happy Friar - I am now also happy - I didn't check the checksum, but I did re-copy the .exe file from my download computer, and the second copy opened fine!!

I'm glad I didn't follow Support's advice of speding half a day uninstalling and reinstalling anything bearing the name Sony!