Hello. I am extremely new to all of this, I am having problems actually starting the program, and could REALLY use some help.

I operate on an XP, but can't tell you much more than that. I downloaded and installed the Aprentice Program, but when I try to start one of the actual programs I get the you-need-a-lisence-to-operate message. After I install the lisence and try to run the program again I get the same lisence-needed message. When I look at the lesence manager,every thing seems ok, but I can never get out of this ‘loop’ in the start up and haven't been able to start ANY of the actual programs. :roll:

Thanks in advance for the help!

Hi there,

Can you please post the diagnostic information here? Please start the License Administrator, go to View -> Diagnostic Information, save it and copy and paste into your reply.

Thanks!

Cheers!
steven

I don't feel comfortable posting some things, such as ip, etc, but here is most of the Information.
Hope this is ok.

Also, should i send the information to support@sidefx.com?

Thanks for helping.

Diagnostic Output:
==================
If you are having licensing problems, please save this information and email it
to support@sidefx.com.

License Administrator output:
=============================
Generated on: Tue Jul 29 21:12:42 2003
Local host name: LESLEY
Local server code:
Local ip address:
License server name: lesley
License server server code:
Server ip address:
License server is running: Yes
Has SERVER license: Yes
License server version: 6.1.83
May modify server from this machine: Yes
License Administrator version: 6.1.83
Http proxy host: (none)
Using standalone mode: Yes
Can retrieve http://license.sidefx.com/index.php: [license.sidefx.com] Yes

Installed licenses:
LicID Platform Product Ver Avail Expiry
—– ——– ——- — —– ——
ab31aeef Generic Houdini-Master-NonCommercial 6.1 1/1 28-aug-2003
+.+.+.+
38f91787 Generic Render-NonCommercial 6.1 1/1 28-aug-2003
+.+.+.+
92294ebf Generic Houdini-Select-NonCommercial 6.1 1/1 28-aug-2003
+.+.+.+
8c50689e Generic Houdini-Halo-NonCommercial 6.1 1/1 28-aug-2003
+.+.+.+
1639ffa0 Generic Houdini-Escape-NonCommercial 6.1 1/1 28-aug-2003
+.+.+.+

sesictrl -i output:
===================
—– SERVER lesley ——–
Lic ab31aeef: 1 “Houdini-Master-NonCommercial 6.1” Generic 28-aug-2003 +.+.+.+
1 licenses free

Lic 38f91787: 1 “Render-NonCommercial 6.1” Generic 28-aug-2003 +.+.+.+
1 licenses free

Lic 92294ebf: 1 “Houdini-Select-NonCommercial 6.1” Generic 28-aug-2003 +.+.+.+
1 licenses free

Lic 8c50689e: 1 “Houdini-Halo-NonCommercial 6.1” Generic 28-aug-2003 +.+.+.+
1 licenses free

Lic 1639ffa0: 1 “Houdini-Escape-NonCommercial 6.1” Generic 28-aug-2003 +.+.+.+
1 licenses free




hserver -l output:
==================
Hostname: LESLEY
Uptime: 0:57:36
License Server: lesley
Server Version: sesinetd6.1.83
Version: Houdini6.1.83
ReadAccess: +.+.+.*
WriteAccess: +.+.+.*

208 of 479 Mb available
CPU Usage: 100% load
0 active tasks (1 slots)



licenses file:
==============
## Side Effects Software License File
#
# For license information, please contact:
# Side Effects Software Inc.
# 477 Richmond St. West, Suite 1001
# Toronto, Ontario, Canada
# M5V 3E7
# licensemanager@sidefx.com
# http://www.sidefx.com [sidefx.com]
#
# NOTE: This file may be modified by the licensee
#

Hi there,

From the Diagnostic Information, everything looks in order except for the following:
licenses file:
==============
## Side Effects Software License File
#
# For license information, please contact:
# Side Effects Software Inc.
# 477 Richmond St. West, Suite 1001
# Toronto, Ontario, Canada
# M5V 3E7
# licensemanager@sidefx.com
# http://www.sidefx.com [sidefx.com]
#
# NOTE: This file may be modified by the licensee
#
There are more lines to the above which you deleted, right? It's okay, I just wanted to make sure.

Can you please try the following?

a. Go to Start button -> Programs -> Side Effects Software -> Houdini 6.1.83 -> Hscript

Does it work? If it does, that's a positive step. Type quit to exit.

b. Again, go to Houdini 6.1.83, start up the Command Line Tools and type houdini in the shell. Does Houdini come up now? Or do you still get the “Install License” dialog?

Cheers!
steven

Yes, I did delete a few things, should I send the complete diagnostic to you?

Also, I tried what you said and this is what happened:

When I open Hscript, it flashes breifly on the screen before closing, and there is no time to even see any script.
I tried to open it as you said, via comand line tools, but again I get the License problem…

Thanks for helping and I am sorry this is getting so complicated… ops:

Hi there,

Please don't apologise and you're welcome!

Can you please re-install Houdini? If after re-installing and Houdini still does not work, I would like you to be patient with me while we troubleshoot.

Thanks!

Cheers!
steven

I uninstalled it and reinstalled it and still get the same message.

Thanks for being so understanding through all this and helping so much, Steven.

Hi there,

Can you please right click on the “My Computer” icon and select Manage. In the Computer Management window, please expand “Services and Applications” and select “Services”.

In the list on the right, do you see “Houdini License Server” and “Houdini License Client”? Are they both started? If “Houdini License Client” is not started, can you try to start it?

Cheers!
steven

They are both there and both already started. Should I try to restart either one?

-Lesley

Hi Lesley,

If you don't mind, can you please restart both of them? Please report any errors when you restart the services.

If you don't mind and have a fast internet connection, can you please install Houdini 6.0 ( http://www.vislab.usyd.edu.au/sidefx/cd1_6.0.286/ [vislab.usyd.edu.au] ) and see if it works?

Thanks!

Cheers!
steven

I tried restarting both of them and I got the same message. I uninstalled Houdini 6.1 and downloaded and installed 6.0 from the link. When I opened it I got the same license message. When I clicked on installing a non-comercial license I got this error:

Error installing key: LICENSE Generic Houdini-Master-NonComercial 6.0 1 02-sep-2003 +.+.+.+ lesley 4a6c3c7b
L3KNFWJhZrM1Gj0fLE0E1dUPHt24dDbLjhNSFIj@MtDs9O5ibyFLhH3
ERROR: Key installation failed

I tried running houdini and installing the license a second time and I don't get the error, but I do get in the same loop I was before.

Also, the menu that comes up after installing the license is barely legible. The backround is extremely strange, consisting of many different color slanted lines. This had happened on the other version, but this time it is much worse, and also happenes on the administrative screen and the diagnostic information (it only happened on the pop-up menu and the administrative screen on the newer version.) However, in either case, when you manually enter the lisence admin. the background is legible.
-Lesley