Well i tried it also and i still get the no listings availble message.
I copyed the whole Gemstar directory and i at least get a grid (the old last downloaded database listings) that has all the channels listed but for Oct-08 and it don't update and so i can not even use the guide program as it is.
It might be that only a few area (Zip codes) are still working, maybe put up a zip codes if you have it working.
Hello, Well since there has been VERY Little chatter posted about guide plus and now all of the sudden this post thread (for a relatively old product speaking) is on FIRE!
Ok, starting over with firefox:
On or about Jan 9th I started the Guide Plus ver 1.0.0.50 program and it went berserk. Guide plus started flashing / flickering, the windows error chime kept going off, CPU utilization went to 100%. The program was unresponsive and wouldn't X close out. I had to use task manager a few times to get it to stop running. I tried it again and the same thing happened. I restarted the system and tried it again...same thing; Periodically over the next week I tried it just to see if it "found itself" LOL - it didn't. 8-(
I un-installed using Add/remove programs and selected to REMOVE it. Then I rebooted, and reloaded it from the CD. Started the program and asked for the name/email\Zipcode fine but when it prompted to get new listings it would just time out giving me this error: "Message
Failed to connect to the server.
Please check the internet connection and try to download again" - Same as some one else posted.
I decided to un-install all ATI products and start from a semi-clean slate. I again used Add/remove programs to take out the Display drivers, DAO, decoder, Guide Plus, Titan TV, MMC, etc and then I ran Driver Cleaner Pro. (However, there is no specific Guide plus setting in it). I rebooted into safe mode re-ran DC Pro and got the last parts out and then manually removed the GEMSTAR folder in (PROGRAM FILES). Rebooted into XP, then reloaded the Display Catalyst 5.01 / WDM, DAO, Decoder, MMC 9.08 (with several appropriate restarts in there). Everything was working fine as it had before (this was the way it was set up before). I then installed Guide Plus and had the SAME problem as before...failing to connect to the server.
After I said a few choice words, I tried about 2 hours worth of other versions of Guide Plus, Catalyst, MMC etc. Then, in researching I noticed that A LOT of the Guide Plus information on sites has been archived. And i found nothing helpful in 10+ pages of ATI knowledge base posts with "guide plus" in them. I continued to search and have been for hours. A lot of sites have archived or deleted there old ATI A-I-W threads so finding good information has been in short supply. ThEn I FoUnD tHiS tHrEaD!!!! It seems rather odd that for such an old program it would all of the sudden have a number of people having similar problems, after the topic being rather quiet for so long. So Glad i found this site. I signed up to share what my experience has been and based on what you said, I did the following.
I have a number of computers around that have A-I-Wonder cards or TV tuner cards. So i fired up one that has been off-line for a number of months. I started up Guide Plus version 1.0.0.45 and downloaded the updated file. It worked as PeRfEcTlY as Guide Plus ever does. It got the new updates through 1/25/09 and I checked a few shows and it is correct! So the updates are still there and coming. Was there some kind of bug or glitch that came down in the past few weeks/months that caused the problems? Since the program is/ and always has been prone to crashes (i can't tell you how many times i've done the above process) BUT never before has that failed to correct a cranky Guide plus.
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So thanks to your REG key suggestion (and I had done a search with REG EDIT but without your pin pointing them I was getting No where so thank you again) i was able to compare the non-working version. Many of the Reg settings only had the URL pointing to gemstar...there were no h t t p 144.198.100....entries. So I started there by copying what was on the good machine in the URL section:
I took a shot and copied over and had to create one missing string, but like some of you, it went through the motions and contacted the server, downloaded the advertisements but failed to show any new TV updates. So that's progress. It made contact with the server...but something else is still not correct. (in the version that wasn't working all the URL's were to text gemstarguide.com....
Ok, sorry no matter what i try I can't get this to post my Registry settings in a graph i made. Anything with ##'s and too many periods even when i take out the hyper text and dots and co s ....Sorry i'll try and post after i get some more posts under my belt. It would have been nice if the thread sent up an error like most do saying no urls rather than posting & deleting so as to lose all I wrote. GRRRRRR!
EDIT: this wouldn't post at first. I've gone back through and corrected some of the differences between the two postings. Wow, its hard to recreate a post but they were pretty much the same. Thank you moderator for extra work i created for you. I was far too impatient. The graph is below. However a futher update on the two working versions there is no ab | 2 | ...so that doesn't seem to be a factor and may be a result of registry settings left over from a previous install or different version of Guide plus. As for a brief time I had version 1.0.0.32 installed and that was in the second position elsewhere in the registry. i've deleted all those stings and they can't help and may only cause conflicts. We've already got enough of those.
but maybe if we all do it might let them know of a problem...especially if someone at Macrovision goofed and the pointing website URL got taken off-line or is having some problem etc. (ALL thinking out loud I have no idea).