Upgrading Probe for EPMA to v. 11.x

[John Donovan]

John,

Digging further...  That f0945.msi has a file date of 10/3/2012 and an 8.8.8 version in the dialog box. I checked the installed programs in the Control Panel, and it shows the new PFE and CZ but also an entry for an 8.8.8 version Probe for EPMA Enterprise!  This is strange as the computer was running 9.6.3 before the upgrade, and I really doubt that it has ever had anything older than 9.x installed on it.

So, I told Windows to uninstall the 8.8.8 version, and guess what, it runs the f0945.msi again. I let this finish, and now the installer doesn't pop up anymore when I run PFE.

The Bruker error -106 still persists, though.

- Steve

Hi Steve,
You should not be updating your on-line computer to 11.x.   That must remain at 9.64 since you have such an obsolete instrument.

So I'm confused now.  Are you getting the Bruker error with 9.64 or 11.x?
john

[sckuehn]

This is 11.x on the offline computer. I have a dongle so it can run the Bruker software for offline viewing/processing.

Bruker's Quantax/Esprit version is 1.9.4.3467 (9/19/2013). This is the same version that I have on the probe computer. The RTIFCCLIENT.DLL is the same also.

[John Donovan]

This is 11.x on the offline computer. I have a dongle so it can run the Bruker software for offline viewing/processing.

Bruker's Quantax/Esprit version is 1.9.4.3467 (9/19/2013). This is the same version that I have on the probe computer. The RTIFCCLIENT.DLL is the same also.

Hi Steve,
Did you install the Esprit Client on this off-line computer?

I've attached the Bruker config document below.
john

[sckuehn]

John,

Yes, Esprit is installed (dongle mode) and is functional on its own for working with previously saved Bruker files.

Here is what I'm doing, step-by-step, as well as the program versions and configs:

1)   Run PFE 11x
2)   In hardware interface dialog box, click no
3)   Open a data file
4)   Status line message shows progress running DataEDSUpdateSampleForEDSElements
5)   Turn on Debug Mode
6)   Double-click a sample in Analyze
7)   Status line message: Opening connection to Bruker Quantax server
8 )   Red Esprit icon appears in system tray
9)   PFE Log entry:
EDS spectrum interface [Bruker Quantax] initializing...
EDS spectrum interface [Bruker Quantax] initializing...
Bruker Quantax Interface Initializing...
Connecting to Bruker Quantax Server: Local server, User: edx, Pass: edx...
Opening connection to Bruker Quantax server (please be patient as this may take 10 to 15 seconds)...
Bruker QuantaxInterface Initialized
10)   QuanTax communication server log entry:
Client connection from 127.0.0.1
1 connected client(s)
Login: User ‘edx’ logged in successfully
11)   Dialog box: “Do you want to specify a quantification method for defining the qualitative auto ID?”  Click No
12)   PFE Log entry:
Loading EDS spectrum net intensities for St  123 Set   7 Lipari obsidian  - 6 microns...
Sending sample Lipari obsidian  - 6 microns, line 444 to EDS spectrum interface...
Sending sample to EDS spectrum interface...

 Spectrum Parameters:
 evPerChan   :  4.999
 Processing  :  0
 RealTime    :  8.945
 LiveTime    :  7.985
 DeadTime(%) :  10.73225
 Preset      :  8
 MaxPoint    :  5767

Bruker Quantax Sample Written
ERROR in BrukerEDSSpectraWriteSystem : Error number -106 returned from Bruker Quantax interface (Invalid result data) when calling function GetSpectrometerParamsSpectrum


Software versions:

PFE 11.4.8
Esprit 1.9.4.3467 9/19/2013
Quantax Communication Server 1.9.4.63   1.9.4.3329
RTIFCCLIENT.DLL   2.0.1.271   1/14/2014



Probewin.ini entries:

InterfaceType=0  ; 0=Demo
NumberOfFixedSpecs=0
NumberOfTunableSpecs=4
NumberOfStageMotors=3

EDS_IPAddress="127.0.0.1"
EDS_ServicePort="6476"
EDSSpectraInterfacePresent=1
EDSSpectraInterfaceType=2
EDS_ServerName="Local server"
EDS_LoginName="edx"
EDS_LoginPassword="edx"


I don't know if this matters:   On the production computer with 9.4x, PFE loads Esprit automatically when it connects to hardware. When PFE closes, it also closes Esprit automatically. On the offline computer with 11x, Esprit is loaded later (not connecting to hardware), but when PFE closes, it leaves Esprit running.

[John Donovan]

Hi Steve,
We're getting a bit off topic here.  We really should be discussing this in the Bruker board.

So let's do this:  please send me your standard.mdb and the data mdb file in question as attachments to my donovan probesoftware email, and I will try running it in on my devel system and see if the problem is in your v. 9.6.4 mdb file or your Bruker installation.
john

Edit by John: it's working for me. See below.

Note you need these settings in your probewin.ini file:

EDSSpectraInterfacePresent=1   ; non-zero EDS spectrum interface feature available (Thermo, Bruker, etc)
EDSSpectraInterfaceType=2   ; 0 = demo, 1 = Unused, 2 = Bruker, 3 = Oxford, 4 = Unused, 5 = Thermo NSS, 6 = JEOL OEM EDS
EDSSpectraNetIntensityInterfaceType=2   ; 0 = Demo, 1 = Unused, 2 = Bruker, 3 = Oxford, 4 = Unused, 5 = Thermo NSS, 6 = JEOL

; Use 127.0.0.1 for local loopback test
EDSThinWindowPresent=1      ; non-zero = turn off optical light source when acquiring EDS spectra
EDSInsertRetractPresent=0       ; indicate EDS detector insert/retract hardware
EDSMaxEnergyThroughputPresent=0 ; indicate EDS detector get/set max energy and pulse processing
EDSMCSInputsPresent=0      ; indicates if WDS MCS inputs are available for EDS acquisition

EDS_IPAddress="127.0.0.1"   ; NSS server
EDS_ServicePort=""      ; not used yet
EDS_ServerName="Local Server"   ; used by Bruker only
EDS_LoginName="edx"      ; used by Bruker only
EDS_LoginPassword="edx"      ; used by Bruker only

and you need to be running the 32 bit Esprit, not the 64 bit Esprit.
john

St  123 Set   7 Lipari obsidian  - 6 microns, Results in Oxide Weight Percents

ELEM:     TiO2     FeO     MnO     MgO     CaO    Na2O     K2O    P2O5      Cl    SiO2   Al2O3     H2O       F       O   SUM 
   444    .058   1.540    .078    .009    .774   4.170   5.304    .001    .251  74.178  13.129    .355    .150    .053 100.050
   445    .070   1.497    .083    .015    .734   4.246   5.231   -.015    .229  73.581  12.888    .355    .150    .058  99.122
   446    .084   1.546    .042    .030    .780   4.038   5.205   -.007    .252  72.789  13.149    .355    .150    .053  98.465
   447    .060   1.473    .077    .023    .783   4.338   5.253    .010    .261  74.330  12.915    .355    .150    .051 100.078
   448    .050   1.575    .071    .018    .796   4.094   5.260    .002    .251  72.996  13.008    .355    .150    .053  98.679
   449    .065   1.531    .089    .031    .831   4.364   5.250    .003    .254  73.389  12.834    .355    .150    .052  99.198
   450    .044   1.543    .053    .022    .804   3.944   5.266   -.011    .257  73.517  12.773    .355    .150    .052  98.769
   452    .053   1.479    .049    .016    .754   4.193   5.196    .007    .229  73.196  12.686    .355    .150    .058  98.422
   453    .080   1.436    .034    .018    .730   4.007   5.273    .000    .234  73.512  13.072    .355    .150    .057  98.957

AVER:     .063   1.513    .064    .020    .776   4.155   5.249   -.001    .246  73.499  12.939    .355    .150    .054  99.082
SDEV:     .013    .044    .020    .007    .033    .146    .034    .008    .012    .503    .161    .000    .000    .003    .616
SERR:     .004    .015    .007    .002    .011    .049    .011    .003    .004    .168    .054    .000    .000    .001
%RSD:    21.27    2.94   30.88   34.53    4.22    3.52     .64 -888.65    4.93     .68    1.25     .00     .00    5.07

PUBL:     .074   1.550    .065    .041    .730   4.070   5.110    .011    .350  74.100  13.100    .355    .150    .173  99.891
%VAR:   -15.46   -2.36   -1.69  -50.28    6.32    2.08    2.71 -108.38  -29.57    -.81   -1.23     .00     .00  -68.71
DIFF:    -.011   -.037   -.001   -.021    .046    .085    .139   -.012   -.104   -.601   -.161    .000    .000   -.119
STDS:      114     114      38     114     114     114      99      23       9     113     113     ---     ---     ---

[John Donovan]

Microsoft is always breaking this...  recently I've been getting this error message on some computers but not all (again) when trying to update PFE (or CalcZAF) from the Help | Update dialog.



However, the installers (ProbeForEPMA.msi and CalcZAF.msi) both run fine when run again by double clicking them in the ProgramData folder. Usually

C:\ProgramData\Probe Software\Probe for EPMA

for Win 7, Win 8 or Win 10

or

C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\ApplicationData\Probe Software\Probe for EPMA

for Win XP.

The last time this happened I was able to fix this issue by typing:

regsvr32 msi.dll

from the system prompt in admin mode. And interestingly enough, typing the same thing fixes this new issue. It appears that one or more Microsoft updates somehow de-registers the msi.dll Windows installer file. Why?  I have no idea.

So, if you get the error message shown above and re-running the installer irritates you (it sure irritates me!), then try running the above command from a system prompt.

For Win 7, Win 8 and Win 10, type "cmd" from the Start button "Search programs and files" field and when the cmd.exe app shows up in the found list, right click it, then select Run As Administrator, then type "cd \Windows\SysWOW64" then type the "regsvr32 msi.dll" command and you should get the message seen here:



For Win XP, run the command prompt from the \Windows\System32 folder.

[glennpoirier]

Thanks for that John, nice to know it wasn't just me breaking things

[John Donovan]

Thanks for that John, nice to know it wasn't just me breaking things

Hi Glenn,
Microsoft breaks more things than anyone!  Seems like I'm always playing "catch up" with them. 

I expect that they will eventually fix this with another update, but who knows when...
john

[Anette von der Handt]

Hi,

indeed, this is a problem that occurs out of the blue after a windows update and is common enough that there are myriads of how-to's and apps on the web (and no sign of Microsoft fixing it). When the de-/re-registering of the installer does not "take" or there are more problems with the registry, there is a nice free Windows repair app at Tweaking.com

[Probeman]

It must be Monday. 

Because when I went to update Probe for EPMA, after the new version was downloaded and the installer tried to start, I got this error on my office computer (though the updates/installs were all perfectly fine on the lab computers!):



So I remembered from a while ago that this could be fixed by re-registering the Microsoft msi.dll file using an "admin" command prompt as seen here:



I gave this "regsvr32 msi.dll" command from both the System32 folder and the SysWOW64 folder, but I suspect that the command only needs to be executed from the SysWOW64 folder.

And after this the PFE installer ran fine.  It's always something with Microsoft Windows...

[Mike Matthews]

Hi John,

I’m trying to update PfE from 12.3.6 on my iMac (macOS Mojave, Parallels v14, Windows 10) and I’m getting a similar installer package error. I tried the regsvr32 commands (in Windows using Parallels) but this failed in both directories with an error:

The module “msi.dll” was loaded but the call to DllRegisterServer failed with error code 0x80040201

I tried unregistering and re-registering msiexec, and stopping and starting msiserver as suggested in the Microsoft help pages but still no joy. Any suggestions?

By the way, I also tried downloading the update from the ftp and this said 12.3.6 was the most up to date version.

[John Donovan]

By the way, I also tried downloading the update from the ftp and this said 12.3.6 was the most up to date version.

Hi Mike,
Was this from the Probe for EPMA | Update Probe for EPMA menu?

You might have to delete the previous installer (use the button) and try the download again.   Which ftp site was this?
john

[Mike Matthews]

Hi John and Owen,

This was from Probe for EPMA | Update Probe for EPMA (also for the ftp site, whichever is just the default one). I’ll try deleting the previous installer.

The first time I tried it I realised I wasn’t running cmd as administrator - strangely the cmd shell didn’t tell me it hadn’t done what I’d asked for, it just didn’t do it. I did then run as administrator and got confirmation that the msi had been registered, but got the same install fail.

Mike

[Mike Matthews]

OK, finally managed to sort it  - the installer just wasn't downloading properly. When I checked the Probe Software folder the ProbeforEPMA.msi was 0kb so I deleted it and downloaded it again direct from the PfE web - it still took 3 attempts to completely download but I'm pretty sure that's a problem at my end with either windows or the anti-virus software doing some massive updating in the background and turning everything to treacle.

[John Donovan]

OK, finally managed to sort it  - the installer just wasn't downloading properly. When I checked the Probe Software folder the ProbeforEPMA.msi was 0kb so I deleted it and downloaded it again direct from the PfE web - it still took 3 attempts to completely download but I'm pretty sure that's a problem at my end with either windows or the anti-virus software doing some massive updating in the background and turning everything to treacle.

Hi Mike,
I (and Karsten Goemann) tested the PFE download just now and didn't see a problem. Probably a network issue. Glad you sorted it out.
john