Error 12003

[tony_forward]

hi guys...

ok, so I had major problems activating RM in tthe first place, I now have a laptop that I can use exclusively for RM. I formatted the hard drive, installed Windows 7 - nothing else... Installed AVG, installed Spybot.

RM is an exception on both windows firewall and the AVG 

my problem is that I cannot send a mail from RM to the help desk - the error 12003 - is the response. 

Now, if I cannot send a mail from the program surely I will not lbe able to activate the program - I sure as hell can't deactivate from my other laptop, I would have to get the nice man at RM to do It for me. 

I'm frustrated, especially after a lifetime in IT, that Imdon't know the answer!

[Chrissaf]

Something on this link might give a clue.

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/search?query=error%2012003%20in%20windows%207&p=windows

.

Although it is a fresh Win 7 installation, have you installed ALL outstanding Windows Updates to bring it completely up to date? I've found on a fresh Windows install you have to run Windows Update multiple times as each batch of updates seems to trigger even more updates as being available.

.

The link above onward links to a reference that error 12003 is returned from the server. Its possible you were just unlucky and there is a temporary Hornby server issue.

[tony_forward]

Something on this link might give a clue.

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/search?query=error%2012003%20in%20windows%207&p=windows

.

Although it is a fresh Win 7 installation, have you installed ALL outstanding Windows Updates to bring it completely up to date? I've found on a fresh Windows install you have to run Windows Update multiple times as each batch of updates seems to trigger even more updates as being available.

.

The link above onward links to a reference that error 12003 is returned from the server. Its possible you were just unlucky and there is a temporary Hornby server issue.

 duh  didn't think of that - I'll try later today and get back!

 

[tony_forward]

Ok, all windows updates done and as of lunchtime today I was still getting the same error.

So, either RM has a problem or it's the laptop again. 

Frankly I've given up and will stick with my existing laptop. I cannot help wondering though, although Hornby say there are hundreds of happy users around the world, how many havemgiven up, dumped RM or returned to the dealer when they fail to activate. 

I nearly did until I found this forum, 

To reiterate. Formatted the hard drive, clean install of W7, AVG and Spybot installed, RM designated as an exception on both Windows Firewall and AVG and still get error 12003.

RM activated the software on my old laptop and it works well, But I give up! surely there must be an easier way of registering this software?

[Fishmanoz]

Try turning off the firewall and AVG, it still seems like you are being blocked. 

[tony_forward]

Hi Fishy, tried that... I spent the last 15 years of my working life installing a variety of software on a variety of pc's, never have I had so much trouble as with RM

[AncientMariner]

Hmm ... is RM still registered on your old laptop? Is it possible that you are trying to register the same copy of RM twice? I have a vague memory that this isn't allowed. I might be quite wrong however.

[tony_forward]

I've not got that far AM, my theory is that I have downloaded the latest version 1.61 rev 2, from the website, if I am able to send RM an email from within the program then I will ask them to deregister from my old laptop and I will re-register on the new one.

This 'experiment' failed miserably with the error stated. If I cannot contact RM from within the program then it stands to reason that I will not, again, be able to activate myself again.

i am happy with the way RM works, indeed I will be using it at our exhibition in a couple of weeks, I am however frustrated with the way the activation process has to work,, I do feel there are better ways of doing it.

 

[Fishmanoz]

Isn't the way RM activates the same as the way every other piece of software activates - it reports back to the software's server with the activation code where the code is verified and more than one use checked.  It can only happen if there is 2-way internet comms.  And an email from within RM requires outgoing comms.  Seems to me there are only 3 possibilities - there is no internet connection, the comms are blocked or the RM server is down.  Given updates to Windows have been happening, it would seem not to be a Windows or internet problem.  And not just specific to RM if all AV switched off.  But what about a bug in 1.61 rev 2?

 

Tony, have you tried emailing HRMS from outside RM at support@rail-master.com?

[Fishmanoz]

And googling the error returns a lot of info on ftp errors due to a Windows/IE11 bug.

[tony_forward]

Hi Fishy...

no, I didnt email RM support, I got so fed up with the whole process that I will continue to use my old laptop and not worry about getting an 'RM exclusive' one. 

As far as the registration procedure is concerned, I am specifically thinking of the full version of Adobe Acrobat or Microsoft Office where the activation procedure is virtually identical, you send a code from within the program to the vendor and lo and behold the software is activated - I've done that hundreds of times over the last 15 years or so with narry a problem! Then along comes RM with the same procedure and it doesnt work! Something wrong there - maybe the interaction with AV products has never been solved? I don't know.

as I have said above - I like the way RM works and will continue to use it, but if anyone asks at exhibitions I will feel duty bound to mention the problems of activation.

 This is all of course assuming that RM doesnt have a server issue! 

:-)

 

 

[AncientMariner]

I've not got that far AM, my theory is that I have downloaded the latest version 1.61 rev 2, from the website, if I am able to send RM an email from within the program then I will ask them to deregister from my old laptop and I will re-register on the new one.

This 'experiment' failed miserably with the error stated. If I cannot contact RM from within the program then it stands to reason that I will not, again, be able to activate myself again.

i am happy with the way RM works, indeed I will be using it at our exhibition in a couple of weeks, I am however frustrated with the way the activation process has to work,, I do feel there are better ways of doing it.

 

Tony,

Just as a trial I downloaded and installed RM ver 1.61 rev 2 on my Win 7 PC, and then tried to register it using the key I have already used on the XP PC that I normally use for RM. It all worked as it should, up to the point when it identified that the key was already in use and invited me to deregister it. At his point I stopped. I think this rather ad hoc trial demonstrated that what you are attempting to do should be doable. There doesn't appear to be a problem at the other end.

I think perhaps you have a problem with your laptop. Google searches indicate that IE11 and/or wininet.dll is implicated in this problem. I see that I have multple copies of wininet.dll spread around my PC. HTH, but anyway - perhaps you have solved it all by now.

 

[tony_forward]

No AM I haven't. I had given up on it, but will have one final try tonight. 

If it doesn't work I'll leave it till after the exhibition...

thanks to everyone for their replies though...

[tony_forward]

Ok, so here's the final update unless someone can come up with a workable answer?

I have done some more (hopefully final) updates and once more tried the experiment - came up with the same error:

on googling it:

 

When googling the error 12003 Microsoft gives the following

Symptom:When connecting to a non-Microsoft FTP server with WinInet APIs, some WinInet FTP APIs may fail with error 12003 (ERROR_INTERNET_EXTENDED_ERROR). The InternetGetLastResponseInfo API may not retrieve any Internet specific information. This error may occur when the FTP server sends an unexpected status code to the WinInet client. Please note that this may not indicate an error, but rather the server's success message or confirmation (such as confirmation of getting a file, sending a directory listing, and so forth). In some cases the WinInet FTP APIs may not parse such messages correctly and erroneously report an error. This may happen when the WinInet FTP APIs are used to connect to certain VAX/VMS FTP servers.

The answer - again From Microsoft

The above behavior may be avoided by not using the INTERNET_FLAG_PASSIVE flag in the InternetConnect or InternetOpenUrl API. When this flag is not used WinInet uses active semantics for the FTP connection, which avoids the return of the status code, which causes the parsing problem.

Which is about as much good as rocking horse poo!!!

So what do we do/can we do about it, how do we not use the INTERNET_FLAG_PASSIVE flag in the InternetConnect or InternetOpenUrl API. assuming we know what it is?

 As a final try? I am going to delete any and all instances of winlnet that I can find and see what happens!

[Fishmanoz]

Thats exactly the same gibberish I found!

 

Tony, you probably know to rename rather thsn remove so you can put them back if need be.  And I suggest you do it one at a time so you can see if any particular one of them is causing the problem.

[AncientMariner]

Ok, so here's the final update unless someone can come up with a workable answer?

I have done some more (hopefully final) updates and once more tried the experiment - came up with the same error:

on googling it:

 

When googling the error 12003 Microsoft gives the following

Symptom:When connecting to a non-Microsoft FTP server with WinInet APIs, some WinInet FTP APIs may fail with error 12003 (ERROR_INTERNET_EXTENDED_ERROR). The InternetGetLastResponseInfo API may not retrieve any Internet specific information. This error may occur when the FTP server sends an unexpected status code to the WinInet client. Please note that this may not indicate an error, but rather the server's success message or confirmation (such as confirmation of getting a file, sending a directory listing, and so forth). In some cases the WinInet FTP APIs may not parse such messages correctly and erroneously report an error. This may happen when the WinInet FTP APIs are used to connect to certain VAX/VMS FTP servers.

The answer - again From Microsoft

The above behavior may be avoided by not using the INTERNET_FLAG_PASSIVE flag in the InternetConnect or InternetOpenUrl API. When this flag is not used WinInet uses active semantics for the FTP connection, which avoids the return of the status code, which causes the parsing problem.

Which is about as much good as rocking horse poo!!!

So what do we do/can we do about it, how do we not use the INTERNET_FLAG_PASSIVE flag in the InternetConnect or InternetOpenUrl API. assuming we know what it is?

 As a final try? I am going to delete any and all instances of winlnet that I can find and see what happens!

Tony,

Just out of interest, at what point in the process is error 12003 thrown? I was wondering if my trial had gone far enough to show up anything of interest. Or is it just serendipity that my version of Win 7 works and yours doesn't?

 

 

[Fishmanoz]

AM, tony said in his first post:

 

"my problem is that I cannot send a mail from RM to the help desk - the error 12003 - is the response. 

Now, if I cannot send a mail from the program surely I will not lbe able to activate the program - I sure as hell can't deactivate from my other laptop, I would have to get the nice man at RM to do It for me."

 

So it would seem your trial has gone far enough by asking for activation  

 

I'd forgotten about your saying you can't deactivate Tony.  Then given you activated and have contacted HRMS a previously, what has changed?

[tony_forward]

 AM  my email from the help box is ready to go, it briefly says connecting and then sending request, then sits there for 3 or 4 mins and then gives error 12003.

 

fishy, nothing changed on my old laptop, after RM support activated it for me it works well. 

I wanted to use an exclusive kaptop for RM thereby leaving my ordinary one for more mundane tasks.

after an email conversation with RM support yesterday, I will leave it till after the exhibition and then have another go.

my thoughts were thay with a clean install of W7 and all the updates no AV it should work! Apparently I was wrong :(

[Chrissaf]

Just a thought, but assume being a laptop you are using wi-fi for Internet connection. Appreciate you're using Win7 but on my Win8 laptop I found my wi-fi configuration was blocking RM. Something to do with 'metered' and 'un-metered' connections. Once I connected my laptop to my router via direct RJ45 Ethernet cable, all worked well. Subsequently, I forced laptop to treat all wi-fi as 'un-metered' and now RM works on wi-fi as well. If haven't done so already, worth giving a cabled Internet connection a go.

[tony_forward]

Thanks for the thought Chris, tried it but no difference.

I believe the problem to be a buggy wininet.dll - I only have one on my laptop and it seems to be a well known problem - see the post above with the blurb from Microsoft.m

how you get round it, although they have put the solution there, I have no idea as do not understand it!

i have spoken with RM support and after the exhibition I am at next week they will dial in to my new laptop and see if we can solve the problem.