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[OneWorld]

I was in the middle of a session in Cubase and it froze, wasn't doing anything in particularly 'stressful' on the machine. And this is quite a rare occurence.

I had to resort to the 3 fingered salute and rebooted. On starting up Win10 reported that it was installing a new USB device, it the reported it was unrecognised, and sure enough on looking at the list of USB devices in Device Manager, there was an unrecognised USB thing.

I started Cubase and it reported it wasn't licensed, that gave me a cluse as ot what the unrecognised USB device was, so I started the eLicenser Control Centre and that showed no licenses (I have Cubase, Halion 5, Groove Agent 4, some Arturia products on the USB eLicenser)

So, I downloaded the latest eLicenser software and installed it and ran the Maintenance facility, this time all my licences displayed (phew!) but I got the same error message twice.......

"The Soft-eLicenser stored on this computer doesn't seem to have been created on this computer"

"Please contact your software vendor......etc etc etc"

The USB Dongle and the installations (Cubase etc) have never been anywhere near any other machine, I have not changed any hardware, I have not changed the machine in any way at all, except Windows updates.

It reports the errors on steps 3 (Failed validating licence Usage Periods) and step 6 (Failed sending eLicenser information.

However Cubase is now working as is all the other software licensed on the USB Dongle, so I cannot understand why the eLicenser Maintenance fails on the steps mentioned above.

Seeing as it 'failed to send info' could it be an internet issue (although my internet is working fine), so could it be my firewall, or indeed is the eLicenser server 'broke'

I have sent in a help request to Steinberg but seeing as it is the holiday am not expecting a reply any day soon

Any ideas anyone?

[The Elf]

Have you tried:

- A different USB port?
- The dongle in a different computer?

[OneWorld]

Thanks but I'm struggling to understand what that would achieve, if I put the dongle in another USB slot then the registry will end up with redundant entries and if I plugged it into another computer I would then have to download the requisite software and again have redundancies - these seem like suck and see resolutions which don't address the main issue - what has caused this?

[The Elf]

I'm not saying they're resolutions, but at the moment you don't know whether it's the dongle at fault, the USB port/controller you are plugging it into, or maybe something else lurking in the PC you're using. My suggestion is to go towards figuring that out.

With anything like this you have to go step by step, eliminating possibles to narrow down the definites.

[OneWorld]

I'm not saying they're resolutions, but at the moment you don't know whether it's the dongle at fault, the USB port/controller you are plugging it into, or maybe something else lurking in the PC you're using. My suggestion is to go towards figuring that out.

With anything like this you have to go step by step, eliminating possibles to narrow down the definites.

Yes, but by plugging in an out in an ad hoc way is just fixing things by guesswork whereas I need to figure out exactly what the issue is and on doing more rummaging about it appears it can be a problem with the firewall, in eLicenser Control Center software should be allowed through the firewall and it appears it isn't and a suggested fix suggests adding the following rules to the firewall.....


Server name: licensetransfer.elicenser.net
Port 80 (http)

Server name: mb.steinberg.net
Port 443 (https)


But what advice is not offered is should the rules be inbound/outbound/both, there is no guidance on how to add the rules

[Pete Kaine]

Port 80 is HTTP transfer, 443 is HTTPS and both should be well and truly open by default, otherwise, you wouldn't be able to browse the web.

I can see how a loss of connection to the server would kill your session if it requires constant communication with the server although I don't know if your elicencer needs it after you've opened the session? I'm also not sure why your firewall would spit its dummy mid-session like that. What firewire wall are you running on the system and do you have a secondary on the router?

Lastly, you might find this handy if you're concerned about multiple USB device entries cluttering up your registry. https://www.nirsoft.net/utils/usb_devices_view.html

[OneWorld]

Have you tried:

- A different USB port?
- The dongle in a different computer?

I scoured the Steinberg Forum and most similar problems are about the USB Dongle not being seen at all. My issue is that it is seen etc and the licenses are now showing, it is the eLicenser Software Control Centre that fails on 2 of the 6 maintenance tasks, but i the problems that are reported there say.........yep.....

Try the dongle in another port! and try a different computer

[OneWorld]

Port 80 is HTTP transfer, 443 is HTTPS and both should be well and truly open by default, otherwise, you wouldn't be able to browse the web.

I can see how a loss of connection to the server would kill your session if it requires constant communication with the server although I don't know if your elicencer needs it after you've opened the session? I'm also not sure why your firewall would spit its dummy mid-session like that. What firewire wall are you running on the system and do you have a secondary on the router?

Lastly, you might find this handy if you're concerned about multiple USB device entries cluttering up your registry. https://www.nirsoft.net/utils/usb_devices_view.html

They must already be open then as I can browse the net, it is simply the eLicenser Soft Control Centre won't. I can select a link within the eLSCC and that opens a browser and off I go, but steps 2 and 6 connect directly to the eL Server.

I do have a relatively recent image made,

I had checked the Firewall(Win10) and there are 2 entries for Cubase but they could be for the Steinberg Hub and the Steinberg Cloud, there are no entries for the eLSCC, I suppose I could try turning the firewall off to see if it works.

No I cannot see the eLicenser is used within Cubase and/or a session would be dependent on eL (except for validation when I first start Cubase) and neither can I imagine how a wobble in the Firewall would cause Cubase to crash, I just figured the firewall might be the problem as the eLSCC software runs fine, as does Cubase, it is just the Maintenance option is runm and knowing it connects to the internet and my internet connection works.

I have an anti virus programme running along with anti-spyware. The computer is used for music alone. I use a BT HomeHub as my router and am not sure whether it has its own firewall.

I do have a recent image made, if I get no fix from Steinberg, fix it myself etc, then I suppose I could roll back to that and see what happens.

[The Elf]

Have you tried:
- A different USB port?
- The dongle in a different computer?

I scoured the Steinberg Forum and most similar problems are about the USB Dongle not being seen at all. My issue is that it is seen etc and the licenses are now showing, it is the eLicenser Software Control Centre that fails on 2 of the 6 maintenance tasks, but i the problems that are reported there say.........yep.....

Try the dongle in another port! and try a different computer

Both of which I still think are worth trying to help narrow down the problem.

[BobTheDog]

In my experience of weird elicenser problems I would get a new one pronto and get your licenses transferred to it.

[OneWorld]

In my experience of weird elicenser problems I would get a new one pronto and get your licenses transferred to it.

Good idea, I do have a few spares from when I have bought new software and a usb key came with it but I transferred all the licences to one key and have being doing for years no problems (touch wood!)

[Pest]

The eLicenser sometimes gets upset after a major Win 10 update. I've got many Licenses stored on mine, and the answer is always the same... I've always found everything returns to normal just by running once as Administrator. (Navigate to the eLicenser exe in Program Files\eLicenser folder; Right click and choose 'Run as Administrator').
Pest

[OneWorld]

The eLicenser sometimes gets upset after a major Win 10 update. I've got many Licenses stored on mine, and the answer is always the same... I've always found everything returns to normal just by running once as Administrator. (Navigate to the eLicenser exe in Program Files\eLicenser folder; Right click and choose 'Run as Administrator').
Pest

That was one of the first things I tried, it didn't work.

I am getting no help from Steinberg at all, not even a reply, so much for their Customer Support. I was on the verge of doing an all round upgrade of my software, much of which is Steinberg, I am now seriously re-evaluating my association with Sweinberg if they treat customers with such ignorance, once they've had your money, they couldn't give a flying pheasant.

I am now considering trying to manually remove all traces of eLicenser. I have tried un-installing/re-installing and that didn't fix things, I still get the "The software appears to have been installed on a different computer.............." As I mentioned, it has never been near another machine.

I noted after I uninstalled, in common with almost any other software, the computer, especially the Registry was still festooned with references to eLicenser.

Does anyone know if it would be ok to remove all traces and if I do will that mean re-installing all my Steinberg software again?

I do have a drive image which is not all that old, but I want to try and get to the cause of the problem, as rolling back to the last image might only see the problem re-appear when the OS updatesitself.

[BobTheDog]

My last steinberg support reply took nearly 4 months, best not to rely on them!

[Wonks]

Have you tried posting about it on their forum? There are normally more people looking at that.

[Martin Walker]

Yep, the Steinberg forums are keenly watched (nay devoured) by enthusiasts, and there's lots of expertise on there.


Martin

[OneWorld]

Yep, the Steinberg forums are keenly watched (nay devoured) by enthusiasts, and there's lots of expertise on there.


Martin

Yep, I think that is going to be my next move. I sort of feel instinctively there's a simply fix, so I guess someone is bound to know

[OneWorld]

In my experience of weird elicenser problems I would get a new one pronto and get your licenses transferred to it.

Good idea, I do have a few spares from when I have bought new software and a usb key came with it but I transferred all the licences to one key and have being doing for years no problems (touch wood!)

I am still thinking about this, as mentioned I do have spares. What makes me hold back though is I know the current dongle is working, all my licenses are seen and the applications are not complaining.

What I fear though is if I transfer the licenses to another dongle, there is always the Maintenance Routine that follows, to advise the server I guess. But if the Maintenance Procedure is broke, I might end up with no licenses working because the activation server cannot connect to my dongle?

[OneWorld]

Fixed, Steinberg did reply and the fix was easy peasy, there was an old *.sel file left kicking around, deleted it and all is fine

[blinddrew]

Good result.