I recently purchased a Sony Vaio VGC-RA842G with XP
Media Edition. I have been using (for many years)
Wintek's Hiwire Schematic and PCB design Software
which runs under DOS or under a DOS window. Hiwire
requires the use of a security dongle on the parallel
port which contains a corresponding serial number to
the main software package. The software sends a bitstream
through the parallel port to the dongle and expects a
bitstream in return. Hiwire does not use any software
driver for this dongle. I have run this package under
Windows 98, Windows XP (on a Dell) and others have run
this package on other XP machines. Hiwire will start
to run under the DOS window on this SONY with XP media
edition until it needs to find the dongle for verification.
Hiwire then responds with "CANNOT FIND DONGLE". In other
words the program cannot communicate with the dongle
through the parallel port under the Window's command prompt.
If I boot up the computer with a DOS floppy and run under
true DOS, the program has no trouble finding the dongle.
I can also print through Hiwire to the printer on the
same parallel port. Printing from Hiwire does not require
checking for the dongle. I tried replacing XP media with XP Pro with no success. I have spoken with Sony and Microsoft. They could not see any reason for this problem. They checked for conflicts and anything else they
could think of. From what I gather, Hiwire uses standard
INPUT and OUTPUT PORT IBM instructions. I changed to
compatibility mode when possible. I have spent hours
trying possible solutions including disabling all applications and hardware components. Why is this
Sony machine different?
Media Edition. I have been using (for many years)
Wintek's Hiwire Schematic and PCB design Software
which runs under DOS or under a DOS window. Hiwire
requires the use of a security dongle on the parallel
port which contains a corresponding serial number to
the main software package. The software sends a bitstream
through the parallel port to the dongle and expects a
bitstream in return. Hiwire does not use any software
driver for this dongle. I have run this package under
Windows 98, Windows XP (on a Dell) and others have run
this package on other XP machines. Hiwire will start
to run under the DOS window on this SONY with XP media
edition until it needs to find the dongle for verification.
Hiwire then responds with "CANNOT FIND DONGLE". In other
words the program cannot communicate with the dongle
through the parallel port under the Window's command prompt.
If I boot up the computer with a DOS floppy and run under
true DOS, the program has no trouble finding the dongle.
I can also print through Hiwire to the printer on the
same parallel port. Printing from Hiwire does not require
checking for the dongle. I tried replacing XP media with XP Pro with no success. I have spoken with Sony and Microsoft. They could not see any reason for this problem. They checked for conflicts and anything else they
could think of. From what I gather, Hiwire uses standard
INPUT and OUTPUT PORT IBM instructions. I changed to
compatibility mode when possible. I have spent hours
trying possible solutions including disabling all applications and hardware components. Why is this
Sony machine different?