trouble installing license for standalong mental ray

[cspears]

I received a standalone copy of mental ray and a dongle with the license from a class. I managed to install the program and license on my Dell laptop (running Windows XP Professiona)l.

However, I was working in Berlin and changed my system's clock. When I plugged in the dongle, I got an error message complaining about the change. Now I get the following error message when I try to run ray -v at my prompt:

MAIN .0 info: mental ray, version 3.4.7.2
MAIN .0 info: use -copyright option to view copyright and terms of use
SPM_WARNING (ray): DG5NW181 ("mi-spm"[tcp/7050]) does not respond
SPM_WARNING (ray): DG5NW181 ("mi-spm"[tcp/7050]) does not respond
SPM_FATAL ERROR (ray) at Mar/21/06 14:04:15 :
Can't connect to any SPM license server.

I assumed the message meant that I needed to reinstall the license. I followed the instructions on the installation notes. However, when I clicked on the Create Request File tab or the Show Installed Licenses tab in the SPM License tool window, I get the following error message:

******** List contents of KeyDataBase ********
SPM_FATAL ERROR (C:\WINDOWS\system32\spm\spm_key.exe) :
can't open port IBU for dongle type "MI0".

What does this error message mean? How should I go about getting the license to work again? My guess is that clicking on the Create Request File tab was a mistake since I'm pretty sure that the license resides in the dongle.

[ABC]

Hello!!

I have exactly the same problem that you had. I'm thinking that since march, you have maybe found the solution of it: Did you? If yes can you please tell me.

Thank you

Maya

[adarsh]

Hello All,

Having the same issues with Windows XP professional : Please suggest

C:\spm>type spm.log
Oct/14/09 11:14:59 NOTICE: "C:\spm/spm_key_ib.exe (Ver.1.2)" started to generate
key request-code.
Oct/14/09 11:16:42 NOTICE: "C:\spm/spm_key_ib.exe (Ver.1.2)" started to generate
key request-code.
Oct/14/09 11:34:14 NOTICE: "C:\spm/spm_key_ib.exe (Ver.1.2)" started to generate
key request-code.
Oct/14/09 13:20:23 NOTICE: "C:\spm/spm_key_ib.exe (Ver.1.2)" started to generate
key request-code.
Oct/14/09 13:33:43 NOTICE: "spm_key_ib.exe (Ver.1.2)" started to generate key re
quest-code.
Oct/14/09 13:34:45 NOTICE: "spm_key_ib.exe (Ver.1.2)" started to generate key re
quest-code.
Oct/14/09 13:34:46 ERROR: "spm_key_ib.exe": program terminated with error(s):

can't open port IBU for dongle type "MI0".
Oct/14/09 13:35:17 NOTICE: "spm_key_ib.exe (Ver.1.2)" started to generate key re
quest-code.
Oct/14/09 13:35:17 ERROR: "spm_key_ib.exe": program terminated with error(s):

can't open port IBU for dongle type "MI0".
Oct/14/09 13:35:42 NOTICE: "spm_key_ib.exe (Ver.1.2)" started to generate key re
quest-code.
Oct/14/09 13:35:42 ERROR: "spm_key_ib.exe": program terminated with error(s):

can't open port IBU for dongle type "MI0".
Oct/14/09 13:35:55 NOTICE: "spm_key_ib.exe (Ver.1.2)" started to generate key re
quest-code.
Oct/14/09 13:35:55 ERROR: "spm_key_ib.exe": program terminated with error(s):

can't open port 1024 for dongle type "MI0".
Oct/14/09 13:36:40 NOTICE: "spm_key_ib.exe (Ver.1.2)" started to generate key re
quest-code.
Oct/14/09 13:36:40 ERROR: "spm_key_ib.exe": program terminated with error(s):

can't open port IBU for dongle type "MI0".

Thank you

[bart]

If it was really only a few hours ahead, then you should be able to disconnect the dongle for a day, and then get it to work later.

I suspect the issues here are maybe even more basic.

The "can't open IBU port ..." means that the computer can't even communicate to the dongle. Did it every work? Check that something hasn't happened to the driver. Sometimes I notice that Windows laptops are sensitive to which port you were plugged into when you installed the driver.

Once you guarantee that the communication between the machine and the dongle are working (I use spm_key_ib -t to check), then you can turn on the spm service. By the way, key installation and checking cannot be done with the spm service on, so remember to turn it off.

There is both a UI way to do these things and a command line way. On Windows, I always use the UI in the Services control panel window to turn on and off the service.