The title of this blog post is an error message. I saw this error message too many times trying to resolve an issue playing a DRM file that I own. It was a movie that I legally brought yesterday. I’m writing this post, in the hope it helps others who experience the same error message with their legal DRM media (audio and video).

I suspect this error or similar is something that many others are going to start seeing as IPTV becomes more popular and I hope the support and systems improve to help novices resolve these issues.

So what is DRM? Digital Rights Management, in principle is a nifty idea. You buy or rent a tv show, movie, music etc to download. Then only you can watch it. There is a huge debate around the whole concept and limitations. What I personally found frustrating was something on my computer changed (probably installing a new CPU) and et voila… blank screen time or in this case an error message: Windows Media Player encountered a problem while playing the file So the computer spec had slightly changed and apparently that’s enough to cause problems.

I am using Windows 7 with Windows Media Player 12. This is what I tried that ‘didn’t work’:

1. I uninstalled any software that is related to codecs. This included Windows Media Player and itunes. To uninstall Windows Media Player I typed optionalfeatures.exe at the command prompt and uninstalled via that method. Then rebooted.

2. I deleted all the registry entries the system would allow at: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\DRM and that didn’t work.

3. I looked for \ProgramData\Microsoft\DRM\ but it was missing! If found I would of removed.

4. I tried to install Windows Media Player 11, but that wouldn’t install. The service provider who I brought the video file from mention specifically Windows Media Player 11.

5. I looked at the DRM video file using a piece of software called gspot and it said WMV3 / WMP V9 (VC-1 Simple/Main). So I thought okay I will install fresh WMV 9 codecs. Did that and rebooted.

6. I tried to watch the video via another media player. Tried winamp, media player classic and VLC. Nope.

None of those worked for me and wasted my time.

So what was the solution?

ResetDRM that is available from Microsoft (a link from that page). I downloaded and ran this as ‘administator’. To do this you right click on it and select ‘run as administrator’. It then did the following….

1. It ignored some registry entries at: SOFTWARE\Microsoft\DRM\CLSID\

2. It deleted files at: C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\DRM\ . Now I swear I had show hidden files on, I remember checking.

3. It deleted a datapath in the registry (whatever that was?)

4. It registered a drmv2clt.dll file.

Then when I tried to play the DRM video via Windows Media Player 12 it worked. It prompted me to login to the service I paid for the video. Then it asked me to download a couple of more updates and the video worked again. I wish resetDRM was inbuilt into Windows Media Player though.

So now I can again watch the video I’ve paid for. However I need to look at how I make a backup of my license, just in case the next time the company I paid are bust and not available to verify me. I like the idea behind DRM, I pay for content. However something needs to change to make it easier to pay and watch, without tripping up over tech issues.

Hope this post helps someone else and resolves their problem within a minute, rather than the length of time it took me.

The unfortunate happens, your MySQL database tables are corrupted and you need to repair them. How do we know they are corrupt? Error messages typically, but good house keeping to check every so often anyway. There still could be a database table corruption. So this guide is useful as part of maintaining your own wordpress hosted blog, mybb forum, joomla cms, website baker or any other MySQL powered site.

Please note you follow this guide at your own risk. I’m not to be held responsible for any lose of data!

There are so many messages that make me take note and check. A few are:

‘error in establishing a database connection’

‘SQL Error: 1040 – Too many connections’.

‘SQL Error: 2013 – Lost connection to MySQL server during query’.

Notice the above error messages might not actually mean database table corruption. However I’ve seen these messsages and eventually have had to repair my MySQL database tables.  Essentially I’m saying one problem can lead onto another. So if you experience MySQL problems in general, could be worth checking.

So how do you check? Easiest way is to use phpmyadmin. Many host providers provide phpmyadmin access via their control panel. I’m fortunate that my control panel has phpmyadmin access. However there are some host providers that don’t supply adequate MySQL administrative features.

If all you have is ftp access and database details then you might still be able to use phpmyadmin by installing this yourself. It is really easy to setup a version of phpmyadmin on a server and I’ve done this whilst supporting others. You configure the config.inc.php file (typically change the blowfish secret and put in the server details) in the latest version of the phpmyadmin package and upload the folder to your hosting. I would change the folder name for security reasons. If your paranoid you can always password secure the folder. However I’ve only temporary left phpmyadmin on a server whilst using it and never place a username or password in the configuration details, so personally never bothered.

Checking and repairing tables

1. So once logged into the phpmyadmin package you want to view the database structure.

2. If you notice any entries with stats in the overhead column these are the ones to repair. So select those particular ones by ticking the boxes on the left.

3. At the bottom there is a ‘with selected’ drop-down menu. Select ‘Repair Table’.

4. Tables should be repaired, you can now log out of phpmyadmin.

Hope someone finds this guide useful.

Giveaway of the Day are giving away a free version of iCare Data Recovery for personal use. As GotD’s name suggests you need to download and importantly activate the software on the same day.

There are free file recovery applications around, but as Giveaway of the Day and iCare are being so generous I thought I would check this piece of software out and write a guide. If your reading this on the 29th March 2010 and have a Microsoft Windows 2000, XP or Vista operating system, you might want to consider Giveaway of the Day’s offer for personal use.

This piece of recovery software is very powerful and has the following options… partition recovery, advanced recovery, deep scan recovery and format recovery. I decided to only test the ‘advanced recovery’ today. I wanted to see how easy it was to recover files from a usb hard drive. More specifically I had placed an old 2.5 laptop hard drive in an usb caddy and then connected this to a Microsoft Windows XP laptop.

Once I had activated the software with the free license provided by Giveaway of the Day I did the following.

1. I selected Advanced Recovery.

2. I saw both my internal laptop hard drive and external usb hard drive listed. I selected the usb hard drive and then clicked on ‘Recover’.

3. Now as it was connected via a slow usb 1 connection, this process is painfully slow. Not the applications fault, but hardware limitation. If I had been scanning the internal drive it would of been a lot faster. Instead the process for the external drive might of taken up to twelves or thirteen hours for a forty gig drive! So for testing sake I stopped the process after a few minutes.

4. Once scanned the next window appears and the partition was already selected, so I clicked on ‘show files’.

5. Where this application stands out compared to many is that it breaks down the file types for you, so if your interested in recovery just documents, you can find those quickly. Instead of scrolling through a monster list. I selected a file and then selected ‘save files’. Now an important part is to save to another drive.

You don’t want to restore any files to the same hardware you are recovering from, regardless if the hardware isn’t faulty. This way your not possibly overwriting the files you are recovering in the first place! Thus reducing your chances of actually recovering data.

So I just selected a folder I had created on the laptop’s own internal drive. Et voila.

Conclusion: This piece of software has a lot of competiton and I currently don’t know where it stacks up compared to others for recovery results. What I do know is that it ran fine recovering from an old 2.5 hard drive with a ntfs partition, connected via an old usb 1.0 to a Windows XP laptop.

Obviously if you have a personal backup procedure in place this software might not be required. However it is a worthy addition, sitting ready on my laptop for the day I might require it.

I’ve made some bad purchases from ebay over the years, some great and some where I was just lucky. Here is a guide to help you along the way. Don’t blame me though for any disasters! Use at your own risk.

Research
Research other sources before you buy from ebay. Goods often sell on ebay for the same or bizarrely even more value than what they are elsewhere. Plus secondhand goods selling for sums that they worth secondhand a few years back, but not today.

Recently I was researching a particular model of graphics card. An ancient card by today’s standards and what did I find? Two reasonable options where I probably could purchase it for a fiver all in and numerous other options where ‘buy it nows’ were double that price with ridiculous postage.

On a side note it’s the same for non-tech items such as ‘lush’ goods (those overwhelming soaps, bath items etc). I’ve seen them selling for more value, than if you were to walk into a lush retailer yourself.

Patience
That leads onto patience. When researching a particular item, especially older items it’s tempting to purchase one of the few available at an over-valued price. Are there alternatives available at cheaper costs that are as good? Perhaps just waiting a week or two for new auction’s and you will reap the benefits of patience.

Set your limit
I always set my limit days before an auction ends and I won’t change it, regardless of how the bidding is going on the day. That way what I pay or in many cases don’t pay reflects what I felt the true value was worth. Not getting caught up in the moment and in a bidding war against some naive person caught in the moment.

Questions
Don’t be afraid to ask questions, but don’t do this too early (less people then see the answer). With a couple of days to go ask your questions if you are unsure. Are there any dead pixels on the screen? Does it come with the charger? Any scratch marks? Whatever the question don’t be afraid to ask. This will help you form your opinion of the true value and go towards avoiding disappointment. If they don’t answer, that also could answer another question.

Trust
“I’m selling this for a friend and don’t know if it works.”. “I don’t have a charger, untested, so grab yourself a bargain”. “I brought this two years ago, but never used it”. You will see these types of comments everywhere. I wouldn’t touch any item with such a comment. To me personally these don’t represent bargains, but hazards and these comments telli me other meanings.

The seller
Look at seller feedback, when the seller joined up, rating, their postage options, puchase methods etc. Read a few times their descriptions of the goods. Get a feel for whether you trust the seller.

Become a sniper!
In the past there was a huge difference between connection speeds and thus browsing speeds. Someone on an isdn line had an advantage over someone with a slow 56k modem connection. Now refreshing to check the latest price is more an even field and don’t be afraid to wait until the last moment to place your bid. If you’ve already set your purchase limit for this auction beforehand the whole process is easier.

Photos
A picture is worth a thousand words… I don’t know about being worth a thousand words, but does help form an opinion. I’m happy with a non-stock photo. Plus close-ups and for expensive items a few photos help. I’m not talking about the seller showing they still have the original box though. I honestly don’t care about those. Unlike a toddler at Christmas more interested in a box than the actual item. I want to spot scratches, wear and tear etc.
The postage, packaging and payment method.
An obvious one really. Does the postage and packaging make the overall cost too expensive? Perhaps you feel the type of delivery unsuitable. I never deal with cheques anymore, but for others this probably represents a chance for a bargain. In fact I only stick to paypal now and won’t even consider unless i see it as a payment option. Factor these into your bid limit and decisions and walk away if needed. Increasing the risk, isn’t worth losing all your money in my humble opinion.

So how about a recent example?
Over a week ago my girlfriend and I decided to purchase a new piece of computer hardware. We researched sellers across the internet. Compared different models, read forums and reviews. We then looked at ebay and compared buy it now pricing to other prices we had gathered. Then we followed a few auctions to see the outcome and then walked away for a day.

We set a buying price for ebay and started to watch a few auctions. In the end we were left with one auction and someone had already asked the only question we had. We were as happy as we could be with the seller so waited. In the last few hours the price started going up. With three minutes till the end we sat down and watched. Then with under a minute we submitted our bid and then watched others push the bid up (counter bidding). We had only bid once and the exact price we were going to be happy with. It never reached that price though.

We could of just as easily lost, but our preparation helped contribute to winning the auction at a price we wouldn’t regret. Plus if we had lost, not the end of the world.