Archive through August 19, 2002
TV ClubHouse: Archive: USA 2002:
All Things Technical for BB 2002 (computer stuff):
BB on the Mac:
Archive through August 19, 2002
Cwoody222 | Sunday, August 18, 2002 - 12:36 pm     Here's what I posted in another thread: All OS X users are unable to connect. But, not all people that are unable to connect are OS X users. Some people can't connect in OS 9. And some Windows people can't connect either. But ALL OS X users can't connect. |
Cwoody222 | Sunday, August 18, 2002 - 12:49 pm     Well, I just did my bit and called for the first time. The guy was really nice and understanding...he said they'd been getting "a ton" of calls about this. Basically he said they had a major server crash on Thurs. night. Thurs-Fri they had service restored to Win98. Later Fri. most other Windowns OSs were restored. But he admitted he know of some Windows people still unable to connect. And he knew that Mac users were still a problem. He said I was the first to report RealPlayer 8 in OS 9 working. Funny - it never STOPPED working. *knock on wood* He said he 'heard a rumor' of some new hardware coming in tomorrow. And he told me to tell everyone to KEEP CALLING because that's the only way they know it's as big of an issue as it is. He personally told me to call back again tomorrow and EVERY DAY if it doesn't work. Like I said - he was really nice and understanding. ...he also said he's pretty sure the FINAL version of RealOne for OS X is due out "in a few weeks". I jokingly said - yea, probably a day after the finale of the BB3 ;) |
Aria | Sunday, August 18, 2002 - 12:56 pm     Well I'm running RP8 in Win98 and I sure as heck can't log in. Everytime someone calls them there is a different story being told. It is a bunch of malarky that they can't even get the story straight. |
Jesse | Sunday, August 18, 2002 - 12:57 pm     I just talked to RealPlayer (again) . . . they said they hoped problem will be fixed in a couple of hours (again). This rep told me about 8000 people are still affected. I think I read some place that about 50,000 signed up for BB3 . . . so that means 16% of their BB3 customers are being ripped off. (Probably causing BB boards traffic problems too if the 8000 are like me running to the boards to read the updates LOL). Each rep seems to have a different story estimating how long it will take to fix the problem. |
Bastable | Sunday, August 18, 2002 - 01:11 pm     One bonus: When I called and complained, I was given a month free! So now I'm not paying for what I'm not getting! Hint: Be NICE and very UNDERSTANDING and the operator may have mercy on you with a free month. |
Therlin | Sunday, August 18, 2002 - 02:57 pm     I called (800-632-8920 option 2). The girl kept insisting that I clear the cookies and go to SIGN IN from the HELP menu. Even though I kept telling her that there is no SIGN IN in the OS X player. I knew that the call wouldn't get me anywhere, but I figure that the more of us that call, the better. We need to make noise. I asked if our subscription was going to be pro-rated and she said "well, it comes out to like 30 or 40 cents a day" and just when I was going to say "well, that's $1.60 I'd save so far" she said "but it should be up and running no later than tomorrow, they are working on it." I just said "ok, I'll call back tomorrow then" So if you haven't called, call them up. It's toll free. Just be nice to the agents, it's not their fault. I know I'll call back tomorrow if it's not working yet. |
Therlin | Sunday, August 18, 2002 - 03:00 pm     My guess is that they were trying to fix the "free feeds" issue. You know how there was a link that would get you to the feeds for free but it was so overloaded that it was almost unwatchable. So I'm sure they fixed this security issue but now Mac people are locked out. All because of some cheap people unwilling to pay $25 for 3 full months of 24/7 entertainment but who'll leach the feeds if they can. |
Sanfranjoshfan | Sunday, August 18, 2002 - 08:50 pm     Therlin, you may be right about the free feeds issue. But it's not JUST Mac users or even ALL Mac users....I still can get the feeds via OS9's realplayer8, but no longer in OSX's ReaOne player. Some windows people are locked out, some Mac users can use RealPlayer8 and some can't, but no OSX RealOne players work for BB3. Apparently they work for other crappy Real(bad)Networks content, though. |
Bastable | Sunday, August 18, 2002 - 09:10 pm     I have a sinking feeling that the reason these haven't been fixed yet is because the tech people took the weekend off. Fury! Hey, what do you think of this: If someone who HAS the feeds in RealPlayer 8 sent us his/her ram.rxml file in e-mail as an attachment, do you think it would work? Is it even worth a try? Pipe dream? I'm tryin' anything now. |
Cwoody222 | Monday, August 19, 2002 - 03:33 am     I'll give it a try - where's this ram.rxml file located? Is that just the "address" of the stream? If so - both my working RP8 and my non-working RO players are using the same address. So, if that's what that is, it won't work. |
Jesse | Monday, August 19, 2002 - 07:48 am     I just cancelled my BB subscription and got a full reimbursement. I called 1-800-632-8920, selected "Change Subscription Services" (5) and talked to an operator named Lee. There was absolutly no problem getting a full reimbursement. I told the operator that if the problem ever gets resolved I can always resubscribe . . . I hope more people do this, because then CBS/Real will know they have lost money but might reclaim it if they can get their act together. |
Karuuna | Monday, August 19, 2002 - 09:06 am     I've been out of town for a week, so just tried to connect and had no problem. I boot my Real Player from a downloaded file called "signin.ram". I'm on OS9, using RealPlayer 8 Plus. Mac Users might try looking to see if they have that file? I'd volunteer to send it to someone, but I wonder if it has my sign-in info embedded into it? |
Jesse | Monday, August 19, 2002 - 10:22 am     My Finder didn't show I had a file called "signin.ram" |
Sunrisedd | Monday, August 19, 2002 - 11:26 am     I have 'signin.ram' and it didn't work Calling now to cancel my subscription. |
Sunrisedd | Monday, August 19, 2002 - 11:35 am     It's 2:32 pm EST time, and I just got off phone with a Reaplayer Tech. Dan says it IS them, and they have worked all weekend on the problem. It IS a PC and a Mac problem. No time given for the fix. Just it is a 'log in' problem. |
Peaceful | Monday, August 19, 2002 - 11:51 am     I just called and canceled my subscription. I received a full refund as well. I called the 1-888-768-3248 number. I think I pressed three for general questions about realplayer. I spoke with the customer service guy for a long time. He was very nice and I got him to admit that their being told what to say,as way of a bulletin board. He said it is a concern there but he was honest and said he didn't know when it would be fixed. I asked if the higher ups really cared that so many are out of feeds and he said they do, but he doesn't know whats really going on behind the scenes. He also said many people,as of today were getting very impatient and canceling,after being patient all weekend. I told him to expect many more calls about canceling. If it starts working again in the next few days,I sign up again. I just wanted to make sure I got my money back before its too late. Maybe all the money lost will make a difference. Also, he was telling me all this in a very hushed tone and only after I was very nice and told him to be honest with me. The whole thing sounds really fishy. I think there was more he wanted to say but couldn't. Anyways,I highly advise the rest of you who are still without feeds to call today and get you full money back while you can. This all sucks but what can we do,I'd rather have feeds than the money back but that isn't an option. |
Peaceful | Monday, August 19, 2002 - 11:53 am     Sunrisedd,did you cancel or are you waiting a while longer? |
Sanfranjoshfan | Monday, August 19, 2002 - 12:17 pm     I accidentally did something that makes me think there is nothing I can do to fix the OSX RealOne....the fix is totally in the hands of Real(bad)Networks. I have been very careful to not have RealPlayer8 running while I tried to sign in using RealOne for OSX because I was afraid that I would mess up my RealPlaeyr8....which had never stopped working. Well, last night I tried the sign in page again without realizing that I had not launched RealOne for OSX, but my Real8 was running. As soon as I tried signing in on the real.com site, it used RealPlayer8 and I thought "Oh great, now I've messed that up!", but lo and behold, it authenticated just fine. After closing Real8 and launching RealOne for OSX it still would not authenticate for RealOne for OSX. This tells me that it isn't the authentication *page*. That same page worked for my Real8 but still does not work for my RealOne for OSX. Looks to me that the whole screw up is random in some weird psychotic way because it apparently affects ALL OSX users, SOME Real8 for Mac OS9 users, and SOME PC users. The psychotic part is that it affects one of my Realplayer versions but not the other, even though both are on the same computer. Go figure. I don't have a "signin.ram" file either, but would have been afraid to share it, thinking that it might have something to do with authenticating my specific account and they could have a thing in place where one account cannot be used from different places at the same time....or if someone used my file and it didn't work for them it could stop working for me, too. But, in any case...I don't have the file (did a serach with Sherlock) So....that's where I stand with the problem. |
Nurdreams | Monday, August 19, 2002 - 12:21 pm     I posted this in the other thread also..... Although I a W2K user........I have a question to those that haven't been able to get Real to work. If you have tried to uninstall and reinstall, did you check and make sure that the folder that real was installed to has been completely deleted? Sometimes when I uninstall a program it leaves the folder with some files in it.(Even if I tell it to remove all files). I ran into this problem with an anti-virus program. After I deleted the folder then it let me reinstall the program and all worked fine. If this has been tried please ignore this post. |
Bastable | Monday, August 19, 2002 - 12:34 pm     Sanfran, You still have some kind of authentication file on your system that hasn't changed. That's why you can re-sign in and others can't. For some reason, there are many of us who depend on routine authorization to get back into the feeds. That has been the case for me from day one of BB3--I have had to sign in almost daily. You have said earlier than you never had to. So it still is the fault of the file that Real is giving via that sign-in page. You just have longer-lasting cookies than the rest of us, for some unknown psychotic reason. Speaking of psychotic, time to call Real and hassle them again. I've begun BEGGING them to reimplement the old system. So what if some people were stealing the feeds? Now Real is losing money it already had PLUS the money it never got! They should never have implemented a system that didn't work. CORPORATE GREED again. More concerned with theft and self-righteousness than the happiness of existing customers. |
Cwoody222 | Monday, August 19, 2002 - 12:43 pm     Sanfran: I'm in your exact situation. I've been scared to touch ANYTHING with my Real8 so it doesn't stop working. I'm 100% convinced there is NOTHING I can do to fix RealOne for OS X. I'm purely at their mercy. My RealPlayer8 cookie was WEEKS old as I hadn't used it since the RealOne beta came out. Maybe that had something to do with it? Although my Windows98 version worked right away on Friday morning (I had to re-login) even though I use that version daily. It's all quite weird...and really starting to piss me off having to boot into OS 9 all the time...just like last year *sigh* I guess using spiffy OS X all summer was too much to ask for...
|
Nurdreams | Monday, August 19, 2002 - 12:49 pm     Also, there is 2 Real folders on a PC....one under program files and one in the common files. I had to delete in both places. |
Sunrisedd | Monday, August 19, 2002 - 02:19 pm     I have not canceled my subscription too hopeful they will fix the problem. Will cancel tomorrow if not fixed. |
Jesse | Monday, August 19, 2002 - 03:28 pm     SanFran . . . I can imagine your face and panic attack when you realized you signed onto RealOne while Basic 8 was running . . . LOL . . . sorry you experienced such a scare, but glad you must feel "safer" now. |
Bastable | Monday, August 19, 2002 - 03:42 pm     Lies Real has told me today: * "The servers are down." Clearly not. It's bad software, but the servers are obviously running since people are getting the feeds. * "I don't have outgoing e-mail capability." This lie from Technical Support, which DOES send help e-mails to customers. I was told this when I requested an .ram file directly from them instead of having to go through the bad Web page. * "Keep trying. It will be fixed soon." What lies have YOU been told? |
|