How do I resolve ADE download error?

[Guest]

Tried for hours and hours yesterday to download ADE so I can read free ebooks from my Hawaii State Library system.  I always got as far as the "install" screen and then it would hang, say there was a download error, and ask me if I wanted to try again.   Well, trying again never helped.  It looked like the program never fully installed, so I tried uninstalling and reinstalling.  I tried using different browsers other than Firefox ... Internet Explorer and Chrome.  Downloaded Adobe Flash.   Made sure I was loggin-in.  Made sure that I authorized the computer.  Nothing resolved it.

Contacted customer support and they said since the program is free, that will be $39 for phone support which I declined.   Alternatively, they said try here or read the blogs, but I don't see an on-point thread.

This is a brand new HP laptop running Windows 7.  I'm kind of shocked it's this hard to download an Adobe program, and especially shocked that when I called Adobe (and waited and waited), it's only pay-as-you-go support.  Called Hawaii State Library librarian and she said bring in your machine, they don't have WiFi but she'd try to help.  She also didn't seem to know that Adobe doesn't give live support except for a $39 fee.  Later I tried LiveChat and that led nowhere.  Again, the chat staff sent me to this blog.  Or, file a report with Tech Support but either the chat person doesn't understand the menu headings or they just broad-brush the names ... in any event, I got discouraged when her directions to Tech Support didn't actually get me to a "type in the problem" screen.   Seems like they just give general answers, like try another browser, most or all of which I tried.

I've never tried ebooks but I've never owned a laptop or used WiFi before, so there's a first time for everything, right?  Out of curiosity, I looked at Kindle and that downloaded in about 60 seconds with no issues.  But I don't want to buy books, just get what my tax dollars already paid for through the library system.

I'm wondering if I need to take down the Windows firewall or turn my anti-virus off.  Anybody have any suggestions?  Thanks for any help you can offer, I'm about to abandon my pursuit of ebooks unless it's that Gutenberg Project free books, that was simple and straightforward.  I was able to download ADE on my PC a week or so ago, but I was only able to do that by calling Adobe Support and obtaining an Adobe user name and password.  I don't remember what else they told me to do, but it worked.  A PC is not portable, though, and I bought this laptop to travel with and hopefully avoid lugging 10 pounds of guidebooks everywhere.  Looking back, not sure why the first Adobe Support person offered free support but the second didn't ...

Enough rambling!

[Jim_Lester-oIBbX7]

You can find the stand-alone installer at http://www.adobe.com/devnet/digitalpublishing.html (scroll down to the bottom in the tools section).

Good Luck.

[Guest]

Thank you, Jim Lester, for trying to help. I downloaded that file and ran it, but it doesn't seem to have changed anything ... When I ran the program it gave me a long list of menu items. Some were examples, some said launch something. So I clicked on all the launch items and nothing happened. Or maybe it did, but I didn't bother to tell me. But at the end of the day, I still can't read any of the ebooks I downloaded from the library. As I click on each book, it says "license expired" although according to the State library system, I have all the books into September.

Since you work for Adobe, let me just repeat that it shouldn't be this hard ... How long has Windows 7 been out? I thought it was a year-and-a-half, or maybe just since January. But I would think that Abobe and Microsoft would have gotten on the same page by now. After all, I downloaded Kindle in about one minute.

I'll write about what else I tried to "frustrated in AZ".

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Jim_Lester <forums@adobe.com> wrote:

You can find the stand-alone installer at http://www.adobe.com/devnet/digitalpublishing.html (scroll down to the bottom in the tools section).

Good Luck.

>

[Jim_Lester-oIBbX7]

"As I click on each book, it says "license expired" although according to the State library system, I have all the books into September."

Well if you got to this point, then you are past the download error and on to something else.  Most likely it is saying the the .acsm files have expired.  If you go to the Library website and download new links you should get a bit farther.

"Since you work for Adobe, let me just repeat that it shouldn't be this hard .."

I don't work for Adobe (anymore - you'll notice a lack of employee badging).

[Guest]

My long answer has gone missing so I'll try again abridged...

Thanks to you two, Frustratred and Jim Lester, for trying ... But my laptop's ADE has never shown any books.  It has a scorecard of books borrowed, purchased, etc. and all numbers have been "0".  But when I look at My Bookshelf for my library account, it shows five books borrowed.  It's just when I click on them to download them to the laptop that I get "licensed expired."  Switch to my PC, the books are there, no license had expired.

Tried a new, sixth book downloaded to the laptop.  For a moment the scorecard says "1", then it scolls through some screens and says "license expired."  Check the PC and the book is there, I download it and can read it just fine.

Go to Windows program troubleshooting, check ADE and it still says "incompatible application."

I still believe the issue is a conflict with my Windows 7 settings that won't let me download ADE fully...

Will try uninstalling ADE again and reinstalling ... that's it for ideas for now.  But thanks, again, this experiment is bucking up against my travel plans, and I've got to move on ...

[Guest]

Back From the Future

I've been on the travel road, but I would like to compliment Frustrated and Jim Lester from correctly pointing out my error - I just couldn't see it.

I discovered that I had set the clock on my new laptop to a date of 2021 instead of 2011. That's why I always received a "license expired" hang error when trying to download ebooks.

Looking back, Adobe might have been more helpful when trying to explain why I couldn't download ADE - it could have just said "license expired" or some other time reference ... that might have been another prompt to check my computer settings.

Anyway, this turned out to be simple user error - and even though I implied that "I've tried all that" I just missed checking the year setting. So ... my bad, as they say.

Adobe Tech Support also offered phone support, but that was about 2 weeks into my trial and error. In the end, it's my fault but I still believe that a live person would have been a quicker route to resolving a simple problem.

ADE is working for me. Thanks again to Frustrated and Jim Lester for going out of their way to help another person