The Endless Install

[clyneman]

I've decided to reinstall and resurrect an old copy of Robohelp Office X5, but my copy isn't cooperating. What am I doing wrong? I have been faithfully following all the postings about changing files and running updates so I won't have to put up with the activation sequence that Macromedia put on the product. I get by that stuff easily, but now the installed Robohelp for Word and RoboHTML both tell me that the "Time and Date have been changed;" it advises me to "adjust" date/time and try again. It seems to be about three or four days off. If I lie and say it's next Saturday on a Tuesday, the software runs fine. If I sync up to a time server, then RoboHelp does some date check, displays the message described above, and summarily exits. Is there some reg key or file I can blow away or reinstall to end this madness... or must I keep setting the clock three days ahead to get Robohelp to run?

Thanks.

KC

[Peter Grainge]

Welcome to the forum.

Why are you trying to avoid activation? If this is a legitimate copy there is a correct way of installing X5 that does not involve hacking dates, which can also affect other software.

[clyneman]

Adobe is unable to activate the product. It's legal, but Macromedia's activation codes no longer work. Part of this is a known issue covered under KB403696 here in the knowledgebase, and Adobe directed me to that article; I can't find any help there for my "date has changed problem," and no amount of re-installing will make it go away.

KC

[Peter Grainge]

That article enables you to download two exe files so that activation is no longer required. No need to change any dates.

[clyneman]

As part of another installation and because XP was new and clean, I opened the Time/Date control panel and set the date forward and backward. (I was playing, which makes me more mad...) While leaving the date set a week forward, I ran Robohelp for the first time. It worked. When I reset the date, I used the time server in the control panel to sync up the time; the date was manually reset. It then gave me the date error and continued to do so, no matter how many times I uninstalled, reinstalled, and ran the updates suggested in kb403696. Obviously, there is some time/date stamp in the registry NOT changed by repeated uninstalls, reinstalls and updates. I've downloaded everything that Adobe has suggested and run these updates in the order suggested about three times now.

I hate drive crashes!

KC

[Peter Grainge]

I suspect there is only one way out and I'm pretty sure you have figured out what that is.

[clyneman]

Before I gave up and changed the system date/time on the machine permanently or every time I ran RH, I tried one more thing. And it worked! I cleaned the registry after uninstalling. Seems that some date/time info gets left in the registry no matter how much you uninstall. Cleaning and deleting all unused keys and values after uninstalling everything RH did away with the old info, and then the reinstall and updates did their work as intended. Runs beautifully now without date/time adjustment.

Thanks for responding.

[RoboColum_n_]

To add to Peter's comments, I was wondering what exactly you mean when you state you "sync up to a time server"?