V-Phone/Vista workaround doesn't work...

Posts: 4 · New Forum Member Joined: Mar 01, 2007 Posts: 4

I followed the instructions located at http://www.vonage.com/help.php?article=1226&category=113&nav=5 . When creating the shortcut, after selecting the removable disk, and typing "\vonage\autodown.exe", then click "Next", when I click on "Next" vista is saying that it's not found (Which is correct, because the removable vonage disk is empty)

So, what am I doing wrong? I just purchased this, and nowhere during the purchase process did it state I would have issues with Vista, which is very upsetting, and it should have stated it's incompatibilities during the purchase process.

Posts: 4 · New Forum Member Joined: Mar 01, 2007 Posts: 4

I have found a solution for it... Plug the V-Phone into an XP machine (or 2000, something it'll work on), run/use it, and it'll update the V-phone, and put the hidden vonage folder onto the removable drive, then plug it into your vista machine, and follow the steps at http://www.vonage.com/help.php?article=1226&category=113&nav=5

Posts: 83 · Vonage Forum Senior Joined: Oct 26, 2006 Posts: 83

mapping the icon to the drive can cause issues just follow these instructions and it should work

If you want the Vphone to work on Vista these are the steps

note that the Vphone will not work on the Vista basic home as there is no way to see hidden folders

1 Plug in the Vphone

2 Navigate to the removable drive in the explorer window and hit the F10 key and then choose TOOLS and folder options an then choose to view hidden files and folder

3 Now you will see a Vonage folder, double click on it and now you will see two files with the Vonage logo on them, one of them is "autodown.exe"

4. Highlight "autodown.exe" with you mouse by clicking on it and then drag it to your desktop and it will create and icon for the file

5. Right-click on the new icon and choose properties. Then click on compatablitly and choose to run the program in compatability mode and choose WIN XP SP2 and then click run as administrator on the bottom of that window and then click apply or OK just affirming what you just changed until the window closes

6. Then double click on the new icon and watch the vphone launch

NOTE: there have been issues with people upgrading their computers and from WIN XP to Vista and this workaround not workng and a lot of times it is due to vista not the Vphone and driver issues with the USB ports,

If you remove the vphone or the next time you try to use it on the Vista machine and clicking on the icon does not work, you may hve to due step 5 and 6 again and it should work

Posts: 27 · Vonage Forum Junior Joined: Oct 02, 2006 Posts: 27

actually, you can display hidden files and folders in windows vista basic. In order to activate menu functionality in basic, highlight the window you're looking to display the file menus and press your f-10 button. the tools menu, as well as the rest of the menu options, will appear at the top of the window.

Posts: 4 · New Forum Member Joined: May 03, 2007 Posts: 4

I've found that, even using the V-Phone/Vista workaround and every other trick I've read, the V-Phone starts up only about one out of 10 times I try.

I've searched the forums and support section of the web site, and I've tried everything, and I cannot find the magical combination to make V-Phone work on the first try. Whether it be running in compatibility mode, or deleting the options.ini file, unplugging and reconnecting the USB device, etc...

I do usually get it to work... sometimes after just 2 tries, and sometimes after 20 tries. Most of the time, I get the Vonage Splash Screen ("Detected" and then "Initializing"), then the Vonage Talk USB keypad comes up, and at the bottom it says "Service Unavailable, Internal Error", and then I get a Windows message that the program has stopped working and has to be shut down.

When do get it to finally start, it runs fine. Call quality is great, and none have been dropped, and the program never crashes.

My bandwidth is fine -- I get 3 mbps down and 384 kbps up. And I have the same problem at my office, where I have a T-1.

The routers at both locations have no firewalls. I've made sure my Windows Firewall is allowing the Vonage Talk exe, as well as every other exe related to the program (ie, autodown.exe). I have even completely disabled Windows Firewall and I still have the same issues...

In regards to the above suggestion -- to plug it into an XP machine -- I've done that as well. I plugged it into an XP machine on the same network, and it started up, automatically and perfectly, without a hiccup. I then plugged it back into my Vista laptop, double-checked that the compatibility mode was set and my firewall was off, and got the same stinking "Service Unavailable, Internal Error" crash... over and over.

Additionally, when the USB device is plugged in, the whole computer lags up... I'll have internet explorer freeze up randomly (not responding), and then I'll unplug the Vonage USB device, and instantly IE unfreezes and the entire computer is running smoothly again. I have similar freezing-up issues with Media Player when the USB device is plugged in.

So my conclusion is that the V-Phone is just very very buggy on a Vista machine. Unless someone can enlighten me as to some alternative method to get it working right, it is just not practical to fight through these issues... Which is a shame, as it would be of great use to me.

Anybody know if they are planning to give us a Vista-compatible version any time soon?

Posts: 4 · New Forum Member Joined: May 03, 2007 Posts: 4

A little update on my attempts to get V-Phone working on Vista...

I went in to Windows Firewall --> Exceptions. I deleted all the exe's that had to do with Vonage (vonagetalkusb.exe, etc)... My purpose was to start all over, and get Windows to prompt me to unblock it again.

What is happening is the V-Phone/Vonage Talk software is crashing before I can even click "unblock"... and I've tried clicking it so fast its like I'm buzzing in on Jeopardy.

Still the same error - "Service Unavailable, Internal Error", and crash. And I haven't even told Windows Firewall how to treat it yet...

Of course, like I said before, I have this error even when I disable the firewall. So I don't know what I was expecting, just trying everything. Just thought it was interesting that it crashes before Windows Firewall has even denied or allowed the communication.

Posts: 4 · New Forum Member Joined: May 03, 2007 Posts: 4

Windows Vista Event Log from when my V-Phone crashes:

Faulting application VonageTalkUSB.exe, version 1.65.375.4, time stamp 0x45f195d2, faulting module ntdll.dll, version 6.0.6000.16386, time stamp 0x4549bdc9, exception code 0xc0000005, fault offset 0x00062086, process id 0x1d0, application start time 0x01c792a20f0391e2.

I haven't been able to get it to start after about 25 attempts today, and this is always the log entry.

Then a few minutes ago, while I'm running several apps (IE, Outlook, Messenger), I tried to launch it again, just for giggles. And it started! Amazing. I left it running for about 10 minutes, then shut it down. I have tried to start it back up 3 times since then, and it crashes every time again. Argh! I didn't unplug the USB device, I didn't make a single change... It started up one minute, now it won't. A very frustrating piece of crap, this V-phone is...

Posts: 1 · New Forum Member Joined: May 31, 2007 Posts: 1

I was unable to get Vista to recognize the CD partition of the Vphone .
So I used a XP based computer and copied files from the CD partiton to the removable partition and followed workaround and everything is working fine.

Posts: 1 · New Forum Member Joined: Jun 23, 2007 Posts: 1

the behavior just needs to be fixed. this workaround only works some of the time - really really flaky. the only thing i can seem to gather after spending hours trying to get it to work is rebooting, waiting 5 minutes for that property sheet to come up when you try and set "Run as..." and Compatibility to "Windows XP Sp2" and giving the desktop shortcut another go.

This just needs to be fixed. I don't care by who, but there should be a big fat bug assigned to someone. Really makes the 40 bucks seem like a drop in the bucket compared to the time sink.

Sorry, not much technical information. I'm just venting/commiserating.

Posts: 4 · New Forum Member Joined: May 03, 2007 Posts: 4

Yeah, the real joke is how Vonage claims the bug is on Microsoft's end. On the "Vista Workaround" page they claim the workaround is temporary until "Microsoft fixes the bug". Which is so damn lame.

Vonage customers spent upwards of $40 or so on a V-phone expecting it to work on their laptop, which they spent 20 times that amount (or more) on. Not vice-versa.

The little VonageTalk software and V-phone firmware need to be corrected to work with the software giant's new operating system, not vice-versa.

When you buy a PC product -- whether its a $10 mouse, a $50 game peripheral, or just about any software you buy at a store or download -- do you ever see the manufacturer just shrug off the incompatibility issues and just blame it on a Microsoft bug? No. And if you did, you'd be demanding your money back.

What's worse, we've purchased this $40 device from a multi-million-dollar company, not some mom-and-pop small business developer where it would be more acceptable.

So stop pushing this off on MS and come out with a fix already. I left my original posts, clearly documenting my problem, error logs, and step I've taken... over six weeks ago... and no replies from anyone at Vonage. I guess that fits right up there with the telephone customer service department who can't figure out how to pour syrup on their pancakes.