Help Please

[Sharr76]

Hi all

I have purchased the National Burial Index for England and Wales 1st edition and for some reason I am unable to view the contents of the discs? Anyone any ideas!

[peter nicholl]

As The NBI is now on Edition2, has your Edition 1 come with instructions? How far have you got? Have you installed Disk 1? Do you get as far as the Welcome Screen?

[Sharr76]

I get nowhere at all with it, my CD drive and DVD drive is not reading the disc at all for some reason. I have even tried loading it into my laptop and thats not showing any info on the cd either.

I have tried: start, run then d:\setup.exe like the installation guide says but nothing show up at all.

Another bit of info on the cd case says is your computer suitable then it goes onto say "The NBI is accessed by a program, the NBI Viewer, which is installed on your hard disk. It requires a pc with Windows 95 or later, and at least 16 Mbytes of RAM."

[Dennis Harker]

I assume that, as this is the older version, you have bought the set second- hand from someone. Are the discs copies or do they look original? Where did you buy them? I know that the NBI discs have some sort of protection system such that copied discs will not work as the protection system corrupts the data as they are being copied. If they are copies then this might be your problem.

If they are originals and you bought them from a legitimate source I would take them back and get them to show you that they will work on their PC. If that is the case then you would need to investigate your PC setup further.

Can't really say much more without knowing more information about the discs.

[Sharr76]

The discs are original and so is the case, I bought them second hand from ebay. I have tried them now on two pcs and one laptop, none of them will read the discs at all. Comes up completely blank.

[MarkJ]

Just a quick thought - if the CDs were designed for windows 95 on, it may be a problem with attempting to run them on XP. Not sure if thats what you use - but very occasionally, programs designed for 9x series can refuse under XP. There is a thing called "compatability mode" in XP, which may allow it to work if this is the issue - but that is just an idea.
Do you have access to a machine which has 95 or 98 (or ME) installed? That would be a good test.

[Sharr76]

Unfortunately I dont have access to a pc with windows 95 or 98. I dont know what to do now....I have emailed the person who I have purchased the disc from to see if they have any ideas.....if not it will be a refund.....

[Dennis Harker]

Sharr - What do you see if you put CD No.1 in the drive and then look at it with Windows Explorer?

Do you have instant messaging - could talk you through that way if you have.

[Dennis Harker]

Just looked up the details of the First Edition on a seller's details in Ebay and it is supposed to run on Windows XP, according to the seller. The FFHS website does have a troubleshooting section for the First Edition but no mention of the problems you have. They, of course, now concentrate on the 2nd Edition.

[Sharr76]

Hi Dennis,

not sure how I would view the contents via IE, I am at work at the moment trying it on my works pc......I do have msn at home, I will contact you later tonight.

I have even tried to view the cd through Family Tree Maker 2006 which I am using but its still not working.

Tried to view the contents of the cds using works pc which uses windows 2000 and still nothing.....I cant see a thing at all, just does not read.....

Sharon

[Dennis Harker]

No, not IE, but Windows Explorer. That is the file manager built into Windows. It will let you look at the files on the CD without trying to run any of them. That way you will be able to see just what is written to the CD. For all you know they might be blank!!

I will PM you might MSN id.

[Sharr76]

Hi Dennis,

no thats not working either, it tries to read the disc but then comes up with "Please insert a disk into drive D".

This is the item number from ebay if you want to look at the details:
Item number: 7244223079

Sharon

[Dennis Harker]

If you get that same message with Windows Explorer on each of the PCs/laptops you have tried then I can only think that both the discs are defective. I am assuming that you get the same message with both discs? It sounds like you have tried everything.

I've looked at the ebay item number you gave me and the only difference I see between this item and a similar one is that there is no indication of where it came from. What I am trying to say is that a similar item is described as having been used for family research and being sold as it has been replaced by the 2nd Edition. However, that doesn't necessarily mean that you have bought a pirated version but, if these are originals, I can't see why you can't even look at the files on the discs before trying to run them.

[Dennis Harker]

I've just looked at Disc 1 of my NBI 2nd Edition using Windows Explorer and the files are there to see. I can only think you have defective discs. Perhaps you could try looking at them in someone else's PC as a last check before demanding a refund.

[Sharr76]

Yes, I have tried to view the disks on 4 pcs and 2 laptops in total...nothing and I get the same message all the time. I have emailed the ebayer last night just waiting now for a reply.....

[Dennis Harker]

Okay - sorry there was no easy solution and I hope the seller either replaces them with good discs or gives you a refund. Please let us know how you get on.

Best wishes

[Sharr76]

I will and thanks again for your help! Much appreciated.

[Guy Etchells]

To install the NBI first edition on a Wnidows XP computer go to "My Computer" right click on the relevant cd drive icon.
Select "open" select "setup.exe"
The viewer should then install.
When installation has finished open viewer and proceed.
Cheers
Guy

[Sharr76]

Guy,

I have tried all that and it does not work. It can't see or read anyting on the cd, pc tries to open but then asks to Insert a disk into drive D.

[Mythology]

Personally I don't use EBay at all anyway, I've known too many people have problems and I don't reckon it's worth the possible hassle for the usually small saving, but ...

"a similar item is described as having been used for family research and being sold as it has been replaced by the 2nd Edition."

I would be *very* wary about that one. I didn't bother with the 2nd edition, still have my old 1st edition, but the system was that owners of the 1st edition who wished to upgrade had to send in their old 1st edition so that the FFHS could confirm that it was genuine, whereupon they got the 2nd edition at a reduced price.
So - if the seller has replaced it with the 2nd edition, how come they still have their 1st edition? Did they *really* think "Oh, I'm not bothered about saving a few quid, I'll just buy the new one at the full price." ?

[Sharr76]

Hi all, just to let you know that I have had a response from the person I purchased the disks from and she had asked me to return them to her, she will give a full refund once she has them. So thats good new at least I suppose! I was really looking forward to viewing this info too. Oh well I will have to purchase the 2nd edition ones.

[Wirral]

Before you buy another copy of the NBI, check that it covers the geographical areas that you are interested in. I have only found a couple of entries on it that I am interested in. Having said that, these entries were invaluable in breaking down a 20 year brick wall. Iwould have paid the full rate just for that info, but fortunately for me I could view them for free at a local library. :)

[Dennis Harker]

Mythology,

Now that's useful information, that I wasn't aware of, having gone straight to the 2nd Edition. That would mean any 1st Editions for sale on Ebay are likely to be copies unless the owner was willing to pay the full price for the 2nd Edition rather than just the cheaper upgrade option. As you do, I would expect most to go for saving several pounds and not have the originals left at home.

[Guy Etchells]

If a person had bought the first edition NBI from a Family History Society or from a FH Fair they may not have been eligible for any discount and may not have known about the Federation offer.

I know at least one person who has both the first edition and the second edition purchased this way.
Cheers
Guy

[Mythology]

True, they may not have known about it Guy, I'm only saying that I'd be very wary of it, but where/who they bought their first edition from wouldn't make any difference to eligibility for the discount - as long as it was genuine, of course!

The reduced upgrade price isn't restricted to copies bought directly from the FFHS - that's presumably why they need you to send the old one in (actually, to be precise, it's only Disc 1 that they want) to verify that it was genuine, they can't tell just from their old order records.

http://www.ffhs.org.uk/General/Projects/NBIupgrades.htm

It's simply "If you already own a genuine copy of the First Edition, you can upgrade to the Second Edition at a specially reduced price of £25, compared with the normal purchase price of £45." (etc.) not "If you bought your First Edition from us ..." (etc.)

[Beebee]

Sorry for stating the obvious and it's probably too late now but, did you try cleaning the disks? I know from my own experience that this could just simply be the problem.

[Sharr76]

Hi yes I cleaned them but it still did not work, I did everything I could to get them to work. They are now in the post being sent back to the person who sold them to me.

[Sharr76]

Well I got a refund from her so thats a good thing. One lesson learnt!

[Mythology]

That's good to know - a bit of a hassle, but no actual loss, could have been a lot worse! :)