Hi

I have to upgrade 13 Mac MC 3.5.4 systems running, they are all being upgraded from version 2.8.3.

So far out of five systems that have been upgraded, three of them are throwing up the SOFTWARE ACTIVATION FAILED warning, followed by the splash screen allowing me to select the differnt options, which im sure you are all familiar with.

Now i have searched through the forums for help with this and i see that many other people have posted about this issue, goign back as far as June this year. I only recently purchased my upgrades and am as i write this in the process of obtainign my updater fiels from Avid. It seem this problem is still around.

All i can say is that this is typical Avid - nothing is every easy!

Is there anybody out there who can offer a fix for this, i have tried all the suggestions i have found in the forums but nothing seems to correct the problem. The main issue here is that all of my editors, clients and assistants look at this as being my fault in someway, just as they do with all the other boring frustrating isues that come with running Avid software.

Sooner or later somebody here is going to select the option to deactivate the dongle, which will then mean more time spent chasing Avid to have it reactivated.

Is there a fix for this? I hope so.

Many thanks

Are you running OS 10.6.x? If so,lease see the Snow Leopard thread at the top of this forum.

No

All our Macs are running 10.5.6 in preparation for MC 3.5.4

Hi, 

are you trying to run MC with dongles or with software activation?

Rodney

Dongles

So, you choose to activate using your dongle and THEN you get the Software activation failed message? Are yo uconnected to the internet? Have you repaired pemissions since upgrading your OS? I just finished upgrading a bunch of systems at NBC with dongles and they all upgraded smoothly using the dongles. Can't think of what may be going wrong here....

As soon as i open MC i get teh SOFTWARE ACTIVATION FAILED message. IF i click ok on that, the next scree that appears is the one with the four options on, i alwasy choose the option that says. I am upgrading from a different version and want to continue using my dongle. After i do that MC runs now problem, but if i quit and start up again i get eh same messages.

The same happens if connected to the internet or not, and i have deleted and reinstalled from the disc that came with my 3.5.4 upgrade.

Still get the same problem

Ok. Usually, when this happens, it means that the system is not seeing your dongle. Can you try a dongle dump to see if the Dongle manager can see it?

Dongle manager sees the dongle, and reports that it is ok for vwersion 3.5

And, once again, when the activation screen comes up, you choose "activate using my dongle" and, right after doing that, you get the SA failed message?

If that's the case, send me your phone number via email and I'll have someone call you immediately.

Thanks,

Actually, before we do that, Call 1-800-800-AVID and choose Option #2. You will get right through to the SA folks. See what they have to say and keep me informed...OK?

This is what happens

I open Media Composer and get a message saying - Software activation failed.

I click on that message and i then get a second screen where i choose to upgrade and continue using my dongle.

Then Media Composer opens and i am able to work.

When Media composer is shut down and re opend, i go through the whole process again.

Does that make sense

It does. What is happening is the license file is not being written. Now we need to find out why (I'm guessing it's a permissions issue in the OS). Give support a call and see if they can help you through it. If the front line rep doesn't figure it out, ask to be escalated.

Please let me know how you get on. If it isn't fixed with the first call, let me know and we'll get someone on it.

Im based in the UK, the number you gave me doesnt work for me

Ah! Got it. Can you call the Pinewood office for me then?