Help for Windows Media 10 on IPAQ 3715

[carak]

Can anyone help please:

When I open up Windows Media Player, it gets stuck in the options screen and says, "Searching for Skins". I can start playing some music but on the playback screen it is all black with no buttons etc.

Thanks

[Darius Wey]

That screen will appear if you have previously enabled a skin that is no longer present. Did you install any new skins prior to this? Also, can you select the default Windows Media Player skin that's included out-of-the-box?

If you can't select any skins, then it seems like your original skin files are missing or corrupted. The easiest way out is to hard-reset your device to bring it back to factory default settings, or you can find another rx3715 and copy the hidden system skin files in the Windows directory over to your device (though it's a messy process).

[Guest979]

I guess this is obvious, but couldn't you also just find a theme somewhere and install it? I mean, no matter how much you like the default theme, hard resetting or finding another device both seem like a LOT of work.

[Darius Wey]

I guess this is obvious, but couldn't you also just find a theme somewhere and install it? I mean, no matter how much you like the default theme, hard resetting or finding another device both seem like a LOT of work.

Two caveats: (1) There aren't that many WMP10 Mobile skins available; (2) Not all are enabled for video playback.

Having said that, there's a Pocket PC Thoughts skin in the DOWNLOADS forum of this site, so you can always use that if you wish. :)

[pocketpcadmirer]

Interesting..whenever I delete a particular skin(currently in use), and then when I open WMP, I get the default skin. :!:

SUnny

[carak]

Thanks for that Darius. I appreciate the feedback already.

The way I got into this mess was doing a ROM upgrade which introduced WMP 10 rather than version 9. Therefore before doing the upgrade I took a backup, performed the ROM upgrade and then restored the back-up. I did notice that before restoring WMP appeared to work okay and showed the album art etc, but not after the restore.

Therefore I suspected that something might have been over written (key files, or registry settings?) on the restore. Any ideas? Someone mentioned perhaps something to do with file association on the SKN files? Does that sound possible? Does anyone know a clear explanation about where the skins should go for WMP?

Thanks again :)

Carak.



That screen will appear if you have previously enabled a skin that is no longer present. Did you install any new skins prior to this? Also, can you select the default Windows Media Player skin that's included out-of-the-box?

If you can't select any skins, then it seems like your original skin files are missing or corrupted. The easiest way out is to hard-reset your device to bring it back to factory default settings, or you can find another rx3715 and copy the hidden system skin files in the Windows directory over to your device (though it's a messy process).

[Darius Wey]

Therefore I suspected that something might have been over written (key files, or registry settings?) on the restore.

A-ha, that's where things have gone wrong. Generally, cross-ROM backups and restorations are not advised as it can lead to problems similar to what you're experiencing now. You've assumed correctly that key files have indeed been overwritten - both WMP9 and WMP10 use the same naming convention for its skin files (e.g. portrait96.gif, landscape96.gif, etc.), yet the features supported in both versions are vastly different to each other. Hence, the overall incompatibility.

Any ideas? Someone mentioned perhaps something to do with file association on the SKN files? Does that sound possible? Does anyone know a clear explanation about where the skins should go for WMP?

Unfortunately, it's not that simple. You no longer have the full WMP10 default graphical skin set on your device as it has been overwritten with some WMP9 graphical skin files. While the SKN skin definition file contains all the code for making the skin work, a lot of WMP9's headers and button functions have been deprecated in WMP10, so even if you moved heaven and earth trying to tweak your current SKN file, it would have problems functioning in WMP10 due to incompatible code.

So, I can really only suggest two options here. (1) Hard-reset to bring your device back to factory default settings (i.e. based on your most recent ROM - so you will still have WMP10 on your device). (2) Install a third-party skin. I suggested the Pocket PC Thoughts skin located in the DOWNLOADS forum of this site, so you're more than welcome to use that if you wish. Installation instructions are located in that forum. If the skin isn't to your liking, search around on Pocketgear.com for a couple other skins, though bear in mind not all support videos.

[Nurhisham Hussein]

I'm very surprised that you didn't break even more things, not just WMP10.

[Sven Johannsen]

I'm very surprised that you didn't break even more things, not just WMP10.
Just haven't found them yet.

[pocketpcadmirer]

yeah !! both of you darius and sven make me laugh a lot :lol:

Sunny

[carak]

I'm very surprised that you didn't break even more things, not just WMP10.
Just haven't found them yet.

Break things? You mean when I jumped up and down on it after it still did not work after doing a hard reset/restore?! To be fair though I was not feeling that positive that it would work anyway - because although I did the restore, I had renamed the "Program Files\Windows Media Player" folder (i.e. the one existing after the hardreset) before I restored. I thought (with fingers crossed and a basket full of lucky 7's) that I could then rename the restored "Windows Media Player" folder and slip back the WMP10 created one. No such luck!

But seriously and on a positive note, luckily everything else seems normal - I did follow the instructions from the HP site where I got the ROM upgrade from in the first place.

Where next? Regress back to the previous ROM version? Maybe, although the new one does seem faster and better than the old. So without regressing any other suggestions apart from finding a four-leafed clover? :)

Thanks for all the comments

Carak

[Nurhisham Hussein]

The only realistic and safe way of doing a cross-ROM restore is to do a before and after analysis of all files and the registry of the device. That way you can apply all the changes in the new ROM to your restore file. As you can imagine, it's a lot of work.

[Darius Wey]

Where next? Regress back to the previous ROM version? Maybe, although the new one does seem faster and better than the old. So without regressing any other suggestions apart from finding a four-leafed clover? :)

Why downgrade? Your existing ROM probably works fine - it's just your restoration that mucked things up. Whether you choose to downgrade the ROM or keep the existing ROM by hard-resetting, you will need to wipe your device either way. I suggest sticking with the latter. That way, you can keep WMP10 on the device.

[carak]

Why downgrade? Your existing ROM probably works fine - it's just your restoration that mucked things up. Whether you choose to downgrade the ROM or keep the existing ROM by hard-resetting, you will need to wipe your device either way. I suggest sticking with the latter. That way, you can keep WMP10 on the device.

You're right of course but, and I am probably being slow here, if I wiped everything and went back to the previous version then at least I could restore as things were (errr, or could I? perhaps not!). But if I hard reset and don't restore, then all my contacts, calendar entries etc will be lost - or is there a way of doing a selective restore from a back-up?

cheers

[Nurhisham Hussein]

Both Sprite Backup and Sunnysoft can do selective restores - but correct me if I'm wrong here, you're not syncing your PDA with Outlook?

[Darius Wey]

You're right of course but, and I am probably being slow here, if I wiped everything and went back to the previous version then at least I could restore as things were (errr, or could I? perhaps not!). But if I hard reset and don't restore, then all my contacts, calendar entries etc will be lost - or is there a way of doing a selective restore from a back-up?

Like hishamh has suggested, a selective restore job can restore PIM (personal information management) data only, effectively leaving out the other unwanted program-related junk. But if you synchronise your device with Outlook (and on that note, I sure hope you do :)), then you don't really need to worry about any of that. After you hard-reset your device to bring it back to system default settings, simply connect it up to your PC, create a new partnership through ActiveSync (specifying which aspects of your PIM data to synchronise), and you're good to go. Manually install your programs and all should be up and running without a glitch.

[carak]

....if you synchronise your device with Outlook (and on that note, I sure hope you do :)), then you don't really need to worry about any of that. After you hard-reset your device to bring it back to system default settings, simply connect it up to your PC, create a new partnership through ActiveSync (specifying which aspects of your PIM data to synchronise), and you're good to go. Manually install your programs and all should be up and running without a glitch.

*hands up*...okay, so perhaps I don't sync with Outlook! And now perhaps I should start! In defence it is because I have sync'd up before but found that because I use my IPAQ on both computers at home and at work things tended to get sync'd to places I did not want! But it is a good idea Darius, so I will take that approach when I get back on my home PC.

And hishamh thanks for those pointers about some backup software - I'll think about those for another day.

Thanks for all your help people :)