2a. Will HyperChem run as stand-alone on Windows?

Windows 95

HyperChem 5 and HyperNMR 2.0 work correctly with Win'95. There are small problems with HyperChem 5 accessing ChemPlus 1.5; these are due to some inconsistencies in a 16-bit application communicating with a fully 32-bit application. Please see the ChemPlus FAQ for the necessary steps to correct this.

For previous versions (HyperChem 4.0, 4.5, HyperNMR 1.0 and ChemPlus 1.0) there seem to be few reported incompatibilities, and these generally fall into the "Regional Settings" category. It appears that some "Regional Settings" cause HyperChem to fail -- specifically, "English (United States)" works while "English (Canadian)", "English (Ireland)", "German (Standard)", "Spanish (Modern Sort)", "Dutch (Standard)", and "French (Standard)" do not. In these cases, it appears that a built-in Windows function for text comparison gets confused, and HyperChem is not able to recognize some script commands. Also, you should set the decimal separator to "." instead of ",". The Regional Settings dialog in Windows is accessible through the Control Panel; remember to reboot your system after you make changes.

Under Windows 95, no lock driver software is needed for older Rainbow locks but to avoid potential compatibility problems Rainbow recommends that the Portable Device Driver 'sentinel.vxd' be present for newer locks.

If you have installed HyperChem and can access the Help/About menu item, then rest assured, the dongle and its driver software are working. If you cannot access menu items, then please refer to the Hardware Lock FAQ for further trouble-shooting.

For the newer locks, version PD 5.17 of the lock driver software is automatically installed with Hyperchem 5.0 and later. A more recent version is now available-- Rainbow driver version PD 5.3-- but there should be no need to install it unless you are experiencing hardware lock or printer problems. We welcome feedback on the effectiveness of the PD 5.3 driver; please send E-mail to support@hyper.com

Windows 3.1 or 3.11 or Windows for Workgroups

The latest release, HyperChem 5.0, does not run on Windows 3.x. HyperChem 5 is deisgned to take advantage of several 32-bit features not present in Windows 3.x.

All other versions of HyperChem, ChemPlus, and HyperNMR will run under Windows 3.1 or 3.11 or Windows for Workgroups with few reported problems.

A self extracting file of the hardware lock drivers is available from:
http://hyper.com.winhost6.atlantic.net/downloads/support/ntoldlok.exe (37.6 KBytes)

This seems to work correctly with most systems. To unarchive the files, copy the executable to a temporary directory and run it in MS-DOS ("Command Prompt") mode with the '-d' option, for example:

ntoldlok -d

Then read the README files which will explain the procedure for installing the lock/port driver. This driver requires that you determine the hardware addresses of the parallel port manually, before installation.

The most up-to-date driver software to run the newer hardware locks is recommended in certain instances but has not yet been fully tested. Rainbow driver Version PD 5.3 is available to use if you encounter problems described in the Hardware Lock FAQ or the Printer FAQ .

We welcome feedback on the effectiveness of this newest driver; please send E-mail to support@hyper.com

Windows NT 3.51

Under WinNT 3.51 for Intel, standalone versions of HyperChem releases 4 and 4.5, ChemPlus 1 and 1.5 and HyperNMR 1 and 2 will run. You must install an NT 3.51 device driver for the parallel port lock. A self extracting file of the lock/port driver is available from:
http://hyper.com.winhost6.atlantic.net/downloads/support/rainport.exe (220.1 KBytes)

This is the latest version from Rainbow which is suitable for Windows NT 3.51. To unarchive the files, copy the executable to a temporary directory and run it in MS-DOS ("Command Prompt") mode with the '-d' option, for example:

rainport -d

Then read the README files which will explain the procedure for installing the driver. The new driver should be able to configure itself automatically. Note that the driver must be installed while you are logged in as "administrator"--it is not enough to install as "user" with administrative privileges. (Thanks to Chris Whitlock for spotting this one.)

We welcome feedback on the effectiveness of the rainport driver; please send E-mail to support@hyper.com

The standalone version of HyperChem 5.01 will run on Windows NT 3.51 with one known problem. The File/Preferences menu item does not permit path names to be set. This causes the ab initio basis sets to be inaccessible. To work around this, you must delete CHEM.INI each time prior to starting up HyperChem 5. (The Support Desk acknowledges John McKelvey in trouble-shooting this problem.)

With Windows NT 3.51, there is a communications problem between the graphical display and the computational modules such that after a large amount of data has passed back and forth between the two, the calculation aborts and HyperChem reports a communication problem. At this point, one can save the structure, restart HyperChem, and continue the calculation. With earlier versions of Windows NT than 3.51 (with the 2nd service pack), both the graphical and computational modules simply froze (and ChemPlus and HyperNMR did not work properly). None of these problems are seen with Windows or Windows 95, and the problem appears to lie in Windows NT 3.51.

One user has reported that the problem appears to involve the NT system file 'pagefile.sys', which he observed to grow with each exchange of data between front and back ends. When the file reached the maximum size specified in the NT configuration, the calculation halted. But we have not observed this effect ourselves.

The problem can be at least partially avoided by reducing the frequency with which the structure is redisplayed on the screen during a calculation. For example, if the structure is redisplayed only every 10th iteration, then the calculation can run 10 times as long before it locks up.

Windows NT 4.0

In general, as for Win 95, the "Regional Settings" of your system should be set to "English (US)" and the decimal separator (under "Number") should be set to ".", not ",". Go to the Control Panel to find these and remember to re-boot.

HyperChem 5.0 had some problems running under Windows NT 4.0; these problems have been fixed in HyperChem 5.01. The HyperChem 5.01 upgrade, along with expanded POVRay documentation, is being sent free of charge to all purchasers of HyperChem 5.0 who have sent in their registration card. The HyperChem 5.01 CD includes version PD 5.17 of the lock driver software.

There have been a number of NT 4.0 problems reported due to NT 4/dongle incompatibility. Please see the NT 4.0 Problems FAQ for more details on this problem, which is recognized by Microsoft (and hopefully will be fully fixed in NT 4.x in the near future).

Rainbow Technologies, who manufacture the lock and its accompanying driver software, have released as of January 97 a new version of the system driver which will overcome some of the problems reported; these are described in the Hardware Lock FAQ and the Printer FAQ . If you have been experiencing these or related problems, the Rainbow driver version PD 5.3 can be downloaded from here as a self-expanding archive.

[Products] [Sales] [Support] [Science] [News] [Corporate] [Search] [Home]