4. I've got trouble with the hardware lock (dongle).

If you have installed HyperChem properly and can "draw" a molecule using the cursor, but you can't access the menu items such as Help/About HyperChem... then you have problems with the hardware lock or (more likely) the software which drives the lock. Both the dongle and the "driver" software which control it are manufactured for HyperChem by Rainbow Technologies.

If you are having hardware lock problems, your first step should be to verify that you are using the correct hardware lock, and not a dongle which is associated with other software.

Secondly, make sure you have placed the dongle securely on the LPT1 port of your computer. If you have another dongle or a printer attached, remove it and check out the Rainbow lock by itself with HyperChem.

If you are using the Windows NT 4.0 platform, and you do not have the lock problems described below, check out the NT 4 Problems FAQ .

If you are having trouble with network licensing, please see the Software Archive for some diagnostic tools and configuration guides.

Two users have reported that they needed to move the dongle from LPT2 to LPT1 to get it to work with Release 4.

There are also known problems with the IBM microchannel bus, where the CMOS setup has to be changed to disable Parallel Port Arbitration Level for the dongle to function. Rainbow Technologies has also advised us that there may be dongle trouble with fast Pentium machines using a fast, local-bus parallel port which can usually be solved by using an ISA bus parallel port instead (no HyperChem users have reported this problem so far).

There are a number of problems which should be "cured" with Rainbow's January 97 release of version PD 5.3 of the lock driver software. This software can be downloaded from our ftp site for
-- Windows 3.1 http://hyper.com.winhost6.atlantic.net/downloads/support/w31drvr.exe
-- Windows 95 http://hyper.com.winhost6.atlantic.net/downloads/support/w95drvr.exe and
-- Windows NT http://hyper.com.winhost6.atlantic.net/downloads/support/ntdrvr.exe

The Support Desk recommends that you try version PD 5.3 if you have any of the following four symptoms. (If you don't have hardware lock problems, keep the driver software that you have. In any event, the Support Desk recommends that you make a back-up of the driver software that you have, especially if you are updating it with the newest version.)

(1) The installation package for the HP LaserJet 5L apparently reconfigures the parallel port such that HyperChem is unable to communicate with the hardware lock. Try the PD 5.3 version of the driver suitable for your system. If this doesn't work, please refer to the Printer Problems FAQ.

(2) You might have a very low power parallel port, especially if your computer is a lap-top. Rainbow recommend that in such cases, you try the PD 5.3 version of the driver suitable for your system. Two of our users have discovered that their Gateway computers do not activate their parallel ports until software sends data to it (as, for example, with a text program sending something to a printer on the port). Apparently our software querying the lock does not count. The result is that their locks would not work until they printed something through that port; then everything was fine. If the printer is turned on before (or at the same time as) the Gateway computer, then there was some communication between the port and the printer which could also get things running.

(3) Some port boards seem to be a bit weak; some will feed the lock enough power to operate only if there is a device like a printer on the other end of the lock, with the lock "piggybacking" on the power flow between port and printer. Others let the lock work only if there isn't a printer there; they will not generate enough power to run both at once. Again, if this seems to describe your system, try the PD 5.3 version of the driver suitable for your system.

So far, two users have reported that PD 5.3 has *not* helped this problem, and that situating a printer "downstream of the dongle" has been necessary in order to pull current across the port. (See newsgroup archives, Feb '97.) We have let Rainbow know that PD 5.3 does not go far enough.... Rainbow has replied with the suggestion that the CMOS low power settings should be changed.

(4) You have a high-speed printer with hardware ECP which is not operating in conjunction with the dongle. Again, version PD 5.3 of the driver software should alleviate this problem, according to Rainbow Technologies.

There are other possibilities. You may have a bad parallel port, or it may be improperly configured. Your computer manual or your local dealer can help you check out this possibility. The parallel port must be set for bi-directional flow, because HyperChem can both SEND and RECEIVE data. Please check your parallel port configuration, keeping the above in mind, as the dongle should work.

In rare instances, a Rainbow lock has been found to be defective. Hypercube will exchange the lock if that is the problem.

If nothing above has worked, then you will have to install a separate, dedicated parallel port for the Rainbow lock. According to the information we have been given, this is pretty cheap, ca. US$25. This will require a free expansion slot in your computer. To the knowledge of the Support Desk, installing a separate, dedicated, AT-type parallel port has never failed to solve the problem of a hardware lock not responding-- once the possibilitiy of driver software problems have been ruled out, that is.

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