amBX software quirks

[niceguy1430]

I have had extensive installation/crashes with installing AMBX on Philips Premium kit before finally streamlining and getting everything working. Just thought I will share my experience.

I have a Dual-boot System with both XP 32-bit and Win7 64-bit, so have gone through the full cycle in both.

Some interesting points :

# Its best to disable windows update and Remote Desktop connections before you start installation of amBX software. I believe this has something to do with C++ which amBX insists on installing even if you have a more updated version.

# Install the amBX Installer 1.10 from the amBX website which has Philips built-in. If you install 2.0, it does not contain Philips Device Drivers, so there will be no hardware folder in your Program Files' ambx folder. For Win7, follow the Wiki for the customised Installation Procedure.

# Install and Update all through Control Panel

# VERY IMP : A LOT OF OTHER PROGRAMS/GAMES WILL LIKELY CRASH OR REFUSE TO START AFTER YOUR INSTALLATION IS COMPLETE. TO FIX THAT, WHENEVER YOU COME ACROSS ANOTHER PROGRAM/GAME CRASHING ON STARTING IT(USUALLY WITH A STACK_901A OR SOME SIMILAR CRASH REPORT ERROR), THEN GO TO TASK MANAGER AND DISABLE amBXFXGEN.EXE. THIS FILE SEEMS TO CONFLICT WITH MOST OTHER PROGRAMS IN MEMORY. START THE OTHER PROGRAM/GAME, AND THEN MINIMISE IT AND DOUBLE CLICK ON THIS FILE IN PROGRAM FILES TO RESTART THIS amBXFXGEN FILE IF YOU WISH USE AMBX IN A GAME. ELSE JUST LET IT REMAIN OFF AND USE OTHER PROGRAMS AS USUAL IF YOU DONT WANT TO USE AMBX IN THAT PROGRAM/GAME.

# Philips Control Device Panel as well as amBX control panel are a little buggy, sometimes you see your amBX components in them, sometimes you dont, its OK if you dont as long as ILLUMINATE or AURORA SYNTH. give you amBX effects. The Lights will work OK in the game if you have amBXFXGEN.exe enabled and running in memory.

Once you get past these teething problems, its a wonderful accessory to have, although mine has already experienced some LED failure in the Wallwasher Unit's middle light array, but it has not put me off what is definitely cool addition to gaming, videos and music alike.

[LoB]

Thanks for sharing your experiences!

Regarding your green part:
* Are you sure you have updated to the very latest versions of amBXFxGen? The crashes you reported have been experienced in earlier versions... Start up amBX Control Panel and click "Check for updates" to make sure.
* If you really need to disable amBXFxGen, doing so via amBX Control Panel might be more convenient than using the Task Manager. Start up amBX Control Panel, click "Preferences" and then tick "Disable generated effects" in the "Software Detection" section.

[Froglet]

Thanks for this feedback niceguy1430, these things are all noted and we'll try to improve upon them.

From the description of the other apps crashing I do wonder whether you have got all the software updates, there was a revision for Win7 64bit SP1 that was specifically to address a problem like this.

You may need to do several "check for updates" in the amBX control panel as some are dependent on each other.....

If you do continue to experience such problems please post a brief description and if you can an amBXDiag so that we can try to reproduce and fix the issue. amBX FXGen should run in the background without crashing anything - when we find cases where it does we can usually prevent this.

We are doing our best to continue to support the Philips products in our software updates, though they have withdrawn from this area and no longer make or suppor the hardware. I'm afraid the hardware is now quite an old design and much of the driver software rather out-of-date. I do think the new MadCatz products are the way to go for most people, with more modern and reliable LED technology, better brightness and colour reproduction and I expect them to expand their range as they continue to support the amBX experience.

[niceguy1430]

Thanks for the feedback Froglet and Lob.
I have installed all the latest updates and there are no more available through Control panel. The ambxfxgen issue continues. Almost every program except Internet Explorer crashes or simply refuses to open if this file is in Task Manager processes. I also have a rollback software so I am able to rewind to any stage of installation. If I install Philips v1.0 from CD, then I don't experience crashes, but I miss out on other options since the main blue Control panel itself is not there in Philips own software. Only a Device Panel.
But since it's not much of a headache to simply close and open fxgen as and when required, it's not much of an issue. Thanks for the Control panel suggestion for shutting off ambxfxgen, will try that.

[ThaSchaap]

Although unsupported, check out my post for the most efficient installation path.

[niceguy1430]

ThaChaap, that looks promising. Will check this install option soon as I get my Wallwasher unit back, currently given to the neighborhood LED Electrical shop to replace few RED LEDS which shorted.
Since I have Rollback software installed, I can just make a snapshot of the current state, uninstall, reinstall as per your method. If that method also doesnt work, revert back to the saved state.
Tks

[niceguy1430]

ThaSchaap, tried your method, but ambxFXGEN.exe still causes errors in almost every other other program.
I have removed it from autostart. I load it each time I use an ambx-enabled program, and then discontinue from program memory when I finish using that program, else my other software including most other games and utilities wont start. Keep getting a crash, report says some Stack_901a error. Its a tiny inconvenience, but its not a dealbreaker.

[ThaSchaap]

ThaSchaap, tried your method, but ambxFXGEN.exe still causes errors in almost every other other program.
I have removed it from autostart. I load it each time I use an ambx-enabled program, and then discontinue from program memory when I finish using that program, else my other software including most other games and utilities wont start. Keep getting a crash, report says some Stack_901a error. Its a tiny inconvenience, but its not a dealbreaker.

Do you happen to use an FPS limiter, something like FRAPS or another similar program which influences your graphic card?

Which anti-virus are you using? And overclocking going on?

I had the same problems a while back, but they were fixed in subsequent FXGen releases. Do you get crashes on both XP and W7?

[Froglet]

I suggest you post a amBXDiag if you are willing to, which gives us the best chance to either spot an installation issue or reproduce the problem.

[niceguy1430]

ThaSchaap, tried your method, but ambxFXGEN.exe still causes errors in almost every other other program.
I have removed it from autostart. I load it each time I use an ambx-enabled program, and then discontinue from program memory when I finish using that program, else my other software including most other games and utilities wont start. Keep getting a crash, report says some Stack_901a error. Its a tiny inconvenience, but its not a dealbreaker.

Do you happen to use an FPS limiter, something like FRAPS or another similar program which influences your graphic card?

Which anti-virus are you using? And overclocking going on?

I had the same problems a while back, but they were fixed in subsequent FXGen releases. Do you get crashes on both XP and W7?

Not using any FPS Limiter. Have Kaspersky Internet Security 2012. No overclocking.
Issues in both XP as well as Win7(Have dual boot as you know)
I dont get any crash if ambxfxgen is not loaded.
And if it is loaded, I dont get any crash in an ambx-enabled program.
I get crashes in almost all other non-ambx programs/games if ambxfxgen.exe is still running in background in task manager. If I 'stop process' ambxfxgen.exe and restart any other previously crashed program, ot works without any issue.

[niceguy1430]

I suggest you post a amBXDiag if you are willing to, which gives us the best chance to either spot an installation issue or reproduce the problem.

Could you please guide me how I post a amBXDiag report? I presume it would be something similar to DxDiag?

[ThaSchaap]

I suggest you post a amBXDiag if you are willing to, which gives us the best chance to either spot an installation issue or reproduce the problem.

Could you please guide me how I post a amBXDiag report? I presume it would be something similar to DxDiag?

You can download amBX Diag and install it.

In Start Menu -> amBX -> Tools there should be an 'amBX Diag' entry. Run it, press the 'Start' button and save the .ZIP file to your desktop (or somewhere easily found). You can attach this file to your posting.

[ThaSchaap]

I know Kaspersky is quite aggressive. Can you try this Kaspersky KB (How to configure Trusted applications) with the 'amBXFxGen.exe' file? I think 'Do not monitor application activity' and 'Do not monitor child application activity' should be checked. The file is located in the 'Program Files\amBX\Gaming FXGen' directory. Add both versions (win32 and x64) if using 64 bit.

[niceguy1430]

I think I have figured out the issue possibly. Since I have 64-bit Win7, both 64-bit version and 32-bit version of ambxfxgen would get loaded in task manager on auto-start. I would usually end the process of the 64-bit version, and the 32-bit version would automatically get ended.
This time I ended only the 32-bit version (called ambxfxgen*32.exe) leaving the 64-bit version ambxfxgen,exe loaded. This time the other programs which would usually crash, are not crashing. I then moved the 32-bit folder in ambxfxgen folder to another location, and now only ambxfxgen 64-bit autoloads at startup, and the other programs are also running without any problem(though some of these programs run excruciatingly slow sometimes)
Is the 32-bit version required to be loaded alongwith 64-bit whenever you play an ambx-enabled software if you have a 64-bit OS?