Nero Info Tool 2.0 Available

[Inertia]

Nero Info Tool 2.0 is available for downloading at CD Speed Downloads.

[KCK]

This was the first news item on June 13!

[Inertia]

Then it's about time to have it mentioned in the forums as well.

[Han]

I wonder when will this buggy Info Tool show that TEAC CD-R58S (an over 4 years old writer) supports CD-Text.

[dhc014]

Nero InfoTool, like all other INQUIRY programs only display what the drive reports.

[Inertia]

I wonder when will this buggy Info Tool show that TEAC CD-R58S (an over 4 years old writer) supports CD-Text.

I don't know, but I installed it on two computers and it worked on one of them. The other experienced a page fault requiring rebooting every time the Info Tool 2.0 was loaded. Removing v2.0 and reinstall v1.03.2 restored normal operation.

I finally removed v2.0 on both computers. I am becoming very leery of installing the latest releases of Nero products, as they all seem to be buggy beta versions. I am more interested in something that works instead of experimental changes and add-ons. If Nero wants beta testers, they should announce it and disclose that their products haven't been debugged. Personally, I am getting very tired of this unsolicited "beta tester" experience.

[dburg]

Nero Info Tool is a user-mode only program as far as I know (I'm not the author), using the ASPI to retrieve device information. Thus, it should not be technically able to directly cause a page fault BSOD (if you are under an NT/2k/XP system). Eventually a malicious malformed request send to the kernel could cause a BSOD, but that's definitively not intended by Nero Info Tool, and the ASPI drivers from Microsoft and Adaptec are out for so long time that it is unlikely, but not impossible, that they are not protected from malformed requests.

All this is only assumptions as long as the problem was not reproduce & debugged.

[dhc014]

Nero Info Tool is a user-mode only program as far as I know (I'm not the author), using the ASPI to retrieve device information. Thus, it should not be technically able to directly cause a page fault BSOD (if you are under an NT/2k/XP system). Eventually a malicious malformed request send to the kernel could cause a BSOD, but that's definitively not intended by Nero Info Tool, and the ASPI drivers from Microsoft and Adaptec are out for so long time that it is unlikely, but not impossible, that they are not protected from malformed requests.

All this is only assumptions as long as the problem was not reproduce & debugged.

I'm pretty sure that InfoTool defaults to SPTI instead of ASPI on Windows NT/200/XP machines, but it still uses ASPI for Windows 98/ME. That's how InfoTool works without ASPI installed (on Windows NT/200/XP machines). You might try deleting the other files that come with InfoTool 2.00 since they are the major changes.

[burner1000000]

I wonder when will this buggy Info Tool show that TEAC CD-R58S (an over 4 years old writer) supports CD-Text.

I don't know, but I installed it on two computers and it worked on one of them. The other experienced a page fault requiring rebooting every time the Info Tool 2.0 was loaded. Removing v2.0 and reinstall v1.03.2 restored normal operation.

I finally removed v2.0 on both computers. I am becoming very leery of installing the latest releases of Nero products, as they all seem to be buggy beta versions. I am more interested in something that works instead of experimental changes and add-ons. If Nero wants beta testers, they should announce it and disclose that their products haven't been debugged. Personally, I am getting very tired of this unsolicited "beta tester" experience.

I had the same problem with infotool on two of my computers. I finally overcame it by going to properties --> compatibility and checking windows NT service pack 5 as the mode to run the program in. Now it works fine. There is obviously a conflict somewhere that this rectifies. I am running XP SP1 on both computers.

[Inertia]

Nero Info Tool is a user-mode only program as far as I know (I'm not the author), using the ASPI to retrieve device information. Thus, it should not be technically able to directly cause a page fault BSOD (if you are under an NT/2k/XP system). Eventually a malicious malformed request send to the kernel could cause a BSOD, but that's definitively not intended by Nero Info Tool, and the ASPI drivers from Microsoft and Adaptec are out for so long time that it is unlikely, but not impossible, that they are not protected from malformed requests.

All this is only assumptions as long as the problem was not reproduce & debugged.

David, your assumptions and information regarding an NT/2K/XP system do not pertain to my situation. Both installations were on Win98SE. ASPI version 4.60 (1021) is installed. There was (is) no BSOD, but an error message:

This program has performed an illegal operation and will be terminated. Quit all programs, and then restart the computer.

If the program consistentently encounters problems, click the Start button, then select Help, Troubleshooting, and 'If you have trouble running MS-DOS programs'.

The programs enncountered an invalid page exception.

Fault location: 0028:0017

Interrupts in service: None

The program start is interrupted at the "Retrieving Hardware Information" stage. Clicking on the "OK" button on the error message, removes the message and aborts the program startup. It is necessary to restart the computer to restore reliable operation. Task Manager shows "Winoldap (Not responding)", but after removing it with End Task, a normal restart stalls. A forced reboot is necessary.

Doing some troubleshooting reveals that the "Winoldap" problem is referring to the C:\Windows\System\WINOA386.MOD file which remains open and forces CPU resources to 100% utilization. This file is described as a "Non-Windows application component for 386 enhanced mode". It is the MS-DOS Console and was started by Nero Info Tool v2.0. Forcing termination of WINOA386.MOD restores CPU utilization to normal, but Info Tool.exe is still running and won't terminate. A reboot is necessary to terminate Info Tool.exe.

As Info Tool would start with just Systray and Explorer in the background, I did a troubleshooting exercise to identify the conflicting program. It was finally narrowed down to the Auto-Protect function of Norton AntiVirus 2001. If Auto-Protect is disabled by right-clicking on the Norton AntiVirus tray icon, then Nero Info Tool 2.0 will load and terminate normally.

This conflict does not occur with Nero Info Tool v1.03.2. Also, Nero Info Tool 2.0 does not have a conflict with the Auto-Protect function of Norton AntiVirus 2002 loaded on the other computer.

If you would like me to continue in this time consuming beta tester mode, please PM me with instructions for downloading Nero 6. If I am to be a beta tester, I shouldn't have to pay for the privilege.

[Inertia]

Lest there be any misunderstanding about my quasi-rant regarding Nero releases being betas and my general lack of enthusiasm about bug reporting, I hereby certify that this bitching is not about the excellent programs produced by Erik Deppe.

I hold Erik and his work in high esteem.