Jepp SkyboundII stopped working

[Keef]

Since Jepp's advisers have failed so far to diagnose the fault, I thought I'd try the learned folks on here...

We installed a GNS430 in the trusty Arrow, and I signed up for the Jepp online updating service and bought the SkyboundII adaptor and a spare datacard.

Once I'd updated the computer to Win XP Pro SP1, bought a PCMCIA adapter for the SkyboundII to plug into, and got the Patch out of Jepp to make the software work, it was fine.

That took a couple of months, but for the past six months or more, I've been updating datacards monthly, with no trouble.

A few months ago, I bought a Laptop, and found the PCMCIA slot on that would write the datacards fine, too.

Until this month. I started the update routine, and got a message from the PC that there was no datacard connected. After much plugging and unplugging, and messing around, I found that neither desktop nor laptop could "see" the Skybound adaptor or the datacard. The device called "Linear Flash Memory Driver (Flash Tools)" no longer appears.

I checked in Control Panel - Administrative Tools - Component Services - Event Viewer - System and found a large batch of errors, coinciding with the times I plugged in the Skybound II. The same error message appears in both laptop and desktop.

The message is:
"The description for Event ID ( 10 ) in Source ( Pcmcia ) cannot be found. The local computer may not have the necessary registry information or message DLL files to display messages from a remote computer. You may be able to use the /AUXSOURCE= flag to retrieve this description; see Help and Support for details. The following information is part of the event: \Device\Pcmcia0. "
There's a load of hex or similar after that.

I've removed and reinstalled the software - no improvement.

The only change to either machine since last month's Jepp update is that both have downloaded and installed Microsoft Windows updates. Both are running (legal) copies of XP Pro.

My only thought is that either the SkyboundII device or the data card is faulty - but I don't know what could suddenly make them do that.

Any ideas? Anyone else had it happen?

[Memetic]

Microsoft updates have been known to have adverse side effects. (e.g. http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;841382 ) Can you roll back to prior to the patch installation?

I think there is some sort of roll back function in XP - touch wood i have not needed it so far so can't add much more.

As the error talks about a missing description it suggests a software error, however as you get the same problem on both machines could it perhaps be a firm ware or data corruption problem on the memory card. Perhap something like the card lable or version is corrupted and hence the software is unable to start.

Is there a way to return the memory to a blank, as shipped status?

[Keef]

Looks like it's the card, or the card writer. I've spoken to a friend with identical kit who'd also updated his XP Pro to the latest level, and he had no problem.

So I've sent my card to him, to see if his writer can recognise it. We'll see.