Help!?! Pando is Killing Me

[Cisco_Blaine]

I know this isn't technically a support forum; but I also know that it's the most broadly used; so I'm hoping this will be the most beneficial place to post this.
I'm not a particularly savy user, and I keep getting this:
Header:
"PMB.exe - Bad Image"
Body:
"C:\Program Files (x86)\Pando Networks\Media Booster\nspr4.dll is either not designed to run on Windows or it contains an error. Try installing the program again using the original installation media or contact your system administrator or the software vendor for support."
I've done all these things already; and to no avail. I throw myself upon the mercies of the the DDO community.
This was not an issue when last I ran Windows; but since it crashed and I've re-installed, it's been completely uncooperative. I only even re-installed Windows (having otherwise been happy with Ubuntu) for DDO, and completely wiped the hard drive just for that.
Help me, Obi Wan Kenobi -- you're my only hope.

[DoctorWhofan]

Please!!! He keeeps calling me! HELP!

[Charononus]

Which windows is it? Have you done all the windows updates yet? Are you downloading via a sketchy connection such as a 4g hotspot?

[Drakesan]

Completely uninstall Pando. You do NOT have to have this **** program to run anything. Once you've downloaded whatever you needed, uninstall Pando.

Hope this helps.

Oh, and I use Ccleaner (yes, that is the way you spell it) to uninstall as well as its other two maintenance functions, in case you needed something other than what comes with Windows.

[Charononus]

Completely uninstall Pando. You do NOT have to have this **** program to run anything. Once you've downloaded whatever you needed, uninstall Pando.

Hope this helps.

Oh, and I use Ccleaner (yes, that is the way you spell it) to uninstall as well as its other two maintenance functions, in case you needed something other than what comes with Windows.

You do need pando for the initial download of ddo though which is where I think he was having issues if I understood correctly.

[Drakesan]

You do need pando for the initial download of ddo though which is where I think he was having issues if I understood correctly.

I was going off his join date, assuming after all this time that he had what he needed. I also included that after he had downloaded what he needed, to uninstall it.

Pando is a way of helping to download large files associated with DDO, usually the initial download (and any time you re-download).

After you get done downloading, uninstall Pando. Don't delete it, make sure you uninstall.

[Cisco_Blaine]

It's Windows 7, and I've had a month to catch up with updates.

[Charononus]

It's Windows 7, and I've had a month to catch up with updates.

Just to confirm the issue is the initial download and you are trying to download and install ddo and getting this error?

[Qezuzu]

Do you already have DDO installed? Then uninstall PMB, it's worthless.

Do you not have DDO installed? Then I suggest you fully update Windows and try again. If it still doesn't work, download Steam and make an account if you don't already have one and download DDO through that. It's much better, but if DDO is the only game you play and you don't want to install Steam then just keep messing around with PMB, I guess.

[Charononus]

Assuming your issue is that you're trying to install ddo, there is no problem with the pmb img the installer grabs. I just started the install process on my wife's computer pmb installed and ddo started downloading with no problems.

This means you are either:

getting a bad download from a crappy connection. (I've had it happen many times from using a weak wifi signal or a cellular connection to the internet)

missing some sort of runtime from the windows 7 updates and need to triple check that you are up to date.

have a corrupted windows install

have a corrupted hard drive

[DoctorWhofan]

I was going off his join date, assuming after all this time that he had what he needed. I also included that after he had downloaded what he needed, to uninstall it.

Pando is a way of helping to download large files associated with DDO, usually the initial download (and any time you re-download).

After you get done downloading, uninstall Pando. Don't delete it, make sure you uninstall.

ANd before that, a computer issue that required him to wipe his drive.

[DoctorWhofan]

Just to confirm the issue is the initial download and you are trying to download and install ddo and getting this error?

yes that's pretty much it. He's been trying to upload DDO for awhile. as for currupted, he JUST wiped his hard drive and started anew...hence needing to upload DDO.


He's RL friend btw

[Charononus]

yes that's pretty much it. He's been trying to upload DDO for awhile. as for currupted, he JUST wiped his hard drive and started anew...hence needing to upload DDO.


He's RL friend btw

Do you know why he wiped his hard drive? I think with the knowledge that he just did that from some issue makes me wonder if the drive is going. A good disk scan for bad sectors might be called for.

[Qezuzu]

yes that's pretty much it. He's been trying to upload DDO for awhile.

I would seriously just use Steam.

[Charononus]

I would seriously just use Steam.

Depending on his system resources that may or may not be a good idea, steam seemed to suck a lot of ram for me, won't run it again.

[Daemoneyes]

You do need pando for the initial download of ddo though which is where I think he was having issues if I understood correctly.

No you do not need that #!#! Pando.
Google Torrent DDO client or use a direct download.
Both faster then trying to get this #!#! running.
Also if you use this ... pando, make sure to completely de-install it.

[Daemoneyes]

Depending on his system resources that may or may not be a good idea, steam seemed to suck a lot of ram for me, won't run it again.

You dont need to have steam running to play ddo.
But yea i forgot steam as download option.

[9Crows]

not sure if this helps but i had alot of wierd issues when my ram started failing ..corrupting downloads and some other stuff

[DoctorWhofan]

Do you know why he wiped his hard drive? I think with the knowledge that he just did that from some issue makes me wonder if the drive is going. A good disk scan for bad sectors might be called for.

Virus attack.

[Charononus]

No you do not need that #!#! Pando.
Google Torrent DDO client or use a direct download.
Both faster then trying to get this #!#! running.
Also if you use this ... pando, make sure to completely de-install it.

Downloads like that from third parties not authorized by turbine could include something worse than pmb with them though. Pmb is a crappy program that sucks bandwidth but it doesn't try to steal cc numbers or make you part of a bot net.

[DoctorWhofan]

You dont need to have steam running to play ddo.
But yea i forgot steam as download option.

i beleive he has Steam. Ithought that had to run in the background? Not sure if his computer can handle the background stuff. If so, he could try that. He did read about it but I personally don't like it and wasn't sure if that was an issue.

[Charononus]

You dont need to have steam running to play ddo.
But yea i forgot steam as download option.

My mistake then, my experience with steam was that it had to run behind anything you downloaded from it.

[DoctorWhofan]

My mistake then, my experience with steam was that it had to run behind anything you downloaded from it.

I thought so too. THat's why I told him to go to the forums. It was my experaince that Steam had to be running and system resources would be used.

[Qezuzu]

Depending on his system resources that may or may not be a good idea, steam seemed to suck a lot of ram for me, won't run it again.

Steam, under normal conditions, will not take up much more than 100MB of RAM. If it's been running for a long time it might jump up to 200 MB or so, but that is still not a lot. If you have 4GB of RAM (which is today's standard), you will have absolutely no issue. I'm running Steam, Firefox, MS Word, and Foobar right now and, combined with the required processes, I'm only at 50% memory (with 4GB). There's still enough room for the DDO client, which takes up 1 to 1.2 GB.

It simply won't impact performance.

[Cisco_Blaine]

It doesn't appear to be technically a download issue, as this shows up after I've actually downloaded, and tried to open DDO to play. I uninstalled DDO (forgot to uninstall Pando) and kept getting the error message whenever I boot.

[KongColeus]

You uninstalled DDO but kept Pando Media Booster?

Since Pando goes into your startup file, run MSCONFIG or whatever to kill it from starting just to see if that cures it.

But as others have said, UNINSTALL PANDO, you do not need it.

+1 rep from me cisco_blaine, you uninstalled DDO, kept Pando, and admitted it.

[Charononus]

It doesn't appear to be technically a download issue, as this shows up after I've actually downloaded, and tried to open DDO to play. I uninstalled DDO (forgot to uninstall Pando) and kept getting the error message whenever I boot.

Tag doctorwhofan back in, you lost me.

[Ryiah]

Virus attack.

More information would be nice but a quick tip - not all "viruses" can be removed by a normal format performed by Windows. Some of them will hide themselves low enough in the HDD's makeup that it takes a more exhaustive approach to properly remove.

[Cisco_Blaine]

...so a minimum of shorthand - at least unexplained - is appreciated. What is BYOH?

[Daemoneyes]

My mistake then, my experience with steam was that it had to run behind anything you downloaded from it.

No, you just need to launch steam every 30 days
(maybe it was 45 not sure atm, been a while since i played fallout new vegas)
Could be that you need to change a setting in the options of steam to use it that way but shouldnt be hard to find.

[Charononus]

...so a minimum of shorthand - at least unexplained - is appreciated. What is BYOH?
It's part of my signature not relevant to this conversation. It stands for bring your own healing.

No, you just need to launch steam every 30 days
(maybe it was 45 not sure atm, been a while since i played fallout new vegas)
Could be that you need to change a setting in the options of steam to use it that way but shouldnt be hard to find.
I'll have to take a look at it again, it annoyed the _____ out of me in skyrim and I uninstalled the whole thing.

[Daemoneyes]

I'll have to take a look at it again, it annoyed the _____ out of me in skyrim and I uninstalled the whole thing.

Cant say i am a big fan of steam myself but it evolved a lot better then expected.
And i dont think they changed that offline play option or i would have heard complaints about it from my friends who are also not big online coercion fans.

[Qezuzu]

More information would be nice but a quick tip - not all "viruses" can be removed by a normal format performed by Windows. Some of them will hide themselves low enough in the HDD's makeup that it takes a more exhaustive approach to properly remove.

If you format/wipe a drive, absolutely everything on it is destroyed. There's no way something can "hide" in an HDD if the entire HDD is being formatted. Reinstalling Windows is a guaranteed solution to erasing all viruses.

There are a handful of viruses that infect the BIOS, but they are exceptionally rare and the chance that he had that sort of virus is close to zero.

[DoctorWhofan]

Tag doctorwhofan back in, you lost me.

It says he downloaded it, but then it didn't work. He uninstalled DDO but not Pando...which seems to bethe issue.

SInce when I was a tech translator? I have to beg the forums whenever I have issues!vv:D Worse, his phone died and heis no longer is in Hawai'i. Otherwise, he'd be at my house and I'd be the one begging. SO he's in San Deigo I think and I am here, on total bedrest (love this High Risk Pregnancy thing-not.) until the brat gets his eviction notice. Which I hope this week. I can't even sit at my main computer because it swells my legs up too much.

Sorry...HIS thread not mine.

[DoctorWhofan]

It's part of my signature not relevant to this conversation. It stands for bring your own healing.

.

EDIT: aimed at the OP of this thread, not Charononus

I told you that!

Meh. IT means you don't bring me along. Or any other of the 7 people who actually heal the party in this game. It's expensive for most toons. But you have the money, do it. THough tehy tend to run the quests faster than we do.

[wayreth602]

It says he downloaded it, but then it didn't work. He uninstalled DDO but not Pando...which seems to bethe issue.

SInce when I was a tech translator? I have to beg the forums whenever I have issues!vv:D Worse, his phone died and heis no longer is in Hawai'i. Otherwise, he'd be at my house and I'd be the one begging. SO he's in San Deigo I think and I am here, on total bedrest (love this High Risk Pregnancy thing-not.) until the brat gets his eviction notice. Which I hope this week. I can't even sit at my main computer because it swells my legs up too much.

Sorry...HIS thread not mine.

LOL.

Will post an on topic post in a sec.

[Charononus]

It says he downloaded it, but then it didn't work. He uninstalled DDO but not Pando...which seems to bethe issue.

SInce when I was a tech translator? I have to beg the forums whenever I have issues!vv:D Worse, his phone died and heis no longer is in Hawai'i. Otherwise, he'd be at my house and I'd be the one begging. SO he's in San Deigo I think and I am here, on total bedrest (love this High Risk Pregnancy thing-not.) until the brat gets his eviction notice. Which I hope this week. I can't even sit at my main computer because it swells my legs up too much.

Sorry...HIS thread not mine.

Good luck on the pregnancy my wife was on bedrest for the last few weeks of our daughters pregnancy. Ok let me double check the series of events:

1)virus wipes install
2)reinstalls windows7
3)installs ddo
4)something but not the error reported in the op makes him uninstall
5)does not uninstall pmb
6)when trying to reinstall ddo he gets the current error listed in the op

with the goal being to get back to playing ddo and smashing kobolds.

[wayreth602]

Looking at the info on the DLL you posted I found this google thread http://pcsupport.about.com/od/findbyerrormessage/a/nspr4-dll-not-found-missing-error.htm

A few questions:

Have you had any other problems with programs besides Pando/DDO?

Do you have any other games that you know of that might try to install a different version of Pando?

What virus scanner are you using just in case it might have "mis-identified" a Pando file as a virus and quarantined or deleted it making an uninstall problematic?

[DoctorWhofan]

Good luck on the pregnancy my wife was on bedrest for the last few weeks of our daughters pregnancy. Ok let me double check the series of events:

1)virus wipes install
2)reinstalls windows7
3)installs ddo
4)something but not the error reported in the op makes him uninstall
5)does not uninstall pmb
6)when trying to reinstall ddo he gets the current error listed in the op

with the goal being to get back to playing ddo and smashing kobolds.

Pretty much the story. Except he INSTALLS Window 7. He had no windows program before he just put it on for DDO. Because he likes the game and the challenge. And the customization.

As for me, Aminotic Fluid issues. BUT I am at my 36 week, with the lung/steroid shots taken, so they can kick him at the curb at any time. I haven't logged in in months because of this...and I having problems playing thegame comfortably due to a HUGE STOMACH in the way.

SO...If I can get him on, and the child born, then we can play together. Well, that's the idea.

[Xerion567]

I only even re-installed Windows (having otherwise been happy with Ubuntu) for DDO, and completely wiped the hard drive just for that.

You don't need Windows to play or install DDO, it will run quite happily on Linux (including Ubuntu) using Wine. Personally I use PuppyLinux and I can tell you that I get both improved stability and performance out of DDO compared to Windows.

Linux installation instructions can be found here: http://appdb.winehq.org/objectManager.php?sClass=application&iId=2910

The instructions are slightly outdated, but still valid. I did not have install or do anything with Winetricks to get DDO to work, and you will need to have Wine version 1.5.16 or higher to avoid crashing on game startup.

[Silverleafeon]

Tried using the Pandora's box with a band new computer ~ it did not work.
Windows 7, Norton's Security

Goggled and followed the link for a download online and used it.
Not sure I have the link anymore.

Copied DDO file to a DVD disc.

[Charononus]

Ok first go to the windows control panel, in the upper right it should have something that says view by catagories, click that and drag down to view by large icons or small icons whatever you prefer. Click programs and features.
Scroll down that list and find Pando Media Booster. Right click it and click uninstall. Go to ddo.com and download the installer, I used high res earlier today to test that turbine didn't bork something up and it worked fine. Let us know how it goes and if you run into any further issues.

Doctorwhofan, good luck once again, my wife had to get all the shots because of extremely early contractions, but everything turned out well. My daughter is now six and thinks I suck at mario.

[Cisco_Blaine]

...now, I just have to make sure to try and re-connect to my existing characters and such.

[DoctorWhofan]

He's on, and realising he needs to get an sub!


THANK YOU ALL for the help. Apparently it was Pando needed to be uninstalled.

[DoctorWhofan]

Doctorwhofan, good luck once again, my wife had to get all the shots because of extremely early contractions, but everything turned out well. My daughter is now six and thinks I suck at mario.

Most adults suck at Mario. Hopefully I can play the game in a few weeks. 3+ months no MMOs...It hurts man, it hurts.

[bartosy]

wait what pandos are killing humanity now?! I thought humanity made pandos extinct.

[Cisco_Blaine]

I doubt I'd have managed to get it working without all your help. Thank you all so much; I hope to see you out there!

[Drakesan]

Awesome, big +1 to the community for helping out.

If you ever jump on Sarlona, I promise my healer will also heal the party. Now, if you can figure out that character's name, you are a step ahead. :)

Good luck to you, Doctor, hope everything works out and we get to see you back on the game and forums soon.