PCMark Vantage troubleshooter

[pofpcmark]

If you have found solutions to some issues you have had with PCMark Vantage, please post them here. I will start with some generic stuff.

1) Check that you have Microsoft® Windows Vista® installed on your system. PCMark Vantage will not run on other operating systems. Also, only Ultimate, Home Premium, Enterprise, Business, Home Basic and so called N versions are supported.

2) Try to run PCMark Vantage without any overclocking. Although you may be able to run every other program rock solid with your ûberclocked system, it may not run PCMark Vantage. After you have established a baseline of scores with regular clock speeds you can try overclocking.

3) Install all the official updates to Windows Vista from Windows Update, not only the critical updates but also the optional hardware driver updates. PCMark Vantage is an excellent tool for detecting effects the updates have on your system speed. Updates are really important and PCMark Vantage is such a vast collection of different usage models that many updates have a direct effect on results.

4) If you are having issues with some individual tests, please see if the Select Suites window says anything about them (hover the cursor on top of the exclamation mark for more information). For example, Video playback - Blu-ray test works only on Windows Vista Ultimate and Home Premium, because they are the only versions that include Microsoft MPEG-2 decoder DirectShow filter (because they have Media Center).

5) Do not use warez: Unofficial installers or registration keys created with some keygens. You are only able to submit your results online using proper official registration keys. Download an official installer from the links shown on our download page.

6) If you have tried the solutions above, please post a thorough description of an issue to this thread (or create another thread), but please include as much information as possible: Either create an ORB link or write down the information yourself. With enough information, people can give much better advice.

[bogbrain]

I am able to run all tests but when I try to get the results online I get the message "This file does not have a program associated with it for performing this action. Create an association in the set associations control panel!"
What does this mean and how do I access the results?

[pofpcmark]

Bobgrain,
You are probably trying to submit a saved result (.pcr file). Start PCMark Vantage and then in the main window right-click and select Submit saved result.

[pofpcmark]

Continuing the troubleshooter:
7) If the Video playback tests do not work on your system, you may want to try playing VC-1 videos with Windows Media Player 11 (because that's what the tests use). If that fails also, it shows that you have something fishy in your system.

A couple of possibilities come to mind:
a) It might be that you have debug option turned on on your DirectX setup.
b) Or it could be that you have some 3rd party video codecs installed (either "standalone" or they have been installed with some 3rd party video applications).

[bogbrain]

Nope that does not work. I get the message when I click submit after all the tests have run and if I "save the result" and try to submit I get the same message. Consequently I am unable to actually "See" any results!

[pofpcmark]

bogbrain,
What is your default browser?

[bogbrain]

AOL is my default browser I aslo have firefox and IE

[bogbrain]

Still waiting for a reply!
As what good is paying for a product that you cannot actually use? If I cannot access the results!

[Jarnis]

AOL is my default browser I aslo have firefox and IE

Have you tried changing Firefox or IE to be your default?

[Infy]

The whole application does start on my computer.

The 64-bit version terminates after few seconds it's invoked, the splash screen can be seen for 1-2 seconds.

The 32-bit version loads for 5 seconds then hangs, in Task Manager it shows it's using 50% CPU (dual core CPU). I waited 15 minutes but it just remained using 50% CPU and the splash screen had frozen only showing a blank white box on its place.

I've set good deal of Windows services on manual startup and few on disabled. Does this program depend on any such service?

My full hardware configuration can be found at http://www.kolumbus.fi/ajmakine/DxDiag.txt