Speech Stops

[Guest ArgleBargle]

Description of problem: The same VoiceGuide script is being run on multiple lines. At various, apparently unrelated times, VoiceGuide speech stops on all lines leaving users of the system on dead lines. The program never stops in the same place.

 

Configuration: VoiceGuide 4.9.0, Enterprise, 4 line. Windows 2000, Service Pack 4. Dialogic D/4PCI (software release 5.1).

 

VoiceGuide, when multiple users are on the system, will appear to be working fine. After a short period of time, anywhere from three to 10 minutes into the script, the sound stops. All lines go dead and the users of the system are left hanging. The program still accepts input from the users and the scripts appear to still be running, but there is no sound being transmitted. The user normally presses a few keys trying to get the program to respond, then they hang up on the system.

 

The Dialogic card passes all diagnostics and the Talker program works as described.

 

I wanted to try to upgrade to Version 5.0a to see if this would solve the problem. This version is supposed to be free to us. I've emailed Katalina several times since last Monday requesting a code for version 5. I was sent a code for our single line development system but still have not received a code for our 4 line enterprise production system.

 

The trace log is attached. Our Dialogic diagnostics log file appears below.

 

Universal Dialogic Diagnostics Version: 5.10 (Build 0004)

Mon Sep 15 07:41:31 2003

 

D/4PCI, ID=0, Assembly #96-0676-001, Serial #FD050234, ID 00H

Board Sanity Check: PASSED

Shared RAM Test: PASSED

Local RAM Test: PASSED

DSP Test: PASSED

Board Timer Test: PASSED

On Board Interrupt Test: PASSED

EEPROM Test: PASSED

VoiceGuideLog0910a.txt

[SupportTeam]

Sounds like things are going badly wrong on this system...

 

Is the system dedicated to VoiceGuide or are you also running other applications on it as well?

 

I'm not too sure what precisely can be causing the problems but we have seen sometimes strange behavior like this when the Dialogic drivers were not functioning as expected... usually because of problems with DLLs on system being of different versions then those with which Dialogic cards are tested with and certified for use with.

 

Past experience has taught us that the best approach in such situations is to start with a clean slate and install just what Dialogic requires. So:

 

1. Reformat.

2. Install Just Win2000

3. Install SAPI and TTS engines

4. Install SP2

5. Install SR 5.1.1

6. Install VoiceGuide 5.0

7. Config Dialogic TAPI/Wave.

 

SR 5.1.1 Release notes say:

The operating system requirements are:

Windows NT Version 4.0 (Workstation or Server) with Service Pack 6a

Windows 2000 (Professional, Server, and Advanced Server) with SP1 and SP2

 

Service Pack 4 is not supported and it should not be used - only SP2 should be used with SR5.1.1 (Not too sure what SR5.1 Release Notes say, but they would not support SP4 either.)

 

I'd recommend using SR5.1.1 - this way your system will be set up with the latest release used at most installations - and on our test/validation systems.

 

What TTS engine is used on this system?

 

Looked through the log file we can see that the Dialogic driver seems to accept the sound files to be played, and seems to be playing them, so if no sound can be heard over the phone then it looks like the problem lies in the Dialogic wave drivers themselves..

Sometimes other wave drives can interfere with operation of Dialogic wave drivers.

 

After reinstalling Windows, could you please disable all other wave devices on the system:

 

To remove other wave drivers got to Control Panel, double clock on System, select the Device Manager tab and go to Sound/Video/Game Controllers entry - then delete all other wave drivers.

You may have to disable the sound card altogether as well to stop Windows from automatically loading it's drivers - to do this just select "Disable" and then select "Uninstall" from the Device Manager.

 

 

Registration Code:

 

If you have not received a response to an email then it looks like your email was lost in the mountain of junk emails we get every day...

Please let post here the Unique ID generated by v5.0 and the new code will be emailed to you.

[Guest ArgleBargle]

Thanks for the quick reply!

 

Regsitration Code: M12F0

 

Is the system dedicated to VG: Yes

 

I'll reformat and reload the system let you know the results.

 

Again, Thanks!

[SupportTeam]

v5.0 code was just sent.

 

What TTS engine is used on this system?

[Guest ArgleBargle]

TTS Engine = SAPI 5.1

[SupportTeam]

SAPI 5.1 comes with very basic TTS - adding an AT&T TTS engine to it will result in a much better quality system.

 

To hear a demo see:

http://www.naturalvoices.att.com/demos/

 

To buy (cost is $35) see:

https://www.regsoft.net/regsoft/vieworderpa...productid=56116

[Guest ArgleBargle]

I had been reluctant to use the AT&T TTS engine because of the reported memory leak. If I go to the AT&T TTS engine, do I need to apply the patch you mentioned in http://voiceguide.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=455?

[SupportTeam]

No need to apply any patch - the fix for the AT&T TTS Engine was made in one of the v5.0 Beta releases. As you can see in that thread it says:

Beta13 and later will have the fix included.

v5.0 final release and all releases onwards have this fix incorporated in them already.

[Guest Guest]

I had another project and got sidetracked and am now back on this project.

 

I did exactly what you said. I formatted the drive, only installed Win 2000 up to SP2, reinstalled the remaining software in the order you suggested, even purchased a different Dialogic card, this time a D/4PCIU (and included SR 5.1.1 Feature Pack 1). I also switched to AT&T Natural Voices TTS.

 

I still have exactly the same problem. In testing the system I have three people calling in simultaneously. After about eight to ten minutes of testing (the program takes about 15 minutes for a user complete), the speech stops. The program is still running in the background and you can actually input numbers from the phone in response to the text shown in my Event Trace Log. There is just no sound. I haven't seen this problem with just one caller but have seen this problem one time with two callers.

 

I'm using VG 4.9.0 as I can't use 5.0a because of the problem with the multi-row variables and am reluctant to use a beta version of the software.

 

Any suggestions?

[SupportTeam]

v5.1 will be released within two days.

Until then can you use the standard Microsoft TTS engine instead of AT&T while running v4.9?

[Guest ArgleBargle]

Yes, I can use MS TTS until V1.0.

 

I think I have it stable enough to go into production. Instead of having the entire application tts, I converted all text files where variables were not involved into wave files. Since doing that yesterday, I have had no problem with the speech stopping.

 

Thanks for your help!

[SupportTeam]

v5.1 is out now.

[Guest ArgleBargle]

If you have a registration for 5.0a, will it work for 5.1? Any charge to upgrade? I didn't see this mentioned on your site and just wanted to make sure before I try to upgrade.

[SupportTeam]

v5.0 registration codes work with v5.1