Page last updated July 27, 2004
If you need assistance in getting the software to run please first consult the information given below. If you still need assistance then please contact Jake Jensen at jake.jensen@csbs.utah.edu
1) I can't get the red box to display on the course home page.
If you can see the course home page but you can't see the red box then your browswer is not able to run the version of Java necessary for the course software.
a) If you are on a computer on campus.
i) Try a different browser. If you are on a PC it should work on Netscape, Explorer, or Mozilla. If you are on a Mac it should work on Netscape, Explorer, or Safari. The computer you are on might have an old version of that particular browser, try changing browsers. Note that the version of Netscape found on many campus PC's is very old and can't run the plug-in, on a campus PC Mozilla is a good choice. On the PC Mozilla is a good choice, on the Mac Safari is a good choice (its icon on the start menu looks like a compass).
ii) See if the Java Plug-in is set to work with that browser (PC only). Go to the Start Menu on the desktop, from there select 'Settings', from there select 'Control Panel', from there double click on the Java Plug-in (if it's not listed then that is the problem, it's not on that computer), from the Java Plug-in select the 'Browser' tab, and then check mark the browser you are using, then close the browser and open it up again. Actually, I don't know if you are allowed access to these menus on the campus compters...see the next option below.
iii) Try a different computer (it might be necessary to move from a PC to a Mac of vice versa).
iv) Try a different lab (this should not be necessary but try it as a last resort).
v) Try again later (the server might be down at the moment)
b) If you are on a computer (e.g. at home) where you can download the necessary software to run the program.
PC Users
i) The problem might be that you have a pretty old version of your browser or you are using a version that the software has not been tested on. The software should run on Navigator 7.1 or later, Explorer 6.0 or later, or Mozilla (I don't test on Mozilla but it is the same as Navigator). The software is not tested on AOL.
Where to download Netscape Navigator:
Where to download Microsoft Explorerii) If you have one of the supported browsers, then the problem is probably that you either don't have the necessary Java plug-in (you need java version 1.3 or later), or you haven't told it to work with your browser.
First, see if the Plug-in is installed on your computer. Go to the 'Start' menu (you should see it on your screen) and click on it to activate it, then select 'Settings' by clicking on it, then select 'Control Panel'. In the Control Panel look for the Java Plug-in. If you don't see it then you need to download it (see 'Downloading the Plug-in below).
If you see the Java Plug-in in your Control Panel then the problem is either: 1) you have an antiquated version of the plug-in; or 2) you need to tell the plug-in to work with your browser. In either case, double click on the Java Plug-in, when it comes up on your screen click on the 'About' tab, this will tell you what version of the plug-in you have, if your plug-in is earlier than Version 1.3 you will need to download a newer version. If you have a new-enough version of the plug-in you still need to tell it to work with your browsers. To do this, click on the 'Browser' tab in the Java Plug-in Panel, then indicate that you want the plug-in to work on the browsers that you find listed there. Then restart your browser and try again.
Where to download the newest version of the Java Plug-in for the PC. Well, they don't make this particularly easy. One approach is to go to the home page of your brower and search through the plug-ins for the Java plug-in. I think the easiest approach is to go to the company that wrote Java, click on Sun Microsystems Java Download Page.
Help in downloading and installing the plug-in: as of July 27, 2004, here is what you will see when you click on the link above..
1) You will be taken to a page at the Java Sun Microsystems web site. Look down through the page until you see the option to download J2SE v 1.4.2_05 JRE. There are many similar looking options, be sure to download the correct one, don't download the Netbeans, or the Enterprise edition, or the SDK version.
2) Go through the normal procedures for downloading and installing software over the internet, this will involve selecting a directory in which to put the downloaded file, and then after it has been downloaded, going to that directory and double-clicking the downloaded file to begin the setup.
3) Don't forget you then have to tell the plug-in to work with your browser (after installing go to the Start menu on your screen, from it select Settings, from there select Control Panel, in the Control Panel double click on the Java Plug-in, click on its Browser tab, and from there click on the names of the browser(s) you like to use.
4) It may also be necessary to tell the browser to use the Java plug-in. Search the menus of the browser until you find a choice to use the java plug-in rather than the built in java that came with the browser (it is unlikely you will have to do this).
Mac Users
Important note: the software will only run on Mac OS X.
Mac OS X has java support built into it, there is no separate java plug in that you will need to run the software through a browser. If you can't see the red box on the course home page then the problem is most probably one of using an older version of OS 10 (I test it on OS 10.2.8) or using an old browser.
i) Browsers: The software should run on the following browsers (Safari seems to do a better job of keeping up with any changes made to Java)
- Safari 1.0.1 or later. To download Sarari click here:
- Netscape 7.1 or later. To download Netscape click here:
- Explorer 5.2 or later. To download Explorer click here:
ii) Operating System: Rather than requiring the Java plug-in, the Mac operating system itself takes care of running Java correctly. It is important that you Mac have the latest system updates. To accomplish this, go to the Apple Menu on the desktop, select System Preferences, then from the window that appears go to the 'System' section and select 'Software Update', then press the 'Check Now' button and update any operating system or java options that need updating.
2) The red box appears on the course home page but I get an error (or nothing happens) when I try to view the course software
There are several possibilities here.
a) You didn't wait long enough, the program is large and takes a while to download particularly if you are using a dial-up modem. Some browsers indicate how quickly they are downloading files, see if you can see the download rate. Sometimes during the semester, I guess because of huge demand at certain times, the download rate is incredibly slow. If that is the case it would be better to try again in 15 minutes or perhaps an hour later.
b) The server for the course home page and the server for the course software are on different machines, it could be that the software server is down. This happens a view times during the semester, and is a good reason to not wait until the last day to do a homework or quiz (see the syllabus for the policy regarding handing things in late because you waited until the last day and then the server was down). Try again a few hours later or the following day. If the problem persists please contact me.
c) The course software currently resides on a port that may not be accessible if you are behind a firewall (e.g. using a computer at your place of business). You need to talk to the network administrator about opening up this port. For help in doing this, you or your system adminstrator can contact the psychology department computer wizard Jake Jensen at jake.jensen@csbs.utah.edu. In the meantime, I am working on resolving this at my end so that this will no longer be a problem.
d) Always access the software through the course home page, do not set a bookmark for the software itself. During the semester I will be fiddling with the software to improve it or to fix some undocumented feature (bug). The course home page will always send you to the newest version of the software, if you bypass the course home page you might end up with some old version of the software.
e) Then, there is always the possibility that I have fouled things up. This is the third semester of running the software and I might need to make changes to enhance the software or to take care of problems that arise (although I think I worked out that last of the problems last semester). It is possible that I've made a change that keeps it from working for you. If the software used to work for you on the same computer using the same browser but isn't working now, then either the server is down or I have introduced a problem while trying to solve some other problem. Try again later to see if the server was down, if the problem persists please contact me (first check the message center to see if I have announced a problem).
3) Something else, rather inexplicable, is going on.
Blame gremlins or cosmic rays or Bill Gates. Relax, breathe, try quiting and restarting your browser, try shutting down and restarting your computer, wait 10 minutes (go for a walk), try another computer, rub a rabbits foot. Seriously, sometimes unexpected problems arise in running a computer (no kidding) that are solved by turning things off and trying again. Look at the message center to see if I've posted any announcements about the problem you are experiencing. If you simply can't get it to run with repeated tries and there is no announcement on the message center then email me and we will go from there.