OK, I have made many posts, [sorry for the redundancy], and I followed all tips, read every guide, every site, and I am not a 'n00b' to stuff like this, but I can not figure what the hell is going wrong...

no matter what I do with skins, I never never ever see an option to change them. I have the feb 8th build, and the latest skins (the orbs is what I want, just got the final.fix a few moments ago). I load them in the skin folder, and I can not change crap in the options. that's one of the BIGGEST irritants I have right now. I load them, and the skin option remains at "1/1 skins" and when I move my pointer over the skin options, it disappears, can not select anything. I have 5 skin versions in that folder, and nothing shows up, at all. Is there not a way to force xbmc to search for new skins?

second, I changed all my DNS info, double checked everything I could, forced the correct static IP, and I can not get any info from CDDB or IMDB, nothing, even when manually entering info, not even CDDB, which should be more basic than IMDB.

and last (for now I guess), no matter what I do with jpg's and thumbnails, they never ever show up. Even if I name them exactly what the file is named in the folder, and manually search them out via scan, they never appear...

I am not dumb, and since I can not find a single guide, and every post is more or less like "just unrar and ftp, your done", but I am failing these simple things over and over again, and yeah, I am a little embarrased.

sorry if I am a bit heated, but I am at my last straw this morning about it all

can any one point me to a precise guide to these simple things? Or should I just do a fresh install of xbmc? And if I do that, what is the safest way?

any help would be awesome, and sorry for the wave of posts in past days.

here's some log file stuff: I am going to use stupid icons to point out breaks in the log

BTW, I only will show one file being scanned from the log, because the log shows the same error for all files...

START:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
::::::::::::


20-02-2005 04:18:25 initialize network ip:[] netmask:[] gateway:[] nameserver:[]
20-02-2005 04:18:25 Not initializing network, using settings as they are setup by dashboard
20-02-2005 04:18:25 init network
20-02-2005 04:18:25 get local ip adres:
20-02-2005 04:18:25 ip adres:192.168.0.146
20-02-2005 04:18:25 start timeserver thread
20-02-2005 04:18:25 load default skin:[MediaCenter]
20-02-2005 04:18:25 load skin from:Q:\skin\MediaCenter
20-02-2005 04:18:25 delete old skin...
20-02-2005 04:18:25 load fonts for skin...
20-02-2005 04:18:25 Loading fonts from Q:\skin\MediaCenter\font.xml
20-02-2005 04:18:25 Load font:font13 path:Q:\skin\MediaCenter\fonts\common-font13.xpr
20-02-2005 04:18:25 Load font:font14 path:Q:\skin\MediaCenter\fonts\common-font14.xpr
20-02-2005 04:18:25 Load font:font16 path:Q:\skin\MediaCenter\fonts\common-font16.xpr
20-02-2005 04:18:25 Load font:matrix8 path:Q:\skin\MediaCenter\fonts\matrix8.xpr
20-02-2005 04:18:25 load new skin...
20-02-2005 04:18:26 initialize new skin...
20-02-2005 04:18:27 skin loaded...
20-02-2005 04:18:27 initializing skin
20-02-2005 04:18:27 initializing virtual keyboard
20-02-2005 04:18:27 removing tempfiles
20-02-2005 04:18:27 start dvd mediatype detection
20-02-2005 04:18:27 initialize done
20-02-2005 04:18:27 lcd not used
20-02-2005 04:18:27 Running the application...
20-02-2005 04:18:30 Unable to wait for NTP reply from the SNTP server, GetLastError returns 10060
20-02-2005 04:23:36 Unable to wait for NTP reply from the SNTP server, GetLastError returns 10060
20-02-2005 04:25:31 PICTURE::createthumbnailfrommemory: exception: memfile FileType: jpg
20-02-2005 04:25:31 Tag loader mp3: Unable to create album art for smb://192.168.0.160/G/~~~~MUSIK/~~~~SYNTH POP/Duran Duran/duran duran demos/04 - reach up for the sunrise (demo)192kbps.mp3

why is the following blank? I have everything set in evox just fine

20-02-2005 04:14:31 dashboard: C:\evoxdash.xbe
20-02-2005 04:14:31 CDDBIpAdres: 194.97.4.18
20-02-2005 04:14:31 ipadres:
20-02-2005 04:14:31 netmask:
20-02-2005 04:14:31 defaultgateway:
20-02-2005 04:14:31 nameserver:
20-02-2005 04:14:31 timeserver: 207.46.248.43

and this is from a different log file, and I am totally confused by it:


20-02-2005 04:14:31 initialize network ip:[] netmask:[] gateway:[] nameserver:[]
20-02-2005 04:14:31 Not initializing network, using settings as they are setup by dashboard
20-02-2005 04:14:31 init network
20-02-2005 04:14:31 get local ip adres:
20-02-2005 04:14:31 ip adres:192.168.0.146
20-02-2005 04:14:31 start timeserver thread
20-02-2005 04:14:31 load default skin:[MediaCenter]
20-02-2005 04:14:31 load skin from:Q:\skin\MediaCenter
20-02-2005 04:14:31 delete old skin...
20-02-2005 04:14:31 load fonts for skin...
20-02-2005 04:14:31 Loading fonts from Q:\skin\MediaCenter\font.xml
20-02-2005 04:14:31 Could'nt load Q:\skin\MediaCenter\font.xml
20-02-2005 04:14:31 load new skin...
20-02-2005 04:14:31 unable to load:Q:\skin\MediaCenter\home.xml
20-02-2005 04:14:31 unable to load:Q:\skin\MediaCenter\myprograms.xml
20-02-2005 04:14:31 unable to load:Q:\skin\MediaCenter\mypics.xml
20-02-2005 04:14:31 unable to load:Q:\skin\MediaCenter\myfiles.xml
20-02-2005 04:14:31 unable to load:Q:\skin\MediaCenter\myvideo.xml
20-02-2005 04:14:31 unable to load:Q:\skin\MediaCenter\myvideogenre.xml
20-02-2005 04:14:31 unable to load:Q:\skin\MediaCenter\myvideoactors.xml
20-02-2005 04:14:31 unable to load:Q:\skin\MediaCenter\myvideoYear.xml
20-02-2005 04:14:31 unable to load:Q:\skin\MediaCenter\myvideoTitle.xml
20-02-2005 04:14:31 unable to load:Q:\skin\MediaCenter\settings.xml
20-02-2005 04:14:31 unable to load:Q:\skin\MediaCenter\myvideoplaylist.xml
20-02-2005 04:14:31 unable to load:Q:\skin\MediaCenter\settingsLCD.xml
20-02-2005 04:14:31 unable to load:Q:\skin\MediaCenter\SettingsSystemInfo.xml
20-02-2005 04:14:31 unable to load:Q:\skin\MediaCenter\DialogAlbumInfo.xml
20-02-2005 04:14:31 unable to load:Q:\skin\MediaCenter\DialogScriptInfo.xml
20-02-2005 04:14:31 unable to load:Q:\skin\MediaCenter\SettingsGeneral.xml
20-02-2005 04:14:31 unable to load:Q:\skin\MediaCenter\SettingsPrograms.xml
20-02-2005 04:14:31 unable to load:Q:\skin\MediaCenter\dialogYesNo.xml
20-02-2005 04:14:31 unable to load:Q:\skin\MediaCenter\dialogProgress.xml
20-02-2005 04:14:31 unable to load:Q:\skin\MediaCenter\mymusicplaylist.xml
20-02-2005 04:14:31 unable to load:Q:\skin\MediaCenter\mymusicsongs.xml
20-02-2005 04:14:31 unable to load:Q:\skin\MediaCenter\mymusicalbum.xml
20-02-2005 04:14:31 unable to load:Q:\skin\MediaCenter\mymusicartists.xml
20-02-2005 04:14:31 unable to load:Q:\skin\MediaCenter\mymusicgenres.xml
20-02-2005 04:14:31 unable to load:Q:\skin\MediaCenter\mymusictop100.xml
20-02-2005 04:14:31 unable to load:Q:\skin\MediaCenter\dialogSelect.xml
20-02-2005 04:14:31 unable to load:Q:\skin\MediaCenter\dialogOK.xml
20-02-2005 04:14:31 unable to load:Q:\skin\MediaCenter\dialogFileStacking.xml
20-02-2005 04:14:31 unable to load:Q:\skin\MediaCenter\DialogVideoInfo.xml
20-02-2005 04:14:31 unable to load:Q:\skin\MediaCenter\musicOverlay.xml
20-02-2005 04:14:31 unable to load:Q:\skin\MediaCenter\settingsScreen.xml
20-02-2005 04:14:31 unable to load:Q:\skin\MediaCenter\settingsUICalibration.xml
20-02-2005 04:14:31 unable to load:Q:\skin\MediaCenter\settingsScreenCalibration.xml
20-02-2005 04:14:31 unable to load:Q:\skin\MediaCenter\SettingsSlideShow.xml
20-02-2005 04:14:31 unable to load:Q:\skin\MediaCenter\SettingsScreensaver.xml
20-02-2005 04:14:31 unable to load:Q:\skin\MediaCenter\SettingsAutoRun.xml
20-02-2005 04:14:31 unable to load:Q:\skin\MediaCenter\SettingsFilter.xml
20-02-2005 04:14:31 unable to load:Q:\skin\MediaCenter\SettingsCache.xml
20-02-2005 04:14:31 unable to load:Q:\skin\MediaCenter\videoOverlay.xml
20-02-2005 04:14:31 unable to load:Q:\skin\MediaCenter\videoFullScreen.xml
20-02-2005 04:14:31 unable to load:Q:\skin\MediaCenter\myscripts.xml
20-02-2005 04:14:31 unable to load:Q:\skin\MediaCenter\musicVisualisation.xml
20-02-2005 04:14:31 unable to load:Q:\skin\MediaCenter\SettingsMusic.xml
20-02-2005 04:14:31 unable to load:Q:\skin\MediaCenter\slideshow.xml
20-02-2005 04:14:31 unable to load:Q:\skin\MediaCenter\SettingsScreenSubtitles.xml
20-02-2005 04:14:31 unable to load:Q:\skin\MediaCenter\videoOSD.xml
20-02-2005 04:14:31 unable to load:Q:\skin\MediaCenter\myweather.xml
20-02-2005 04:14:31 unable to load:Q:\skin\MediaCenter\SettingsWeather.xml
20-02-2005 04:14:31 initialize new skin...
20-02-2005 04:14:31 skin loaded...
20-02-2005 04:14:31 initializing skin
20-02-2005 04:14:31 initializing virtual keyboard

that final error only appears once though.

Look to me that you have a very old xbmc version, the mediacenter skin has not been using since the last year, the default skin is "project mayhem".
To run "The Orbs" skin you need at least 16/2/05 build becasue some features used in the skin were added at that date (Ip address, hdd space etc).
So you need to find a very recent version of xbmc before to try anything else.

maybe you need to update your default.xbe and the xbmc version. rename your default.xbe (that came with the new build ) to evoxdash.xbe or something like that.Rename it to the default dash that you are using to the dash that boots up in your bios. The orb skin is v1.22 , and that one is only supported by the last xbmc,believe after feb,2005. good luck

So your default.xbe from the xbmc is now cold evoxdash.xbe. place that one in your c: The skin version of all the skins you can find in the skin folder in skin.xml
good luck

weird...

you know the problem may be, I have the feb 08 2005 version, and I probably didn't update it correctly.

can someone tell me the best way to upgrade from an old release to the feb0808 v 1.1.0?

or should I just suck it up and do a fresh install from scratch.