Internal Server - Troubleshooting

To install the Internal Server, see: Internal Server - Installation
To read about updates to the Internal Server, see: Internal Server Revisions
To connect to another host's Internal Server, see: [Internal Linking - Teaming]

Did you reboot the computer after installing the Internal Server and/or allowing it through Windows Firewall?

More often than not, a reboot is necessary for changes to take effect. With Internal Linking and other methods of TypeWell linking, it's always a good idea to reboot the computer during your troubleshooting steps.

Is the Internal Server running?

Open the list of services by pressing the Windows Start key, typing the word "services", and selecting View local services:

A list of six items appear in a search for "services" in the Windows menu. They read: "Component Services, Services, services.exe, View local services, Manage Information Cards, and Windows CardSpace." View Local Services is highlighted in red.

The service called TypeWell Internal Server (or TypeWell Server) should show a status of Started or Running:

A list of services running under Services (Local). The TypeWell Internal server, highlighted in red, shows a status of "Started," which means that the internal server is installed and running correctly.

If the status is blank, right-click and select Start (or Restart or Refresh) until the service shows a status of Started or Running.

Note that this service should have a Startup Type of Automatic (Delayed Start) or Automatic. If it is set to Manual, then you must manually start the service each time you boot up the computer. To change the Startup Type, right-click and select Properties and choose the desired Startup Type from the drop-down menu on the General properties tab.

Important: If you change any of these settings, reboot your computer. Be aware it may take a minute or two for the Internal Server to start running after a reboot, especially if it's on the Delayed Start setting.

Was Skype running before the Internal Server started?

Skype acts like a Web server and competes with the TypeWell Internal Server for port 80.

Under Skype's Options, you can set Skype to NOT start automatically when you start Windows. This way, TypeWell's Internal Server will set itself up in an optimal way each time you start up your computer.

In Skype's Options menu, General Settings is the first option on the left side of the screen. It is selected in blue. On the right side of the screen, a list of check boxes and dropdown menus are shown. "Start Skype when I start Windows" is the third option. It is highlighted in red, and the box is unchecked.

Reboot your computer after changing this option in Skype. The Internal Server can then start up correctly and access port 80. Then you can start Skype manually.

Is an antivirus program blocking Internal Server?

Please confirm that you've already completed the steps for allowing the Internal Server to communicate through Windows Firewall. If so, then here are steps to fix the most common third-party firewall and antivirus issues users encounter when they first set up Internal Linking:

1. Disconnect the transcriber computer from the Internet during these tests (for safety while we turn off firewalls).
2. Turn off any antivirus software.
3. Turn off any other firewall program.

Turn off the master link in TypeWell Transcriber. This should disconnect the reader device from the TWxxxx WiFi network.

The TypeWell Link menu is expanded. "Linking Off" is highlighted in blue.

Make sure "Microsoft Virtual WiFi Miniport Adapter" is enabled. (If enabled, the right-click menu will show the "Disable" option; if disabled, the right-click menu will show the "Enable" option.) If there is more than one entry for "Microsoft Virtual WiFi Miniport Adapter" only the first needs to be enabled.

Once you've figured out what the problem was, turn the antivirus and firewall programs back on, and find the settings that will allow TypeWell to run.

Important: Once you get everything working, reboot your computer and make sure it still works. Be aware it may take a minute for the Internal Server to start running after a reboot.

Is your WiFi device driver up-to-date?

Some problems with Internal Linking may be due to an outdated WiFi device driver. Open the Windows Device Manager by pressing the Windows Start key, typing the word "device", and selecting Device Manager.

Click the arrow next to Network adapters to expand the list of adapters.

Right-click on your WiFi adapter (usually the first one in the list) and click Update Driver Software.

In Windows Device Manager, "Network Adapters" is expanded. The wireless device, "Intel (R) Dual Band Wireless," has been right clicked, and "Update Driver" is highlighted in blue.

Choose the option to Search automatically for updated driver software.

Windows will search online for an updated driver and will either install the update or display a status message. If the status message states that your driver is already up to date, then move on to the Extended Troubleshooting steps below.

If the status message states that Windows could not find an updated driver, then you can search for it online yourself. From the Device Manager, note the WiFi adapter's part number, manufacturer, and driver version. Then go to the Support web page of the adapter manufacturer and look for the latest driver for your adapter part number.

Driver Support Sites:

• Dell
• Gateway
• HP/Compaq
• IBM
• Intel
• Lenovo
• Linksys
• Mac iPhone 2.0 Update
• Panasonic
• Samsung
• Sony
• Toshiba

Follow the manufacturer instructions and install the new driver. Then reboot your computer.

Troubleshooting if Internal Server links sometimes, but unreliably

If you have successfully linked to the Internal Server but then it stopped working, or doesn't link reliably, here are some solutions that other users have reported.

Reset the WiFi Adapter on the Transcriber and/or Reader laptop

To reset your WiFi adapter in Windows 7:

1. Open Network Connections by clicking the Start button, clicking Control Panel, clicking Network and Internet, clicking Network and Sharing Center, and then clicking Manage network connections.
2. Right-click the network adapter icon, and then click Disable. If you are prompted for an administrator password or confirmation, type the password or provide confirmation.
3. Right-click the adapter icon again, and then click Enable. If you are prompted for an administrator password or confirmation, type the password or provide confirmation.

Instructions for Windows 8.1-11 are similar. Click here for detailed instructions.

The adapter is now reset. (To view these instructions with screenshots and a time-saving shortcut, see "Enable or Disable a network adapter.")

Log off Windows, and then log back in to Windows

This restores the Internal Linking connectivity for some users, but not all. It's faster than rebooting, so give it a shot!

Reboot your computer

Does Internal Linking work only after you reboot your computer (or start up after Shutting Down completely, as opposed to Hibernate or Sleep)? If so, please let us know and provide us with your computer make and model, operating system, and network adapter info. We can help you find that info if you're not sure.

Extended Troubleshooting

If it still doesn't work after the steps in the section above, here are more extended directions for pinpointing the problem. Be sure to do these steps in order.

1. In TypeWell Transcriber, click the Link menu, then click by Internal to bring up the Internal Linking Setup window. Is there any red text showing? If not, go on to step 2.

If the red text says the Internal Server is not installed, and you've already installed it as described above, then check the status of the Internal Server as follows: go to Control Panel, then Administrator Tools, then Windows Services. Click on TypeWell Internal Server (or it may be called just TypeWell Server) in the list of services. Make sure that the service is running; if not, start it. If the service was already running, verify that you have all firewalls and antivirus programs (which often act as firewalls) turned off.

A list of services running under Services (Local). The TypeWell Internal server, highlighted in red, shows a status of "Started," which means that the internal server is installed and running correctly.

1. If there's no red text in the By Internal dialog box, and you're turned on Internal linking and it just says "Searching", this means that the Internal Server is running properly and TW is able to communicate with it. Next, see if other programs can reach it by doing this test: start a web browser on your transcriber computer. Go to the URL http://127.0.0.1/ This is a special test address that will work only directly from a browser on the transcriber machine. If it shows the TW web browser, or if it shows a message about #internal being unknown, that's a success for this test, and you can proceed to step 3.

But if the browser says it can't access the page, or you see some other non-TypeWell page, that means that something is blocking you from reaching the TW Internal Server: either a firewall (turn off Windows Firewall and any antivirus programs), or Skype is hogging the web-server port (set Skype to not auto-start when Windows starts, then close Skype and restart Windows). If you still get an error trying to browse to http://127.0.0.1, then some other program on your system is hogging the port.

To figure out which other program is causing the problem, start a Command Prompt and type "netstat -ao". Look for lines that say somethingOrOther:http, or somethingOrOther:80. Each 80 or http line indicates that some program is using the web server port 80 that Internal Server needs. Write down the PID number for each of those lines.

Next, start Task Manager (by pressing Ctrl-Alt-Del), select the Processes tab, and find the programs with those PID values. If you don't see the PIDs column in Task Manager, use View/Columns to add PID to the display list. If things are set up as they should be, there should be only one PID, and it should be TypeWellServer when you find it in this list. If there are any other PIDs, those are the problem: locate their name in Task Manager so you know what program needs to be turned off.

Don't forget to reboot after making changes or closing programs!

1. If 127.0.0.1 successfully showed you a TypeWell Web Reader page, see if TW says it's linked to the internal server, or whether it's still Searching. If it is linked, go on to step 4.

If TW says Searching, something is keeping the Internal server from starting up the VAP (virtual access point). Make sure the VAP feature hasn't been inadvertently disabled on your computer, by going to Control Panel > Network and Internet > Network Connections and finding an entry that says "Microsoft Virtual WiFi Miniport Adapter". It may be under the title "Wireless Network Connection 2". Right click it and make sure it is Enabled. If there is more than one entry for "Microsoft Virtual WiFi Miniport Adapter" only the first needs to be enabled. Now close and restart TW to see if it works.

If it's still Searching, we need to see why the VAP is not starting. First, try closing TW and starting it again by right-clicking on the TW icon and choosing to run "as Admin". See if that lets it link properly. If this solves it for you, please contact us and let us know that worked for you. We're trying to figure out whether this step is helpful to anyone.

If it's still searching, start a Command Prompt as Admin, by locating the Command Prompt on the start menu (perhaps in Programs/Accessories), right-clicking it, and choosing As Admin. Then type this command: "netsh wlan set hostednetwork mode=allow ssid=typewelladhoc key=password" and press Enter. Finally, type this command: "netsh wlan start hostednetwork" and press Enter. If this last responds with "the hosted network couldn't be started", that indicates that there is something about the WiFi card on your computer that won't allow a VAP. Upgrade your WiFi device driver to the newest version; since this is a relatively new feature manufacturers are still updating drivers to support it properly.

If the netsh command above was able to start the host network, that shows that VAP works on your computer, yet TypeWell is unable to access it. Try rebooting Windows. Verify one more time that a browser on your transcriber computer of URL http://127.0.0.1 (from step 2) is still showing a TW server page, yet TW Transcriber is showing Searching. In this case, you should send some more information directly to us so we can help. Type these commands into a new Command Prompt window: "cd Desktop", press Enter, and then "ipconfig /all > ipdata" and press Enter. This puts an information file named "ipdata" onto your Windows desktop. Please email us and attach the file ipdata to the email.

1. Try connecting a reader device to the TWxxxx WiFi network (where instead of TWxxxx use the name from the By Internal dialog box). If the device can find that network and connect OK, whether it successfully shows a web page or not, go on to step 5. If the device cannot connect, try a different reader device.
2. Open a web browser on the reader and try the URL given by clicking the word "Internal" in the status bar in the transcriber software. If this doesn't work, perhaps giving an error like "connection took too long to respond", the problem is that something on the Transcriber machine is keeping outsiders from accessing the Internal Server. Turn off Windows Firewall and any antivirus programs.

If you still can't access the page from the reader device, try using a browser on the transcriber machine to that same address, given by clicking the word Internal in the status bar in TW Transcriber. If that works, then the problem is definitely that there's a hidden firewall keeping outside machines from accessing the page. If may be helpful to try a different reader device as well.

Important: Once you get everything working, reboot your computer and make sure it still works. Be aware it may take a minute for the Internal Server to start running after a reboot. If it does not work, make sure to set Skype appropriately, as described above.