Advance Design Installation Troubleshooting Guide


Advance Design : Professional Finite Element Analysis Software with Concrete / Steel structures presizing and automatic reports generation This page offers solutions to the most common issues that might be encountered while installing GRAITEC's Advance Design software.

Several tools, developed for troubleshooting Advance Design installation problems, can be downloaded from this page.




This guide covers:

Error code problems


Error code 301: "Unknown protection system. Verify the installation."

Displayed message: "Le système de protection n'est pas reconnu. Vérifiez son installation."

  • Cause 1:
    The HASP dongle is not attached on the USB or LPT port.

  • Solution 1:
    • Plug the HASP dongle into the USB or LPT port of the computer.


  • Cause 2:
    The HASP dongle is attached, but the port drop-down list from the “Protection” application is pointing to a different location.

  • Solution 2:
    • In case only one USB dongle is used, make sure it is an Advance Design / OMD formatted dongle (Advance Steel and Advance Concrete USB dongles look similar, but the HASP memory has a different format).

    - If the Advance Design / OMD dongle is plugged in, in the “Protection” application, check if the port is set to Auto.

    - If the installed version is AD3.1 Base or SP1 delete the following key from the registry: "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Graitec\Advance Design 3.1\ LockPort".

    Note: If the installed version is AD 3.1 SP2 or a more recent one, ignore this solution as the problem is already fixed in the code.


  • Cause 3:
    The communication between the "Protection" application and the HASP dongle is blocked by a firewall or antivirus software.

  • Solution 3:
    • If the Windows firewall is activated, try to install the latest HASP drivers: HASPUserSetup.exe. This tool automatically adds new entries in the “Exceptions” list of the Windows Firewall.

    - If another firewall is activated (antivirus software) instead of the Windows native firewall, check if the UDP ports 1947 or 475 are open.

    - Use the DiagnostiX tool from the Aladdin Knowledge Systems Ltd. to test the communication between the HASP dongle and the operating system.

Error code 302: "The software cannot be used. The computer date and time are older than the last time the software was used."

Displayed message: "L'utilisation du programme n'est pas possible, car la date et l'heure de l'ordinateur sont inférieures à celles de la dernière utilisation du logiciel."

  • Cause:
    • The HASP dongle is time protected (i.e. there is a date when the license expires) and the computer time is before the application time.

  • Solutions:
    • 1. When using Advance Design / OMD, the protection component is writing the computer time (CT) on the dongle HASP memory (date, time hh:mm:ss). This is named “application time” (AT), i.e. the date the software was last used.

    - The protection compares the computer time and the application time and raises the error if CT < AT;

    - The error can be avoided if the computers (where the dongle is used) are synchronized with the real time: the time has to be checked before using Advance Design / OMD.

    2. A possible solution when CT < AT is only when AT is the real time: add the computer time (CT) to the real time

Error code 313: "The software cannot be used. The computer date and time are not up to date."

Displayed message: "L'utilisation du programme n'est pas possible, car la date et l'heure de l'ordinateur ne sont pas à jour."

  • Cause:
    • The HASP dongle is time protected (i.e. there is a date when the license expires) and the computer date is older than the dongle activation date.

  • Solution:
    • Check the computer time and set it to the real time.

Error code 303: "The expiry date of your temporary license is near. Contact customer support."

Displayed message: "La date de validité de votre code d'utilisation provisoire arrive à son terme. Effectuez sans tarder votre règlement, ou contactez notre service commercial."

  • Cause 1:
    • The HASP dongle is time protected and is about to expire.

  • Solution 1:
    • Contact customer support to get a new license.


  • Cause 2:
    • The computer time (CT) was changed to a date in the future.

  • Solution 2:

    • Attention: Acknowledge the impact of changing the computer time when using a time protected dongle.

    The dongle has a date when it was activated (ACT); the error is produced when the computer time is beyond the activation time plus the delay: CT > ACT + Delay.

    If the computer time is changed accidentally to a future date, contact customer support to get a reset code or a new dongle.

    Advice: Always check the computer time when moving the dongle to another computer before starting the Advance Design / OMD application; the time has to be synchronized with the real time.

Error code 304: "The software version is not available for the protection system."

Displayed message: "La version du programme n'est pas disponible avec le système de protection en place."

  • Cause:
    • The HASP dongle has a license for an older software version than the one currently installed on the computer (e.g. the user is running software version 3, but on the HASP dongle the license is for version 2).

  • Solution:
    • Contact customer support to get a license for the new version.

Error code 307: "The protection system has not been initialized."

Displayed message: "Le système de protection n'a pas été initialize."

  • Cause:
    • The HASP dongle was not initialized with the license code.

  • Solution:
    • Enter the license code received from customer support.

Error code 308: "The protection system has been altered."

Displayed message: "Le système de protection a été altéré."

  • Cause:
    • The license code on the HASP dongle has been corrupted.

  • Solution:
    • Re-enter the license code received from customer support.

Error code 309: "The codes sent by the key are not the right ones. Verify the protection system installation."

Displayed message: "Les codes renvoyés par la clé ne sont pas les bons. Vérifiez l'installation du système de protection."

  • Cause 1:
    • The HASP dongle is not a valid Advance Design / OMD dongle.

  • Solution 1:
    • Plug in the right Advance Design / OMD HASP dongle.


  • Cause 2:
    • There are several USB HASP dongles and the protection points to a USB port which is not an Advance Design / OMD dongle.

  • Solution 2:
    • If there are several USB dongles, set the correct port in the “Protection” application to point to a valid Advance Design / OMD dongle.

Error code 400: "Protection type is not defined at the general environment level."

Displayed message: "Le type de protection n'est pas défini au niveau de l'environnement général"

  • Cause:
    • The protection type is not defined in the "Protection" application.

  • Solution:
    • In the "Protection" application the "Type" is not defined. Choose "HASP" for a local dongle or "NETHASP" for a network dongle.

Error code 451: "To use the software on the protection server it is necessary to select the 'NETHASP' protection type"

Displayed message: "Pour utiliser le programme sur le serveur de protection, il est nécessaire de choisir le type de protection 'NETHASP'."

  • Cause:
    • If the local dongle is of the "NETHASP" type, the user sets the protection type to "NETHASP (Local)" and wants to run the software.

  • Solution:
    • To run the software on a computer with "NETHASP" dongle, set the protection type to "NETHASP" instead of "NETHASP (Local)".

Error code 500: "The license code does not have 21 characters"

Displayed message: "Le code confidentiel ne comporte pas 21 caractères."

  • Cause:
    • The license code entered in the Modules field of the "Protection" component is shorter than 21 characters.

  • Solution:
    • Re-enter the code or – if the code sent by customer support is shorter than 21 characters – ask for a new code.

Error code 501: "Invalid license code"

Displayed message: "Le code confidentiel n'est pas valide."

  • Cause 1:
    • The license code received from customer support is not valid.

  • Solution 1:
    • Ask for a new code.


  • Cause 2:
    • The license code was entered in another field in the "Protection" component.

  • Solution 2:
    • Verify that the license code is entered in the Modules field of the "Protection" component and not in the Delay field (or vice versa).

    In case of OMD protection, make sure the EFFEL code is entered in the Modules field on the Effel protection tab, etc.

Tools used for troubleshooting


Bellow are listed the available tools and general documentation from Aladdin Knowledge Systems Ltd.:

Tools Description Useful for Download
HASP_LM_setup.zip HASP Network License Manager - version 8.32.5.40 (May 2008) Network HASP Manager – to be installed on the server
HASP_SRM_Runtime_setup.zip HASP SRM Environment – version 5.50 (July 2008) Installs last version of HASP drivers. To be installed on the workstation
MONITOR.ZIP Aladdin Monitor – version 1.4 (April 2007) Monitor the usage of network licenses
DiagnostiX.zip Aladdin DiagnostiX – version 1.10 (May 2007) Verifies the communication with the HASP key
Error code 301: Unknown protection system. Verify the installation.
HASP_SRM_Guide.pdf HASP SRM Status codes – page 257
HASPMAN.PDF HASP4 Status codes – page 149