Weather Gadget

On Wed, 04 Feb 2015 21:42:51 +0000, Stormin' Norman
wrote:


Take a look at this MS support page. Download the second "FixIt" 50907 and
execute it on your system. If your gadgets have been disabled, this should
re-enable them. Regardless, it will not harm anything.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2719662

Thanks, but while "it will not harm anything" it also didn't help
anything. Still seeing "Cannot connect..." message.

Appreciate your time and efforts but I have abandoned the weather
gadget and currently am using Weather Meter. I consider any more time
spent by me trying to fix whatever broke is a waste when there are so
many alternatives available.

RW

RW wrote:
On Wed, 04 Feb 2015 21:42:51 +0000, Stormin' Norman
wrote:

Take a look at this MS support page. Download the second "FixIt" 50907 and
execute it on your system. If your gadgets have been disabled, this should
re-enable them. Regardless, it will not harm anything.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2719662

Thanks, but while "it will not harm anything" it also didn't help
anything. Still seeing "Cannot connect..." message.

Appreciate your time and efforts but I have abandoned the weather
gadget and currently am using Weather Meter. I consider any more time
spent by me trying to fix whatever broke is a waste when there are so
many alternatives available.

RW

There is a difference between "Service Not Available"
and "Cannot Connect".

Service not available is probably related to "wlsrvc.dll".
The Microsoft Weather Gadget, instead of directly crafting
a URL, first consults "Windows Location Service". A user has to
"enable a sensor" to turn on the location service. And on my
laptop, that is grayed out like something disabled the
ability to turn on the sensor.

The message "Service Not Available" comes back instantly. And
without wasting time setting up Wireshark, I can tell by the
awesome speed, it's the attempt to poke a missing wlsrvc.dll
locally that causes that message.

The location service is presumably called, to give your latitude
and longitude, and from there, Microsoft maps you to the
nearest urban center in their list.

The details from there, I haven't traced down yet.

At some point, once the location phase is complete, the
actual data server is queried. One person notes that
Microsoft changed the server from "weather.services.msn.com"
to "weather.msn.com" and conveniently forgot to update
the client computers with the new name. One person tried
hacking the HOSTS file, to change the mapping, but that
didn't work. Maybe a few more experiments there would
fix it.

I suspect your "Cannot Connect" could be the attempt to
reach weather.services.msn.com. Microsoft could likely have
kept the stupid address and aliased it, but it's more likely
this was a direct attempt to disable things.

Which raises the question why some people still have working
gadgets. Did they miss an update ? Or what ?

And my gadget version is 1.1.0.0.

Also, on one of the Microsoft forums, a poster there with
IT credentials, copied a working set of three folders
related to the weather gadget to a machine that wasn't
working, and got it working. So you could try a method
like that. Since my weather gadget is not working, my
folders wouldn't be of much use. I don't know if I have
an old enough backup, to find a better set of data for it.

Paul

On 2015-02-06, Paul wrote:
RW wrote:
On Wed, 04 Feb 2015 21:42:51 +0000, Stormin' Norman
wrote:

Take a look at this MS support page. Download the second "FixIt" 50907 and
execute it on your system. If your gadgets have been disabled, this should
re-enable them. Regardless, it will not harm anything.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2719662

Thanks, but while "it will not harm anything" it also didn't help
anything. Still seeing "Cannot connect..." message.

Appreciate your time and efforts but I have abandoned the weather
gadget and currently am using Weather Meter. I consider any more time
spent by me trying to fix whatever broke is a waste when there are so
many alternatives available.

RW

There is a difference between "Service Not Available"
and "Cannot Connect".

Service not available is probably related to "wlsrvc.dll".
The Microsoft Weather Gadget, instead of directly crafting
a URL, first consults "Windows Location Service". A user has to
"enable a sensor" to turn on the location service. And on my
laptop, that is grayed out like something disabled the
ability to turn on the sensor.

The message "Service Not Available" comes back instantly. And
without wasting time setting up Wireshark, I can tell by the
awesome speed, it's the attempt to poke a missing wlsrvc.dll
locally that causes that message.

The location service is presumably called, to give your latitude
and longitude, and from there, Microsoft maps you to the
nearest urban center in their list.

The details from there, I haven't traced down yet.

At some point, once the location phase is complete, the
actual data server is queried. One person notes that
Microsoft changed the server from "weather.services.msn.com"
to "weather.msn.com" and conveniently forgot to update
the client computers with the new name. One person tried
hacking the HOSTS file, to change the mapping, but that
didn't work. Maybe a few more experiments there would
fix it.

I suspect your "Cannot Connect" could be the attempt to
reach weather.services.msn.com. Microsoft could likely have
kept the stupid address and aliased it, but it's more likely
this was a direct attempt to disable things.

Which raises the question why some people still have working
gadgets. Did they miss an update ? Or what ?

And my gadget version is 1.1.0.0.

Also, on one of the Microsoft forums, a poster there with
IT credentials, copied a working set of three folders
related to the weather gadget to a machine that wasn't
working, and got it working. So you could try a method
like that. Since my weather gadget is not working, my
folders wouldn't be of much use. I don't know if I have
an old enough backup, to find a better set of data for it.

Paul

Jeseus ****ing Christ.
Look outside...there's a ****ing gadget for ya.
Just ****ing stupid.
Dead posters posting.

--
_____ _______ ____ __ __ _____ _
/ ____|__ __/ __ \| \/ | __ \ | |
| (___ | | | | | | \ / | |__) | | |
\___ \ | | | | | | |\/| | ___/ | |
____) | | | | |__| | | | | | |_|
|_____/ |_| \____/|_| |_|_| (_)

In message , Paul
writes:
[]
There is a difference between "Service Not Available"
and "Cannot Connect".

Service not available is probably related to "wlsrvc.dll".
The Microsoft Weather Gadget, instead of directly crafting
a URL, first consults "Windows Location Service". A user has to
"enable a sensor" to turn on the location service. And on my
laptop, that is grayed out like something disabled the
ability to turn on the sensor.

Is that for when you have the gadget running but with no location
specified, which presumably makes it query the WLS to see where you are,
in order to know where's weather to give you?

The message "Service Not Available" comes back instantly. And
without wasting time setting up Wireshark, I can tell by the
awesome speed, it's the attempt to poke a missing wlsrvc.dll
locally that causes that message.

The location service is presumably called, to give your latitude
and longitude, and from there, Microsoft maps you to the
nearest urban center in their list.
[]
On my W7 machine at work, I have two instances of the gadget (the basic
one that comes with W7 - I'm pretty sure external ones aren't allowed),
for both of which I have manually selected a location (one _is_ where I
work - Rochester, UK - which I set up manually since I suspect any
autolocation function might be screwed by the way my company gets its
internet links; the other is Newcastle-upon-Tyne, where some friends
live).

Since I've set their location, I wouldn't have _thought_ Windows would
need to access a "where am I" server.

For much of the last week or so, I have indeed noticed that both
instances have been displaying an error message (I _think_ it's the
"cannot connect" one, but I haven't paid much attention; I only have
them up as a curiosity).
--
J. P. Gilliver. UMRA: 1960/1985 MB++G()AL-IS-Ch++(p)Ar@T+H+Sh0!:`)DNAf

Males and females, from seven to 70, the cool, the uncool, the straight and
gay, the hip and those with hip replacements, all worship the water she walks
on. - Kathy Lette on Kylie, in RT 2014/1/11-17

J. P. Gilliver (John) wrote:
In message , Paul writes:
[]
There is a difference between "Service Not Available"
and "Cannot Connect".

Service not available is probably related to "wlsrvc.dll".
The Microsoft Weather Gadget, instead of directly crafting
a URL, first consults "Windows Location Service". A user has to
"enable a sensor" to turn on the location service. And on my
laptop, that is grayed out like something disabled the
ability to turn on the sensor.

Is that for when you have the gadget running but with no location
specified, which presumably makes it query the WLS to see where you are,
in order to know where's weather to give you?

The message "Service Not Available" comes back instantly. And
without wasting time setting up Wireshark, I can tell by the
awesome speed, it's the attempt to poke a missing wlsrvc.dll
locally that causes that message.

The location service is presumably called, to give your latitude
and longitude, and from there, Microsoft maps you to the
nearest urban center in their list.
[]
On my W7 machine at work, I have two instances of the gadget (the basic
one that comes with W7 - I'm pretty sure external ones aren't allowed),
for both of which I have manually selected a location (one _is_ where I
work - Rochester, UK - which I set up manually since I suspect any
autolocation function might be screwed by the way my company gets its
internet links; the other is Newcastle-upon-Tyne, where some friends live).

Since I've set their location, I wouldn't have _thought_ Windows would
need to access a "where am I" server.

For much of the last week or so, I have indeed noticed that both
instances have been displaying an error message (I _think_ it's the
"cannot connect" one, but I haven't paid much attention; I only have
them up as a curiosity).

I was trying to follow the JavaScript, but I can't see where the
weather.services.msn.com versus weather.msn.com reference is
located.

Perhaps you could fire up Wireshark, and see which URL it's using.
One of those addresses now, doesn't resolve. Try nslookup on
both of those, and you can see which one is current. That,
at least, gets you to the point of the weather gadget
contacting the Microsoft server. But if the service itself
on the msn.com is disabled, that would certainly put an
end to it.

Since mine stops at "Service Not Available", there's no
reason to bother with Wireshark. There aren't going to be
any packets.

The reason the question is intriguing, is why the gadget
still works for some people and not for others. What is
different between the machines ? What "update" is missing ?

Paul

pjp wrote:
Anyone else's weather gadget seem to not be updating? Doesn't seem
able
to connect to server, all else internet wise is fine.


Mine has stopped working on Windows 7 too. It's surprising that it
has lasted this long given that Microsoft officially killed off
gadgets a few years ago. I can see that I'm not the only one who has
refused to accept the removal of gadgets nor the only one who still
loves the weather gadget.

Like others have pointed out, the gadget runs but "cannot connect
to the service." Does anyone know enough about how gadgets work
to just make it connect to a different server instead of this iWeather
thing that no longer seems to work?

Andrew732 wrote:
pjp wrote:
Anyone else's weather gadget seem to not be updating? Doesn't seem
able
to connect to server, all else internet wise is fine.


Mine has stopped working on Windows 7 too. It's surprising that it
has lasted this long given that Microsoft officially killed off
gadgets a few years ago. I can see that I'm not the only one who has
refused to accept the removal of gadgets nor the only one who still
loves the weather gadget.

Like others have pointed out, the gadget runs but "cannot connect
to the service." Does anyone know enough about how gadgets work
to just make it connect to a different server instead of this iWeather
thing that no longer seems to work?


Have a look at the JavaScript code in this one.

http://win7gadgets.com/media/g/g0858...adgets-com.zip

It's a model of simplicity. And uses a Weather Channel server to
get weather information.

// URL for weather data
var WEATHER_DATA = "http://gadgets.weather.com/";

function getXML(loc_ID) // gets the XML page from the server

xmlURL = WEATHER_DATA + "weather/local/" + newLoc
+ "?cc=*&dayf=" + NUM_FORCAST_DAYS
+ "&unit=s&hbhf=" + NUM_FORCAST_HOURS;

The code is a lot more straightforward on that one, than on the
Microsoft version. The Microsoft version points to weather.msn.com,
but I can't actually find the URL in the gadget itself. The URL must
be "hiding" somewhere, like in a configuration folder or
something.

If all you care about is getting the weather, then use a third party
one. And this comment presumes you haven't used the originally
offered Microsoft FIXIT that can disable gadgets (somehow).

*******

To look inside a .gadget file, use 7ZIP...

And 7ZIP can even be used to burrow into download above
( "pro-weather-gadget-win7gadgets-com.zip" ) so that you can
see what all the code does. There are "js" folders in there with
JavaScript that does the work.

Paul

On Sat, 07 Feb 2015 10:24:58 -0500, Paul wrote:

To look inside a .gadget file, use 7ZIP...

Lacking that, rename the file to x.zip (replace ".gadget" or append
".zip" to the full name).

But 7-zip is free and good, so really, no one should be lacking it :-)

--
Gene E. Bloch (Stumbling Bloch)

In article , , Paul says...

J. P. Gilliver (John) wrote:
In message , Paul writes:
[]
There is a difference between "Service Not Available"
and "Cannot Connect".

Service not available is probably related to "wlsrvc.dll".
The Microsoft Weather Gadget, instead of directly crafting
a URL, first consults "Windows Location Service". A user has to
"enable a sensor" to turn on the location service. And on my
laptop, that is grayed out like something disabled the
ability to turn on the sensor.

Is that for when you have the gadget running but with no location
specified, which presumably makes it query the WLS to see where you are,
in order to know where's weather to give you?

The message "Service Not Available" comes back instantly. And
without wasting time setting up Wireshark, I can tell by the
awesome speed, it's the attempt to poke a missing wlsrvc.dll
locally that causes that message.

The location service is presumably called, to give your latitude
and longitude, and from there, Microsoft maps you to the
nearest urban center in their list.
[]
On my W7 machine at work, I have two instances of the gadget (the basic
one that comes with W7 - I'm pretty sure external ones aren't allowed),
for both of which I have manually selected a location (one _is_ where I
work - Rochester, UK - which I set up manually since I suspect any
autolocation function might be screwed by the way my company gets its
internet links; the other is Newcastle-upon-Tyne, where some friends live).

Since I've set their location, I wouldn't have _thought_ Windows would
need to access a "where am I" server.

For much of the last week or so, I have indeed noticed that both
instances have been displaying an error message (I _think_ it's the
"cannot connect" one, but I haven't paid much attention; I only have
them up as a curiosity).

I was trying to follow the JavaScript, but I can't see where the
weather.services.msn.com versus weather.msn.com reference is
located.

Perhaps you could fire up Wireshark, and see which URL it's using.
One of those addresses now, doesn't resolve. Try nslookup on
both of those, and you can see which one is current. That,
at least, gets you to the point of the weather gadget
contacting the Microsoft server. But if the service itself
on the msn.com is disabled, that would certainly put an
end to it.

Since mine stops at "Service Not Available", there's no
reason to bother with Wireshark. There aren't going to be
any packets.

The reason the question is intriguing, is why the gadget
still works for some people and not for others. What is
different between the machines ? What "update" is missing ?

Paul

Mine started showing 'min - max' a week or so ago (no 'now' temp
displayed). Today, it's just showing 'Cannot connect to service'.

It's done this on occasion before for *short* periods. I don't think
it's coming back this time.

--
Duncan.

In article , andrew732
@yahoo-dot-com.no-spam.invalid, Andrew732 says...

pjp wrote:
Anyone else's weather gadget seem to not be updating? Doesn't seem
able
to connect to server, all else internet wise is fine.


Mine has stopped working on Windows 7 too. It's surprising that it
has lasted this long given that Microsoft officially killed off
gadgets a few years ago. I can see that I'm not the only one who has
refused to accept the removal of gadgets nor the only one who still
loves the weather gadget.

Like others have pointed out, the gadget runs but "cannot connect
to the service." Does anyone know enough about how gadgets work
to just make it connect to a different server instead of this iWeather
thing that no longer seems to work?

Mine went to 'Cannot connect to service' as of today. I don't think
it's temporary this time But I'm gonna leave it running another week
or two or three to find out.

I've put on a new one ...

Pro Weather Gadget
http://win7gadgets.com/weather/pro_weather_gadget.html

This was mentioned earlier in this thread by 'Bruce Hagen'. I'm liking
it. It has a bug for me though - it shows max's for the next ten days
with a wee pic for the weather - but does not show the max for "today" :
( Just got an N/A on a (default) cloud background.

--
Duncan.

Dave Doe wrote:
In article , andrew732
@yahoo-dot-com.no-spam.invalid, Andrew732 says...
pjp wrote:
Anyone else's weather gadget seem to not be updating? Doesn't seem
able
to connect to server, all else internet wise is fine.


Mine has stopped working on Windows 7 too. It's surprising that it
has lasted this long given that Microsoft officially killed off
gadgets a few years ago. I can see that I'm not the only one who has
refused to accept the removal of gadgets nor the only one who still
loves the weather gadget.

Like others have pointed out, the gadget runs but "cannot connect
to the service." Does anyone know enough about how gadgets work
to just make it connect to a different server instead of this iWeather
thing that no longer seems to work?

Mine went to 'Cannot connect to service' as of today. I don't think
it's temporary this time But I'm gonna leave it running another week
or two or three to find out.

I've put on a new one ...

Pro Weather Gadget
http://win7gadgets.com/weather/pro_weather_gadget.html

This was mentioned earlier in this thread by 'Bruce Hagen'. I'm liking
it. It has a bug for me though - it shows max's for the next ten days
with a wee pic for the weather - but does not show the max for "today" :
( Just got an N/A on a (default) cloud background.

The JavaScript URL crafting line looks like this.

xmlURL = WEATHER_DATA + "weather/local/" + newLoc
+ "?cc=*&dayf=" + NUM_FORCAST_DAYS
+ "&unit=s&hbhf=" + NUM_FORCAST_HOURS;

I can't tell you how many days that is, whether the tool
overlaps the XML data it collects or not. Maybe after
a few days, things will work better ?

If it stores the fetched XML file somewhere, you
might even be able to open the XML with a text
editor and see what data is in there (min, max, or
otherwise).

Paul

On 03/02/2015 1:02 PM, pjp wrote:


Anyone else's weather gadget seem to not be updating? Doesn't seem able
to connect to server, all else internet wise is fine.

No, mine is working just fine still.

I can't see Microsoft disallowing the Weather gadget from its data feed,
because it probably uses the same source of information for its
post-Windows 7 apps, like the one it uses on its phone OS, as well as
Windows 8+. The data probably comes from a standard XML feed, and
that'll be the same whether it's a Windows 7 gadget or a Windows 8 applet.

Yousuf Khan

Paul wrote:

The reason the question is intriguing, is why the gadget
still works for some people and not for others. What is
different between the machines ? What "update" is missing ?

Paul

I'm wondering about that too. I don't want this to happen to me. So
far, my original Weather Gadget in my Win7 x64 is still working,
although a Windows Update did put it out of commission sometime last
year. I didn't have this connection problem though ... it just
disappeared; I could not find it to access. I'm sorry to say I don't
remember what advice I found [probably here or at BBR] to get it back.
I seem to remember being told to delete Sidebar.exe in Task Manager and
reboot. I don't know if I did anything else, before or after.

It would be interesting to know the general location of people who can't
connect to their weather feedback. I'm in the Atlanta, GA area, which
is working presently.
bj

In article , says...

Paul wrote:

The reason the question is intriguing, is why the gadget
still works for some people and not for others. What is
different between the machines ? What "update" is missing ?

Paul

I'm wondering about that too. I don't want this to happen to me. So
far, my original Weather Gadget in my Win7 x64 is still working,
although a Windows Update did put it out of commission sometime last
year. I didn't have this connection problem though ... it just
disappeared; I could not find it to access. I'm sorry to say I don't
remember what advice I found [probably here or at BBR] to get it back.
I seem to remember being told to delete Sidebar.exe in Task Manager and
reboot. I don't know if I did anything else, before or after.

It would be interesting to know the general location of people who can't
connect to their weather feedback. I'm in the Atlanta, GA area, which
is working presently.
bj

Nova Scotia, Canada, no go here. I've stopped checking and simply got
another instead.

In message , pjp
writes:
In article , says...
[]
It would be interesting to know the general location of people who can't
connect to their weather feedback. I'm in the Atlanta, GA area, which
is working presently.
bj

Nova Scotia, Canada, no go here. I've stopped checking and simply got
another instead.

Charing, Kent, England (though I don't know where my ISP connects -
probably England, though). "Cannot connect to server". Also at my work
(Rochester, Kent, England, though employer's connection could be
anywhere) it wasn't working when I left there on Friday.
--
J. P. Gilliver. UMRA: 1960/1985 MB++G()AL-IS-Ch++(p)Ar@T+H+Sh0!:`)DNAf

Rugby is a game played by gentlemen with odd-shaped balls.