Support

Help &FAQs

Do you have an issue with the course, or the USB flash drive? Before contacting us with your question, please see if it has been answered below, as we have attempted to address typical support issues.  If your problem has not been addressed, please send us a detailed email (send to: support@8130training.com), including the exact problem, your PC configuration (speed of processor, OS version - Vista, XP, do you have USB 2.0 capability on your PC, etc.) and any steps you took to try and resolve the issue, since this information will help us in finding a solution quicker.

My Computer Takes a Long Time To Open The Chapter Handouts, How Can I Open Them Quicker?

The course handouts for each chapter are large PDF files, which are copy-protected, which slows down the access by a PC when these files are accessed (due to the encryption software on the USB drive being processed by the MS Windows). Certain PCs which do not have higher throuput (which is defined as a combination of CPU speed, RAM, video processor/RAM, and various protections and PC configurations) will have very slow results when accessing this files. Here are a number of options:

  • If your PC has various applications and/or windows open, close all unneeded applications prior to entering the course, to improve performance.  The course application is rather graphics intensive, and needs to have a fair amount of your PCs resources allocated to it.
  • In versions 1.1 and 1.2 (you will know that version by the 'splash screen' when you start the application, which displays the version number), please email us if you have continued issues, and we will email over encrypted PDF files.  Email us at: support@8130training.com, and include your name/email/company name.
  • In version 1.3, we have added several options for you to try and access these chapter handouts. Besides accessing the handouts in each chapter, you can also access them via 'Reference Information' page, in the far right of the graphic.  The second new option is that you can use your Windows Explorer (or My Computer) to go over the USB flash drive, and access the directory named 'Chapter Handouts', and select each file one by one and print it.

We recommed that you print out a copy of each of the chapters before continuing on in each chapter, so you can take better notes on each page as needed.

Why Do I Receive A Warning From Adobe Acrobat About the Chapter Handout File When I Open It?

The newer version of Adobe Acrobar Reader checks for a digital signature in a PDF file, and if one is found, will try to 'verify' it.  What this entails is that your local installation of Adobe Reader will show a warning until you validate the signature.  All PDF files in the 8130Training course are digitally signed by us, and there is no need to validate, since we only utilize the digital signature as a means of signing our files for copyright purposes, so you can ignore this warning.

Why Are You Delivering Your Course on a USB Flash Drive Instead of a CD-ROM?

We wanted to deliver the most-usable and portable training course possible to meet the needs of our audience, who may need to use the data provided in office environments, shop or manufacturing facilities, home settings and/or a classroom.  The easiest way to accomplish this is by providing a truly universal, rugged and portable device, and USB flash drives meet this challenge.  USB flash drives have a great portability and are much less fragile than CD-ROM or DVD discs for obvious reasons. Courses delivered over the Internet in a ‘on-demand’ basis require you to use a high-speed Internet connection, which is not always available to everyone in every type of scenario.  This copy-protected USB drive allows us to deliver a cutting-edge technology mechanism to support our cutting-edge course on the new and updated FAA Form 8130-3.

System Requirements

Before starting the course, please make sure your PC system meets the following minimum system requirements:

  • Intel Pentium® III or equivalent processor
  • Video resolution of 1024 x 768 or higher
  • 10GB (minimum) of free Hard Disk space for temporary files
  • 256 MB of system memory (RAM)
  • USB 2.0 interface
  • Internet Explorer 6.0 or higher
  • Adobe Acrobat / Acrobat Reader v9+
  • Adobe Flash Player v10+
  • Supported OS:  Windows XP, Windows XP x64, Windows Vista, Vista x64

Your PC may require more resources to properly execute the course, depending upon it’s configuration and settings, so we do not warranty that the course will execute properly on every PC which meets these minimum requirements, as there are far too many configurational issues to be addressed here.

How Can I Tell If My Computer is USB 2.0 Compliant?

To check your computer for high speed USB 2.0 support, do the following:

  • Click Start » Control Panel » System.
  • On the System Properties dialogue box click Hardware » Device Manager.
  • On the Device Manager Dialogue box click the "+" for Universal Serial Bus controllers.
  • If you see a listed item as "USB Enhanced Host Controller" or similar phrase which uses "Enhanced" then you have high speed USB 2.0 technology on that computer. This is the connection you will want to use for the plugging in the 8130-3 Training Course memory stick. Note that some PCs have both, USB 1.1 and USB 2.0 ports, installed, so you will need to ensure that you are using a USB 2.0 port.

How To Run the Course Off Of The USB Flash Drive

Plug the provided USB flash drive into an active USB 2.0 connector on your computer. The autorun function stored on the stick may cause the setup program to run automatically, depending on your operating system and its settings (some systems have this OS feature disabled by choice). If the program does not start automatically, explore the drive uisng Windows Explorer, and double click on the file named:  ‘8130-3Training.exe’, which is located in the root directory.

How To Run The Course Off Of Your Hard Drive (used where only USB 1.1 ports are available, or, the system responds to slowly to the USB drive)

Sometimes an underpowered system, or one with legacy USB drive (which is the USB 1.1, a much slower connection than USB 2.0, which is also referred to as Hi-Speed or Enhanced USB). USB 1.1 allowed a maximum transfer rate of 12Mbits/second. It is now obsolete, but both of its speeds (1.5Mbps & 12Mbps) are being adopted into USB 2.0, and they are now called Original USB officially (though some manufacturers label their products Full-Speed USB). Note that this seems a bit deceptive as it's easy to mistake Full-Speed for Hi-Speed, since Full Speed USB is only 12Mbits/second where Hi-Speed USB mode is capable of a much faster 480Mbits/second.

Traditionally, USB mice and keyboards only need 1.5Mbps to function; exceptions are gaming input devices that require 12Mbps.  Applications such as the 8130-3 Training Course require the higher-speed throughput to run properly.

If you have issues running the application off of the USB flash drive, you must copy the data to your hard drive, and run the course from there. Follow these steps:

  1. Create a directory on your hard-drive for the files (e.g. \8130-3 Training).
  2. Using Windows Explorer, select all of the files on the USB drive, and drag them over to the directory you just created on your hard-drive.
  3. Once the files have been copied over, LEAVE the USB flash drive in the USB connector, since the application on your hard-drive will not be operational without the drive (there is a copy-protection mechanism installed which allows only one copy of the software to be usable at a time).
  4. Go over to the directory with the copied files, and double click on the file named:  ‘8130-3Training.exe’, which should operate considerably faster off of your hard-drive.  Enter the password which was supplied to you in the User Guide when prompted.