Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[Vocalpoint]

Morning,

Just upgraded to .167 last night and for the first time ever - I had a major scare with my libraries. I updated 4 PC's in all...but on one in particular - after the .167 setup completed - the library it was pointing to appeared to be totally corrupted. I had the path right, the library files were all in place - but when I loaded this library - I just saw "No files are available" in the middle of the screen. I uninstalled and reinstalled several different builds - all to no avail.

Then I got scared and went down to my own workstation and tried to load this library - with the same result. I then restored from a backup but noticed that last backup for this particular library was about 4 days old. It was better than nothing - so I went ahead and managed to get back up and running.

This got me thinking - when a new build is offered and setup is run - there should be an option within Setup to backup the current libraries/settings BEFORE the new files are copied - just in case a weird problem crops up - especially if one hasn't done a backup for while.

Now I have no idea what happened here - I just know that its never happened before and now I am a little freaked out. I have put a lot of work into my libraries and having things just disappear is a bit unsettling. Even more so - is a 4 day old backup. Obviously I need to backup more...practically after every set of large scale changes it seems. And I am certainly going to do it manually now prior to installing each new build.

Thoughts?

VP

[remixedcat]

Very good idea!

I would be scared too.

[Vocalpoint]

Guys,

What's happening here with .167? Last night I listened to one last album before bed...shut down MC and now this morning - I start up and my library is gone. The library "files" are all where they should be but notning is appearing when I select this library. Actually - two things are appearing - two podcasts and that's it. All my music, views, smartlists are empty.

Luckily I backed it all up last night but there is something really wrong with this build. Or my library in general.

Will report back after a restore.

Cheers!

VP

[JimH]

I don't think there is a general problem with MC.

Are you running in a client mode, using Library Server.  I recall that you were using some odd DLNA configuration at one point recently.

[Vocalpoint]

I don't think there is a general problem with MC.

Really? Since this is the very first time this has ever occurred in three year of usage - I beg to differ? Also - I just restored last nights most recent backup - with "settings" and none of my saved settings were restored. Basically MC is now back in a default state - with piles of extra features enabled, all my DSP settings are off and so on. Basically none of the settings I have made (and there are only a few so it's easy to spot) get saved. Is this normal?

And if my library is now somehow corrupt - what's the best way to make a fresh one without losing everything (tags, custom fields) etc?

Are you running in a client mode, using Library Server.  I recall that you were using some odd DLNA configuration at one point recently.

Yes - I have been testing both Media Server and DLNA - which both are "new" to my world. And these problems just started in the last few days - during this testing - so I am going to shut it off and see what happens.

Would like an answer to a possible corrupt library tho...

VP

[Vocalpoint]

Now I am getting a bizarre error when I either remove or check off TV under Features:

The dialog is titled Disk Write Error

"failed to create timeshifting file"
Error: The system cannot find the path specified
Code:0x80070003
Please make sure you have write access to disk drive C: and that you have enough space on the drive"

I have no idea what this is and it's the first time I have ever seen it.

VP

[Alex B]

I don't have any library problems.

Disk Write Error

Did you run a disk check?

(I have recently had my share of bad luck, two of my hard drives started to produce disk errors. I had to replace one drive. The other drive had a bad SATA cable.)

[JimH]

Before you do anything more, it would be a good idea to get all your important files onto another disk.

[Vocalpoint]

I don't have any library problems.

Did you run a disk check?

Yes.No disk problems that I can see. Again - first time I have seen this. More troubling tho is - I just did a complete uninstall of the entire program. Then I did a restore from a backup I took before all this nonsense started and it still will not restore my settings. I get no paths, no entires in Library Manager and every setting is at a default position.

I distinctly remember the last time I setup a fresh copy of MC and restored a backup WITH settings enabled - I did not have to do a thing...all of my paths, options, features were all restored correctly...now I have to do it all from scratch. What's happening here?

VP

[Vocalpoint]

Before you do anything more, it would be a good idea to get all your important files onto another disk.

What files are you referring to? The actual "library files" reside on the server so no harm there. I have run a number of checks...the C drive is fine.

VP

[Vocalpoint]

So I took a look inside these backup archives and I can see the User Settings.ini has all of my settings perfectly preserved - yet when I restore any of these backups - I get none of my settings coming back. I am going to rill back a few versions here and see if I can see any differences in the restore. Something is not right here.

VP

[Vocalpoint]

So I "rolled" back to .159 and restored the same library from last week that I tried to restore with .167.

The restore with .159 was PERFECT. All settings were restored correctly. All paths, all DSP options...everything. Just as I surmised. So - for me anyway - there is something going on here with .167.

I am staying put on .159 until I have more time to test these other builds....

VP

 

[Alex B]

I can now reproduce the restore problem.

I had MC 15.0.96 installed on an old PC (which has been rarely used). I created a new library backup file and installed the build 167. At this stage the library files were present and the old options were as before.

Then I created another new library backup file, copied all library backup files to a safe location and did a full uninstall (= removed the registry and library files).

I reinstalled the build 167 and restored the "build 96" backup file. The library was restored, but not the settings. Then I tried the "build 167" backup file with the same results.

Then I installed the build 163, but that didn't change the behavior.

Finally I installed the build 159. It can restore the library data and the settings from the "build 96" backup file correctly. Also the "build 167" backup seems to restore at first, but after the recommended restart the library shows up as empty.

Apparently also the "build 96" backup file does not restore correctly anymore. After a restart the library is always empty.

Next I am going uninstall once more and try a clean install of the build 159...

EDIT

The OS is XP and the Windows user account has admin rights. No error messages.

[flac.rules]

Now I am getting a bizarre error when I either remove or check off TV under Features:

The dialog is titled Disk Write Error

"failed to create timeshifting file"
Error: The system cannot find the path specified
Code:0x80070003
Please make sure you have write access to disk drive C: and that you have enough space on the drive"

I have no idea what this is and it's the first time I have ever seen it.

VP

The disk write error with timeshifting turned up for me suddenly too, even though i don't even use timeshifting. The disk is perfectly fine.

[Vocalpoint]

I can now reproduce the restore problem.

I had MC 15.0.96 installed on an old PC (which has been rarely used). I created a new library backup file and installed the build 167. At this stage the library files were present and the old options were as before.

Then I created another new library backup file, copied all library backup files to a safe location and did a full uninstall (= removed the registry and library files).

I reinstalled the build 167 and restored the "build 96" backup file. The library was restored, but not the settings. Then I tried the "build 167" backup file with the same results.

Then I installed the build 163, but that didn't change the behavior.

Finally I installed the build 159. It can restore the library data and the settings from the "build 96" backup file correctly. Also the "build 167" backup seems to restore at first, but after the recommended restart the library shows up as empty.

Apparently also the "build 96" backup file does not restore correctly anymore. After a restart the library is always empty.

Next I am going uninstall once more and try a clean install of the build 159...

Whew! I knew I wasn't seeing things....especially the .167 "restore" and then library is empty part - this has happened several times in the last few days. I can also now reproduce this on other machines as well....that still have .167. I may move them all back to .159 for the time being.

VP

[Alex B]

Apparently the build 167 is now an official update. It shows up in the automatic update check (159 offered to install it).

To JRiver: It might be a good idea to revert the update service to the previous "good build" until the restore problem is fixed.  (edited a bit)

[Vocalpoint]

Apparently the build 167 is now an official update that shows up in the automatic update check (159 offered to install it). It might be a good idea to revert to the previous build until the restore problem is fixed.

Yep - I removed all builds after 159 from my server and have disabled all update checks (that's one of my settings saved in my backup . And all clients are back on 159 and are working perfectly.

Thanks again for the find and quick action on this one.

Cheers!

VP

[Matt]

This will be fixed in a coming build.

The backups are fine, but the restore code is not reading the settings.ini files correctly.

The problem has to do with a benign seeming change to an internal shared string function BeginsWith(...).  The function has been asked to sit in the corner and think about what it's done.

Thanks for the help finding the issue.

[Vocalpoint]

The function has been asked to sit in the corner and think about what it's done.

Bad function! 

Thanks for you help confirming the issue. All is well in .159 for now.

VP

[Matt]

More information here:
http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?topic=61183.0