A P7 Runtime app which I've distributed for years, fails to open more
than once on an HP XP multi-media machine. Attempts to restart the app
after closing results in the brief appearance of the hour glass and
then nothing happens. No error messages, no "net directory in use"
messages.

After restarting the computer, the app will again open -- once.

Have tried every settings adjustment I could think of -- from local
share to app compatibilty to renewed installation files.

The machine is far away so I limited to phone support.

I think it may be a software conflict. I plan to have the client look
at the task manager to see what else is running when this problem
occurs..

Any suggestions are appreciated.

Thanks,

Randy

Randy
<<
A P7 Runtime app which I've distributed for years, fails to open more
than once on an HP XP multi-media machine. Attempts to restart the app
after closing results in the brief appearance of the hour glass and
then nothing happens. No error messages, no "net directory in use"
messages.
Sometimes Paradox can open as a tiny window in the upper left corner of
the screen. Are you sure, this is NOT what happens? Verify Paradox is
not running, by looking in the Task Manager.

If Paradox isn't running, try to analyze what happens by using Filemon
from www.sysinternals.com. It will log all file requests made by all
running processes.



--
Bertil Isberg
CTECH
Paradox Buglist: http://hem.bredband.net/bertilisberg/

remove spamfilter (reversed) to reply

Randy,

To me, it sounds like Paradox never really stops running. So, every time
you try to restart it, it gets queued, waiting for the first execution to
end. Definitely look at the Task Manager. Are there lots of PDXWIN32.EXE's
(or was it 16bit?)? If so, kill each one, then try to restart.

I'm not sure what would cause Paradox to not end. Could be permissions,
trying to write the CFG files maybe? Can the user log in as an Administrator
on their machine? If so, does that solve the problem?

Thanks,
Jim Moseley

It does seem that the program never fully closes. The user has
administrator privilages.

The program uses a script in the startup command line to open the lead
form.

Turns out when I re-start from the root pdxrwn32.exe an error message
surfaces, stating the net directory is controlled by another user. As
far as I can tell, there is no other BDE on the machine, at least not
one in the typical C:\Program files\Borland\BDE folder.
No warnings about an existing BDE appeared when installing. Local share
to False does not help. A search indicates there are no idapi32.cfg
files on the machine except for the one used by the runtime app. No
rogue .lck files either.

This is the second HP XP multimedia machine that this occurs on. I
think there is another software that is using a BDE or another program
has hijacked an extension or filename.

I'm going to meet this machine face to face. I will try Bertil's
suggestion with the monitoring software. Currently as far as I know,
the taskman says there are no program running after p7 is open and
closed Of course there are a ton of of processes running constantly.

Any other ideas of things to look for will be applied.

Randy

Jim Moseley wrote:

Randy,

I'm surprised PDXRWN32.exe is not still running when you shutdown after the
first invocation. So, somehow Windows must be holding on to the resources
after it has ended.

1. Open an empty Runtime window the first time. Then, immediately shut it
& open it again. Does it still show the error? If not, then it is an application
problem. If yes, then it is a windows/environment problem.

2. Repeat step 1 with your regular icon but without the startup script.
If it still doesn't work, then what command-line options are you using?

3. Make sure Write-behind Caching and Opportunistic Locking are turned off.
(just good practice, not sure what effect on this problem).

4. Make sure Window's Indexing Service is turned off for folder (right click
& choose Properties).

5. Is any special HP monitoring software running? If so, does turning it
off fix it? (this is my bet)

Are you using tables off of a network? SQL? OCXs? DLLs? Anything else
external to Paradox?

Thanks,
Jim Moseley

Jim,

All good suggestions. I will apply them when I actually sit in front of
the computer, next week. Will post the results.

Thanks for your input.

Randy


Jim Moseley wrote:

After a follow up investigation I have determined only that the problem
is a windows XP Media Center issue not an app issue. It appears that
the files are being aggressively commandeered. No competing borland
based programs are found. Running RT 7 32 out of the box produces the
same result. Basically the program will simply not run for long.
Sometimes the program will simply evaporate from the screen when an
attempt to print is made. Restart error message: Directory is busy

Simply opening and closing after a fresh boot will surface this message


I see the HP adminisrator is all over the place when vierwing the file
monitor. Cancel the process does not help.

Here's is the kicker: when editing the idapi32.cfg. The net directory
field is blank and will not accept a value.

I did not check the opportunistic locking status. After researching it
the opp lock seems to apply to network / server operations. The
computor is stand alone with a high speed connection. Symentec security
suite is installed. The machine basically runs too slow for the power
is has. Turning off the security suite does not correct the pdox
problems.

Can the opp lock settings really have an effect here?

Randy




Randy wrote:

Randy

Do you run Paradox runtime as an administrator ?

Which folders are used for the working directory and the private directory?
Where is idapi32.cfg stored?

Do you have full rights to those folders?

When you get the error Directory is busy, do you see any lck files in
working directory or private directory? Did you use Filemon when you got
this error?

You know you can filter the requests logged by Filemon by entering a filter
pdx*, don't you?



--
Bertil Isberg - CTECH
Paradox buglist:
online: http://hem.bredband.net/bertilisberg/

"Randy" <rprenphoto (AT) aol (DOT) com> skrev i meddelandet
news:1158077146.465770.313460 (AT) m73g2000cwd (DOT) googlegroups.com...

Bertil Isberg wrote:
Yes.

They are 3 folders deep on drive C:\.

Along with the BDE files.

Administrator rights are full rights are they not?

I searched the entire machine and found a single .lck ...a leftover on
a CD disk which I then removed...to no effect.

I did. Even after filtering on pdxrwn I was still looking at 4000
entries. I found no clue there.

Normally, I would file this under anomaly but this is the second HP
media center that this has occured on.

The first user eventually called HP and ended up doing a complete
restore. At that point he ran the program fine for a while and then did
something to mess things up again. I don't recall exactly what he said
but it was something to do with a video editing program. At that point
he moved the app back to his old computer. So it was never resolved.

I think I'll ask the client to try a day 1 restore and see what
happens.

Thanks. I'm still listening to suggestions.

Randy