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BeerSmith crashing

Thanks!

 I will take a closer look.  My guess is that if you have your FTP port blocked it might be causing a problem in the program on the "automatic" setting.  

 Fortunately I think this one will be pretty easy to correct.

Cheers!
Brad
 
I've had the same crashing problem for the past few months.  However, I belong to a club which purchased numerous copies and, since no one else was experiencing the problem, didn't want to complain.  Now that I see others are having the same issue, I wanted to provide my input.

It's crashing about every other time I start it up!  Fortunately, I've discovered that it's always the same database file that's getting corrupted (Options.bsm and Options_1.bak).  I simply delete them and rename Options_2.bak to Options.bsm and then it runs fine.

I did note that I had my update method set to "semi-automatic".  I've just now set it to "manual" and will continue to monitor it.

I hope we can figure this out, Brad!  Thanks again for all of your work and support!
 
Brad,
 Yes, the semi-automatic mode will run basically the same code as the automatic update, so you could very well be having the same problem.

 I ran some tests today and found that there is some kind of random bug in the auto and semi-auto update modes.  It does not occur all of the time, but happens occasionally.

 I STRONGLY RECOMMEND YOU SWITCH TO MANUAL UPDATE MODE IF YOU ARE HAVING ANY PROBLEMS WITH CRASHING IN EITHER THE AUTO OR SEMI-AUTO UPDATE SETTING (Auto-update tab on the Options command, Tools menu).  MANUAL MODE SEEMS TO AVOID THIS PROBLEM.

 I apologize for the problem - I do my best to try to create a great product.  Note the next update will be a free one for all registered users - including a fix for this as soon as I can narrow this down a bit.

Cheers!
Brad
 
Hey Brad,
Just wanted to give you an update. Its now been approx 2 months with no crashes since i changed the autoupdate to manual. Looks like you found the problem.
Thanks again for a great product.

Lee
 
Lee,
 Yes, it seems that the automatic and semi-automatic settings are the cause of the problem.  I have not been able to trace exactly where it is failing, but I've added additional error checks to the new version and have also been running it in automatic mode trying to duplicate the failure.

 Thanks for helping me narrow the problem down!

Brad
 
My day job is a PC tech and I started noticing all of the page fault errors that are coming up. This is straight from Microsoft and if I new more about your computers I could diagnose it better but any way;

Definition of Invalid Page Fault Error Messages
An invalid page fault may occur when parameters are passed between programs and the Windows operating system. An invalid parameter may cause a program to run invalid instructions, which results in an invalid page fault. Invalid instruction can occur in any of the following situations:

If the virtual memory becomes unstable due to a shortage of physical memory (RAM)
If the virtual memory becomes unstable due to a shortage of free disk space
If the virtual memory area is damaged by a program
If a program attempts to access data that is being modified by another running program.

Most page fault errors are computer hardware related in some way. The most common thing I hear is "It never did that before" and although that may be true, you never had that program before.

Without going into too much detail, let's just say each computer and programs are just like saying a Ford and a Chevy are the same car.... they are all different.

You need to make sure that your computer is alright... i.e. when did you last run (and let it finish) scandisk?... defrag?... How much harddrive space do you have free? more than 75% full and you will start having trouble with your computer. I am also assuming that you are running Windows 98 or ME. When was the last time you ran updates from Microsoft? Are you running antivirus? I sit up-to-date? Do you run a program like Adware to remove spyware from your computer?

All of these things will cause "goofy" problems with your computer.

As a side note... the fact that some of this is being caused by Auto Update from BeerSmith accessing the internet makes me think you may have spyware on your computer. A lot of spyware messes with internet settings and causes a bunch of problems. i.e. did your homepage change for no reason one day? or does the internet "run" slow?

Sorry about rambling, just making suggestions.
 
Actually I think I tracked the bug down to a simple "divide by zero" error in the automatic update software.

I'm still trying to confirm this, but so far this appears to have corrected the issue on the test version I'm working off now.

Cheers!
Brad
 
Same problem as reported above, can't get past the intro gray screen before it crashes...  I uninstalled and reinstalled to reset the auto update option but still get the same crash...   :'(

It won't let me copy the error details from the XP error encounter dialog box, or I'd send you that too...

I did not try the initial remedy listed in this thread... I only had one recipe saved, and have a printout from it.

Any other ideas?  I just paid for it and was looking forward to making up a few recipes!

 
Yes,
 PLEASE try the following:

  Delete your "Options.bsm" file and all of the backup files named "Options_1.bak", "Options_2.bak" and so on in the c:\Program Files\BeerSmith directory.

 Run BeerSmith again.  It may prompt you to do the setup again.

 DO NOT set the "auto-update" option.  Leave it set to "manual" on the update tab of the options page (Tools menu).

I think this will correct the problem.  If it does not, just drop me an email and I can tell you how to clean everything out and reinstall from scratch.

 Again, I apologize for the bug - I'm working very hard to get the next version out which should correct this.

Cheers!
Brad

Brad
 
Glad to hear it!

I believe I've narrowed down the bug and placed a few checks in place to prevent it from occurring in the future release.

Naturally, only time will tell.

Cheers!
Brad
 
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