Mishap [multiple servers] ...read/write error

[jimzak]

Lately, without a change to my system, UE seems to stall when downloading articles from a DVD binary group.

The progress for any article will stall at say 35% and when I click the Console tab I see the following:

Mishap<newserver name here>DVD article piece name
Error Couldn't place the body -(read/write error?)

I have been using UE for sometime and only in the last month or so has this problem developed.

I have 2 GB RAM and I have 4 newservers (Newsguy, Giganews, Newshosting, and my ISP). I have a fast connection at about 6 mb/sec with Time Warner. I limit the header range to 60 days.

I have about 20 connections going usually.

[alex]

first check the database hard drive for errors, the error may be caused by disk read/write error, in this particular case UE is catching the exception and reports the error.

second reason might be full disk, it needs to extend cnt.dat file in the ue database "bodies" subdirectory, if it can't it also generate the same error.

most likely should be one of the two reasons above. if it not that i could check the cause further, keep the full copy of the database then, i can add a separate exception to every failure so you run a custom version which will give the exact cause, i've never heard about any such problem, so it is a single general exception (exception means an error so ue aborts the operation and reports the error).

[jimzak]

I checked for errors and defragged completely.

The disk has 35 GB free.

I renamed the Bodies folder in the database to Bodies2, the problem improved for a bit, but then restarted.

What should I do next?

Thanks.

Jim

[bassie]

If in doubt about the hard disc. Could you complete reformat the hard disc and try again?
I for example, have usenet explorer, the database and the downloaded files on one data hard disc (so no windows installed in there).
Then just format the whole hard disc and reinstall usenet explorer.

[dengle]

What format is your hard drive? if it's FAT32, it can only handle a file of 4GB or less. you may need to convert your drive to NTFS to support the larger file formats.

I had a usb drive that was initially formatted as FAT32 and was receiving odd errors when attempting to assemble a > 4GB iso. Converting fixed it.

[jimzak]

The hard drive is 400 GB SATA and its NTFS (Drive D). The UE app is on hard drive C but the database is on D.

The OS and all the programs are on Drive C.

I don't think it's the hard drive as I defragged it and found no errors.

What do I do next?

[alex]

Try to contact me through msn (same email as in the forum) or through private messages, the main thing it should be not dragging since I hate when something is dragging very slowly for weeks and I'm working on something else in the same time, what I mean is responsiveness

The main idea I will copy the project and add more diagnostics e.g. into error log or as a message box and send you the custom version, so we can determine where exactly the error condition arises, if something useful will be found I also could include other relevant error messages from this function in the next release instead of the only generic one.

[jimzak]

I reinstalled UE and am using the C-drive for database and files.

Everything is working fine now.

I will try the D-drive again in a few hours and let you know what happens.

[alex]

did you copy the old database into C: ?

if it works on C: but doesn't work on D: it would mean some problem with the D: drive, strange if check file system for errors didn't give any problem (did you scan it for bad sectors as well?).

but anyway if you can reproduce it on D: and it is a system error I could get the exact error written into log.txt using a custom compiled version.

[jimzak]

I did not use the same database.

I created another one.

I am using both the C-drive and D-drive for the database without problems.

Thanks!

[jimzak]

Well...

I spoke too soon.

After I had been using UE at full-throttle for a bit, the errors started to recur on both the C and D drives

I considered the possibility of some sort of ISP issue (excess bandwidth).

I turned on my secondary machine and it worked perfectly of course with UE.

I then considered a possible BIOS problem. I checked everything and even checked for a BIOS update.

However, the ASUS site is sooooooo slow.

While I was checking for a BIOS update, I turned on UE and shortly thereafter the errors started to recur.

I then had the brilliant idea to turn off all other running programs:

AVG Antivirus: no effect
Commodo Personal Firewall: no effect
BOINC: no effect
X1: the UE problem resolved instantly

X1 is a desktop search utility that continually indexes your hard drive. I would guess that X1 was trying to index each fragment that UE was saving and tying up so much CPU/disc time that it was interfering with UE.

Is anyone else using X1?

FYI.

Thanks everyone.

Jim

[Josef K]

Set X1 to exclude your UE database directory. It and other desktop search programs has the same effect as realtime anti virus scanners in that it will continually scan any new files. Since you don't need raw article segments indexed, just exclude them.

Incidentally, where have you installed UE? Usually these programs exclude %Program Files% by default so your database shouldn't be indexed unless you installed UE somewhere else.

[alex]

maybe X1 prevents UE from doing some file operation by gaining exclusive file access, just exclude UE database directories completely or all subdirectories except for "Downloads" from indexing then, it is the solution, UE needs access its database at least while it is running

[jimzak]

Thanks Alex for the offer for personal assistance. Very few software authors would do the same!

I just ditched X1 as I hardly ever used it anyway and it was causing a problem in this case.

I'll just use Agent Ransack to search as it doesn't interfere and use up RAM and CPU power when I don't need it.

I have used Google Desktop Search but it too uses too many resources.