Program will not start

[jackl]

I've been using Collanos for some time now, with great results. My small business uses it to keep in contact and up-to-date on projects among our partners in different locales. Everything was running great until a couple weeks ago I updated the software. Now I can no longer open the program, and a lot of important files and data may be lost. I REALLLLY need to get this working.

When I click the quickstart icon or the start menu icon, the gray icon shows up for a few seconds in the system tray, but then disappears, and nothing further happens. A mouseover pops up the label "Loading Collanos Workplace" until the icon disappears. As I attempt to open the program, Workplace.exe and javaw.exe show for a few seconds in the Windows task manager, and then they too disappear. No error messages ever show up.

I've attempted to uninstall the program, and re-install, praying that my data files will still remain intact. I've also tried using a couple different registry-fixing utilities, but that didn't fix it either. Both Collanos and Java are entered as 'safe' programs on my Firewall, and they worked fine previous to updating Collanos.

Windows XP SP2
Pentium 4, 3 GHZ
2 GB RAM

I anyone has suggestions or tips, I would be VERY happy. I'm really frustrated, because I can't work on anything right now. I can't collaborate with my partners.

Thanks for anything you can offer,

- Jack

[jackl]

I also tried terminating EVERY running process that was not toally vital to the operation of my computer. This included my firewall, AV etc. Anything that wouldn't crash the system was terminated. Same results

Next I tried running Collanos.exe in various compatibility modes. I tried running it as a Win 2000, Win NT, and Win 98 Program. I also tried turning off advanced text service and running it in reduced color/resolution. Didn't work.
 
I tried enabling all of the debugging settings in Java, but no errors have yet come up when I attempt to run Collanos.

I did haveone bit of success. I can run the program with the computer running in safe mode, and if I'm logged in under my administrator account. This doesn't do me much good, though. My files are under my main account, and I can't just use my computer in safe mode whenever I need to use Collanos
 

[jackl]

I did find error logs. Under my username in the 'Applicationss and Settings' folder, within 'Application Data\CollanosWorkplace\Data', was the following files. They go up to 'error.log.5'. I'm no pro, so I'm hoping some of you can read through this and tell me what's up here.

All of these files are from a brand new fresh re-install today.


Thanks,

- Jack

[aka]

Hello, Jack,




We looked on your logs, please check that your data is under "F:\Documents and Settings\!!!!Change to your name!!!!\Application Data\CollanosWorkplace\Data\data\personal" and folder exists "F:\Documents and Settings\!!!!Change to your name!!!!\Application Data\CollanosWorkplace\Data\data\personal" and let us know on results.


Aleks

[jackl]

Yes, the directory exists. Here's a snapshot of the treeview of 'data' fully expanded in explorer.

[Bob.in.NZ]

I'm having the same trouble, as near as I can determine.  Collanos or it's supporting programs can't find some files or directories, it appears.  It's a considerable concern to note that no solution to Jack's problem was ever posted, nor can I see any substantial advice elsewhere in the site or forum.  Perhaps I missed it with poorly formed search strings.  In any case, I've updated to 1.3.0.4, and this makes no difference, so whatever is happening remains a problem, at least for some of us. 

FWIW, I'm running XP, it's firewall is on, and I've not run Spybot since I installed 1.3.0.4.

Also FWIW, for future projects, I'm getting pretty firm in using only apps with good support and am even more reluctant to use anything with data I cannot both export and recover. 

[Anna Evpak]

Hello,

Can you please describe your situation from the  beginning please: You were using version 1301 and than have updated to 1304 through auto update or you've downloaded installer from site and made update. You program crashes after you\ve "Signed in" Collanos or Login screen just appear and disappear?
Do you receive any error messages?
Did you move you data folder?
Did you use any restoring or some formating programs recently?

[Bob.in.NZ]

Thanks for the reply, Anna.  I'm not sure how productive it will be to pursue this, because I know so little about the history here.  I can't open the program, so I have no direct way to determine the version number now.  I installed a fresh download on 14 Nov 07, and the current exe is dated 16 sep 08.  It appears that file dates have been updated for data since the last time I tried to open, so I can't say for sure how long ago everything was working.  I'm thinking about a month, which could coincide with the new program exe file date.  I recall downloading the newest version and installing over the existing installation as a way of trying to fix the problem, but it clearly didn't.   The program starts to load, as indicated by an icon in the notification area.  When I hover the mouse over it, it says loading Collanos.  This icon then disappears, with no messages on the screen.  Windows Task Manager does not show it's presence as an application, and I don't recognize it in the running processes list.  (Of course I don't know for sure how it will appear there).  Java is not reported as a running process.  If I try to load and run Collanos again, it reports that it's already in memory, and aborts the second load attempt.

I just found the "error.log" in the application data folder that seems to point to java.  Note that according to Windows security, java2 platform is an excepted process in the firewall.

Error log:
2008-10-27 11:36:40,281 ERROR collanos.workplace.WorkplaceApplicationAdvisor  - unable to initialize
java.lang.RuntimeException: java.lang.NullPointerException
   at com.collanos.workplace.services.RSManager.createReplicationService(RSManager.java:71)
   at com.collanos.workplace.WorkplaceApplicationAdvisor.preStartup(WorkplaceApplicationAdvisor.java:400)
   at org.eclipse.ui.internal.Workbench$25.runWithException(Workbench.java:1340)
   at org.eclipse.ui.internal.StartupThreading$StartupRunnable.run(StartupThreading.java:31)
   at org.eclipse.swt.widgets.Synchronizer.syncExec(Synchronizer.java:152)
   at org.eclipse.ui.internal.UISynchronizer.syncExec(UISynchronizer.java:118)
   at org.eclipse.swt.widgets.Display.syncExec(Display.java:4097)
   at org.eclipse.ui.internal.StartupThreading.runWithoutExceptions(StartupThreading.java:94)
   at org.eclipse.ui.internal.Workbench.init(Workbench.java:1337)
   at org.eclipse.ui.internal.Workbench.runUI(Workbench.java:2319)
   at org.eclipse.ui.internal.Workbench.access$4(Workbench.java:2219)
   at org.eclipse.ui.internal.Workbench$4.run(Workbench.java:466)
   at org.eclipse.core.databinding.observable.Realm.runWithDefault(Realm.java:289)
   at org.eclipse.ui.internal.Workbench.createAndRunWorkbench(Workbench.java:461)
   at org.eclipse.ui.PlatformUI.createAndRunWorkbench(PlatformUI.java:149)
   at com.collanos.workplace.WorkplaceApplication.start(WorkplaceApplication.java:138)
   at org.eclipse.equinox.internal.app.EclipseAppHandle.run(EclipseAppHandle.java:153)
   at org.eclipse.core.runtime.internal.adaptor.EclipseAppLauncher.runApplication(EclipseAppLauncher.java:106)
   at org.eclipse.core.runtime.internal.adaptor.EclipseAppLauncher.start(EclipseAppLauncher.java:76)
   at org.eclipse.core.runtime.adaptor.EclipseStarter.run(EclipseStarter.java:363)
   at org.eclipse.core.runtime.adaptor.EclipseStarter.run(EclipseStarter.java:176)
   at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0(Native Method)
   at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(Unknown Source)
   at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(Unknown Source)
   at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Unknown Source)
   at org.eclipse.equinox.launcher.Main.invokeFramework(Main.java:504)
   at org.eclipse.equinox.launcher.Main.basicRun(Main.java:443)
   at org.eclipse.equinox.launcher.Main.run(Main.java:1169)
   at org.eclipse.equinox.launcher.Main.main(Main.java:1144)
Caused by: java.lang.NullPointerException
   at com.collanos.p2prs.ReplicationServiceImpl.destruct(ReplicationServiceImpl.java:355)
   at com.collanos.p2prs.ReplicationServiceImpl.create(ReplicationServiceImpl.java:586)
   at com.collanos.workplace.services.RSManager.createReplicationService(RSManager.java:42)
   ... 28 more

[Anna Evpak]

Hello,

Thank you for your description, but can you please do next:
1. Find Collanos Data directory, on standard install it usually is situated on C:\Documents And Settings\{Your user name}\Application Data\CollanosData
2.Copy all files with log extension;
3.open .metadata folder (it is hidden folder, so if you don't see hidden files make settings to your file manager) and copy .log   file;
4.Archive all this files and send to my e-mail anna.evpak@collanos.com
5. Also can you please open your inside folder data\replication\rsvc  and count files/folders amount in "rsvc" folder.

[Bob.in.NZ]

Just to update the board.  Anna's requested more info/files by e-mail, which I've tried to supply.  Tech support (her personally perhaps) has narrowed the problem to one folder.  We're something like 9 time zones apart, so this has taken a few days to progress this far.

I am thoroughly delighted with the response of Anna and the Collanos team.  My data and use of the application was not crucial to my business--or my life, and my ability to recall details of what happened when was certainly incomplete.  Having been responsible for program tech support in another life, I know how this lack of detail can complicate ferreting out what's wrong.  No, the problem isn't fixed yet.  But you can't ask for better support than this.  It's certainly a strong argument for having confidence in using Collanos in critical applications. 

Thanks to all involved.

[Anna Evpak]

Hello,

In Bob's particular case problem is in one damaged file, so solution is sent to him personally on e-mail address.