I have encountered new problems with trying to edit links. I cannot edit or create any links on objects. As soon as I try to type in the address section of the window (Edit Link or Quick Properties) the program crashes. I have never had a problem before like this.

I am running Windows XP with Service Pack 2 and IE 7.0.5730.11. The last normal update I was able to make was on 22 Feb 08. I hadn't tried changing any links since then, but tonight it crashes with every attempt.

Any thoughts?

Jim

Is this occurring on an existing project?
Does it happen on a new project?
Have you tried a program re-install/repair?

It happens with both existing projects and new ones.

I have not tried a reinstall -- I wanted to see if there were any known problems before I went that route. Sounds like my next option, thouhg.

Jim

Okay - I tried downloading 2.7 and using the "repair" option -- but I got an error code of 2203. I guess I'll try removing and reintalling next.

Jim

Well, that was quick!

I tried a full reinstall with no change. It still crashes as soon as I tried to edit the link address.

Thoughts?

Jim

The only other thing I can think of...

Click Options->Link Edit Library, then use the "Delete All" button to clear your link list. If there was some type of bad data in it that caused the crash, this should take care of it.

If this doesn't work, I'm out of guesses, so Bruce or Harpo will need to take over.

Thanks, Larry - but no joy!

I'm going to try installing it on another machine and see if it's specific to me, or maybe if it's releated to any recent updates from Microsoft.

I'll post my results!

Jim

Okay, here's the latest update:

I installed it from a fresh download on my wife's computer -- seems to work fine.

I unistalled it from my machine (using the utility on the VM page), then reinstalled - no change.

I uninstalled it from the Control Panel then reinstalled - no change.

I unistalled it, deleted all the Virtual Mechanic directories, and reinstalled - no change.

I noticed that when I installed it on my wife's machine, I got the screen to enter my serial number and registration number. No matter how many times I've done it on my machine, it always takes me straight into the program. Also, whenever I go through the uninstall-reinstall routine, it repopulates my Link Library (I've gone in several times and deleted all links per Larry's suggestion -- but it comes back when the program gets reloaded) That tells me that some flag or cookie somewhere isn't being reset and it recognizes me as already being registered. Does it seem likely that there's some corrupt component somewhere that I need to get to in order to "clear" everything?

Edited to add: I just went through another "cycle" and noticed that this time it comes up as SiteSpinner 2.70b instead of 2.70f. Same problem exists -- but previous installs all showed version 2.70f. Hmm....

Edited again: Okay, I found two download pages - the page with download2 is version b, the main download page is version f. Not sure how I got there, but that solves that mystery. Loading Version f didn't eliminate the problem, though!

I'm really not interested in trying to run this from a different machine - the hassle of moving all the associated files and updating the program to point to the right place wouldn't be any fun.

As always, I'm open to suggestions.

Thanks!

Jim

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Navy87Guy,

It seems to me that there is some problem with your link library -- perhaps it has been corrupted in some way. Of course SiteSpinner shouldn't crash if this happens.

Your link library is in a self-contained file "urllist.htm" in this folder:
C:\Documents and Settings\Jim\Application Data\Virtual Mechanics\Bin (substitute your actual Windows user name for "Jim" and your actual install drive if different from "C".) As with your registration details, an uninstall/reinstall won't change urllist.htm. So if it is corrupted, it stays that way (I think!).

I suggest first save your urllist.htm to a safe place -- you might need it, and if it turns out to be the the cause of the problem, VM may well be interested in seeing it too.

Then delete the file "urllist.htm" from your Bin folder. This won't bother SiteSpinner when you run it -- it will just start with an empty list. If that fixes the problem, try transferring "urllist.htm" to the equivalent Bin folder on your wife's computer. Does that transfer the problem?

Thanks, Brucee.

I moved the urllist.htm out of the BIN directory and tried running again -- no change. I then deleted the installation and reinstalled - no change. I deleted both the VM directories (Program Files and Application Data) and reinstalled - no change.

I haven't tried copying the urlllist.htm to my wife's computer yet. Nor have I tried working on one of my existing projects on her computer to see if they will work properly there. I have created a new project on her machine and the links work fine.

I thought maybe I could get around the problem by editing a link in the Edit Link Library -- but that crashes, too. I found that I can edit the Title but not the link itself.

I'm also in touch with VM tech support -- so far, not much help there.

Jim

Here's a trap I just I fell into and maybe you have too: Before you do the file deletion, shut down all copies of SiteSpinner you may have running.

SiteSpinner keeps the urllist in memory and writes it to disk on close down. So deleting the disk file while SiteSpinner is running turns out to be not a deletion at all.

As confirmation that you really have deleted the urllist.htm file, open SiteSpinner then use main menu Options > Edit Link Library. Is the list there completely empty? If not, or if SiteSpinner crashes when you try that test, that would indicate that the file is not really deleted -- so try the file deletion again while SiteSpinner is not running.

This appears to have been a problem with the Windows auto-completion which fills in the url as you type.

It was resolved (at least for now) in Jim's case by clearing the url history from Internet Explorer.

To do that:

- Close all instances of SiteSpinner.
- Go to the Internet Explore ‘Tools > ‘Internet Options’
- In the Internet Option’s ‘General’ Tab under ‘Browsing History’, press the ‘ Delete...’ button.
- Finally in the window that pop’s up, press the ‘Delete History...’ button and press ‘Yes’ to confirm.

Great help (and perseverance!) by the VM team. As Harpo said, when I cleared the link history in Internet Explorer, the error disappeared and I was able to edit links again. I have surfed the Web and repopulated the history, and so far everything is working fine. Hopefully it was some weird link from a page I'll never visit again!

Jim