cannot open database

sheltono's Avatar

sheltono

11 Nov, 2011 11:07 PM via web

Getting an error that the database file "cannot be opened or created" I've been using Surfulater for yearrs and sometimes get erros like this after a crach, but tit always fixes itself on the next start -- not this time (tried restarting several times)

  1. Support Staff 2 Posted by Neville on 13 Nov, 2011 07:29 PM

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    Shelton, there should be a specific error code displayed as part of the message you are seeing. What is that?

    Hopefully your daily backups include Surfulater and you will be able to restore to an earlier good version of the database.

    -Neville

  2. 3 Posted by sheltono on 17 Nov, 2011 04:29 PM

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    Neville, I've attached a zip file containing the two error messages. The articles are being saved, but the pages are not.
    Hopefully, there is something I can do other than using a backup, as I would lose a lot of stuff added since my last good backup.

    -Shelton

  3. Support Staff 4 Posted by Neville on 21 Nov, 2011 06:32 AM

    Neville's Avatar

    Shelton, I've not seen this specific error before and it is possible the database is damaged beyond repair or if repairable may loose pages etc. you've already saved. I've attached a zip file with a utility you can use to try and repair the database.

    Unzip into the folder with the WDB file and run: dpmgr repair "xxx.SurfulaterWDB" from a DOS/Command prompt, where xxx is the name of the Knowledge Base. Backup the Knowledge base first.

    The best option by far is to always restore from the previous days backup when something like this occurs.

    -Neville

  4. 5 Posted by sheltono on 21 Nov, 2011 11:29 PM

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    Hi Neville,
    Thanks for responding.
    Wen I run the command, this is what happens:

    c:\Users\soliver\Downloads\Surfulator>dpmgr repair
    "MyKnowledge.SurfulaterWDB"
    dpmgr: MyKnowledge.SurfulaterWDB: stat error

    An thoughts?
    -Shelton

  5. Support Staff 6 Posted by Neville on 22 Nov, 2011 08:07 PM

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    Shelton,
    You need to run this from the folder where your Knowledge Base files are located. Or you could copy the MyKnowledge.SurfulaterWDB to c:\Users\soliver\Downloads\Surfulator, run dpmgr and if successful copy MyKnowledge.SurfulaterWDB back where it belongs.

    -Neville

  6. 7 Posted by sheltono on 12 Apr, 2012 06:47 PM

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    Shoot, it's happened again!

    I updated to v3.42.1 (to get rid of the incessant nag), and am getting this error:

    Unable to save Web Database changes. Check your disk isn't full and you have access to the WDB file: ..\MyKnowledge.SurfulatorWDB, Error: 8

    This is a major bummer as was unable to recover the database last time it happened.

    It's really not cool that upgrading breaks the database.

  7. Support Staff 8 Posted by Neville on 12 Apr, 2012 09:31 PM

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    Hi Shelton,
    Assuming you upgraded from V3.4x.x there is no change to the database, so whatever has gone wrong to corrupt the WDB file is purely a coincidence.

    The best thing to do is to restore from the previous day's backup. If you don't have a recent backup then you can try the repair utility I sent previously.

    -Neville

  8. 9 Posted by sheltono on 13 Apr, 2012 07:38 PM

    sheltono's Avatar

    Hi Neville,
    when I run

    C:\Users\soliver\Documents\Surfulater>dpmgr repair
    "MyKnowledge.SurfulaterWDB"

    I don't get any errors, but the file is reduced from 2 G to 33 k. Any
    thoughts?

  9. Support Staff 10 Posted by Neville on 16 Apr, 2012 01:19 AM

    Neville's Avatar

    Hi Shelton,
    Windows (32bit) has a maximum file size limit of 2GB. It sounds like your MyKnowledge.SurfulaterWDB hit this limit and this has likely caused the corruption.

    The repair utility won't help in this scenario I'm afraid. So you'll need to go back to you previous good backup for this KB. And then start a new one for adding future content.

    -Neville

  10. 11 Posted by sheltono on 16 Apr, 2012 01:56 AM

    sheltono's Avatar

    I'm running 64 bit windows

    -Shelton

  11. Support Staff 12 Posted by Neville on 16 Apr, 2012 02:39 AM

    Neville's Avatar

    Yes, but Surfulater is a 32bit application so this makes no difference, as it depends on the type of application.

    -Neville

  12. 13 Posted by sheltono on 16 Apr, 2012 05:51 AM

    sheltono's Avatar

    I do not have a backup. Would it "fix the db if I were to delete so e entries to get it back under 2 GB?

    -Shelton

  13. Support Staff 14 Posted by Neville on 17 Apr, 2012 02:34 AM

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    Unlikely this will work as the file size won' t shrink. And from what you indicated, it is corrupt anyway. That said without any backup you've got nothing to loose.

    -Neville

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