Update wiped out Surfulater
Hi, Neville. Today I downloaded the new version of Surfulater, backed up the old one, and tried to install the new version. I got several error messages, the last of which told me the installation had failed and did I want to rollback the changes that were made during the partial installation. Here are the three error messages that preceded this:
1) The application or DLL c:\Windows\system32\OLE2.DLL is not a valid Windows image. Please check this against your installation diskette.
2) Windows cannot find c:\Program Files\SAIG\Surfulater\Surfulater.exe
3) Cannot execute external program c:\Program Files\SAIG\Surfulater\Surfulater.exe
I said yes, I would like to rollback the changes, but that didn't help. Surfulater was gone. There was no Program Files\SAIG\Surfulater directory! I think this was something that had been done by the new version installation file, because shortly before I had tried to install the new version, I had been using the old version just fine. I've now used System Restore to restore my computer to its state yesterday afternoon (the most recent restore point I had). Surfulater is back. I was surprised to see that a file I saved in Surfulater this morning is there. I guess that's not so surprising, since the Application Data folder for Surfulater didn't get wiped out, just the Program Files\SAIG folder. But that folder clearly should NOT have been wiped out. And the only thing that I can think of that could have wiped it out is the installation file for the new version.
I'm sending you this message both to let you know about this and also to ask whether you know what to make of the first error message I received (#1, above). I've never seen anything like that before.
Comments are currently closed for this discussion. You can start a new one.
Support Staff 2 Posted by Neville on 21 Aug, 2010 09:32 PM
Hi Joan,
I've never seen nor heard of a problem like this before. All I can think of is that the download is corrupt. Its size should be 6,148KB in Windows Explorer. Even if it is, it still might be corrupt. I suggest you download it again.
Surfulater does not install or touch OLE2.DLL so this is also a mystery. It is a standard Windows DLL.
-Neville
3 Posted by cyberqueen on 21 Aug, 2010 10:32 PM
Thanks very much, Neville, for your prompt response. I looked at the file in
Directory Opus (which I use as my Windows Explorer replacement), and it's
listed as 6 MB even. I don't know how much rounding off DOpus does--certainly
there are lots of other files listed as, say, 5.92 MB or 4.68 MB, but for what
it's worth, Surfulater's setup file is not listed as 6.148 but just as 6, so
perhaps it did get corrupted. I'm about to go out, but I'll try tomorrow and
let you know what I find.
Joan
--On Saturday, August 21, 2010 5:34 PM -0400 Neville
<***@tenderapp.com> wrote:
4 Posted by cyberqueen on 22 Aug, 2010 02:25 PM
Hi, again. This morning I again tried to download the new version of Surfulater. To my surprise, the 6 MB file (and the downloader too said 6 MB, not 6.148) downloaded almost instantly--in less than a second! I have a cable connection, but it seems to me that 6 MB should have taken longer than that. Directory Opus again reports a downloaded file of 6 MB. I decided I'd try the download again, this time using Download Accelerator Plus, just to see whether there was any difference in the size of the download. To my surprise, DAP tried for a while but never got further than 10% downloaded, and finally reported that it could not download the file, and that "the download site could be having a problem." It offered to try to find "alternate links." I clicked on that to see what would happen, but I think it found an old version of Surfulater on the Surfulater site, so I didn't bother to download that.
Although I set a restore point before beginning this adventure this morning, I'm not eager to try to install the version that downloaded instantly. I just don't believe that it's OK, though if you really want me to, I will. I should add that I disabled my firewall and closed down two security programs, leaving only my antivirus program still working. I wanted to minimize any interference with the download and installation. So I don't think the problem lies there. But I'm puzzled as to where the problem could be, especially if you haven't had any other reports of problems.
Joan
Support Staff 5 Posted by Neville on 22 Aug, 2010 11:33 PM
Hi Joan,
Some Download programs will not download a file again if they think the requested file is already on your PC. Some programs may also cache a copy of downloads. In this situation you need to delete or rename the download file, then download it again.
FYI I typically use Firefox for downloading files from the Web and it always downloads a fresh copy. The file size in MB will be 6, in KB it is 6,148 and in Bytes 6,295,552. I tend to stick with standard Windows applications where possible and can't comment on Directory Opus, however I would assume there is a way to see more detailed File Properties that should show the size on KBytes.
I just downloaded Surfulater without issue. Since the release on Friday there have been over 230 downloads with no reports of problems other than yours. The other pending issue from Nick Pearson is not related to this release.
-Neville
6 Posted by cyberqueen on 23 Aug, 2010 03:46 AM
Hi, Neville. I'm afraid things have gone from bad to worse. Before I say more about that, let me just say that I too almost always use Firefox for downloading files from the Web, and Firefox was what I used for all but one of the downloads of Surfulater. Also, I checked the properties of the files that Firefox downloaded, and they were all the size you mentioned: 6,295,552 bytes.
The fact that the files were the right size and that no one else had had problems made me try again. But I had exactly the same experience as I described in my first message. The only difference i could see at once is that this time the Program Files\SAIG directory was still there--but it was totally empty! And when I tried to use a system restore point, I couldn't. For the first time ever, system restore reported that it was unable to restore my system. Clearly, something has gone terribly wrong. The final straw is that when I tried to use a moderately recent image I had made for just such an emergency, I couldn't get the program's software to recognize the USB drive (where the external hard drive was connected). I've sent an email to the program's tech support. When I know more, I'll let you know. If you know anything that might be of help, I'd be most grateful.
Support Staff 7 Posted by Neville on 23 Aug, 2010 04:05 AM
Hi Joan,
Did you delete the Surfulater download and download it afresh or install the original download again. It sounds like the later, which I would not have done. That is you should download a fresh copy and try that.
That said it is sounding like there maybe an issue with your PC which is causing you problems.
-Neville
8 Posted by cyberqueen on 23 Aug, 2010 04:28 AM
Hi, Neville. No, I deleted the Surfulater download, closed Firefox (to clear the cache), restarted Firefox, and downloaded a fresh copy.
Yes, since no one else has had any problems, I have to conclude that there's an issue with my PC causing the problem. It's not apparent what it is, however. I've had no problem downloading and installing upgrades to other programs. Also, both a Malwarebytes scan and a McAfee scan done earlier today were clean.
9 Posted by cyberqueen on 24 Aug, 2010 02:08 PM
Hi, Neville. I want to provide an update to the problem. After contacting the company whose external hard drive and imaging software I use, I received a new version, and that enabled me to replace the contents of my hard drive with the image I had made in late July. I then added some AV updates and MS updates and some files I had saved on a flash drive knowing they'd be wiped out in the process, and I'm now good to go.
I confess that I'm reluctant to try again to update the Surfulater version on this computer. I have no idea what caused the earlier debacle, and so I have no reason to suppose that the problem won't recur. I'm very happy with the former (330 vs. 331) version of Surfulater, so perhaps I should leave well enough alone.
In updating Surfulater's data base from where it had been in late July (when the image was made) to now, I came upon another question to ask, but I think I'll start a new message for that, since it may be of interest to people who have no interest in my tale of woe.
Support Staff 10 Posted by Neville on 24 Aug, 2010 09:27 PM
Hi Joan,
Good to hear your PC is back to normal. I'm not clear about precisely what happened following the Surfulater install. Other than Surfulater going missing, did the install actually cause problems with Windows?
-Neville
11 Posted by cyberqueen on 24 Aug, 2010 10:05 PM
Hi, Neville. Yes, the second time I tried to install the new version of
Surfulater (a newly downloaded copy that was identical in byte size to what you
told me it should be), not only did the installation fail and also wipe out all
files in the Program Files\SAIG directory, but it seemed to damage Windows as
well. For the first time ever, I could not make use of the system restore
points that had been set. Each attempt to use one failed.
I have no idea whether anything else was affected. I'm not aware of anything
else. As soon as I couldn't restore my computer via system restore (as I had
been able to do the first time the Surfulater update installation failed), I
turned to my image backup. Though that proved to be a little more problematic
than I had hoped, that problem had nothing to do with Surfulater: I simply
needed a newer version of the image program's software. As soon as I got that,
I was able to replace the contents of my hard drive with the image I had made
in late July. So all seems now to be OK, but I'm nervous about trying again to
install the new version of Surfulater. I'm actually quite happy with version
330.
Joan
--On Tuesday, August 24, 2010 5:29 PM -0400 Neville
<***@tenderapp.com> wrote:
Support Staff 12 Posted by Neville on 25 Aug, 2010 11:55 PM
Hi Joan,
I still have no reports of any problems installing the new V3.31.0.0 release and struggle to think how any Surfulater install could cause the problems you described.
You could try (re)installing the V3.30.0.0 release and see if that works ok. And if it does then try V3.31.0.0 However I understand if you'd rather keep things as they are.
-Neville
13 Posted by cyberqueen on 26 Aug, 2010 01:33 AM
Hi, Neville. I'm glad to hear that there have been no other reports
of problems. However, since I did have problems both times that I
tried to install version 3.31.00, there's no reason for me to feel
confident about trying again. I don't see any point in trying to
reinstall 3.30, since it's already on my computer (it was restored with
the image from July 27) and is working fine. And even if I were to
reinstall it without a problem, that still wouldn't tell me whether
I'd run into a problem yet again with 3.31. So for now, I think I'll
just stick with the copy of 3.30 already on my computer. It works
fine, and I'm very happy with its feature set.
Thanks for your help and your understanding.
Joan
--On Wednesday, August 25, 2010 7:57 PM -0400 Neville
<***@tenderapp.com> wrote:
Neville closed this discussion on 26 Aug, 2010 02:20 AM.