Retospect client 16.5 is apparently running, but Retrospect can't find the client

[x509]

This evening I rebooted my wife's Windows 10 64 Home system, because I got an error 505, client reserved.  Once rebooted, Retrospect client did not start up automatically, or did not appear to do so.  Now my Retrospect Desktop gives me an 530 client not found error.

I tried unsuccessfully to  start the client from the Windows 10 search box, which usually works to start any application. No luck.   Then I looked at Task Manager.  It showed a number of entries for Retrospect and Retrospect Client.  So what gives here?  I have had this problem more times than I can count.  ☹️  Then I shut down and restarted Retrospect on my system.  No joy.

IF, IF, IF I knew that this problem was fixed in Retrospect 17, I would do the upgrade like right now!!  Do I need to file a support case with Retrospect?

x509

[DavidHertzberg]

x509,

As far as the -505 error is concerned, Nigel Smith may have the generalized answer in this post from a late 2019 thread, although a preceding post by me in the same thread discusses my one encounter with it.   Unfortunately most of the Forums posts about -505 involve Mac clients.

As far as the -530 error is concerned, this October 2019 post by you tells how you solved it.  The very next post—by me—says that the Mac equivalent of that is how I solved my own -530 problems.  A post by me further down that thread discusses the problem from the wider angle of fixing Multicast in Retrospect; StorCentric should insist.  A post by MrPete even further down that thread discusses his approach to debugging these problems on Windows.

And no, the cumulative Release Notes for Retrospect Windows 17 don't indicate any fix for the problem.

 

 

[Nigel Smith]

Quick check -- is Retrospect client running and, if so, which interface is it listening on. Fire up a Command Prompt, type in "netstat", scan the list for either ":dantz" or ":497" with a "LISTENING" state.

If it's there and you are getting the 530 error, check that the listed local address from above is the same as your server is trying to contact. If they don't match you can either rebind the client IP (<https://www.retrospect.com/uk/support/kb/client_ip_binding>) or change the source IP on the server.

If you get the 505, I've found the quickest/cleanest solution is to turn off the RS client, delete the "retroclient.state" file (I *think* that's in "C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Retrospect", but don't have a Win RS client in front of me right now), then turn the client back on. Usually clears the error without having to re-add to the server after the uninstall/reinstall solution.

[x509]

On 4/21/2020 at 5:13 AM, DavidHertzberg said:

x509,

As far as the -505 error is concerned, Nigel Smith may have the generalized answer in this post from a late 2019 thread, although a preceding post by me in the same thread discusses my one encounter with it.   Unfortunately most of the Forums posts about -505 involve Mac clients.

As far as the -530 error is concerned, this October 2019 post by you tells how you solved it.  The very next post—by me—says that the Mac equivalent of that is how I solved my own -530 problems.  A post by me further down that thread discusses the problem from the wider angle of fixing Multicast in Retrospect; StorCentric should insist.  A post by MrPete even further down that thread discusses his approach to debugging these problems on Windows.

And no, the cumulative Release Notes for Retrospect Windows 17 don't indicate any fix for the problem.

 

 

David,

(1) Shame on ME for for not doing a search of this forum or of my local "Retrospect issues" folder.  I should have known better than to just do a quick post out of frustration.  But I think at times that Retrospect bugs just mess up my judgment.

(2) I was pre-occupied with building a new system optimized for Adobe Photoshop and Lightroom.  Actually just the motherboard/CPU/RAM/graphics card/NMVe style SSD.  It takes time to sort through specs and reviews, and then get good pricing.  To summarize, I switched from Intel to AMD (Ryzen), an ASUS "Republic of Gamers" sub-brand motherboard even though I am decidedly NOT a gamer, and I still can't decide on the new graphics card.  (I reused the case and power supply and HDDs.) 

If anyone reading this thread also builds their own systems, B&H Photo in New York City now has a store credit card with the unlikely name of Payboo.  They pay the sales tax for all out of state orders AND do two-day free shipping.  That's a great deal for someone like me who lives on the West Coast.

(3) I was further pre-occupied when my new system suddenly shut down hard.  I couldn't even get the fans to spin when I pressed the power button.  But all is well now, and I'm pleased with my new system.

So it's kind of late here but I want to get started by reviewing my own thread from last October, plus the posts in this thread.

[x509]

On 4/24/2020 at 5:11 AM, Nigel Smith said:

Quick check -- is Retrospect client running and, if so, which interface is it listening on. Fire up a Command Prompt, type in "netstat", scan the list for either ":dantz" or ":497" with a "LISTENING" state.

If it's there and you are getting the 530 error, check that the listed local address from above is the same as your server is trying to contact. If they don't match you can either rebind the client IP (<https://www.retrospect.com/uk/support/kb/client_ip_binding>) or change the source IP on the server.

If you get the 505, I've found the quickest/cleanest solution is to turn off the RS client, delete the "retroclient.state" file (I *think* that's in "C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Retrospect", but don't have a Win RS client in front of me right now), then turn the client back on. Usually clears the error without having to re-add to the server after the uninstall/reinstall solution.

On the client system, Retrospect client wasn't running, so there were no results from a netstat command on either the server or client systems.

On the client, I ran as Administrator all the various Retrospect  *.exe files, but none of them actually started the client.

Opening up Task Manager, Retrospect Client is listed as a startup program.  I couldn't find any entries for Retrospect in any of the user accounts in Appdata.  On the client system, Windows 10 Home, there is no All Users account.

I'm afraid that I will have to go for the "nuclear" option, which is a client uninstall and reinstall. I use Revo Uninstaller Pro (https://www.revouninstaller.com/)  to manage installs.  I'll have to do that tomorrow morning.

x509

[Nigel Smith]

3 hours ago, x509 said:

On the client system, Windows 10 Home, there is no All Users account.

Try C:\ProgramData\Retrospect -- IIRC, in Win 10 "All Users" is just a link to ProgramData and is only there when required for backwards compatibility.

While there, take a look at "retrospect.log" in case it has any clues.

[x509]

Nigel,

Thank you very much for the suggestion to look in C:\ProgramData\Retrospect.  I found a whole bunch of log files there, some of which I'm attaching here.

Last night I tried to run the client application, as I noted in my earlier post, but there was no effect.  the Retrospect.log file is 0K, empty, so I'm not attaching this file. 

Retroclient.log.1.log ran 04-20, timestamped 9:11 pm, the last time I had a successful backup, but I'm not sure how to interpret that log files.

Retroclient.log.2.log also ran 04-20. timestamped 9:10 pm (just before Retroclient.log.1.log), and has lots of entries.  Can you look at the last entries, the ones at 2020-04-20T21:10:21 or later.  Do they indicate that the client is no longer working and can't restart?

I'm hoping that these log files indicate why the client has stopped working and how I can restart the client without a full uninstall/reinstall.  In advance, I want to thank you.  At this point in time, I'm in full-on learning mode, unlike my earlier reply to DavidHertzberg.

I'm also attaching qtcontrolpanel.log, which last ran 04-20, 9:57 pm.

retroclient.log.1.log

retroclient.log.2.log

qtcontrolpanel.log

[x509]

So here is what I did, which solved my original problem and then created that damn 505, client reserved problem.

To get the Retrospect client to work again, I did a full, complete uninstall (using Revo Uninstaller Pro) and then a full install.  That worked, and now the server machine recognizes the client as being "in use."  But I ran into a strange version of the 505 error, which I am going to cover in a new post.