Retrospect 16.6.0 (114) crashing

[simonbqpr]

Running on 10.14.6 Mojave.

Application loads and console connects to localhost where server is located. It connects to server shows all the icons and then syncs past activities but immediately loses the connection to the server and goes into a loop.

I have reloaded the application and server files, removed the preferences

 

[DavidHertzberg]

simonbqpr,

Per Nigel Smith's universally-useful question, "Did this ever work, and if so what has changed?"

In particular, are you sure your Retrospect Mac 16.6.0 is not the Desktop Edition?  If it is, and if you're trying to run the  Retrospect Mac  LAN Console on a machine other than your "backup server", it won't work for licensing reasons.  (I license the 16.6 Desktop Edition because my installation is entirely in my apartment, and I'm not so decrepit that I can't walk 43 feet from my study to my bedroom to access the Console on my "backup server".  My "backup server" is in a separate room from my "clients" because my two-floors-up neighbor is a "junior Master of the Universe", with a wife who likes to make plumbing improvements but with zero knowledge of plumbing maintenance.  He's already leaked three times into my apartment over the last 25 years.)

[simonbqpr]

It's the server edition, it has been running for about 18 months without any issues until a few days ago.

I have rebooted the computer and cleared the log file by deleting it manualy.

[DavidHertzberg]

simonbqpr,

I assume the final paragraph of your preceding post doesn't mean that you've fixed the problem.

First, since your OP shows you are running the Console on a machine other than the "backup server", does the paragraph "I have rebooted the computer and cleared the log file by deleting it manualy [sic]" refer to the Console's computer or the "backup server" computer?

Second, if "the computer" refers to the Console's computer, have you verified that the LAN connection between your "backup server" computer and your Console's computer is reliable?  One way of doing that would be to designate some small folder on your Console's computer as a Favorite Folder, Finder-add a small folder with the same name on your "backup server" computer and also designate it as a Favorite Folder , then create and Run a Copy (not Copy Backup or Copy Media Set) script that duplicates the contents of the Console computer's Favorite Folder to the "backup server" computer's Favorite Folder.  If that works, you can simply Finder-delete the "backup server" folder you created.  If it doesn't work, you've got a LAN networking problem to solve.

Third, if the Copy script works, possibly something related to the LAN Console program has gone bad.  Since you're surely running a version of Retrospect Mac prior to 18.0, you're going to have to download onto your Console computer—or a thumb drive—an archived replacement of all programs in that version. (First make sure you have the license code; if you don't have it on an e-mail or piece of paper, open Documents->RetrospectXXLicenseCode.rtf on your "backup server" computer to see the license code and write that down.)  Unzip that download, and run—if it gives you the choice (the downloads for Retrospect Mac 18 include a separate  "Retrospect Backup for Mac 18.0.0.400 - Application" which may give you that choice)—only the unzipped Console Installer on your Console computer.  See if that fixes the problem.

Fourth, if re-installing the Console program doesn't work, it's most likely the config80.dat file on your "backup server" computer has gone bad.  Follow the procedure in the first substantial paragraph—and not the post linked-to in that paragraph's second sentence—in this February 2019 post to fix that.

 

Edited June 7, 2021 by DavidHertzberg
Add third through fifth paragraphs.

[Nigel Smith]

Sounds like the Retrospect Engine is spontaneously quitting/restarting for some reason. Try stopping it, and turning off "Launch on System Startup", in the Retrospect pane of System Preferences. Restart the computer so you are working off a clean sheet.

With Activity Monitor open, start the Retrospect Engine. Note the PID in Activity Monitor, go away for 10 minutes, come back and check again. If the PID is the same then the Engine hasn't quit, so try launching RS Console and seeing what happens.

You may even find that switching to a manual start cures the problem -- IIRC there was someone last year who was seeing similar, and it appeared to be a timing issue where Engine was active before an external device and got into an endless restart loop when the device appeared.

Failing that, keeping an eye out for the PID change (indicating a restart) which will give you a time period before that to check Console logs for problems.

Try all the above in "standalone" mode -- disconnect any external devices bar keyboard/mouse/display, unplug the network and turn off wireless. It may be something totally unrelated, so keep it as simple as possible.

It also looks like you didn't completely remove all preferences -- there are scheduled activities showing. A complete uninstall/re-install might help, if only for troubleshooting.  

[simonbqpr]

 

I manually started the Retrospect Engine and it's PID remains the same for 10 minutes. When I launch the application the Engine goes to a high CPU use level and then crashes. 

I then removed and backed up the Retrospect Folder from /Library/Applications support, did a full uninstall, restart and reload and now the Application and Engine are running properly, I then stopped the engine and copied back the Retrospect Folder from a backup and then problem returned !

I then discovered through trial and error that the Config80.dat file was corrupted so I deleted it and renamed the config80.bak file to config80.dat, restarted the engine and now everything is working.

Thanks Nigel.