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We've installed Retrospect 5.0 onto our silver front G4 running OS X. Retrospect doesn't seem to want to perform the automatic script execution. As soon as you manually launch the application, it wants to run the script immediately. We've checked the script many times, the clock is correct, preferences indicate auto launch on beginning of script. We've been running Retrospect for years and never have had a problem till now. Any ideas?

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Amy:

 

 

 

I seem to be having the same problem that others are reporting. I’m using Retrospect 5.0.238 (I don’t think I should be installing .540 since I’m using Desktop 5.0.) I’ve also installed the Driver 3.1.105 and the only way I can get the script to execute is to open Retrospect. As soon as I do the script executes immediately. No error messages appear in the Log as far as the Auto Launch is concerned.

 

 

 

Details: eMac, OS 10.2.3, “Automatically Launch Retrospect” IS checked in Preferences.

 

 

 

Should also add that I don’t have the Energy Preferences set to sleep the CPU or Hard Drive. All I have is the display to be turned off after 20 minutes.

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I tried to do as you suggested. I went to Library/Preferences/ but then could not find “Startupitems” or “Retrorun folder”. What I did find was a Retrospect folder inside Preferences and inside that, among other files was a “retrorunfile”. I’ve placed that file on the Desktop rather than trash it.

 

 

It that the item you meant?

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callmeDave:

 

 

Thanks for the corrected path. The item I removed yesterday didn’t help. With your help I’ll track down that elusive Retrorun and trash it...and restore the file I placed on the Desktop. At that point I’ll wait for the, hopefully, Auto Launch to do its thing late tonight.

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As was suggested, I removed the Retrorun folder from the Startup items folder but placed it on the Desktop rather than trashing it. Problem is still present.

 

I can trash the Retrorun folder but somehow I feel that isn’t going to help. Any and all suggestions on what to do next will be greatfully received.

 

 

To reinterate the problem for those who came in late: Even though I have Retrospect set to autolaunch every evening at 11 PM, the only way I can get it to run is to open the Application in the morning. As soon as I open the Retrospect 5.0.238 application it immediately launches and does the backup.

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Quote:

Does that give us (you) a clue?

 


 

Yep. It reveals that the unix daemon that Retrospect uses to auto-launch is not running.

 

First (with Retrospect not running), trash any instances of the RetroRun folder that you have (don't just move it to another place), including any one in /Library/StartupItems/

 

Empty the trash.

 

Next, make sure you have your Retrospect serial number handy.

 

Move /Library/Preferences/Retrospect/ to the Desktop.

 

Next, Double Click Retrospect. Personalize and enter your serial number. After it launches, quit.

 

Check /Library/StartupItems/ Is there a new instance of the RetroRun folder?

 

Check Process Viewer and look for the retrorun process in the list.

 

The retrorun process should get installed and launched by these simple steps.

If this doesn't result in the retrorun process showing up in Process Viewer then I'd suggest booting from the OS X Install CD, launching Disk Utility, switching to the First Aid tab and running the Repair Permissions routine.

 

Dave

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Well, I did try both approaches.

 

First, I trashed all instances of the RetroRun folder - using Find to make sure.

Second,making sure Retrospect was not running, I moved the Retrospect Folder from /Library/Preferences/ to the Desktop. Launching Retrospect I reentered my serial number, and quit Retrospect. A new RetroRun folder was in StartupItems. Process Viewer did not find the retrorun process.

 

I then booted from my OS 10.2 Install CD and ran Repair Permissions from the Disk Utility and repeated the above steps. Still no retrorun process was found by Process Viewer.

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Outside of a complete uninstall and reinstall of Retrospect, you can try the following:

 

1) If the script is written correctly, but Retrospect is not autolaunching then Retrospect should attempt to run the script after the program is manually launched.

 

2) If the user manually launches Retrospect and the script does not try to run automatically then the script schedule may not be configured correctly.

 

If the script is written correctly, then try the following:

 

Go to Special>Preferences in Retrospect 5.x for Macintosh

 

Select Notification and uncheck all available options (you can leave "Animate Dock Icon" turned on)

 

Next go to Unattended and set the option to "Stay in Retrospect".

 

Restart the computer and retrorun will no longer load at system startup

 

Launch Retrospect, set all the Special>Preferences to "use default".

 

Restart the computer again.

 

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Quote:

Anyone have thoughts on why I can('t) get Retrospect to auto launch?

 


 

Retrospect is not auto launching because the unix process that launches the program is not running. This has nothing to do with your scripts.

 

The process that needs to be running is the file:

 

"/Library/StartupItems/RetroRun/RetroRun"

 

Assuming that this file is present inside the newly created folder, then it's the Mac's job to run it at startup time. I don't know why it's not.

 

Idea 1:

Try and run the process from the terminal. Type:

 

cd /Library/StartupItems/RetroRun

sudo ./RetroRun

(enter your password at the prompt)

 

Then check in Process Viewer again and see if it's there.

 

Idea 2:

Perhaps the file is damaged? Have you uninstalled/reinstalled the Retrospect application from the installer? The retrorun process file lives inside the Retrospect application bundle and is copied to the StartupItems folder when the program is run; if the copy inside Retrospect is corrupted then it's possible that the corrupted version in StartupItems can't run.

 

Idea 3:

Check your Console log after restarting the computer; see if you get any information there.

 

 

 

 

 

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Quote:

No one has posted and suggestions since my last posting. I’m stuck. Anyone have thoughts on why I can get Retrospect to auto launch? Every morning I open Retrospect 5.0.238 and it immediatly launches the backup script.

 


 

I've since given up on this function and have started using a freeware GUI utility called Cronnix which launches applications at specified times. I set it to launch a half hour before the nightly backups and have had nothing but success. Cronnix is set to launch at Login and I keep it hidden. It's been about a month of success; no Cronnix craches and it launches Retrospect.

 

Cronnix was located, I believe, from http://www.versiontracker.com

 

I suggest this as an option until you are able to ascertain that the auto-launch feature is working for you 100%. A backup can be a terrible thing to miss.

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CallMeDave:

 

Well, maybe we have a clue here. I tried your last three suggestions (Idea 1, Idea2 and Idea3). I then ran Repair Permissions for good luck. Running Process viewer still did not show a RetroRun process! Viewing the Console Crash Log shows some very interesting results. The log entries start on January 31 and repeat over and over again with the same information for all days, including today, except for the “PID” entry. I included just the last portion of the Console Crash Log message. Hopefully you or someone else on the Forum can tell me what’s going on. If a complete Uninstall and then Reinstall didn’t solve the problem, now what? Here’s the last set on entries from the Crash Log:

 

Date/Time: 2003-02-13 10:15:43 -0500

OS Version: 10.2.3 (Build 6G30)

Host: Jen's\032eMac

 

Command: RetroRun

PID: 450

 

Exception: EXC_BAD_ACCESS (0x0001)

Codes: KERN_INVALID_ADDRESS (0x0001) at 0x002295e8

 

Thread 0 Crashed:

#0 0x00003950 in GetPID (main.c:258)

#1 0x000045c0 in main (main.c:577)

#2 0x000031c8 in _start

#3 0x00002ff8 in start

 

PPC Thread State:

srr0: 0x00003950 srr1: 0x0200d030 vrsave: 0x00000000

xer: 0x00000000 lr: 0x0000394c ctr: 0x90073c40 mq: 0x00000000

r0: 0x0000394c r1: 0xbffffa10 r2: 0x00183010 r3: 0x00000000

r4: 0x00000003 r5: 0x00000028 r6: 0x0000002c r7: 0x00000703

r8: 0x00000000 r9: 0x002295d0 r10: 0x00000001 r11: 0xa0004894

r12: 0x90073c40 r13: 0x00000000 r14: 0x00000000 r15: 0x00000000

r16: 0x00000000 r17: 0x00000000 r18: 0x00000000 r19: 0x00000000

r20: 0x00000000 r21: 0x00000000 r22: 0x00000000 r23: 0x00000000

r24: 0x00000000 r25: 0x00000000 r26: 0xbffffde4 r27: 0x00000008

r28: 0x00000001 r29: 0xbffffdf0 r30: 0xbffffa10 r31: 0x000037c0

 

--

 

 

 

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“Dave”:

 

Thank you for jogging my brain! When I reinstalled 5.0 today I forgot to update to 5.0.238 and update the Driver. Once I did that I did a Restore of the Retrospect Folder from a Backup of a week ago. (Thank goodness, I’ve been manually running Retrospect backups!)

 

A week ago, and longer than that, I was running Retrospect 5.0.238. So, your suspicion of a corrupted Retrospect file may be correct. Now for the good news. After I updated both Retrospect and the Driver tonight I checked the Process Viewer the way to taught me to do. Lo and behold RetroRun was a running process!!!!!

 

We may be a bit premature, but I suspect that Retrospect 5.0.238 WILL auto launch tonight. I will let you and the rest of the Forum know the results tomorrow morning.

 

Thank you for hanging in there with me!

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Success! After much time and trouble the Retrospect auto launch feature is operational. It appears that the easiet approach when one encounters a problem such as this is to Uninstall and then Reinstall Retrospect. The use of Process Viewer and the Crash Log proved to be invaluable in analyzing the problem.

 

I wish to thank CallMeDave for his persistence and great advice and analysis. It been a long road, but in the end it was a most informative and educational trip.

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