Retrospect Unexpected Quits without a note in log

[mick2up]

I am on OS X 10.2.6 and using Retrospect 5.0.238 and Client 5.0.240. Here are my issues I cannot resolve which I am seeking answers to:

 

1. During backup Retrospect simply quites leaving no trace of a reason in the log or erro message on the screen. The log denotes last machine being backed up and the ususual items it tells you about during launch. The catalog needs repair each an every time because it is out of sync. HELP!! When I run the script manually it chugs along for a while and then simply disappears...not unexpected quit message from the OS...no report in the log. Never seen this.

 

2. As if number 1 wasn't enough. When I look at the clients on the network in the configure area on the one OS 9 client I run states its responding. I have to manually click connect on the 3 OS X clients.

 

3. Since the problem stated in number 1 has been happening, it no longer launches automatically on as dictated in the script. Probably related.

 

Any and all help appreciated.

[CallMeDave]

Retrospect can't log its own crashes in its log. I don' t think any program can do that.

 

But Mac OS X does have a logging mechanism in place to track processes that crash. Look at:

 

/Library/Logs/CrashReporter/Retrospect.crash.log

 

That will help you track the crashes, although the information in the log won't be of much use to you.

 

Knowing your complete configuration (hardware, backup devices, etc) and what you're doing when it crashes (local backups, client backups, backup server script, etc) would probably be necessary for getting an answer.

 

After crashing, the retrorun process that auto-launches Retrospecct won't work until Retrospect has been manually launched. Sometimes it needs to be launched and quit, then launched and quit again, before it will work reliably.

 

Dave

[mick2up]

I am having the exact and very frustrating issues that are discussed in the "Serious crashing bug with Retro 5.0.238/OSX 10.2.3" thread I happened upon.

 

Is there any reliable information from DANTZ as to when a fix is due and what workarounds work. I have not had a back up on my workstations in days and this in NOT good. I agree the crash log won't be helpful.

 

Please post a reply as soon as possible and configuration is as follows:

 

I am running a VXA2 drive on a Mac OSX 10.2.6 using Retrospect 5.0.238...clients at 5.0.540. I have 3 OS X clients and one OS9 Clients. I run a backup server script in addition to a dailyi backup script. This will quit backing up at least 2 OSX clients i have witnessed. All machines have maxium ram (1+GB).

 

I am beyond desperate at this moment.

 

[jolshefsky]

I just started having a problem where Retrospect 5.0 Desktop on Macintosh OS X 10.2.6 Jaguar would start a backup, scan all the files, check the folder permissions, then crash, leaving behind only a Retrospect.crash.log file with debugging data. I started hunting around and found that the installer for 5.0.238 would NOT overwrite the application in /Applications/Retrospect 5.0. I checked the version using Get Info on the application file and found it was still 5.0.201.

 

I tried installing to a different directory then copying the Retrospect 5.0 folder into /Applications. I got past the point where the crash would occur, but haven't yet had a chance to check to make sure it finishes okay. The Get Info now reports 5.0.238.

 

Good luck if this helps at all. If I have further problems I'll hopefully be able to get back here and post more info.

 

[mick2up]

Thanks Jason,

 

I uninstalled the client on a suspect client, restarted, installed, rewrote the scripts at the server and it finally worked last night. What's bad is that I don't know the cause of this problem many are having. Dantz doesn't have much to say about it except that they're dedicated to correcting the problem, etc.

 

I appreciate the difficulty in writing and supporting a program like Retrospect but when there's a bug as big as this I think it should be a topic "on fire"...but then again...what do I know.

 

I am happy at the moment that I have finally a backup for the first time in a week.

[jolshefsky]

I think it might be simpler than Uninstall/Reboot/Reinstall ... I just told the 5.0.238 updater to install to some other directory (I made one called /Applications/Retrospect 5.0.238) which it did, then I copied the newly installed /Applications/Retrospect 5.0.238/Retrospect 5.0 directory right over the top of /Applications/Retrospect 5.0. I think it gave me some permissions grief so I "sudo rm -fr /Applications/Retrospect\ 5.0" the old directory away first.

 

I think the key is that the 5.0.238 updater says it completes just fine when you install to its default location of /Applications/Retrospect 5.0, but it actually doesn't update the application at all. I imagine that doing a clean install of Retrospect 5.0 and running the updater would not work either--the old version would never get updated.

[CallMeDave]

Quote:

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I imagine that doing a clean install of Retrospect 5.0 and running the updater would not work either--the old version would never get updated.

 

---

 

Although 5.0.238 updated the old 5.0.205 application bundle just fine for me, there have been various reports of issues with this (some reports indicated that the retrorun process _inside_ the application bundle was not updated while all the other components were).

 

The 5.0.238 Installer is not an updater, it is a full application installer that is supposed to be happy to work over an existing installation too. But if you want to be careful, just trash the old Retrospect application bundle, or the entire Retrospect 5.0 folder, before running the installer. All your settings, serial number, scripts, etc, are stored in /Library/Preferences/Retrospect/. They won't be lost by installing/re-installing/updating this way.

 

Dave