I have to close and reopen the program and that doesn’t help for long, if at all. Does RM10 fix this? Does anything fix this?
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What are you doing right before the argument out of range or access violations happen? Are you synching to a cloud service? Dual Monitors? Windows or Mac?
Need more info please
My main database lives on DropBox. Dual monitors. Win 10. Doesn’t seem to be any pattern to when it happens. Sometimes no problem for hours, sometimes every few minutes.
“living in” cloud such DropBox could your issue – RM officially does NOT recommend any sort of cloud storage. I use OneDrive but it does not sync when in use and the file is also local.
I assumed your RM9 is version 9.1.6.0–what version of Windows are you using? If this just started and you’ve had RM 9 for a while with no or few problems, what has changed lately?
This link from Jerry explains more abt DropBox
As to Access Violations and Argument out of range - there are different ones that happen in RM9 and RM8 which is why I was asking abt what you were doing --some take a while to happen such as using the arrows next to a person name and or moving up and down the index–clicking on names–usually happens between 650-1000 clicks-- others happen very quickly such as when you go to descendant view and click on the up arrow to go to the father of the person-- usually happens within 8 clicks.
Besides pausing DropBox, I would run all the tools-- then even reboot the computer- this won’t stop it BUT MIGHT slow it down for a while-- might also try just one monitor BUT don’t remember any errors in RM 9 due to dual monitors…
If you can’t tell us what you are doing , then use the search box above and do a search for Access Violations and Argument out of range-- read thru them and see if any sound like your situation-- if so read the whole thread to see if there is a work around listed…
As for does RM 10 fix this? NOT sure-- there are NOT as many Access Violations and Argument out of range reported on here with RM 10 BUT ???
Because your main database lives in DropBox, it’s pretty essential that you pause Dropbox while you are using RM and that you resume Dropbox after exiting RM.
The folks at RM recommend that you not have your database in Dropbox at all. There are often users who report having their RM database in Dropbox without ever having had a problem. That’s sort of like driving a car with bad brakes and bald tires and no seatbelts and thinking you are safe. You may not have ever had a problem, but it’s still very dangerous.
I’m ok with the use of Dropbox for your RM database as long as you do the pause/resume thing, even though the RM folks recommend against it. Without the pause/resume thing, I think the use of Dropbox for your RM database is extremely dangerous. And it’s not just Dropbox. It’s also OneDrive and Google Drive and IDrive, etc. that have the problem. I’m a Windows user rather than a Mac user, and Mac users will sometimes post that Time Machine and iCloud don’t have the same problem as Dropbox and OneDrive. But you can find numerous articles online about problems with SQLite databases when they are used with Time Machine and iCloud, and RM’s database is an SQLite database. I don’t know anything about pausing and resuming Time Machine and iCloud.
There are also backup and syncing solutions that involve local networks in your house rather than using some sort of cloud service. Having the network in your house doesn’t solve the problem that your RM database is not safe if you have it backed up continuously as you use it.
The truly safest approach is to have your RM database stored somewhere that is never backed up automatically, even on a Mac. Then backup your RM database every time you exit, and store your RM backup files somewhere that actually is backed up automatically. Your RM backup files are safe in Dropbox etc. including Time Machine and iCloud on a Mac. This is not the approach I use because I use the pause/resume approach instead. But it’s the approach that’s recommended by the RM folks.
It seems to me that the various argument out of range and access violations have gotten much less frequent going from RM8 to RM9 to RM10, but nothing has totally fixed them. If you have them in RM9, you probably will still have them in RM10, although the frequency might (or might not) be somewhat reduced. I doubt that they are one single error that if fixed would solve all the problems. I think it’s a good idea to go to RM10 because it has a lot of new features, but there shouldn’t be an expectation that RM10 will fix all your argument out of range errors and access violation errors.
There have been reports that the use of dual monitors on a Mac aggravates the problem, but you report using dual monitors on Windows. Another problem that regularly used to create problems for me was the use of the chevrons in Descendant View to change generations. I tried it just now, and instead of crashing the use of the chevrons just put garbage on the screen. So there are still problems with those chevrons.
Overall, the problems seem to affect some users rather a lot and other users very little. I do not know why. For example, I seldom get the errors anymore. I do not know why not. But if I have long RM sessions I often get a 217 error as I am shutting RM down. It’s not repeatable. None of these errors seem to be repeatable. Because the problems are not repeatable and because the problems do not seem to affect all users equally, it has been very difficult for the developers to identify the cause of the problems and to fix them.
Thank you for this information! I’ll certainly try the pausing DropBox and backing up upon exit strategy. Having my data available from where ever I am is a great convenience for me, so it’s worth a try. So far I am not aware of any data loss or corruption related to the error messages. Are there risks to the data that I’m unaware of?
If you go the pause Dropbox and resume route, the risk it that you will forget to do the pause and resume.
Good point! Are there risks to the data associated with the error messages themselves? I have just been ignoring them, mostly.
I don’t know that anybody has ever reported data loss because of the error messages. I certainly have not, but I am a sample size of one.
If ever I get one of those error messages, I immediately shutdown RM. Then I start up RM and the first thing I do after that is to run all four of the FIles > Tools > Database Tools.
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You’re at greater risk of database corruption with having edited live inside of Dropbox. It’s hard to say if errors you received are an indication. You should run all the database tools once you have the database out of Dropbox.
Of all the errors reported on here, I do NOT remember anyone saying they lost any info–I have never lost any BUT it is wise to check that the last thing you entered is still there…
I have had the argument out of range problem in RM9 and RM10. Much less in RM10. All of my data is saved on my computer, nothing external to interfere. It randomly initiates when I click on a person, either in the Index list, or in a family view. Once it does it, it will continue with every person I click on until I reboot program.
Check the FILENAMES in MEDIA. Probably some special charachters creating the intermittent issue.
Can you provide a special character that generates a problem- beyond those explicitly disallowed by the file system?
I’d love to be able to see this for myself.
Also specify MacOS or Windows, thanks.
Richard
The manner in which I find the issues is using Excel with a list of filenames and a formula in the adjacent column:
=SUMPRODUCT(–ISNUMBER(SEARCH({“!”,“#”,“$”,“%”,“(”,“)”,“^”,“,”," “,”…“,”@“,”[“,”]“,”{“,”}"},A2)))>0
Above is a list of Special Characters, such as # or ? or double spaces or a space at the end of the filename.
Good Luck
Rich
First- Mac or Windows.
Are you suggesting that any of those characters will cause a problem?
Yes, my experience shows any of the special characters cause issues. My exppierence is with Mac operating system. I just Publish Multimedia list, save to Excel, and use the formula pppreviously sent. Then sort by the TRUE or FALSE result and cleanup the filenames. Hope this helps you!