HotSync AppCrash on HanDBase Conduit

[Scramble!]

Hello,

My HanDBase HotSync conduit recently stopped working properly after several years of trouble-free operation, including several version upgrades and a change in laptop over the years. I normally use HanDBase as a logbook to record my flight time as a commercial pilot (along with a few other minor dbs like software registration info, etc.), so essentially all of the db input is on the Palm. The HanDBase app on the Palm, including data input via a form I created, still works fine.

Whenever I HotSync with my PC, with all conduits EXCEPT the HanDBase conduit selected, the Hotsync completes successfully. However, whenever I Hotsync now with all conduits INCLUDING the HanDBase conduit, or if I HotSync with ONLY the HanDBase conduit selected, the HotSync will freeze when it gets to the HanDBase conduit. The Synchronizing HanDBase databases dialog box does appear, saying it's synchronizing my flight log, then another db, and then Windows pops up a dialog box saying the HotSync application has crashed. The Palm eventually gives up and says "The connection between your handheld computer and the desktop was lost. Some of your data was NOT backed up. Please check your setup and try again."

When I restart Hotsync Manager, it says the HotSync Manager has recovered from a crash, and the HotSync log says:

HotSync session aborted
- HotSync session started on 09/27/10 08:49:46
+ - HanDBase 4 synchronization aborted
- Duration:

That, of course, is not very helpful. The AppCrash error from Windows says:

Problem signature:
Problem Event Name: APPCRASH
Application Name: Hotsync.exe
Application Version: 7.0.2.0
Application Timestamp: 477d91d1
Fault Module Name: HanDBase.dll
Fault Module Version: 4.0.0.0
Fault Module Timestamp: 478b6edb
Exception Code: c0000005
Exception Offset: 0001f69c
OS Version: 6.0.6002.2.2.0.256.6
Locale ID: 1033
Additional Information 1: 8a68
Additional Information 2: ae4f11903cd3b9d7004dcb9fd7edac8c
Additional Information 3: 37bf
Additional Information 4: 760f04af79016fe198aa5e78b041256c

In my conduit settings for HanDBase, I have Verbose log messages checked, but I cannot find the log anywhere (and the button that the developers should have put there, "Open Log Folder" was apparently left out of their task list!).

I normally sync this Palm with both my laptop and my desktop, and the same error occurs on both PC's, so I suspected the problem might reside in the Palm databases. Of course, if that is the case, then there is a conduit bug, as corrupt data should NEVER cause an application to crash. However, I tried opening each of my six or so databases on both the Palm and the desktop, and they all opened fine on both platforms except for one db, a list of hotels in the city where I'm based, which opened fine on the Palm but appeared blank on the desktop.

Since that seemed to indicate there might be a desktop db problem, and since essentially all of my data entry is done on the Palm, I changed the HotSync settings to Handheld overwrites Desktop and tried to sync again (HanDBase conduit only). This time, the HotSync got as far as "Synchronizing HanDBase 4" on the HotSync Manager, but the HanDBase conduit dialog box never opened and nothing more happened. I finally canceled the HotSync after about 30 minutes. Although, both the Palm and HotSync Manager said "Canceling - Please wait", they never actually canceled until I disconnected the HotSync cable (the then eventually Palm gave the "lost connection" error message) and used Task Manager to kill Hotsync.exe (which never otherwise would never have quit, even after the "1 minute" it says it will take).

Anyway, I'd appreciate any suggestions on how to possibly fix this without losing my data. Here's the configuration information for my systems:

Handheld:
Sprint Palm Treo 755p running Treo755p-1.08-SPNT firmware and PalmOS Garnet 5.4.9
HanDBase Professional 4.1.6

Laptop:
Windows Vista SP1
Sony VAIO VGN-TX270N
Palm HotSync Manager 7.0.2

Desktop:
Windows XP SP3
Dell Dimension 4550
Palm HotSync Manager 7.0.2

Dan Bloemer
Jacksonville, Florida

[dhaupert]

Hi Dan,

Thanks for the detailed post and sorry to hear about the hotsync crash. This likely means there is a corrupt database on either the palm side or the desktop side. There is a great way to narrow things down to determine where it is. Unfortunately the Hotsync log is only written after the sync completes so when a crash happens it's generally empty of useful info!

This Knowledgebase article goes over the process of setting up debug logging which is a slow but more detailed set of log messages.
http://www.ddhsoftware.com/knowledgebas ... d=360&UID=

Feel free to post your log here or email it to support for further help with this!

[Scramble!]

Dave,

Thanks for the info on the debug log. That captured quite a bit of information. There are some errors in the log, but nothing that stands out to me as causing a fatal error.

Note that, while the Knowledgebase article says this about the log file location:

*****************
If you have the most current version of HanDBase this log will be in the following location, where WINDOWSUSERNAME is your actual Windows User Name that you log on with or what you see on your Start Menu:

Windows Vista and Windows 7
C:\Users\WINDOWSUSERNAME\AppData\Roaming\HanDBase4\

Older versions of Windows, eg XP
C:\Documents and Settings\WINDOWSUSERNAME\Local Settings\Application Data\HanDBase4\

If you have an older version of HanDBase or can't find the file in that location for some reason please do a search of your hard drive for hdbdbg.log.
******************
In reality, I finally found my log in a location similar to that described in the dialog box that opens when you run debug40.exe, but not exactly, and very different from the location described in the article section that is pasted above. The dialog box says the log will be found where HanDBase is installed, likely c:\Program Files\HanDBase4. In reality, it was placed on my Windows Vista machine in c:\Program Data\HanDBase4. You might want to update the Knowledgebase article. Likewise, there is still the problem that I don't know where to look for the standard, ordinary HanDBase HotSync log.

Anyway, here are the results of the attempted HotSync. I deselected all conduits except for the four basic PIM db's and HanDBase, and the four standard synced fine, and then the HanDBase conduit started, and after a few minutes Vista showed the AppCrash dialog box. The log is pasted below, as the Forum software would not allow me to upload an attachment with either log or txt as the file extension. Looking forward to any suggestions you have!

Dan Bloemer
Jacksonville, Florida

My log:
*************************
HanDBase Debug logging is enabled. Use 'hdbdbg.exe' to disable debug logging
2010-10-04 17-35-22: Init. user=Dan Bloemer, path=C:\Users\Dan\Documents\Palm OS Desktop\BloemeD\HanDBase\
2010-10-04 17-35-22: call to SetSyncInfo
2010-10-04 17-35-22: SyncRegisterConduit
2010-10-04 17-35-22: call to DemoExpired
2010-10-04 17-35-22: DemoExpired
2010-10-04 17-35-22: Sync
2010-10-04 17-35-22: CheckHanDBaseVersion
2010-10-04 17-35-22: PerformBeforeActions
2010-10-04 17-35-22: Slow30Sync
2010-10-04 17-35-22: ProcessInstallFiles
2010-10-04 17-35-22: SyncDBList::Init
2010-10-04 17-35-22: SyncDBList::new db FlightLog1.3, card no: 224
2010-10-04 17-35-22: SyncDBList::new db CLT Hotels, card no: 224
2010-10-04 17-35-22: SyncDBList::new db Registrations, card no: 224
2010-10-04 17-35-22: SyncDBList::new db Tab Example, card no: 224
2010-10-04 17-35-22: SyncDBList::new db DateTime Test, card no: 224
2010-10-04 17-35-22: SyncDBList::new db Relate, card no: 224
2010-10-04 17-35-22: SyncDBList::new db RelateLinked, card no: 224
2010-10-04 17-35-22: SyncDBList::Init, no more found
2010-10-04 17-35-22: SyncDBList::number of volumes: 1
2010-10-04 17-35-24: SlowSyncDB: new FlightLog1.3
2010-10-04 17-35-24: SlowSyncDB: Checking sync_db
2010-10-04 17-35-24: SlowSyncDB: about to call GetDefaultDesktopFile
2010-10-04 17-35-24: MakePDBFilename. basename=FlightLog1.3
2010-10-04 17-35-24: SlowSyncDB: done calling GetDefaultDesktopFile
2010-10-04 17-35-24: SlowSyncDB: about to call GetDeviceID
2010-10-04 17-35-24: SlowSyncDB: about to call GetDBID
2010-10-04 17-35-24: SlowSyncDB: returned from GetDBID
2010-10-04 17-35-24: SlowSyncDB: file exists: yes
2010-10-04 17-35-24: Checking for sync optimization. device = 'Dan Bloemer', file='C:\Users\Dan\Documents\Palm OS Desktop\BloemeD\HanDBase\FlightLog1_3.PDB', db_id='FlightLog1.3'
2010-10-04 17-35-24: Sync optimization failed.
2010-10-04 17-35-24: desktop mod time: 1285960944, desktop database mod time (0=none): 1284561577
2010-10-04 17-35-24: handheld mod time: 1286198382, handheld database mod time (0=none): 1284547189
2010-10-04 17-35-24: PerformAction. filename=C:\Users\Dan\Documents\Palm OS Desktop\BloemeD\HanDBase\FlightLog1_3.PDB. hh_name=FlightLog1.3
2010-10-04 17-35-24: SlowSyncDB: about to call OpenFile
2010-10-04 17-35-24: PBDLIB: ReadPopups
2010-10-04 17-35-24: PDBLIB: ReadDeletedRecords
2010-10-04 17-35-24: PDBLIB: ReadRecords( RecordIO)
2010-10-04 17-35-24: PDBLIB: Done ReadRecords
2010-10-04 17-35-24: PDBLIB: HandleRowHeader
2010-10-04 17-35-24: PDBLIB: Done ReadFile
2010-10-04 17-35-24: PDBLIB: ReCheckFlags
2010-10-04 17-35-24: PDBLIB: ReCheckFlags, CreateFilterTable
2010-10-04 17-35-24: PDBLIB: ReCheckFlags, CreateFilterTableDone
2010-10-04 17-35-24: PDBLIB: ReCheckFlags done
2010-10-04 17-35-24: PDBLIB: BuildUIDMap
2010-10-04 17-35-24: PDBLIB: done BuildUIDMap
2010-10-04 17-35-24: SlowSyncDB: done calling OpenFile
2010-10-04 17-35-24: SlowSyncDB: about to call OpenDatabase
2010-10-04 17-35-24: SlowSyncDB: about to call GetBackupDatabase
2010-10-04 17-35-24: SlowSyncDB: about to call ReadIntoPDB
2010-10-04 17-35-24: SyncPDBPalm: about to call ReadIntoPDB
2010-10-04 17-35-24: CopyHHtoPDB
2010-10-04 17-35-24: CopyHHtoPDB: About to read device pdb file: FlightLog1.3
2010-10-04 17-35-24: PBDLIB: ReadPopups
2010-10-04 17-35-25: PDBLIB: ReadDeletedRecords
2010-10-04 17-35-25: PDBLIB: ReadRecords( RecordIO)
2010-10-04 17-35-36: PDBLIB: Done ReadRecords
2010-10-04 17-35-36: PDBLIB: HandleRowHeader
2010-10-04 17-35-37: AddSyncedDB. db_name=FlightLog1.3
2010-10-04 17-35-37: BackupPDB. filename=C:\Users\Dan\Documents\Palm OS Desktop\BloemeD\HanDBase\FlightLog1_3.PDB
2010-10-04 17-35-37: About to call MultiSync for C:\Users\Dan\Documents\Palm OS Desktop\BloemeD\HanDBase\FlightLog1_3.PDB
2010-10-04 17-35-37: SetPDBModDate. db_name=FlightLog1.3
2010-10-04 17-35-37: SavePDBtoDevice
2010-10-04 17-35-37: SavePDBToDevice: name: FlightLog1.3, creator: 1214344772, version: 1145132097
2010-10-04 17-35-37: SavePDBtoDevice: about to call SyncCreateDB: FlightLog1.3
2010-10-04 17-35-37: Found database: db info: name: FlightLog1.3, creator: 1214344772, type: 1145132097, flags: 8, misc. flags: 64, card num: 224
2010-10-04 17-35-39: SavePDBtoDevice: about to save pdb records: FlightLog1.3
2010-10-04 17-36-01: PerformAction. filename=C:\Users\Dan\Documents\Palm OS Desktop\BloemeD\HanDBase\FlightLog1_3.PDB. hh_name=FlightLog1.3
2010-10-04 17-36-01: AddSyncedDB. db_name=FlightLog1.3
2010-10-04 17-36-01: SlowSyncDB: new CLT Hotels
2010-10-04 17-36-01: SlowSyncDB: Checking sync_db
2010-10-04 17-36-01: SlowSyncDB: about to call GetDefaultDesktopFile
2010-10-04 17-36-01: MakePDBFilename. basename=CLT Hotels
2010-10-04 17-36-01: SlowSyncDB: done calling GetDefaultDesktopFile
2010-10-04 17-36-01: SlowSyncDB: about to call GetDeviceID
2010-10-04 17-36-01: SlowSyncDB: about to call GetDBID
2010-10-04 17-36-01: SlowSyncDB: returned from GetDBID
2010-10-04 17-36-01: SlowSyncDB: file exists: yes
2010-10-04 17-36-01: Checking for sync optimization. device = 'Dan Bloemer', file='C:\Users\Dan\Documents\Palm OS Desktop\BloemeD\HanDBase\CLT_Hotels.PDB', db_id='CLT Hotels'
2010-10-04 17-36-01: Sync optimization failed.
2010-10-04 17-36-01: desktop mod time: 1285961659, desktop database mod time (0=none): 1284331357
2010-10-04 17-36-01: handheld mod time: 1284975892, handheld database mod time (0=none): 1284316956
2010-10-04 17-36-01: PerformAction. filename=C:\Users\Dan\Documents\Palm OS Desktop\BloemeD\HanDBase\CLT_Hotels.PDB. hh_name=CLT Hotels
2010-10-04 17-36-01: SlowSyncDB: about to call OpenFile
2010-10-04 17-36-01: PBDLIB: ReadPopups
****************

[Scramble!]

Hello, Dave? Did you see my previous post with the debug log info? Any suggestions? My HanDBase HotSync still does not work...

Dan

[dhaupert]

Hi Dan,

So sorry, your reply didn't hit my radar and I completely missed it! In your log the crash won't be a log entry since the app is crashed, it can't actually write a log entry at that point. So we look for the last things it did before the crash. in this case:

PerformAction. filename=C:\Users\Dan\Documents\Palm OS Desktop\BloemeD\HanDBase\CLT_Hotels.PDB. hh_name=CLT Hotels
2010-10-04 17-36-01: SlowSyncDB: about to call OpenFile
2010-10-04 17-36-01: PBDLIB: ReadPopups

So it was opening the file CLT Hotels on the desktop copy in that path and it crashed reading the popup list. This happens generally if the file is corrupt. What I'd suggest trying is this:

go to the folder:
C:\Users\Dan\Documents\Palm OS Desktop\BloemeD\HanDBase
and delete or rename the file CLT_Hotels.PDB.

Try your sync again and see if the sync finishes. If it does, you should have a new copy of the CLT Hotels database in that location again.

Let me know what you find!

[Scramble!]

Dave,

Finally, the problem is fixed! Your suggestions were not sufficient, but gave me enough info to solve the problem. It seems that the file on the desktop had gotten corrupted, but the handheld file must have been corrupted as well. Here's what I did:

1. Per your suggestion, renamed CLT_Hotels.PDB in my c:\Users\Dan\Document\Palm OS Desktop\Handbase folder to CLT_Hotels.PDB.bad (answering Ok to the warning message about changing file extensions).
2. Tried a HotSync with only the HanDBase conduit selected. It crashed as usual.
3. Realizing that the CLT Hotels database is probably the culprit, I deleted the CLT Hotels db on my handheld using the outstanding Filez program (which should have been included as part of the standard software on every PalmOS device). Note that I have another backup of the file (in addition to the ones kept by HanDBase on my desktop in the c:\Users\Dan\Document\Palm OS Desktop\Handbase\Backup folder) thanks to the BackupMan program that runs every morning, backing up my internal device files to my miniSD card.
4. Just for curiosity, renamed the CLT_Hotels.PDB.bad file on the desktop and tried to open it in the HanDBase Desktop application. Although the application started normally, as soon as I tried to open the file, I received a warning dialog box, "Could not read file field for list view. [Ok]" Well, I could click [Ok] all day long, but every time I did, the dialog box reappeared. Finally had to force-close HanDBase Desktop using Task Manager.
5. Noted that every backup of CLT_Hotels.PDB on my desktop (both those from the Desktop and from the Handheld) all were 46kb except for the most recent Desktop one. Copied and renamed the preceding Desktop version into the HanDBase folder, opened it in HanDBase Desktop (it opened fine), and selected File/Install to Handheld/Smartphone, selected my username for the install, and then closed it and HotSynced.
6. Hot diggity, it worked! That database is now available both on the desktop and the Treo, and the HanDBase HotSync works fine.

Thanks for all of your help. Note that, based on the problem I had in step 4 above, there is still a minor problem with HanDBase Desktop where a corrupted db can essentially lock up the desktop application, which probably should never happen. I tried to attach the corrupted db in case you'd like to look inside it and see what specifically is wrong, to enhance the Desktop program's error handling capability. However, this Forum refuses to allow the PDB file extension. At any rate, I think I'm back in operation again. Have a wonderful day, and thanks for creating this very useful application!

Dan

[hgffg]

Problem signature:
Problem Event Name: APPCRASH
Application Name: Hotsync.exe
Application Version: 7.0.2.0
Application Timestamp: 477d91d1
Fault Module Name: HanDBase.dll

[Brian_Houghton]

Problem signature:
Problem Event Name: APPCRASH
Application Name: Hotsync.exe
Application Version: 7.0.2.0
Application Timestamp: 477d91d1
Fault Module Name: HanDBase.dll

Hello,

I'm afraid we need more information:

1. What version of Windows is your computer running?
2. Post the Hot Sync log in your reply so we can review it for errors.