Program errors in RD 2015

[Meg Cicerello]

At my race this morning, I encountered several errors in Race Director. The errors were encountered whenever I tried to perform a menu command - ie: File>restore; or Update>participants; or Enter Results>Chip Results. Clicking "Cancel" would close the program. Clicking "Retry" would result in more errors.

Errors that I was able to replicate once I got home:

Program Error - 12 Program - FORM.DATAENVIRONMENT.OPENTABLES Line - 3 Variable 'MISC' is not found.
Program Error - 13 Program - FORM.DATAENVIRONMENT.CLOSETABLES Line - 1 Alias 'RELAY' is not found.
Program Error - 12 Program - FORM.DATAENVIRONMENT.CLOSETABLES Line - 2 Alias 'RELAY' is not found.
Program Error - 12 Program - FORM.DATAENVIRONMENT.CLOSETABLES Line - 3 Alias 'RELTNAME' is not found.
Program Error - 13 Program - FORM.DATAENVIRONMENT.CLOSETABLES Line - 36 Alias 'RACE' is not found.
Program Error - 13 Program - FORM.DATAENVIRONMENT.CLOSETABLES Line - 40 Alias 'RUNYEAR' is not found.
Program Error - 13 Program - FORM.DATAENVIRONMENT.CLOSETABLES Line - 41 Alias 'RELAY' is not found.
Program Error - 12 Program - FORM.DATAENVIRONMENT.CLOSETABLES Line - 43 Alias 'RELTSEQNO' is not found.
Program Error - 13 Program - FORM.DATAENVIRONMENT.CLOSETABLES Line - 44 Alias 'RACEFH' is not found.
There were more, but I didn't write them down.

Program Error - 12 Program - TAILORFORM.PARTINFO.NAFORMAT.CLICK Line - 17 Variable 'PARTFILE' is not found.
Program Error - 26 Program - PARTSYNC Line - 599 Table has no index order sent.

During the race I also got errors that another user was using the file when Race Director was closing down - but I was the only one in the race, and it was not set on Share Mode.

I uninstalled Race Director, reinstalled it and updated to the latest 2015 version. Similar errors happened.
Uninstalled again, deleted Winrace file. Reinstalled 2015. When I tried to update to the latest version, I received an error when updating:

Error 1310.Error writing to file: C:\Winrace\race.exe.
Verify that you have access to that directory.

Running Windows 7, no separate administrator profile set up. Same laptop I've been using for the past 2 race seasons without any changes. Used this laptop without making any changes and it worked just fine yesterday. I had to rebuild the race file on a different computer on site at the race.

Any suggestions of how to handle/fix?

[Alan Fielder]

So it worked on a different computer?

Nothing quite like the stress of not getting results on race day as everyone starts coming up and asking.

[Aaron Ford]

By chance did you try using the data recovery utility?

There are certain problems that un-installing/re-installing won't resolve. I usually suggest using that as a first approach.

-Aaron

[Meg Cicerello]

Yes, Alan, I eventually got results via a different computer, with a quickly built new race file, PC timer backup and a very understanding race staff! But it was still super stressful. Luckily the race director was able to do prize drawings and giveaways - and blamed the results delay on today's excessive heat - she was so good-natured about it, and the participants were really great too. I was lucky!

Aaron - what is the data recovery utility? I've never heard of it, and a cursory glance through the menu options in Race Director don't point it out to me directly.
Thank you!

[Aaron Ford]

There's a utility within the c:/winrace folder (it's called recover.exe) that helps to fix certain tables/files within Race Director. As one example: sometimes if you shut down Race Director incorrectly you can corrupt a table (which will give you an endless number of program errors).

For older users of Race Director- the good news is that you don't have to click the enter key 20 times!

Meghan, if you are still having issues I'd suggest trying this utility. If it doesn't solve your issue you can reach out to Matt or I (sup...@theracedirector.com) and we can see what's going on.

-Aaron