Forums / Support / Possible Problem with latest XP Patch and Binary Boy? (Seems to be Zone Alarm)

Possible Problem with latest XP Patch and Binary Boy? (Seems to be Zone Alarm)

by ZebHead @
Okay,

So last night I set up Binary Boy (which is a GREAT program.. I've had the pro version for years now) to download some files. When I got up this morning, none of the files were there. The log said that they had been downloaded, but they didn't appear in my Attachments folder.

So, I started to do a bit of troubleshooting. I set a file with multiple parts to start downloading. Each part appeared in the Parts file, but when they were combined (and presumably moved into the Attachments folder), nothing happened.. the parts were just deleted as normal, but the file didn't appear in my attachments folder.

The next thing I did was to do a "properties" on my attachments folder. For some strange reason, the "Read Only" box was checked. I unchecked it, pressed apply and okay. Then I redid the properties, and the "Read Only" box was still checked. It turns out that all of my folders has this property going on!

It's unlikely I have a virus, since I have a router, run a firewall and virus program, etc.. So, I started to think if I installed anything on my computer recently, and yesterday I installed the latest Windows update.

I then contacted another of my friends who updates like I do ASAP, and he had the same thing happen. Oddly, if I do a dir /a:r from the command line, nothing is shown.. So, I think that whatever is happening is a weird bug in explorer.

So, here's my question in two parts:

1) Is anybody else getting this problem?

2) Would this have something to do with my problem with Binary Boy (just to be sure, I updated to the latest build, and it acts exactly the same)

Thanks!
Zeb
 

Stoner's reply to ZebHead #718 @

Hey Zeb:

I'm running WinXP Pro with BB Version 1.94 Build 254 - no problems here. I'll install Build 264 tonight, just for fun.

I don't think the Read-only box on the Properties page is your problem. The default behavior for folders created on my machine shows the Read-only box as solid green. You can click it to clear it, or click it again to actually put a check mark in it. Either way, it always reverts back to the solid green box, and is never actually marked as read-only (you can verity this with "ATTRIB <foldername>" from the command prompt.) I'm not sure if it's always been that way, but I'd bet on it, because these are NTFS permissions, and changes there would necessitate a new version of NTFS.

If you're sure the drive, path, and folder exists that you've told BB to use, try navitigating there and creating a simple text file. If that works, BB shouldn't have any problems putting stuff there (assuming you're running it from the same user account), and you may want to search your drive(s) for the file in question to see if it's getting put somewhere else.

If you can't create a file, you'd probably want to delete and recreate the folder. It wouldn't hurt to run a checkdisk as well (Start | My Computer | r-click on the drive | Properties | Tools Tab | click Check Now | check both boxes | Start.) If there's open files on the drive (like your system drive), you'll be asked if you want to perform the check on the next reboot - say yes.

One final thought - if the file contained a virus, your antivirus software may have gobbled it up.
 

BinaryBoy's reply to Stoner #719 @

Someone else is reporting a similar problem. In your errorlog.txt file do you see an error that begins "yEncDecode failed to find attachment in"?

When you created a log, did you use the -declog switch? If not, you could do that to log the decoding activity. That might be where the error is if it's Binary Boy causing the problem.

In your attachments folder, do you have approximately 2000 files? If so, you'll be getting close to the Windows limit on the amount of filename space per folder. If that's the problem, there will be errors in errorlog.txt for each file. To avoid the problem you can enable the "Create subfolders for newsgroups" option in the Advanced section of the group list editor.
 

BinaryBoy's reply to BinaryBoy #721 @

Several people are now reporting this problem. Which ISP are you using (not news server)?
 

BinaryBoy's reply to BinaryBoy #722 @

I'm 90% certain the data is being corrupted after the file leaves the server and before it reaches Binary Boy.

Can you give me more info on your setup? I'm looking for a common thread. Which firewall are you using? Are you using a router? Which anti-virus software? Are you using any other software that monitors internet activity?

If you run the latest build, feel free to send me log.txt. It will automatically log a line from each yEnc article as it's being downloaded.
 

ZebHead's reply to BinaryBoy #723 @

I thought I posted a reply, but guess I didn't see it posted.

Here's the result of my first bit. I turned on declog, and got that same error ("yEncDecode failed to find attachment in"). Now here's the weird part. Some items would come through, and some would not. For example, I could get jpg's, mpg's, zip's.. but I could not get parity files or rar's.

Okay, now to answer your questions:

1) I use earthlink.

2) I have a Linksys router. I can't get the number right now, but it's an older, 802.11b wifi one. I'm connecting to it through the wired portion.

3) I'm using zone alarm for a firewall and AVG for antivirus...

And now that I think about it, I had recently upgraded Zone Alarm, so I did a test on this.

The latest Zone Alarm seems to be the problem (5.1.011.000). When it is running, the files won't join.. but if you turn it off it seems to work fine.

Hope this helps.
 

BinaryBoy's reply to ZebHead #724 @

Thanks for the info. I'll ask the others about Zone Alarm.
 

ZebHead's reply to BinaryBoy #725 @

One last word on this. It totally seems to be Zone Alarm. I've disabled it, and Binary Boy is operating just perfectly. My last post was just some initial tests of small files. Now with larger files, it's working great!

Thanks!
Zeb

P.S. Thanks for the great software. Binary Boy is great, and it just keeps getting better!
 

Mac's reply to ZebHead #759 @

Hello,

I read the posts since I have bee having this problem recently. I did upgrade my ZA not that long ago. I also installed an Adware killer (SpyBot). I am able to download somethings and not others. I have used Bboy for a few years.

I shut down Zone Alarm and downloaded a couple of things. It went okay. I restarted my box, shut down ZA and kicked off Bboy. I sat it up to download some stuff last night. I got up this morning, checked MS Explorer - nothing. I checked the log. It said everything was downloaded OK. I checked the Parts folder. Nothing.

Something is flaky here.

???
 

BinaryBoy's reply to Mac #760 @

Were you trying to download .exe files? If so, you'll need to disable or modify the Filename Filter on the Search Strings tab in the settings.
 

Mac's reply to BinaryBoy #761 @

Not .exe files although I do run the product with the default settings. I did defrag the hard drive. I have 13gig free. I also did a master reset and made sure the Parts folder was clean. I ran SpyBot and that came back clean. I have had problems only very recently.

The files are "yEnc" but I thought if I killed ZA I could still download them?
 

BinaryBoy's reply to Mac #762 @

Yes, shutting down ZA eliminates the yEnc corruption but this sounds like something different.

Do any files appear at least temporarily in the Parts folder?

Are you able to repeat the problem with a specific file? If so, try running Binary Boy with the log enabled. From the Start | Run window type binboy.exe -log Then right-click on the file and click "Force Download" log.txt should show if anything unusual happened. You can send me log.txt from the Binary Boy program folder if you'd like me to take a look. support at binaryboy dot com.
 

Mac's reply to BinaryBoy #763 @

I will do that.

The files appear in the parts folder. I watch the folder get populated during the download. Then, when they are decoded, the file is never written to the regular folder. I don't usually use logging. I did turn it on and it worked as I figured.

I will do a test now and send along the log.

LMc
 

BinaryBoy's reply to Mac #764 @

In that case, add the -declog switch too since it seems the problem is related to decoding.
 

Kraxxis's reply to ZebHead #766 @

I am having the same issue. The temp file is saved and the system thinks that the move to the final location is occurring.

I am having this problem and I know the following:

Not ISP
Have switched from Starband to Sprint (Earthlink) DSL, still happens

Not Norton Antivirus
Occurrs when NAV is operational and disabled

Not News Server
Have tried Easynews, Giganews, Starband supplied news servers.

Not Zone Alarm
Not running it

I have patched BB to the most recent level.
Am on XP PRo SP1.

I can see the temp files get created and then disappear as they get processed. The logs report that the transfer has happened OK.

Would really like to get this resolved.

Regards,
Kraxxis
 

BinaryBoy's reply to Kraxxis #767 @

I think only a log file can solve this. You can send one if you like. To create a log, go to the Windows Start | Run window and type binboy.exe -log -declog Then right-click a file and click Force Download log.txt in c:\program files\binary boy\ should show whether anything unusual happened. Send to support at binaryboy dot com
 

splitz's reply to BinaryBoy #777 @

I've been using Binary Boy for over a year now and it's been great up until a few days ago. This same thing happened to me. Most of what I would queue up would be deleted upon decode and only few random things would show up in my attachments. I tried disabling zonealarm and the problem still persisted. I suddenly realized that my attachments folder contained about 38 GB of data, which is about half of my HD size. Once I moved and burned a few GB of it, rars and pars started decoding normally.

Hope this helps..
 

tigershere@starband.net's reply to splitz #786 @

Sep 19, 2004 12:39:45: UUForceDecode(): %T UUForceDecode: Could not find a valid uuencoded line in the source file

I get that in the log when it's combining
I had not use BB since i got SP2
I also got Nortons 2005 AntiV

It seems to have the right parts but when it combines and moves to main that file is either 1 k or 0k
It did do one quick test correct but the others just fail

weird as I never had a problem like this before

I have 14 gig of free space on this drive where i store files and 2 gig on the C drive. But, these were the same when I got 2 full CD-Rs worth of parts and combines a month ago. I cleaned up that old data and never used it since.

oh and also just tried it on a jpg and it made a 0 k file.

I also booted to a second Windows XP that does NOT have SP2 nor nortons running. I had it do the combine all files and it did the same thing. Mostly 'junk'
Could it have download all of these corrupt ? It never had in the past done this and if it did I would see the size was off. Looks perfect to me.

Maybe I can forward one of the BBT files or something to see IF they are in fact 'ok'
Now it's whacky on me

Any idea ?

Tiger
 

BinaryBoy's reply to tigershere@starband.net #787 @

You're welcome to send the BBT. Send the first part only unless the total of all files is under a MB. Otherwise it might bounce. Send to support at binaryboy dot com
 

tigershere@starband.net's reply to BinaryBoy #788 @

I sent just the first one as I can't upload worth a hoot on satellite, dloads are great/ok but ups stink

If ya need each one I can send but this ought to help

on the way now from email tigershere@starband.net
 

tigershere@starband.net's reply to BinaryBoy #790 @

awwwww thanks a lot
lol, i went back to ZA just because of Windows causing my satellite to not get the mission control 'online'
I could suspend the PC and come right outof it and it would go 'green'
Finally I said screw it and watch for the SP2.5 or whatever the patch is going to be for all of the SP2 reported problems.

Thanks a lot and I am up and going.
Also just discovered a explorer.exe crash i would get from time to time trying to play a movie
I reinstalled the klite codecs for xvid.dll and the avi plays
I hope that solved that crash.

Again, great work and thanks for the very fast help
I was down for that Hurricane and I could have probably looked and found the answer but I am so busy trying to work and catch up on 3 days being with no power.
Still need a yard cleaned and 2 holes in my roof fixed, lol
 

BinaryBoy's reply to tigershere@starband.net #791 @

Great! Good luck. Looks like you might have another hurricane coming.
 

tigershere@starband.net's reply to BinaryBoy #792 @

don't even say that, lol
i see it on TV. Where I live it was 25 years ago we had something close to this
This was worse as far as wind damage. Rain didn't do much here but it's been bad in so many other places
Thanks again and off to download another show I missed because of the lack of Power

Tiger