Author Topic: IFX is examining and cleaning your INI files...  (Read 7708 times)

Greg Pringle

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IFX is examining and cleaning your INI files...
« on: October 16, 2017, 03:03:05 pm »
After ArcaOS was installed on a fresh drive and running I had an archive of the desktop which had no problems.
Then I used the hard disk heavily and tried to reboot. There was an error about not being able to find the desktop.
On reboot it asked for a good desktop so I chose the archive. All seemed well. The next day IFX ran and all seemed well.
Then the trouble began. On subsequent boots I frequently have IFX run and then hang. Only a hard boot can get the system back.
It has to run a CHKDSK on reboot and there are no reported errors. After that the system might or might not shutdown correctly.
The IFX might run OK but has the hang very often.

What is going on?

Pete

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Re: IFX is examining and cleaning your INI files...
« Reply #1 on: October 16, 2017, 03:27:22 pm »
Hi Greg

Possibly corruption in the ini file(s).

Does the [BootDrive]:\sys\apps\ifx\ifx.log show anything of interest?

Try running

ifx /fvr

to see if ifx reports any errors.


Regards

Pete



Rich Walsh

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Re: IFX is examining and cleaning your INI files...
« Reply #2 on: October 16, 2017, 06:30:52 pm »
Greg, sorry to hear about the problems you're having. In the directory Pete mentioned ([BootDrive]:\sys\apps\ifx) you'll also find logs for the last 3 runs - ifx1.log, ifx2.log, ifx3.log. Could you post them? Including your config.sys might also be helpful.

Also, you may want to temporarily add the '/V' and '/F' switches to IFX's commandline in config.sys (e.g. "CALL=C:\sys\apps\ifx\ifx.exe /vf"). '/F' forces it to do a full check and clean (vs. just a check). '/V' will cause the same messages that end up in the log to be displayed as well. If it hangs, it will help to identify where. (Note: don't use '/R' in config.sys since that's the read-only flag. It's required when running from a booted system, but would prevent IFX from fixing anything if used in config.sys.)

Normally, if IFX finds an unrecoverable error, it will display a message and let you choose from 1 of 3 previous backups. Has this ever appeared? The only time I've ever experienced a hang was when I failed to respond to this prompt within 30 seconds or so. Just in case: if the informational messages stop scrolling by but no error message appears, try pressing '0' (number zero). This is what you'd press if the error prompt appeared and you chose to continue using the current set of INIs.

Greg Pringle

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Re: IFX is examining and cleaning your INI files...
« Reply #3 on: October 17, 2017, 11:53:01 pm »
Thanks for the info. I booted to maintenance and ran chkdsk on all the disks. Then I ran ifx /fv and save the log file. Then I did a normal boot. What I notice is that ifx checks 3 drive but there are actually many more. C D E F G H K U are on the system and working.

Here is the output from ifx /fv
IFX - Ini File eXaminer - v1.20
Copyright (C)2011-2016 Richard L Walsh

Info:  Startup: 2017/10/17  17:45:38
Info:  Last full run: 2017/10/17  17:29:41
Info:  IFX PID= 12  Parent PID= 10  PM loaded= No
Info:  IFX cmd  line is 'ifx /fv'
Info:  IFX work path is 'C:\SYS\APPS\IFX'
Info:  IFX NLS  file is 'IFX_EN.MSG'
Info:  found backups for generations 1 2 3
Info:  user   profile is 'C:\OS2\OS2.INI'
Info:  system profile is 'C:\OS2\OS2SYS.INI'
Info:  entering Try() using PM_Workplace:Handles0
Info:  blocks= 7  bytes= 422458
Info:  drives= 3  handles= 9274  total= 9277
Info:  duplicate handles= 0
Info:  linking drive 'C:'
Info:  linking drive 'D:'
Info:  linking drive 'F:'
Info:  orphaned handles= 0
Error: ifxRef::MarkDrive - Search failed for handle 275b used by object 0x913A
Error: ifxRef::MarkDrive - Search failed for handle 275b used by object 0x9FC9
Error: ifxRef::MarkDrive - Search failed for handle 275b used by object 0xA2C
Error: ifxRef::MarkDrive - Search failed for handle 887f used by object 0xE7D5
Info:  found WPAbstract references to:  C: D: F:
Info:  testing drive 'C:'
Info:  testing drive 'D:'
Info:  testing drive 'F:'
Info:  files with multiple handles= 0
Info:  Desktop handle 356F found using <WP_DESKTOP>
Info:  PM_Workplace:Location   - 333 handles with 0 invalid
Info:  PM_Abstract:FldrContent - 112 handles with 0 invalid
Info:  PM_Workplace:FolderPos  - 8013 handles with 1 invalid
Info:  valid drives= 3  valid handles= 9269  total= 9272
Info:  wrote 422253 bytes in 7 block to PM_Workplace:Handles0/1
Info:  exiting Try() - state= OK
Info:  exiting RunIni() - mStatus= OK
Info:  Shutdown: 2017/10/17  17:46:40

Pete

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Re: IFX is examining and cleaning your INI files...
« Reply #4 on: October 18, 2017, 05:26:34 pm »
Hi Greg

You can choose which drives get checked - open System Setup -> Ini Maintenance Options, click the Drives button and select drives to check.

Looking at the log this line may be a cause for concern
     Info:  PM_Workplace:FolderPos  - 8013 handles with 1 invalid


Do you have the WPTools package installed? if "Yes" then I suggest running Checkini against the ini files to see what that reports.

Another ini file tool that comes in handy is Cleanini which is best run after using Checkini - http://www.ca-arnold.de/download/cleanini55.zip


Regards

Pete


Rich Walsh

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Re: IFX is examining and cleaning your INI files...
« Reply #5 on: October 19, 2017, 07:23:19 am »
I booted to maintenance and ran chkdsk on all the disks. Then I ran ifx /fv and save the log file. Then I did a normal boot. What I notice is that ifx checks 3 drive but there are actually many more. C D E F G H K U are on the system and working.

This log was created while you were booted up on C: - is that your main system or the maintenance partition? The results are only meaningful if you were booted from the system that's having problems (each installation has its own set of INIs).

As to the drives listed... The system on your C: drive has references to files and directories on C:, D:, and F:. If you've never created a program object or shadow that refers to a file on, say, K:, or have never repositioned a folder window for a directory on K:, or renamed a file on K:, etc., etc., then you might not have any references to K: But... given that you have over 9000 handles for just 3 drives, that seems improbable.

Normally, I don't recommend CleanIni because it's far too aggressive, but in this case it may be called for. It will delete every handle which isn't being used by a program object or shadow. If you have 9000 handles now, you'll end up with fewer than 1000 when it's done. Overall, it's a lot safer for the non-technical user than XFix which can do irreparable harm if you're not up to speed on this stuff.

roberto

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Re: IFX is examining and cleaning your INI files...
« Reply #6 on: October 19, 2017, 08:46:50 am »
Hi Greg
I do not know if you can repair your inis with the ifx.
 My experiences with this program have never been satisfactory,
 unless I have recovered a previous copy of the 3 that it does by default.
What if I can tell you, is that if you create anything else to install the system, a new folder in desktop,
 you can call it as you want, Mydesktop. And you put all what you have on the Desktop,
inside that Mydesktop folder. The stability of the inis files increases greatly.
 In fact I do this in all the pcs I install.
From my experience, one of the programs that can easily spoil the inis,
 is the warpin when you tell it, that you recharge the work place shell.
Saludos

Greg Pringle

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Re: IFX is examining and cleaning your INI files...
« Reply #7 on: October 19, 2017, 12:31:55 pm »
Well, I am not exactly a "non-technical" user. I am a long time programmer and user of OS/2 since V 2.1
That said, I am also conservative on delving into parts of the OS that are not my area of expertise.
I have huge amounts of files of which most are programs I have written or things I am examining or porting.
Some drives are copies of other drives as back ups. Needles to say I think it is all important. So I appreciate the help if finding the problem and fixing it. I will look over the suggestions. Thanks all.

Note: My main area of programming is in data communications. I sometimes have large data sets of actual data for review. I could easily have 100K of handles if I am not careful.
« Last Edit: October 19, 2017, 12:37:06 pm by Greg Pringle »

roberto

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Re: IFX is examining and cleaning your INI files...
« Reply #8 on: October 19, 2017, 06:33:25 pm »
I do not know if you can repair your inis with the ifx.
It seems that my comment has been a misunderstanding.
I meant that my answer could not help you in your consultation. Because my answer is actually for before having the problems.
Keep in mind that I do not speak English, and I use a translator, that is why I often do not even answer some things because it is a major effort for me.
saludos

Greg Pringle

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Re: IFX is examining and cleaning your INI files...
« Reply #9 on: October 19, 2017, 10:27:27 pm »
Yes Roberto, I understood you were referring to how to avoid the problems in the first place.
I have reloaded drive C: from ArcaOS 5.0.1 and now things seem to be good.
IFX runs clean after setting up the desktop and I have made archives of the ini files that work.
The system had become very unstable and the fixes would not run so a reload was needed.

Now to hopefully not encounter the issue again.