Exception Occured - Bug Report

I have received this error twice now when the lists were updating. Both times it occurred after I had checked a list I had unchecked in the list manager and PB started auto-updating the pertinent lists. I am running the beta on XP OS. Attached is a screen shot of the error message and PB windows open at the time. The second shot is the error that came up after I clicked ok on the first one, and the third shot is the one that came after the second (I am sure you get the idea). As a note, the program continued to run after the errors. It generated the list cache and continued as if nothing had happened. Let me know if you need any other info.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/08/2010 06:07PM by Joe_Omega.

Heya Joe_Omega.

May I also request an additional .log and .conf file?

You may ask for anything you want...you'll just have to tell me how to export it for you (bit of a n00b at my own admission). Is it just in the program file or do I have to retrieve it some other way?

Alright.

In your folder, where you installed PeerBlock, there should be peerblock.log (text file) and peerblock.conf (configuration file). By default PeerBlock should be installed in C:\Program Files\PeerBlock folder. You can just attach those two .log and .conf files and then post it here.

Here are the files. Let me know if you need anything else.

Also, I noticed something else that it does with these error-ed updates: it ALWAYS tries to update the default P2P list, even if I have it unchecked in the manager and have updated it that day (in thise case, less than an hour ago). If this is unrelated I will post it in a new thread, but I thought it might be related.


Note: I had to put it in a zipped folder since my log was 900+ kb and over the limit for attachments. The .conf is in there too

Alright, I had a look through the .conf file. It seems that you have quite a bit of identical lists. This would explain the reason why processes were already in used and thus causing errors.

I have no idea which links are for the identical lists, but it seems you have both "ads-trackers-and-bad-pr0n" and "spyware" by Bluetack downloaded both from Bluetack AND I-Blocklist. There are probably more, but I'm unable to determine them straight out just from the file and http address name.

Running PeerBlock using 100% duplicate lists often cause errors when using. So I recommend you remove the potential duplicates. If you have to choose which one to keep in list manager, I'd recommend keeping I-Blocklist hosted lists.

The default P2P list is same as Bluetack level 1. So if you want to disable P2P list, you'd have to uncheck on these two place. One from the default list and one from the optional list side.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 03/08/2010 06:52PM by Tippy.

The extra lists were holdovers from when I used bluetack exclusively, and switched when their server went down. I have now deleted the excess lists and have only the ones from iblocklist. However, this does not stop the P2P list (default) to update every time. It moves extremely slowly and still gives me the error whether I let it finish downloading or abort it before it finishes. I attached the screen shot of the message in case the code is different than the others I sent before (just 1 error this time).

have you tried the usual routine, uninstalling restart then reinstalling?

i also attempted to look at your log, thats a mighty big log. what version of PB are you running?

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Life is like a box of chocolates................................umm chocolate, yummy

Yeah, I upped the log size from the default b/c otherwise it would be flooded with all the UDP pings from my university and would show nothing else. I have done the whole reinstall bit to no avail Oh, and I am currently running the Beta. I forgot to mention that since it was on the screen shots. I have thought about switching back, but this was a relatively minor issue since the program still blocks what it is supposed to, so I didn't figure it was worth it. Besides, then how would the lovely people at PeerBlock know about all these little errors to fix for the next stable release?

If the error messages increase in frequency or if I find that the problem interferes with the functionality of the program than I will roll it back to 1.0, but I would much rather find an actual fix. I am willing to try just about anything though, so if you have an idea please let me hear it. Thanks in advance!

May I request that you send in screenshots of your List Manager settings in addition to the new .conf file? I find it weird that it still updates your default P2P even though you had it disabled.

Anyway, did the removal of excess list at least help reduce the amount of error report regarding file already being in use by another process?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/09/2010 04:50AM by Tippy.

It's strange, for some reason we're not saving the timestamp at which we updated those lists.  For example, the "1268069461 (of 43200) seconds have passed" type messages in the logs.  I believe that generally indicates a list that's never been updated, which doesn't sound like is what's going on here.  Although, if you deselect a list, exit the List Manager, then reselect that list it will reset the timestamp and re-download it...

Just to confirm though, every time you click the Check Updates button that list re-downloads?

        ---  Mark  ---

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Lead developer of PeerBlock

1. Here is the screenshot of my settings in the List Manager and the new .conf file

2. Yes, now if I get any error messages at all it is just the one. You have definitely fixed part of the original problem.

3. Mark: Yes, every time I clicked check updates it WOULD update everything, including the P2P list. However, as of this morning a new issue popped up. PB had stopped working during the night (2nd time that has happened - as I recall there is another thread for that particular issue) and I restarted it. This time, when I hit 'check updates' it began to download everything and without warning PB crashed. There was no error message, the windows just disappeared and when I scrolled my cursor over the icon in the tray it vanished as well. I restarted and tried it again, to the same effect.

As a note, I have changed a couple of settings not mentioned in this forum. Namely, I had disabled all automatic updates, both when the program starts and the auto-update every X days, as I had read that solution in the thread discussing the program shutting itself off at night, and was trying to fix it without creating another issue in the thread. I do not know if that relates to this or not, but I figured I should state for the record all the changes that I have made to my settings since the beginning of this thread. Any thoughts?

Oh and Mark, as a note (since I just remembered that the shutting off over night thing was on your sticky at the top of the forum, not an open thread), I shut off all the auto-updates last night and PB still shut itself off during the night. Can you direct me to where there might have been other suggested fixes suggested since the one in your sticky didn't work? Thanks!

There's a chance that you might've somehow stumbled on to a unique bug. According to the .conf file you have P2P list enabled, but in your screenshot you did not have P2P list enabled. Also another interesting part that indeed your whole lists are getting updated even though some lists were disabled.

What I suggest is that you'd rename peerblock.conf and peerblock.conf.bak and then start PeerBlock. PeerBlock will think you've run for the first time and thus create you a new fresh .conf file. Add your lists in via list manager and configure it to fit your taste. Don't forget to add permallow.p2b and permblock.p2b files via list manager (they are found in lists folder within your PeerBlock folder). This may not work, but I can't think of anything to do.

PS: I noticed you have an error list. Namely "Bad Peers". You have the address as " [iblocklist.com] " while the correct address is " [list.iblocklist.com] ". It's odd how this was not marked as failed update.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 03/09/2010 03:56PM by Tippy.

I will do what you asked, but one quick question first: Since the Bad Peers list is a faulty URL but not showing up as such (in fact, every time it tells me is successfully updated) do you want me to go ahead and correct it or leave it wrong and see if PB picks it up after I redo the .conf files?

The just-posted new Beta Release should contain a fix for the "randomly crashes overnight while downloading lists" problem.  If it's something else, I'm going to need to look into this more.  Please try the new Beta and see if you experience any different behavior.

Thanks, and sorry you're experiencing these weird issues,

        ---  Mark  ---

---

Lead developer of PeerBlock

Yeah, please do correct the URL. No point having faulty list address, right =) ?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/09/2010 06:13PM by Tippy.

Okay, I took both pieces of advice and updated to the new Beta. I then chose the option to remove all history and settings, and then re-created all my lists etc. As of now I am no longer getting the error messages. Maybe this means it is gone for good?

Reply Quote

just do what you did before if you start to get errors and/or crashes ect. PB log and .conf files and snapshots.

dont take this the wrong way but i hope not to hear from you , but we are here to help when needed. aint mark THA MAN? lol

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Life is like a box of chocolates................................umm chocolate, yummy

Great to hear it's now working for you! To be honest, I don't know how you managed to find that bug, but if you do find that bug again, please do tell us how you managed to find it and reproduce it! Who knows, it might be a hidden bug that none has thought of before. Hidden enough to be accidently fixed in the latest beta perhaps .



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 03/10/2010 05:34PM by Tippy.

I hope so, accidental or not I will let you know if I manage to find the problem again, but otherwise I would say that this thread could be safely closed. Thanks to Tippy, Mark, and brandon for all the help. At most other forums I would still be waiting for a second reply to the thread lol.

PeerBlock FTW!