This is my 1st post here, ever.
I've been using EccoPro since the mid 90s, and Ecco Ext. in the last year or 2.
Recently (last few months), Ecco started to behave strangely:
- The times column (below the day & date header) in Calendar view shifts to the Right
- Dates in The Appointments column of the Phonebook flicker On & Off as the mouse pointer hovers over. Interesting visual effects, but freakish non-the-less.
The dreaded "Unable to complete command" error messages started showing up a few days ago. It seemed to be related to the Appointments folder.
Here's what I've tried so far:
- delete / rename *.alm, *.fdb, *.cfx files
That helped in the past, but this time seemed to, at best, extend the times between the error messages.
Next, I deleted many items & appointments + archive & recover operations.
At some point Ecco stopped working completely.
Deleted Ecco folder, registry entries, and re-installed Ecco (portable).
Still no go. Looked again at many online resources (this one included), and saw a reference to win.ini. Deleted the winfax entry.
That seems to have fixed it (actually, I think I had to install the normal Ecco to setup the Win Registry keys properly).
Added the Ecco Ext. and launched my file again.
The dreaded "Unable to complete command" error messages came back.
Running the Slang's Ext. "Fix Corrupt File" tool triggered a File Data Inconsistency found message, and Ecco saved it as an *.ecx file (i.e labeled it corrupt and non-repairable).
So my questions are:
Does the EM-ADT tool give me a sure way to fix my current file, compared to Ecco's built-in Recover+ Slang's Ext. tools ?
Can the EM-ADT do that without losing parts of my Ecco's database (or at least telling me which parts had to be wiped out) ?
If I use Slang's Ext., Do I need to apply "Fix Corrupt File" operation to all of my backed-up Ecco files until I find one that is not corrupt ?
I hope this post helps others who, like me, used Ecco for a while, relatively trouble-free until one day (or gradually) this auxiliary memory thingy collapses in our face
UPDATE:
Turns out that when "Recover' is used, if the file wasn't completely fixed, Ecco would refuse to save it, displaying "Unable to complete command" error message.
If you're lucky and persistent in keeping applying "Compact" & Recover', your damaged file might get resurrected.
If you manage to get Ecco to enter a spiral of never-ending error messages, that requires Task Manager intervention, Ecco would stop working altogether, again displaying "Unable to complete command" error message on launching, and quitting after dismissal of the dialog. The only fix is deleting the *.alm & *.fdb files.
BTW: Where are everybody ?
I guess when you're waiting for an answer, a day or 2 look like a long while