Can anynoe help? unexpected FrontPage timeouts

[P.S.]

Hello there.

I sure hope this is the right place to seek some elightment (and that
includes FP enlightment, lol)!

Until a few days ago, I had absolutely no problems with my FrontPage (2002)
and I've been using it for over a year now. Now, it times out, won't read
the files or if it occasionally does read them, it won't save them - or - it
will save them, but it says it won't...

This problem occurred a week ago for the first time, just hours before a
critical upload to my site. Eventually I started editing the pages manually
via notepad - and then, as if by miracle FrontPage started working again.
And worked for another couple of days. And now it's off again, and I have
another critical update coming up in 2 days...!

At first I blamed my machine and possible corruption, but as we have 6
machines in the office here, I tried it on each of the other machines - and
to my surprise, it was exactly the same on each one. Then I looked at our
router (which is still not totally off the suspect list) - but it seems to
work fine for everything else... But sometimes when I reset it, FP would
work again. But that could have been a coincidence. Also - I don't use
FrontPage to upload the site anyway. I use FTP. It should be totally
offline, as far as I'm concerned.

Anyway - here's what happens:

1. I start FrontPage and this message comes up after a LONG wait (while it's
trying to read my drive where my web is stored): The server "" timed out.
The current request did not complete successfully.

2. I OK that message and try to open a random page, and get this message:
This page is no longer in the web. Select the page in Navigation View, and
use the Delete on the Edit menu to remove this page from all link bars.
Needless to say, the page IS present an it's only FrongPage mis-reporting.
And to make matters more confusing - sometimes I CAN open some of the
smaller pages. And (most) other times the same page won't open at all.

3. But I did try adding or deleting pages. FP takes forever to process the
request and then comes back with:"Saving Navigation changes" in the bottom
left corner - but after a while it pops up this message: An error occurred
accessing your FrontPage web files. Authors - if authoring against a web
server, please contact the webmaster for this server's site. WebMasters -
please see the server's system log for more details. I also once got this
system message from my Windows XP: Windows - Delayed Write Failed.

Now, it needs to be said that I only use Front Page in the most primitive of
ways. No special effects, no need for FP Extensions - it's just a fancy,
wysiwyg HTML editor for me. And I upload everything manually via FTP and
have done for over a year.

Whatever is happening now is clearly FrontPage checking for something which
isn't there - and thus timing out - and completely killing me in the
process...!

Whatever it is, how can I disable it or fix it? Otherwise, I'll have to
re-code the entire 1000-page-plus site in a different program, in under 2
days...!

If you're able to help and advise me, I'd be most tremendously grateful.
Big thanks,

Cheers,

Paul
Mere Music International / Fame Games Radio
www.meermusic.com

PS - perhaps this is relevant: I have Win XP Pro, and about a week ago
(coinciding with the timing of these problems) I've downloaded IE7. Having
read a post somewhere that THIS is the reason why FrontPage is now screwing
up, I've uninstalled it and am back to IE6. Sadly, no change.

 

[Ronx]

How, exactly, are you accessing the local copy of the web site? Since
more than one workstation is affected it sounds like the local web site
is located on a server, and the network connection to the server is
unreliable, either due to a faulty cable or a setting in a firewall -
perhaps the router? (I have seen the effect of a dodgy router on my own
network).

If the local website is located on your own workstation, then download
FP Cleaner from http://www.95isalive.com/fixes/fpclean.htm and run the
routines that clear the hidden web cache files and hidden temporary
files - in fact, do this anyway; it won't do any harm and clearing these
files routinely does speed things up in general.
--
Ron Symonds - Microsoft MVP (FrontPage)
Reply only to group - emails will be deleted unread.
FrontPage Support: http://www.frontpagemvps.com/
http://www.rxs-enterprises.org/fp

 

[P.S.]

Hi Ron,

BIG thanks for replying!

The router suspicion is still with me.
What I normally did is have the actual site on one of our office machines,
and typically edit it while sitting at another mechine. All the machines go
through some hubs and then out through a router to the web. So a router was
a natural suspect. So because I suspected a network-related problem, I
copied everything to my local HD. But... the same problem persisted.

Then I discovered that I CAN create a brand new web and work with it without
any obvious problems... Uh-oh... this would mean than maybe my web is too
large? But I didn't add anything much in terms of volume of files and data.
One day it was fine, then next it was too large...?

But I decided that maybe that IS the problem and I moved half the files out
of the web directory just to see if it would NOW work... It didn't.

I just tried the utility you suggested. Sadly, no change...

I'm slowly coming to terms with the assumption that the web files somehow
got corrupted and I'll have to re-code everything from scratch...
Awww darn...

Now that you confirmed that this could be the problem, I will definitely try
to organize a different router, though.
Big thanks for your time,

Cheers,
Paul

 

[Ronx]

Since you are using hubs as well as a router, the problem could lie in
one of the hubs.

In a disc based web located on your PC (a web accessed in frontpage
using a file system [example: c:/path/webname ] address), there is no
limit to the size of the web. There may be limitations where the web is
accessed across a network, or through a web server; this limit depends
entirely on hardware and network conditions, not on the web contents.

The FP Clean utility normally fixes a disc based web, also try running
Tools->Recalculate Hyperlinks with the web open in FrontPage.

--
Ron Symonds - Microsoft MVP (FrontPage)
Reply only to group - emails will be deleted unread.
FrontPage Support: http://www.frontpagemvps.com/
http://www.rxs-enterprises.org/fp

 

[P.S.]

Hi Ron,

Big thanks for your reply!!
I've tried the FP Clean utility as well as Recalc Hyperlinks - and nothing's
changed.
I even disconnected the machine from the network for a while to see if that
would make a difference. Nope. "Server busy, please try again." (That's on
local HD).
I´ve tried loading this web into three other FP's I have on some of the
other machines - again the same problem. Spooky.

And another thing has also now happened, which I didn't mention as I didn't
think it had anything to do with the FP problem - but who knows: On the
machine where I normally do the FP edit, I can no longer edit... emails
(Outlook Express) nor can I type into web forms when browsing with IE.
Outlook lets me start an email, even fill out the address and subject - but
not write in the body... IE let's me browse, but not enter anything into
searches...

My theory is that it was one of those standard Microsoft UPGRADES which did
something to my system (all of my systems). I originally went up to IE7,
installed that little validation utility as well, then uninstalled IE7 after
someone said that "it" was the reason for all my woes - but as it turns out,
IE7 is really still running (or some of its files are) even if I have the
IE6 front-end. But now removing the IE7 remnants... that's scary. There's a
message that comes up that says something to the effect that if I do this,
then my whole system may become unusable... It's put in really harsh terms
and I chickened out.
So now I don't know. I could always reinstall everything, but with all the
programs we have, each machine would take a day. And we just don't have that
kind of time...

A few things just don't make sense to me.
- I can't edit the site on local HD even when disconnected from the network
- I CAN start and edit a NEW web if I want
- The utility you suggested as well as recalc hyperlinks seem to do nothing
useful, except that FP took much longer to start after the FP utility ran.
- I can't edit this web on other machines either (although they've ALL been
upgraded within the past week-or-so, i.e. exactly when the problem started).
- I've scanned all my systems with all sorts of virus and spyware programs
and everything appears clean. But the overall sense (now including the
complete blockage of my emails and browsing through IE) SEEM like a virus.
But, clearly, aren't...

OK. Thanks again for all your time and help,
Cheers,

Paul

Since you are using hubs as well as a router, the problem could lie in
one of the hubs.

In a disc based web located on your PC (a web accessed in frontpage using
a file system [example: c:/path/webname ] address), there is no limit to
the size of the web. There may be limitations where the web is accessed
across a network, or through a web server; this limit depends entirely on
hardware and network conditions, not on the web contents.

The FP Clean utility normally fixes a disc based web, also try running
Tools->Recalculate Hyperlinks with the web open in FrontPage.

--
Ron Symonds - Microsoft MVP (FrontPage)
Reply only to group - emails will be deleted unread.
FrontPage Support: http://www.frontpagemvps.com/
http://www.rxs-enterprises.org/fp

Hi Ron,

BIG thanks for replying!

The router suspicion is still with me.
What I normally did is have the actual site on one of our office
machines,
and typically edit it while sitting at another mechine. All the machines
go
through some hubs and then out through a router to the web. So a router
was
a natural suspect. So because I suspected a network-related problem, I
copied everything to my local HD. But... the same problem persisted.

Then I discovered that I CAN create a brand new web and work with it
without
any obvious problems... Uh-oh... this would mean than maybe my web is too
large? But I didn't add anything much in terms of volume of files and
data.
One day it was fine, then next it was too large...?

But I decided that maybe that IS the problem and I moved half the files
out
of the web directory just to see if it would NOW work... It didn't.

I just tried the utility you suggested. Sadly, no change...

I'm slowly coming to terms with the assumption that the web files somehow
got corrupted and I'll have to re-code everything from scratch...
Awww darn...

Now that you confirmed that this could be the problem, I will definitely
try
to organize a different router, though.
Big thanks for your time,

Cheers,
Paul

 

[xx75vulcan]

I'm having the same issues with "Server Busy" errors. Did you ever
find a solution?