FP2003 won't publish any more

[jaydear]

Sorry for the big posting...

I've been using FP2003 to maintain our business website for several years
without any problems. On the 29th of January this year I updated a few pages
as usual without problems. Then on the 30th I attempted to publish a few more
minor changes and after a very long display of the 'publishing' dialogue was
informed "Web <Root Web> is busy. Please try again.". Which I did and have
done every day since without any success!

I have communicated almost every day with my hosting company's tech support
people, but they have been completely impotent. It would be nice if one
person could stick with the problem, but every day it's someone else and we
go in circles. I found out by chance that they have upgraded the FP
extensions to suit Vista and the '2007' products. They say that they are
backward compatible. I think not.

I had similar trouble when I signed up with this same hosting company a few
years back. I was using FP98 (which I really liked using) which they said was
compatible with the FP2000 extensions they were using at the time. Well,
after much frustration over several days and no ability to publish, I
upgraded to FP2003 and that immediately fixed the problem. Until now.

I can open our website on the remote server through FP2003 and can see all
files in all directories (including the _vti_xx ones), but cannot save any
changes (always "server busy..."). The user / password dialogue always works
OK. I can transfer files to the server using WSFTP, but not using the ftp
option in FP2003. I don't like doing this as I have been warned by the
hosting comany that it damages the FP extensions - they must be fragile
little flowers and I've never seen an explanation of why this should happen!
It is also a tricky business using WSFTP to make sure the matching files in
the _vti_xx directories are ftp'd.

I don't want to upgrade FP2003 and I don't want to upgrade to Vista and
don't think I should be forced to do so. There's no suggestion or guarantee
that would fix the problem anyway, just my previous experience.

Stuff I've tried... I've been here
http://www.mydomain.com.au/_vti_bin/_vti_adm/fpadmcgi.exe many times now. All
the images have 'broken link' icons incidentally. I can select items such as
'Check server health' and even start the process, but always get the "Web
<Root Web> is busy. Please try again." message after the same long delay I
get in FP2003. I've tried combinations of different PC's on different adsl
modems, different accounts and different browsers... always the same result.
The FP server extensions have been reinstalled numerous times without any
effect. I've deleted the frontpg.lck and service.lck files (always 0 bytes
btw) several times without effect. I've repaired FP2003 (didn't help) and
then re-installed it (no change). I've run Essential Net Tools and CommView
to try and identify comm's problems, but it all looks normal to me (though
I'm no IT expert).

I've wasted man-days on this and I am ready to dump FP2003 if I can't get
this sorted soon. I'd prefer to keep using it if I can though because it has
been a convenient and efficient way to keep our website up-to-date.

Anyone know what's likely up with it or my host company's servers (which run
Zeus incidentally)? I'm out of ideas and it seems my hosting company hasn't
got any experts working there.

 

[David Berry]

Have you tried the usual repairs
1) In Windows Explorer Find and delete all FP Temp Files
2) In Windows Explorer Find and delete all hidden *.web files
3) In Windows Explorer Find and delete the file CMDUI.PRF
4) Disable or Uninstall any FP Addins
5) Run a Repair / Reinstall on FP & IE


You can also get FP Cleaner at http://www.95isalive.com/fixes/fpclean.htm
which will do most of this for you.

 

[jaydear]

Thanks for FPCleaner link. I used all 5 options but no change. I don't have
any add-ins afaik. A couple of days ago I first repaired, tried publishing,
and then re-installed FP and tried publishing again.

I think problem is server-side, otherwise the ../_vti_adm/fpadmcgi.exe page
would allow changes to be committed on at least one of the combo's I tried,
surely?

I don't have any problem running FP and can open the local and remote webs.
Just can't publish the local one nor save anything I do to the online one.

 

[Stefan B Rusynko]

There are No FP SE "to suit Vista and the '2007' products"
- your web host has removed the FP SE (they are not supported under Vista)
- the latest version of FP SE are the FP 2002 SE

Sounds like you are opening the remote site in FTP mode
- otherwise you would never see any _vt* folders in FP

Post a URL to your site to check

--

_____________________________________________
SBR @ ENJOY (-: [ Microsoft MVP - FrontPage ]
"Warning - Using the F1 Key will not break anything!" (-;
_____________________________________________


| Sorry for the big posting...
|
| I've been using FP2003 to maintain our business website for several years
| without any problems. On the 29th of January this year I updated a few pages
| as usual without problems. Then on the 30th I attempted to publish a few more
| minor changes and after a very long display of the 'publishing' dialogue was
| informed "Web <Root Web> is busy. Please try again.". Which I did and have
| done every day since without any success!
|
| I have communicated almost every day with my hosting company's tech support
| people, but they have been completely impotent. It would be nice if one
| person could stick with the problem, but every day it's someone else and we
| go in circles. I found out by chance that they have upgraded the FP
| extensions to suit Vista and the '2007' products. They say that they are
| backward compatible. I think not.
|
| I had similar trouble when I signed up with this same hosting company a few
| years back. I was using FP98 (which I really liked using) which they said was
| compatible with the FP2000 extensions they were using at the time. Well,
| after much frustration over several days and no ability to publish, I
| upgraded to FP2003 and that immediately fixed the problem. Until now.
|
| I can open our website on the remote server through FP2003 and can see all
| files in all directories (including the _vti_xx ones), but cannot save any
| changes (always "server busy..."). The user / password dialogue always works
| OK. I can transfer files to the server using WSFTP, but not using the ftp
| option in FP2003. I don't like doing this as I have been warned by the
| hosting comany that it damages the FP extensions - they must be fragile
| little flowers and I've never seen an explanation of why this should happen!
| It is also a tricky business using WSFTP to make sure the matching files in
| the _vti_xx directories are ftp'd.
|
| I don't want to upgrade FP2003 and I don't want to upgrade to Vista and
| don't think I should be forced to do so. There's no suggestion or guarantee
| that would fix the problem anyway, just my previous experience.
|
| Stuff I've tried... I've been here
| http://www.mydomain.com.au/_vti_bin/_vti_adm/fpadmcgi.exe many times now. All
| the images have 'broken link' icons incidentally. I can select items such as
| 'Check server health' and even start the process, but always get the "Web
| <Root Web> is busy. Please try again." message after the same long delay I
| get in FP2003. I've tried combinations of different PC's on different adsl
| modems, different accounts and different browsers... always the same result.
| The FP server extensions have been reinstalled numerous times without any
| effect. I've deleted the frontpg.lck and service.lck files (always 0 bytes
| btw) several times without effect. I've repaired FP2003 (didn't help) and
| then re-installed it (no change). I've run Essential Net Tools and CommView
| to try and identify comm's problems, but it all looks normal to me (though
| I'm no IT expert).
|
| I've wasted man-days on this and I am ready to dump FP2003 if I can't get
| this sorted soon. I'd prefer to keep using it if I can though because it has
| been a convenient and efficient way to keep our website up-to-date.
|
| Anyone know what's likely up with it or my host company's servers (which run
| Zeus incidentally)? I'm out of ideas and it seems my hosting company hasn't
| got any experts working there.

 

[Thomas A. Rowe]

1. There are no FP extensions or FP extensions updates for Vista / Office 2007 apps
2. The last and latest extensions are the FP2002 extensions

--
==============================================
Thomas A. Rowe
Microsoft MVP - FrontPage

http://www.Ecom-Data.com
==============================================

 

[jaydear]

OK, thanks... I should pass that on to web host's tech support
- Don't I still need them for XP pro + FP2003?
- OK, good to know

No, definitely not. Show hidden files is ticked, and I definitely see the
various _vti_ folders on the remote site in FP. However, in trying to
double-check this today I now find I can't open the remote site in FP any
more. Great, it's getting worse. Still able to open local web OK though, but
of course those folders not at my end.

URL ... questronix.com.au

 

[jaydear]

OK, thanks. Good to know from the source.

 

[Thomas A. Rowe]

There is major configuration issue on the server if you can see the _vti folder in FP.

--
==============================================
Thomas A. Rowe
Microsoft MVP - FrontPage

http://www.Ecom-Data.com
==============================================

OK, thanks... I should pass that on to web host's tech support
- Don't I still need them for XP pro + FP2003?
- OK, good to know

No, definitely not. Show hidden files is ticked, and I definitely see the
various _vti_ folders on the remote site in FP. However, in trying to
double-check this today I now find I can't open the remote site in FP any
more. Great, it's getting worse. Still able to open local web OK though, but
of course those folders not at my end.

URL ... questronix.com.au

There are No FP SE "to suit Vista and the '2007' products"
- your web host has removed the FP SE (they are not supported under Vista)
- the latest version of FP SE are the FP 2002 SE

Sounds like you are opening the remote site in FTP mode
- otherwise you would never see any _vt* folders in FP

Post a URL to your site to check

--

_____________________________________________
SBR @ ENJOY (-: [ Microsoft MVP - FrontPage ]
"Warning - Using the F1 Key will not break anything!" (-;
_____________________________________________


news:[email protected]...

 

[jaydear]

It's Saturday morning about 10AM. I do my daily check to see if I can publish
yet and - Yay! Everything is running like clockwork. No error messages, I can
publish pages within seconds and I can open the web on the server in seconds.
What changed?

Yesterday late PM I totally uninstalled the FP2002 extensions on the server
(in the host-provided toolbox), waited some five minutes and then
re-installed and went home.

Why did this work when the reinstall of the FPSE's from their end did not?
Dunno, but as long as it keeps working I'm happy.

Re: _vti_ folders. You are right, they can't be seen in FP2003. There are a
whole lot of other files (htaccessxx.bkp or similar names, and others)and a
couple of folders (like cgibin) that I don't have at my end. You can see
everything in WSFTP though. I got confused. Sorry to have misled you.

I'd still like to know why the FPSE's are so fragile that the act of ftp'ing
a file or two across 'breaks' them when they are not touched in that process.

Thanks for your support with this.

There is major configuration issue on the server if you can see the _vti folder in FP.

--
==============================================
Thomas A. Rowe
Microsoft MVP - FrontPage

http://www.Ecom-Data.com
==============================================

OK, thanks... I should pass that on to web host's tech support
- Don't I still need them for XP pro + FP2003?
- OK, good to know

No, definitely not. Show hidden files is ticked, and I definitely see the
various _vti_ folders on the remote site in FP. However, in trying to
double-check this today I now find I can't open the remote site in FP any
more. Great, it's getting worse. Still able to open local web OK though, but
of course those folders not at my end.

URL ... questronix.com.au

There are No FP SE "to suit Vista and the '2007' products"
- your web host has removed the FP SE (they are not supported under Vista)
- the latest version of FP SE are the FP 2002 SE

Sounds like you are opening the remote site in FTP mode
- otherwise you would never see any _vt* folders in FP

Post a URL to your site to check

--

_____________________________________________
SBR @ ENJOY (-: [ Microsoft MVP - FrontPage ]
"Warning - Using the F1 Key will not break anything!" (-;
_____________________________________________


news:[email protected]...

 

[Ronx]

There are two aspects to the extensions:
1) Programs that run on the server - these are tucked away in a virtual
folder named _vti-bin, which is not inside your web.

2) Meta data which is stored in the _vti_* folders inside your website.
It the _vti_* folders that are easily corrupted when using FTP. When
you use FTP, it is very easy to upload a _vti_* folder along with your
files; this will always happen if you upload a folder and its contents,
since every non-empty folder contains a _vti_cnf folder. This is
instant corruption because the folder contents on the server are NEVER
the same as the contents on your PC.
It's even worse if using a Unix server, since all the meta data files
are text, but may have extensions of .gif, .jpg, .zip etc. - in other
words text files disguised as binaries which will be uploaded as
binaries, not text.
In addition, if you use HTTP publishing the files in _vti_cnf folders
are updated - this does not happen with FTP.

When your host reinstalled the extensions it is possible they did just
that - reinstalled without uninstalling first. This action would not
necessarily correct any corruption in the meta data. Your method of
uninstalling then reinstalling would have removed the meta data, then
recreated it.
--
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

It's Saturday morning about 10AM. I do my daily check to see if I can publish
yet and - Yay! Everything is running like clockwork. No error messages, I can
publish pages within seconds and I can open the web on the server in seconds.
What changed?

Yesterday late PM I totally uninstalled the FP2002 extensions on the server
(in the host-provided toolbox), waited some five minutes and then
re-installed and went home.

Why did this work when the reinstall of the FPSE's from their end did not?
Dunno, but as long as it keeps working I'm happy.

Re: _vti_ folders. You are right, they can't be seen in FP2003. There are a
whole lot of other files (htaccessxx.bkp or similar names, and others)and a
couple of folders (like cgibin) that I don't have at my end. You can see
everything in WSFTP though. I got confused. Sorry to have misled you.

I'd still like to know why the FPSE's are so fragile that the act of ftp'ing
a file or two across 'breaks' them when they are not touched in that process.

Thanks for your support with this.

There is major configuration issue on the server if you can see the _vti folder in FP.

--
==============================================
Thomas A. Rowe
Microsoft MVP - FrontPage

http://www.Ecom-Data.com
==============================================

OK, thanks... I should pass that on to web host's tech support
- Don't I still need them for XP pro + FP2003?
- OK, good to know

No, definitely not. Show hidden files is ticked, and I definitely see the
various _vti_ folders on the remote site in FP. However, in trying to
double-check this today I now find I can't open the remote site in FP any
more. Great, it's getting worse. Still able to open local web OK though, but
of course those folders not at my end.

URL ... questronix.com.au

:

There are No FP SE "to suit Vista and the '2007' products"
- your web host has removed the FP SE (they are not supported under Vista)
- the latest version of FP SE are the FP 2002 SE

Sounds like you are opening the remote site in FTP mode
- otherwise you would never see any _vt* folders in FP

Post a URL to your site to check

--

_____________________________________________
SBR @ ENJOY (-: [ Microsoft MVP - FrontPage ]
"Warning - Using the F1 Key will not break anything!" (-;
_____________________________________________


news:[email protected]...

 

[jaydear]

Thanks for the FPSE info. It is a tangled web!

Well, anyway my success didn't last long. Sunday PM I published a few files
without dramas. Came to work Monday morning, deleted a few files from the
remote server (from within FP2003 successfully), tried to re-list the remote
directory and we're back to "server busy...".

I logged into the web host toolbox, uninstalled and reinstalled FPSE.
Re-started FP2003 and we're still stuffed... "server busy..". As a test I
opened an ftp client and can list all files on the remote server, and delete
and upload stuff within seconds.

Unistalled and re-installed the FPSE via host toolbox, re-start FP and we're
still on "server busy.." This sucks so much I can't begin to express my
frustration and... ...arrrgggghhhh! It's just too much to bear. I think I'm
going to have to ditch FP and all the experience I've built up using it, it's
just too iffy to be practical for a small business.

Thanks for your help anyway.

There are two aspects to the extensions:
1) Programs that run on the server - these are tucked away in a virtual
folder named _vti-bin, which is not inside your web.

2) Meta data which is stored in the _vti_* folders inside your website.
It the _vti_* folders that are easily corrupted when using FTP. When
you use FTP, it is very easy to upload a _vti_* folder along with your
files; this will always happen if you upload a folder and its contents,
since every non-empty folder contains a _vti_cnf folder. This is
instant corruption because the folder contents on the server are NEVER
the same as the contents on your PC.
It's even worse if using a Unix server, since all the meta data files
are text, but may have extensions of .gif, .jpg, .zip etc. - in other
words text files disguised as binaries which will be uploaded as
binaries, not text.
In addition, if you use HTTP publishing the files in _vti_cnf folders
are updated - this does not happen with FTP.

When your host reinstalled the extensions it is possible they did just
that - reinstalled without uninstalling first. This action would not
necessarily correct any corruption in the meta data. Your method of
uninstalling then reinstalling would have removed the meta data, then
recreated it.
--
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

It's Saturday morning about 10AM. I do my daily check to see if I can publish
yet and - Yay! Everything is running like clockwork. No error messages, I can
publish pages within seconds and I can open the web on the server in seconds.
What changed?

Yesterday late PM I totally uninstalled the FP2002 extensions on the server
(in the host-provided toolbox), waited some five minutes and then
re-installed and went home.

Why did this work when the reinstall of the FPSE's from their end did not?
Dunno, but as long as it keeps working I'm happy.

Re: _vti_ folders. You are right, they can't be seen in FP2003. There are a
whole lot of other files (htaccessxx.bkp or similar names, and others)and a
couple of folders (like cgibin) that I don't have at my end. You can see
everything in WSFTP though. I got confused. Sorry to have misled you.

I'd still like to know why the FPSE's are so fragile that the act of ftp'ing
a file or two across 'breaks' them when they are not touched in that process.

Thanks for your support with this.

There is major configuration issue on the server if you can see the _vti folder in FP.

--
==============================================
Thomas A. Rowe
Microsoft MVP - FrontPage

http://www.Ecom-Data.com
==============================================


OK, thanks... I should pass that on to web host's tech support
- Don't I still need them for XP pro + FP2003?
- OK, good to know

No, definitely not. Show hidden files is ticked, and I definitely see the
various _vti_ folders on the remote site in FP. However, in trying to
double-check this today I now find I can't open the remote site in FP any
more. Great, it's getting worse. Still able to open local web OK though, but
of course those folders not at my end.

URL ... questronix.com.au

:

There are No FP SE "to suit Vista and the '2007' products"
- your web host has removed the FP SE (they are not supported under Vista)
- the latest version of FP SE are the FP 2002 SE

Sounds like you are opening the remote site in FTP mode
- otherwise you would never see any _vt* folders in FP

Post a URL to your site to check

--

_____________________________________________
SBR @ ENJOY (-: [ Microsoft MVP - FrontPage ]
"Warning - Using the F1 Key will not break anything!" (-;
_____________________________________________

 

[Ronx]

"Server busy" is a problem on the server usually (in my experience)
fixed (though sometimes only temporarily) by stopping and restarting the
web server. In extreme cases the whole server has to be rebooted. This
method does not, however, solve the underlying problem. When I had this
problem it was traced to a faulty index server catalogue.
--
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

Thanks for the FPSE info. It is a tangled web!

Well, anyway my success didn't last long. Sunday PM I published a few files
without dramas. Came to work Monday morning, deleted a few files from the
remote server (from within FP2003 successfully), tried to re-list the remote
directory and we're back to "server busy...".

I logged into the web host toolbox, uninstalled and reinstalled FPSE.
Re-started FP2003 and we're still stuffed... "server busy..". As a test I
opened an ftp client and can list all files on the remote server, and delete
and upload stuff within seconds.

Unistalled and re-installed the FPSE via host toolbox, re-start FP and we're
still on "server busy.." This sucks so much I can't begin to express my
frustration and... ...arrrgggghhhh! It's just too much to bear. I think I'm
going to have to ditch FP and all the experience I've built up using it, it's
just too iffy to be practical for a small business.

Thanks for your help anyway.

There are two aspects to the extensions:
1) Programs that run on the server - these are tucked away in a virtual
folder named _vti-bin, which is not inside your web.

2) Meta data which is stored in the _vti_* folders inside your website.
It the _vti_* folders that are easily corrupted when using FTP. When
you use FTP, it is very easy to upload a _vti_* folder along with your
files; this will always happen if you upload a folder and its contents,
since every non-empty folder contains a _vti_cnf folder. This is
instant corruption because the folder contents on the server are NEVER
the same as the contents on your PC.
It's even worse if using a Unix server, since all the meta data files
are text, but may have extensions of .gif, .jpg, .zip etc. - in other
words text files disguised as binaries which will be uploaded as
binaries, not text.
In addition, if you use HTTP publishing the files in _vti_cnf folders
are updated - this does not happen with FTP.

When your host reinstalled the extensions it is possible they did just
that - reinstalled without uninstalling first. This action would not
necessarily correct any corruption in the meta data. Your method of
uninstalling then reinstalling would have removed the meta data, then
recreated it.
--
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

It's Saturday morning about 10AM. I do my daily check to see if I can publish
yet and - Yay! Everything is running like clockwork. No error messages, I can
publish pages within seconds and I can open the web on the server in seconds.
What changed?

Yesterday late PM I totally uninstalled the FP2002 extensions on the server
(in the host-provided toolbox), waited some five minutes and then
re-installed and went home.

Why did this work when the reinstall of the FPSE's from their end did not?
Dunno, but as long as it keeps working I'm happy.

Re: _vti_ folders. You are right, they can't be seen in FP2003. There are a
whole lot of other files (htaccessxx.bkp or similar names, and others)and a
couple of folders (like cgibin) that I don't have at my end. You can see
everything in WSFTP though. I got confused. Sorry to have misled you.

I'd still like to know why the FPSE's are so fragile that the act of ftp'ing
a file or two across 'breaks' them when they are not touched in that process.

Thanks for your support with this.


:

There is major configuration issue on the server if you can see the _vti folder in FP.

--
==============================================
Thomas A. Rowe
Microsoft MVP - FrontPage

http://www.Ecom-Data.com
==============================================


OK, thanks... I should pass that on to web host's tech support
- Don't I still need them for XP pro + FP2003?
- OK, good to know

No, definitely not. Show hidden files is ticked, and I definitely see the
various _vti_ folders on the remote site in FP. However, in trying to
double-check this today I now find I can't open the remote site in FP any
more. Great, it's getting worse. Still able to open local web OK though, but
of course those folders not at my end.

URL ... questronix.com.au

:

There are No FP SE "to suit Vista and the '2007' products"
- your web host has removed the FP SE (they are not supported under Vista)
- the latest version of FP SE are the FP 2002 SE

Sounds like you are opening the remote site in FTP mode
- otherwise you would never see any _vt* folders in FP

Post a URL to your site to check

--

_____________________________________________
SBR @ ENJOY (-: [ Microsoft MVP - FrontPage ]
"Warning - Using the F1 Key will not break anything!" (-;
_____________________________________________