Unable to connect (5.0.2)

[mstoltze]

A week and a half ago my laptop ceased to be able to connect promptly to source offsite servers. When I connect there is a very long delay before the login dialog appears. In fact the login dialog will not appear at all if I have the keep-alive signal disabled. With the keep-alive enabled, the login dialog appears as soon as the first keep-alive happens.

We are seeing this problem on a number of computers now (but not all computers in out group). I suspect (but don't have proof) that is may have something to do with a recent Windows Update. My laptop got ill on or about October 6, 2011 (but I don't use it for SCC very frequently so it may have happened a bit earlier. Another laptop in the group got ill over this past weekend. It connected fine on Friday but not today. We are trying to correlate Windows Updates that may have triggered the problem.

Anyone else seeing this problem? Has anyone found a solution?

[lbauer]

Were any updates applied to Visual SourceSafe or to the SOS Server machine?

Any updates to firewall settings or anti-virus?

Which version of the VSS Automation Component is the SOS Server using?

To determine the SourceSafe Automation Component (ssapi.dll) version used by SOS Server, look at the System Info tab in the SOS Server Manager.

The SOS Server Manager is in the SOS Server directory on the SOS Server machine, usually, C:\Program Files\SourceGear\SourceOffSite 5 Server.

We'd like to see a copy of the SOS Server log to see if there are any clues. The SOS Server log is called log.txt and is in the SOS Server directory on the SOS Server machine. Send the log to support at sourcegear.com, Attn: Linda. Please include a link to this forum post.

[mstoltze]

Thanks for your message. We did not look into changes on the server because the problem appears to be only present on specific client machines.
Here's some important info, however. You suggested looking at antivirus software, so as an experiment I temporarily disabled my antivirus (Avast) on the afflicted machine and the connection problem went away! Now I have to figure out how to fix the problem without disabling the antivirus.

I will send the log file via email.

[mstoltze]

OK. I figured out how to fix the problem. I use Avast! Pro Antivirus. It has a real-time shield called 'Web Shield'. In the 'Expert Settings' dialog for Web Shield, in the 'Main Settings' section there is a checkmark for 'Scan traffic from well-known browser processes only'. By enabling this (turn the checkmark on) the SOS connection problem goes away.

[lbauer]

Thanks for the update. That's good news. : )

[Allan Robinson]

Same problem here. Glad to find the solution.