Local Filenames are gibberish with SOC v3.5.2 on WinXP

[JD Nicholas]

I'm running SourceOffSite Classic v3.5.2 client on Windows XP. Paths and filenames retrieved from the repository look ok. However, local drives are displayed as gibberish (strange/nonprintable characters). E.g. See that attached screenshot of the Add Files window.

For the Set Working Directory window I can paste a drive/path that has been copied to the clipboard from Explorer directly into the window and SOC accepts it and behaves fine. However, just as with the Add Files dialog, I cannot browse for the directory I want using the SOC window itself - all the drive names are gibberish and doubleclicking on them does not generate a list of folders on that drive.

Anybody have any idea what's up with this? I've tried uninstalling and re-installing the client. That didn't help.

Thanks,
JD

[lbauer]

We've had reports of this from other SOS 3.5.x users.

We used to think it was a sign that the user's hard drive was on the brink of failure or serious corruption. But more recently, the drives appear to be fine.

We're not sure what causes this and we haven't been able to reproduce it in-house.

We've changed some of the code for this dialog and we believe the problem is fixed in SOS 4.0.

[JD Nicholas]

Just uninstalled 3.5.2 and installed 4.0.2. Same result - gibberish drive names in the Add Files window, etc.

The laptop I'm running on is a Dell Latitude D400 (about 3 months old) - 1400MHz CPU, 512Mb RAM, 40Gb HD - 25Gb free.

[JD Nicholas]

fyi - When I click on the Add Files icon, I receive a 'stop' window (red X, and an OK button).

Title: sourceoffsite.
Content: "The parameter is incorrect".

After clicking on OK, the Add Files window opens - with the gibberish drive names, etc.

[kvn8r]

I started with 4.0 and it was able to add files to a project a while back with no problem. However, today it started with these same symptoms--immediately after pressing ctrl+a I get a message box that says "The parameter is incorrect." and then the drives combobox is filled with random characters. Since I can't select a drive, the folders and files list boxes are empty. I tried upgrading to 4.0.2 and still have the same problem. I'm not having any trouble browsing "My Computer" and my C drive with other applications--everything seems pretty normal. I'm running Windows XP Pro. If anyone has any ideas that might help solve the problem, please let me know.

Thanks,
Kevin

[kvn8r]

After some persistent effort I figured out that, at least on my system, the problem is pretty easily reproduced and also easily remedied. Here's the deal: if there's only one drive letter in my system (only the c: drive) then the problem with ctrl+a happens. Whenever there is more than one drive (both c: and d: for example) then the sos command ctrl+a works just fine.

When sos seemed to suddenly stopped working, I did not have my cdrom drive installed in my laptop and therefore c: was the only drive. If I do a "subst d: c:\" so I have both a c: and d: drive, then sos works fine. If I delete the d: drive using "subst d: /d" then sos ctrl+a stops working. If I put the cdrom drive back in the empty bay, then sos ctrl+a starts working. If I pull the cdrom drive out, sos ctrl+a stops working, etc...

Regards,
Kevin

[lbauer]

How bizarre! We'll try to replicate this in-house. At least we have a better idea of what to look for now.

Thanks for your detective work. It's the kind of thing that would have been very difficult to track down without knowing what had changed between the time the Add worked and didn't work.

[JD Nicholas]

The subst command gives the same behaviour on my laptop. 2+ drives = sos works. 1 drive = sos breaks.

The behaviour of the Add Files window is now a little different though. Previously when I opened the Add Files window, the Drives listbox contained 3 rows of gibberish (I have only one drive), and the Folders tree was empty.

I succeeded in opening a populated Add Files window (after setting a 2nd drive with subst), and then removed the 2nd drive and re-launched sos. Now when I open the Add Files window the Folders tree remains poplulated with the contents of my c: drive (and I can navigate it), while the Drives ddlb remains populated with 3 rows of gibberish.

JD

[D Mills]

I have had the same problem. I have a new Dell 600m with a clean install that has a removeable DVD burner. When I have the battery in my bay instead of the DVD burner I get the error with gibberesh for the drives. When I add my DVD back it works fine. I also have two mapped network drives. I have also tried uninstalling and reinstalling with the DVD out and it did not help.

[ccady]

I can easily recreate the problem - I just remove the CD from my "D:" drive. If I do not have a CD in the drive, I get the error. If I put a CD in, the error goes away.

[ccady]

An additional note: after the CD has been put in, I can remove it, and SOS still works, until I remove the drive itself (replacing it with a battery), then SOS crashes again. I'd suggest the SourceGear guys test this with a removable CD drive. I didn't have this problem with the 3.x client. Check out what has changed with the "Add Files" dialog box since the 3.x series, particularly the "drives" drop-down.

[TonyKInTexas]

Sounds like an enumeration issue within SOS when attempting to interogate local drivers. May be the difference between a > and a >= in an IF statement.

Just a thought about where to start looking.

[lbauer]

Thanks for the suggestion. There is a bug logged for the drive letter garbling and I've added your comments. This won't be addressed in our next release SOS 4.1.2, which is due out soon.