Alpha 9 Platinum Edition keeps freezing

[milesjg]

Re: Alpha 9 Platinum Edition keeps freezing

Mike

It was with 3210, which I don't think saw release to the general public (did'nt check in the release board-3210 was a beta though) that a 'major rewrite of the entire browse logic' was implemented. Came out with 3212 After that I have had more than a few problems. Have a app that on a tabbed object (each tab having otm linked tables) used to change tabs in a blink. Took 31 seconds with 3210. took 3-4 seconds to change rows on a browse using the up/down arrow keys. (This was on a new machine-on a older pentium it was completely unusable.)
I sent in a report and the entire app right after the release of 3212.
It has improved quite a bit by 3222. Performance that is. For me anyway.
(3210 did clear up, which are still clear, issues that made, in certain situations the browse absolutly unusable) I have a app that a button click opens a db and presents a form. (the same form with the slow, browse intensive tabbs) that locks up now unless I access a different db first. (using 3222)
I do what a previous post said and roll back to whatever worked until the next patch and then try that. If it does not work I send in a bug report. The issues do get resolved. Sometimes by the next patch, sometimes several later. Right now when I have to work with the section of the app that is so browse intensive I roll back to 3208. I suspect the performance/lockup issues were/are due to the browse - though you may be right about the a_case thing. Though I never had a problem with it.

[Michael Humby]

Re: Alpha 9 Platinum Edition keeps freezing

What I see has nothing to do with browses if I remove the browse, the result is the same, that is why I am convinced that it is to do with the fix of the 'A_case' bug in the Nov 1st 1821-2312 build.

Michael

[STEPHEN COZENS]

Re: Alpha 9 Platinum Edition keeps freezing

I was interested to see the new posts on my original problem with Alpha 5/9
freezing,it does appear to me that we are still dealing with a very unstable product,despite numerous patches/fixes.
Apha software is advertising their software on the webb.targeted at users
trying to cope with the world wide recession.unstable software does not
endear new users. As I see it.we need Alpha 6 urgently.with a new interface,
easier to use,with content sensitive help,and very stable.

[ecsaltz]

Re: Alpha 9 Platinum Edition keeps freezing

I have the same initial problem mentioned here with A5v9 - Build 1995 - I'm running Windows 2008 Server 64 Bit configured in what is informally known as Windows 2008 Workstation 64 Bit. Actually, it's sort of a step between Vista and Windows 7, but is known to be based on the Vista code base.

In doing WAS projects, I get screen freezes, but some top level menu controls still seem to work. Strangely, I recover most of the time by selecting View->Settings, then immediately canceling. Alpha then seems to behave okay until the next freeze-up, then I repeat my fix again.

Can anyone else confirm my approach works for them? Also, are you running a 32 bit or 64 bit O/S? If anyone has another work-around, please post it in this thread.

[John G]

Re: Alpha 9 Platinum Edition keeps freezing

I came to this thread as a result of a search hoping to find a fix for my constant freeezes, again in more evidence since installing the latest patches. I'm also using Vista Ultimate.

I'm unable to tie down to specifics but, for what it's worth, A5 does seem to freeze when I'm saving a new routine, form, or changing SQL table definitions. Common factors are changes in the programming. All seems to run OK if until changes are made to the prog. On freeze-up occasions, the processor activity shoots to 100% and stays. My OS is 32 bit, so I'd be interested to hear if 64 bit systems show any improvement.

It seems that the answer (short term, for me at any rate) is to go back to XP Pro! (or maybe just give in and go LINUX ...)

[robert]

Re: Alpha 9 Platinum Edition keeps freezing

It would seem that these problems are related to Alpha5 but there's also another consideration. I read the forum at EVGA.com and it seems that BIOS upgrades for some NVIDIA boards cause sporadic freeze ups. Most people running Vista (like myself, 64 bit) have newer mother boards. I wonder what boards people in this forum are using? After I downloaded the latest BIOS for my EVGA NVIDIA 780i mother board, I get infrequent freezes that last only 5-10 seconds.

[Tommy Thompson]

Re: Alpha 9 Platinum Edition keeps freezing

Build 1995-3248 XP-Pro SP3

I too am having issues that are really making me wonder about v9. It's hard to send a bug report because I am having trouble determining just when the problems occur. Attached are 2 errors that pop up regularly. I am also experiencing freezes occasionally. There is another error that says something about not being able to write to a memory location and then it tells me A5 must close. Unfortunately, I don't have a picture of it.

This is getting to be like a car I once had. I really liked it, but I was afraid to venture too far with it.

[John G]

Re: Alpha 9 Platinum Edition keeps freezing

Just a bit more information, after a day of continual re-starts with Alpha.

It seems that about 40% of the lock-ups occur when COPY function is used, either from menu or by right-click

I could replicate this when copying a lookup item from a cascading table in lookup field rule, 3 times out of four. I've also noticed that it can happen when I COPY a form from one database to another.

Vista enables write-behind by default for all drives including , but I disabled this (Device Manager/Hard Drives/Properties/Policies ) and saw nil improvement.

I also note that when the freeze occurs, that not only does my processor shoot to 100%, but when I start task manager to 'terminate', Alpha5 is showing as using at least 230,00k of my mem! (last occasion, 238,328).

Therefore I have a gut feeling that Alpha is not using memory within Vista to best advantage, and is in fact mis-using it, causing these problems.

Either way, I'm becoming very frustrated at the non-production. I don't want to step back to XP, and like the SQL features of V9, but at what expense .. ? Has anyone put in a bug report yet?

[semoore]

Re: Alpha 9 Platinum Edition keeps freezing

Replicate freezing? Sure, just leave Alpha Five idle for about 10 minutes, minimized.

I hate to say this, but we DON'T NEED version 10; we need 9 fixed; matter of fact, let's go all the way back to versions 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 and then 9 and fix the issues that still arise in all of them!

I've used A5 for what seems to be centuries; it's a great database product, but some of the bugs that still exist have been around for a long, long time. I think A5 has moved way too quickly between versions. I think I bought version 6 about 1 1/2 years ago; received v7 for free since it was due out within the next 60 days. Now, we are already at 9? 5.x up to 5.5 did not work correctly; some of the same issues from that version still show up in version 9; i.e. the idle freeze up.

I haven't really searched the forums for fixes, but I just felt I had to express my opinion about the versions moving so quickly without a real fix to issues in previous versions. They were just left dead in the water and it seemed that no one cared about them anymore! So, the answer isn't move to the next version.. the answer is to localize all the bugs and fix them. Move to the next version when they are done!

Sorry, and don't get me wrong.. I absolutely LOVE Alpha Five! In my opinion you can't beat it! I wouldn't recommend any other database program either, but someone has to draw the line on bug fixes causing a new version to be put out!

Thanks and have a great day!

[MikeC]

Re: Alpha 9 Platinum Edition keeps freezing

Hi Shane,
regarding---

some of the same issues from that version still show up in version 9; i.e. the idle freeze up.

This is absolutely the very first time I have even heard of an issue of Alpha freezing up due to sitting at an idle.....but then I have only read a few thousand posts (the last 3 years worth and those read when searching out answers). Something to be aware of I gather.

BTW, I do agree for the most part in what has been wished for from Alpha...to try to fix more of the outstanding issues and to extend the time (or at least ANNOUNCE when bug fixes are no longer accepted!!!--advance notice would even be better!) for fixing them.