Newsbin losing its way?

[MCorbeek]

OK, I'm getting slightly frustrated. Ever since version 6.2 I am getting the same problem again and again. Every 3 or 4 days Newsbin seems to have lost all information about which articles have been read before and starts reading all headers (which in some of the groups means loading 800.000.000+ headers which takes 5 or 6 hours).
I have deinstalled Newsbin and reinstalled it using all default settings (only changing the max. connections to 4): same result.
Another strange thing: in the options I put the download age to 7 days and display age to 14 days to try to minimize the number of headers to download but this makes no difference; it will still download headers of 58 days ago.

[Quade]

1 - You download headers for a group.

2 - Newsbin records the last record number for the group in "Range.db3" located in the group folder

<Data Folder>\Spool_v6\<group name>

3 - Next time you update the group, Newsbin consults Range.db3, gets the last record number and downloads from there forward.

You can see it's pretty simple.
- Range.db3 files could be getting corrupted.
- Permissions problem writing to range.db3.
- Server could by lying about record ranges.
- ? Mystery maybe some other file mode.

I think something is happening to your range.db3 files. If you delete the range.db3, Newsbin will use "Download Age" to download headers next time you update. In the newer versions, under "Post Storage" in the group right click menu, you can tell Newsbin to use "Download Age" again. So, if this happens again, you could set to the download age to 1, select all the groups and then reset, to use "Download Age" again.

The fact it's going back longer than download age suggests that something is still in the range.db3, just not the correct something. How often are you updating the groups? What's the chance it's never remembering and you only notice this when it's been awhile since last update?

[MCorbeek]

I am downloading the new headers about every day. I tried the download to download age option and indeed then I only get the last 7 days.

What I have tried so far:
- run Newsbin both as normal user and as administrator.
- use the delete stored posts, tried all the purge options, deleted the range.db3 file manually, delete all files in the spool directory, reinstall newsbin and tried all previous actions.
- Checked the forums on the news server I am using, but nobody else is complaining.

So far the only thing that is apparent: the versions before 6.2 ran without a glitch and I am having this behaviour since version 6.2.

I am now thinking about going back to an older version; call me strange but I just want to use an application and not have to use all kind of weird workarounds.

[MCorbeek]

Sorry, I saw your last sentence a little too late. If the range.db3 file is never updated I guess the problem would happen every time I use the program. But that is not the case: it happens about every 3 or 4 days and in between the program behaves as expected. File dates seems to be indicating that the file is being updated.

The only other explanation could be resources: it seems to be happeing oftener if the load on my machine is heavier (e.g. if I am recoding a video file).

[Quade]

It's never happened to me and I use header downloads exclusively. That means this is probably going to come down to being something weird and maybe local. I'd suggest making your V scanner ignore the data folder. Is the data folder on a normal internal drive?

What server are you using?

[MCorbeek]

Well, after working OK since saturday today after update all groups no new posts what so ever, even in groups that normally have 100s of new messages. Deleted stored posts, use download age and updated again and now there were posts includig new ones since yesterday.

My data file is on a local harddisk, default location (on C: in users folder). News server is news.quicket.nl. Virus scanner is Avast version 7.

[Quade]

Deleted stored posts,

No reason to do this.

news.quicket.nl.

I wonder if it's the server then? You're literally having a problem nobody else is. It sounds like the server isn't returning consistent counts. As an experiment, you might sign up with Supernews for a month and see if the symptoms go away.

[Moondawgie]

While I don't think that Newsbin is "losing its way", I will say that I have been experiencing the same problems. I hadn't mentioned anything before now as I've been working on ensuring that the problem isn't due to some problem with my computer, it's connection to the internet, or the nntp server at Giganews.

I have no such problems retrieving all the available message headers for that newsgroup using The Mimo Usenet Browser, version 0.2.4, provided by Giganews, nor with the Forte Agent News Reader, version 6.0.

Thus far:

1. I thought the problem might have been hard drive. It failed while I was working with just one newsgroup, alt.binaries.erotica (Go ahead and judge me ). However, with a new hard drive (Western Digital VelociRaptor WD6000HLHX 600GB 10000 RPM SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal), dedicated to single purpose of hosting the Newsbin Data folder, subfolders, and files, and a fresh installation of Newsbin, Version 6.31 RC4, the problem continues.

2. I thought it might be my internet connection (30Mbps cable - Tested 33Mbps/8Mbps). I had been utilizing L2TP connections through the VPN services of IPVanish (VyprVPN was far too unreliable), but problems have been discovered by IPVanish involving their customer's use of L2TP connections with their service. They are reportedly working on resolving the problems now. I've switched to using OpenVPN connections through the VPN servers instead. However, with both "standard" and OpenVPN connections, the problem continues.

3. I thought it might be the nntp server(s) at news.giganews.com. However, a member of the Giganews support staff reports they don't see any problems with that newsgroup.

4. I thought it might be my computer (See specs below in my signature). But a variety of different diagnostics don't disclose any problems. However, while retrieving headers for that newsgroup, my computer's performance grows increasingly less, and less responsive.

Please not that I'm not yet complaining, or reporting any bug. I only wanted speak up and let it be known that the initial poster is not alone with his experience. My personal search for the cause of the problem continues. If I discover anything useful, I'll post again.

At the moment I'm utlizing the method described elsewhere in these forums, which involved first changing the Download Age option in Newsbin to 30 days, and then, after deleting all files in my installation's alt.binaries.erotica folder, retrieving latest headers. After 1 hour and 36 minutes, that initial retrieval just completed. I'm now working on retrieving all older posts, 5,000,000 at a time.

[Quade]

Edit: I re-read it and it might sound similar. It's not really clear. I mean, why purge the group? Just resetting the range and download latest will catch up, just like I explained to this the OP.


This sounds nothing like the original posters problem. He's downloading headers happily for 2 weeks and then something resets and he downloads a crapload of headers that he already has (or isn't getting new headers he thinks should be there). Something happens with the mapping between what Newsbin thinks is the latest headers and what the server says is the latest headers.

You've not actually explained you issue though.

How about starting a new topic and explain your symptoms and setup. The thing you want to keep in mind is "Download all Header" only once. If it stops downloading headers after that. Use "Download latest". If you constantly hit "download all" you reset everything back to the beginning.

[Moondawgie]

I'll create a separate topic if and when I come to the conclusion that the problem can only be attributed to Newsbin.

Please feel free to delete my above post.

[Quade]

It's not happening to me and I use that group and that server. It's not a giganews issue and likely has nothing to do with the VPN's or anything like that. As long as you get a connection and can download, you know it's not a connectivity problem at the network level.

It's like I explained to the OP. It's going to be something like "storage age" or your virus scanner or something related.

[MichaelW_]

It's like I explained to the OP. It's going to be something like "storage age" or your virus scanner or something related.

Just one thing that might help, with Avast I saw some network weirdness until I went into real time shields - mail shield - expert settings - and unchecked NNTP.

[Quade]

That's good to know.