There seems to no incoming or outgoing mail.

Well, I guess there is after all....

--- Virtual Advanced Ver 2 for DOS
* Origin: *Square One Christian BBS - sq1bbs.com - In God We Trust (1:3634/22)

Re: REX is waiting for config files to be unlocked
By: Bill Gordon to Bill Gordon on Wed Dec 19 2012 22:20:11

There seems to no incoming or outgoing mail.

Well, I guess there is after all....

Indeed there is <G>
--- SBBSecho 2.12-Win32
* Origin: The Lions Den BBS, Trenton, On, CDN (1:249/303)

There seems to no incoming or outgoing mail.

Well, I guess there is after all....

Indeed there is <G>

Yeah, but I still got that cycle and the message... It may be working, but what's causing the cycle and the message?

--- Virtual Advanced Ver 2 for DOS
* Origin: *Square One Christian BBS - sq1bbs.com - In God We Trust (1:3634/22)

Re: REX is waiting for config files to be unlocked
By: Bill Gordon to Joe Delahaye on Thu Dec 20 2012 14:05:16

Yeah, but I still got that cycle and the message... It may be working, but what's causing the cycle and the message?

If you exit from the rex config utility the wrong way, it will leave a busy semaphore, thus preventing Rex from starting up, or continuing. Remove that semaphone, and all will work once more. I have my Rex startup batch file check for that and if it exists, it will remove it.
--- SBBSecho 2.12-Win32
* Origin: The Lions Den BBS, Trenton, On, CDN (1:249/303)

01 Jan 70 00:00, Joe Delahaye wrote to Bill Gordon:

Re: REX is waiting for config files to be unlocked
By: Bill Gordon to Joe Delahaye on Thu Dec 20 2012 14:05:16

Yeah, but I still got that cycle and the message... It may be working,
but what's causing the cycle and the message?

If you exit from the rex config utility the wrong way, it will leave
a busy semaphore, thus preventing Rex from starting up, or
continuing. Remove that semaphone, and all will work once more. I
have my Rex startup batch file check for that and if it exists, it
will remove it.

As simple as a batch file search for *.0, as in rexbusy.0 ... then 'if
exist rexbusy.0 del rexbusy.0' and then loop back to restart Irex...

The rexbusy.0 semaphore should be in your 'flags' or 'semaphore' directory
as configed in Rexcfg.exe ...


R\%/itt - K5RXT/887 - 1 DAY

The End of the World!

Amateur Radio Station K5RXT, having registered on the N0D website,
www.nowzerodays.com, is hereby designated Official N0D Doomsday Radio
Station Number 887 - a member of the Doomsday Special Event Network
for as long as we last!


--- Ya have ta ask yourself: What Would Roy Witt Do?
* Origin: Texas Lone-Star - Texan, American, USAian (1:387/22)

If you exit from the rex config utility the wrong way, it will leave a busy semaphore, thus preventing Rex from starting up, or continuing. Remove that semaphone, and all will work once more. I have my Rex startup batch file che for that and if it exists, it will remove it.

Nope, nothing there that is not supposed to be. Not a ".0" file anywhere. And still I have the thing saying "REX is waiting for config files to be unlocked", but it IS working.

Any more ideas?

--- Virtual Advanced Ver 2 for DOS
* Origin: *Square One Christian BBS - sq1bbs.com - In God We Trust (1:3634/22)

Re: REX is waiting for config files to be unlocked
By: Bill Gordon to Joe Delahaye on Thu Dec 20 2012 20:23:14

Nope, nothing there that is not supposed to be. Not a ".0" file anywhere. And still I have the thing saying "REX is waiting for config files to be unlocked", but it IS working.

Any more ideas?

You have checked all the subfolders/directories withing Irex? Have the correct
paths inserted, etc? As Roy showed you, here is MY batch file that I start Rex
with on windows startup even

cd \irex
if exist c:\irex\sema\rex*.* del c:\irex\sema\rex*.*
rexw -daemon

--- SBBSecho 2.12-Win32
* Origin: The Lions Den BBS, Trenton, On, CDN (1:249/303)

Bre'r Bill Gordon wrote about RE:REX is waiting for config files to be unlocked to Bre'r Joe Delahaye:

If you exit from the rex config utility the wrong way, it will leave a
busy semaphore, thus preventing Rex from starting up, or continuing.
Remove that semaphone, and all will work once more. I have my Rex
startup batch file che for that and if it exists, it will remove it.

Nope, nothing there that is not supposed to be. Not a ".0" file
anywhere. And still I have the thing saying "REX is waiting for
config files to be unlocked", but it IS working.

You must have been using REXCFG at one time and didn't exit it properly.
Maybe during a crash or a reboot while it was still running. When REXCFG
is invoked, it locks up REX and waits for you to exit and SAVE whatever it
was that you changed or added to the CFG file.

Any more ideas?

Dunno what else it could be at this point. Take a look at your *.LOG files
and see if you can find anything out of the ordinary happening some time
in the past - since your last CFG session.


R\%/itt - K5RXT/887 - 0 DAYS

The End of the World!

Amateur Radio Station K5RXT, having registered on the N0D website,
www.nowzerodays.com, is hereby designated Official N0D Doomsday Radio
Station Number 887 - a member of the Doomsday Special Event Network
for as long as we last!


--- Ya have ta ask yourself: What Would Roy Witt Do?
* Origin: Texas Lone-Star - Texan, American, USAian (1:387/22)

17 Sep 24 15:12, Joe Delahaye wrote to Bill Gordon:

Any more ideas?

You have checked all the subfolders/directories withing Irex? Have
the correct paths inserted, etc? As Roy showed you, here is MY batch
file that I start Rex with on windows startup even

cd \irex
if exist c:\irex\sema\rex*.* del c:\irex\sema\rex*.*
rexw -daemon

If you want to load REX as a service, rather than a program in a window,
you can use this line to load it.

rexw -daemon -tray

When you load it this way, it will reside as a small icon in the tray next
to your system clock. You can mouse click on the icon to bring it up in a window of its own and when you're done with it, a click on the Window X
will put it back in the tray. i.e. you haven't exited IREX, you've just
closed the window. Only Alt-X will (should) close REX...


R\%/itt - K5RXT/887 - 0 DAYS

The End of the World!

Amateur Radio Station K5RXT, having registered on the N0D website,
www.nowzerodays.com, is hereby designated Official N0D Doomsday Radio
Station Number 887 - a member of the Doomsday Special Event Network
for as long as we last!


--- Ya have ta ask yourself: What Would Roy Witt Do?
* Origin: Texas Lone-Star - Texan, American, USAian (1:387/22)

If you want to load REX as a service, rather than a program in a window,
you can use this line to load it.

rexw -daemon -tray

When you load it this way, it will reside as a small icon in the tray next
to your system clock. You can mouse click on the icon to bring it up in a window of its own and when you're done with it, a click on the Window X
will put it back in the tray. i.e. you haven't exited IREX, you've just closed the window. Only Alt-X will (should) close REX...

Hey, thanks, that's a great bit of information. Appreciate it.

--- Virtual Advanced Ver 2 for DOS
* Origin: *Square One Christian BBS - sq1bbs.com - In God We Trust (1:3634/22)

Bre'r Bill Gordon wrote about RE:REX is waiting for config files to be unlocked to Bre'r Roy Witt:

If you want to load REX as a service, rather than a program in a
window, you can use this line to load it.

rexw -daemon -tray

When you load it this way, it will reside as a small icon in the tray
next to your system clock. You can mouse click on the icon to bring it
up in a window of its own and when you're done with it, a click on the
Window X will put it back in the tray. i.e. you haven't exited IREX,
you've just closed the window. Only Alt-X will (should) close REX...

Hey, thanks, that's a great bit of information. Appreciate it.

You're welcome.


R\%/itt - K5RXT/0887 - 0 DAY



The End of the World!

Amateur Radio Station K5RXT, having registered on the N0D website,
www.nowzerodays.com, is hereby designated Official N0D Doomsday Radio
Station Number 887 - a member of the Doomsday Special Event Network
for as long as we last!


--- Ya have ta ask yourself: What Would Roy Witt Do?
* Origin: Texas Lone-Star - Texan, American, USAian (1:387/22)

For reasons unknown to us Bill Gordon said thus to Roy Witt:

will put it back in the tray. i.e. you haven't exited IREX,
you've just closed the window. Only Alt-X will (should) close
REX...

Hey, thanks, that's a great bit of information. Appreciate it.

Also, a good idea is, to create a backup of your irex directory when it is working. I do it here frequently to an external drive because sometimes windows will update and then reboot. If Irex happened to be running at that time.... I get the same thing you're talking about. I just reboot, delete my existing Irex directory and copy over the backup and I'm back running again. :)


+---------------------------------------------------+
| The Curmudgeon yahoo gaylenhintz |
| ghintz@itctel.com |
| telnet to curmudge.hopto.org |
+---------------------------------------------------+

* PowerSIG/Win32 v2.00/alpha 1

... Women go on diets. Men just eat less... and grow fat.
--- timEd 1.10.y2k+
* Origin: The Curmudgeon's Place telnet://curmudge.hopto.org !! (1:288/34)

Re: REX is waiting for config files to be unlocked

For reasons unknown to us Bill Gordon said thus to Roy Witt:

will put it back in the tray. i.e. you haven't exited IREX,
you've just closed the window. Only Alt-X will (should) close
REX...

Hey, thanks, that's a great bit of information. Appreciate it.

Also, a good idea is, to create a backup of your irex directory when it is working. I do it here frequently to an external drive because sometimes wind will update and then reboot. If Irex happened to be running at that time.... get the same thing you're talking about. I just reboot, delete my existing I directory and copy over the backup and I'm back running again. :)

Hi Gaylen, long time no talk to <g> how you doing you old codger? I have never had that problem with my irex, set it up the first time i started using it and it's been running ever since.

Tim

--- Virtual Advanced Ver 2 for DOS
* Origin: Deep Space 69 BBS - telnet://ds69bbs.com - Florida (1:135/364)

For reasons unknown to us Timothy Cornett said thus to Gaylen Hintz:

If Irex happened to be running at that time.... get the same
thing you're talking about. I just reboot, delete my existing I
directory and copy over the backup and I'm back running again.
:)

Hi Gaylen, long time no talk to <g> how you doing you old
codger? I have never had that problem with my irex, set it up

Doing fairly well but busy as heck. One more year till I can retire and believe me I'm looking forward to it. :)

the first time i started using it and it's been running ever
since.

Yeah , some people have that luck but though it happens rarely, it does happen
occasionally. Might just be cause I'm running two boards, Synchronet ( for DoveNet mail ) and of course I've switched all the way back to ProBoard for my regular board. Yeah, I like being retro I guess. :) Like I said though, it only happens when I have an automatic Windows update and Irex is performing some duty or other. <sigh>

Take care and good hearing from you.


+---------------------------------------------------+
| The Curmudgeon yahoo gaylenhintz |
| ghintz@itctel.com |
| telnet to curmudge.hopto.org |
+---------------------------------------------------+

* PowerSIG/Win32 v2.00/alpha 1

... Help! I've fallen down....and I can't reach my beer!
--- timEd 1.10.y2k+
* Origin: The Curmudgeon's Place telnet://curmudge.hopto.org !! (1:288/34)

Re: REX is waiting for config files to be unlocked
By: Gaylen Hintz to Timothy Cornett on Sat Mar 30 2013 02:47 am

Yeah , some people have that luck but though it happens rarely, it does happen occasionally. Might just be cause I'm running two boards, Synchronet ( for DoveNet mail ) and of course I've switched all the way back to ProBoard for my regular board. Yeah, I like being retro I
guess. :) Like I said though, it only happens when I have an automatic performing some duty or other.

The only way you'll be able to fix that problem is to set Windows to download the updates, but not apply them or reboot your machine until you say so. That way you can safely download/install updates, shut down Irex safely, and reboot.

Regards,
Nick

--- SBBSecho 2.20-Linux
* Origin: thePharcyde_ telnet://bbs.pharcyde.org (Wisconsin) (1:154/10)

Yeah , some people have that luck but though it happens rarely, it
does happen occasionally. Might just be cause I'm running two
boards, Synchronet ( for DoveNet mail ) and of course I've
switched all the way back to ProBoard for my regular board. Yeah,
I like being retro I guess. :) Like I said though, it only
happens when I have an automatic performing some duty or other.

The only way you'll be able to fix that problem is to set Windows
to download the updates, but not apply them or reboot your machine
until you say so. That way you can safely download/install
updates, shut down Irex safely, and reboot.

that may not always work the way you want it to... m$ can still override and force the update in along with the reboot... this is exactly what happened to bob juge's large and very popular system... it corrupted the VM that his fidonet stuff was running in, the backups were bad, and the drives the original
image(s) were made from were no longer available... it was too much to loose and too much to try to recover so he ended up leaving fidonet because of it... it was a huge blow to the network and there was a lot of folks having to adjust
their systems to connect elsewhere for their traffic...

)\/(ark

---
* Origin: (1:3634/12.42)

Re: REX is waiting for config files to be unlocked
By: mark lewis to Nicholas Boel on Sat Mar 30 2013 05:21 pm

The only way you'll be able to fix that problem is to set Windows
to download the updates, but not apply them or reboot your machine
until you say so. That way you can safely download/install
updates, shut down Irex safely, and reboot.

that may not always work the way you want it to... m$ can still override and force the update in along with the reboot... this is exactly what happened to bob juge's large and very popular system... it corrupted the VM that his fidonet stuff was running in, the backups were bad, and the drives the original image(s) were made from were no longer available... it was too much to loose and too much to try to recover so he ended up leaving fidonet because of it... it was a huge blow to the network and there was a lot of folks having to adjust their systems to connect elsewhere for their traffic...

Eh.. I've always been able to set Windows to download updates, but never install them until I tell it to. This problem may lie in the fact that noone ever takes a LOOK at the updates before they install them. You DO have the option to NOT install an update if you don't want to. Letting everything M$ puts through go by is a problem in itself. That's why I switched to Linux over a decade ago, and only keep a small Windows partition for any gaming addiction I may encounter. :)

As for the huge system you speak of, they basically lost interest, more or less. If they were still interested, they would have come back up from scratch, because that's what Sysops do. Simple rescans would have gotten them their message bases back in order. I/You/We/All of us may back up our stuff daily, but if the interest isn't there anymore, that's it.

Regards,
Nick

--- SBBSecho 2.20-Linux
* Origin: thePharcyde_ telnet://bbs.pharcyde.org (Wisconsin) (1:154/10)

The only way you'll be able to fix that problem is to set Windows
to download the updates, but not apply them or reboot your machine
until you say so. That way you can safely download/install
updates, shut down Irex safely, and reboot.

that may not always work the way you want it to... m$ can still
override and force the update in along with the reboot... this is
exactly what happened to bob juge's large and very popular
system... it corrupted the VM that his fidonet stuff was running
in, the backups were bad, and the drives the original image(s)
were made from were no longer available... it was too much to
loose and too much to try to recover so he ended up leaving
fidonet because of it... it was a huge blow to the network and
there was a lot of folks having to adjust their systems to connect elsewhere for their traffic...

Eh.. I've always been able to set Windows to download updates, but
never install them until I tell it to. This problem may lie in the
fact that noone ever takes a LOOK at the updates before they
install them. You DO have the option to NOT install an update if
you don't want to.

true but this is not what happened to bob's system... an update was forced by m$ even though his settings were to not apply them automatically... the update then required a reboot which it also performed... apparently that reboot process didn't shutdown the VM and corrupted it beyond recovery...

Letting everything M$ puts through go by is a problem in itself.

i've only had problems with update a few times in all the years since w9x came out... they were worse in the beginning but have gotten better... most of those
problems were hardware driver related... outside of that, my systems have installed all security and important updates...

That's why I switched to Linux over a decade ago, and only keep a
small Windows partition for any gaming addiction I may encounter.
:)

linux updates have their own problems, too ;)

As for the huge system you speak of, they basically lost interest,
more or less. If they were still interested, they would have come
back up from scratch, because that's what Sysops do. Simple rescans
would have gotten them their message bases back in order.

you can't rescan what isn't available from your upstream... there weren't many top level hubs retaining messages for rescans...

I/You/We/All of us may back up our stuff daily, but if the interest
isn't there anymore, that's it.

unless a backup is tested by restoring it, one will never know if it is good or
not until it is too late... even then it may work for one or two test restores and fail on the one that's absolutely necessary... i can't count the numbers of
times that i've run backups with verification that all passed but were total garbage when needed for restoring... especially bad were the corporate ones for
my clients at the time... the worst was after investing in DAT tape backup as an upgrade from the "normal" tape backup stuff...

i won't even mention the problem of where to backup to...

in any case, bob worked on his system for a week or two trying to recover it and it was just too much... one of the problems with starting over again was also that the OS being run in the VM was not windows and his setup was not workable in windows... kinda like mine... there's no way i can do on windows or
linux what i do in OS/2... especially not with how i've used 4DOS/4OS2 scripting capabilities and definitely not with all the DOS software in operation... heck, it won't even work in a pure DOS environment any more...

)\/(ark

---
* Origin: (1:3634/12.42)

Re: REX is waiting for config files to be unlocked

Doing fairly well but busy as heck. One more year till I can retire and believe me I'm looking forward to it. :)

Yeah I can imagine you are, I'm looking forward to retiring soon myself, especially since I just got married again this past May. Wife is even running her own BBS (VADV of course) <G>

the first time i started using it and it's been running ever
since.

Yeah , some people have that luck but though it happens rarely, it does happ occasionally. Might just be cause I'm running two boards, Synchronet ( for DoveNet mail ) and of course I've switched all the way back to ProBoard for m regular board. Yeah, I like being retro I guess. :) Like I said though, it only happens when I have an automatic Windows update and Irex is performing s duty or other. <sigh>

You run 2 boards and I run 2 mailers, (out of neccessity) For some reason beyond both me and my fido hub I can't connect to them by irex, when I do on the second time we connect my irex will just drop. Only does that with my fidohub. So I use argus to connect to my fidohub and have most of my downlinks on my irex.

Take care and good hearing from you.

You take care too and talk to you later. God Bless!!

Tim


...Water is the MOST essential element because without it one can not make coffee

--- Virtual Advanced Ver 2 for DOS
* Origin: Deep Space 69 BBS - telnet://ds69bbs.com - Florida (1:135/364)