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digsby

Help Us Fix Crashes!

November 13, 2008 @ 2:13 pm EST · Filed under Alpha Releases, News

Every day we get crash reports from about 0.1% of our users. While that may not sound like much, we want to make Digsby as reliable as possible. The last few remaining crash causing bugs have been pretty mysterious and even the crash reports are not helping us hunt them down.

Often times something goes wrong but the application does not crash until later so the original cause is not obvious. We created a version of Digsby that records MUCH more diagnostic information as it runs.  It keeps track of its state after every little thing that happens and as soon as it detects something going wrong it will crash. Getting crash reports from this version of Digsby will make the bugs much more apparent and we should be able to fix them right away.

We need your help! If Digsby crashes for you pretty regularly, please follow the instructions below to use this test release.

  • Step 1: Read the warnings below!
  • Step 2: Download it here: http://update.digsby.com/digsby_debug.zip
  • Step 3: Unzip the folder somewhere (ie: your desktop)
  • Step 4: Instead of clicking the shortcut you normally click, run Digsby.exe inside the Digsby folder you just unzipped
  • Step 5: Click “Help > About” to make sure that you are running dev
  • Step 6: If it crashes, please submit a crash report when prompted to do so

WARNING 1: This debug version of Digsby will NOT run on Windows Vista. Please only participate if you are running Windows XP 32-bit.

WARNING 2: The conversation themes are disabled. The IM window will look very plain – that is not a bug.

WARNING 3: This version of Digsby will run more slowly than the regular release because of all the diagnostic stuff happening under the hood. Use it until you get Digsby to crash a few times and then feel free to switch back to the regular release if it is running too slowly for you.

  • Hi,

    I've been using Digsby since one of the first versions. I like the fact that it's so multifunctional. I would like to suggest a new feature, though. How about an RSS feedreader? That would be quite useful for me and a lot of people, I'm sure.

    Thank you,
  • @Jeff:
    Maybe the crashes you were experiencing were related to conversation themes? I think I may have been experiencing a similar crash.
  • Jeff
    I downloaded the dev release and it has not crashed once, yet the regular version still does fairly regularly.

    It does not make sense.
  • actually guys, I was just reading some of your messages above with Firefox in regards to digsby. I've had numerous problems with Firefox 3 lately. For instance, whenever I try to load a file onto a webpage in digsby, firefox crashes, pretty much immediately, rather I choose "open" or click the big red "X" firefox crashes. as soon as I click that "browse" button and the browse window pops up.

    so in order to attach avatars to a forum, pictures to a forum, etc etc, I have to use IE 7 instead, which runs really really really slow in Vista for some reason. that phishing filter er whatever it is is whats slowing it down the most I think.
  • I have a challenge for you computer geeks out there.

    I keep getting this RunDLL error after booting up WIndows Vista, while the startup programs are loading up

    RunDLL error:

    Error loading: C:\Windows\system32\opnnI LCs.dll

    and its right, a file in the system32 directory called
    opnnI LCs.dll doesn't exist oon my computer, but the problem I am having, is figuring out what application this file belongs to, does anyone have a clue by chance? I tried google searching for the file. I friend of mine found a brief reference to trillian, but Its not trillian I know that, could it be digsby perhaps? otherwise I have no clue. I don't even know how to disable it from trying to run at startup, I'd be happy with that right now until I can figure out what application this file is associated with. this ones a real puzzle.

    thanks
  • I can't even get my current version to login right now. "Connection Lost" after Connecting and Authenticating flash by a few times.
  • orni
    Could it be possible to get only a module of Digsby?

    I mean, if I'm only interested on the email part of Digsby, is it possible to only download and install the email part?
  • @Hobbes: We're going to tackle the known issues with file transfers over the next couple builds to make them solid!

    @Devilman676: Surprised you even got it running on Vista. The debug release was not meant for it :)
  • the only problem i've ran into is file transfer. the protocols for digsby and other IM services like AIM don't match up very well, and thus, every single files transfer i've tried has failed.
  • Devilman676
    Vista-home premium.

    Did the update yesterday, no longer asks me if I wish to close all tabs that I have open, can not transfer files using any IM client. Completely locked up my laptop twice since I did the upgrade. Other then that, every thing is A-OK :~p
  • i am eagerly awaiting a linux release! :)
  • @Matt: Thank you. If you get it to crash we'll most likely be able to fix the bug that is causing your issue right away.

    @R: Sending you an email so we can figure out what went wrong.
  • Matt
    It's been happening for a few days now, and when it crashes it takes down my entire network stack. XP SP3 32bit.

    Just yesterday I was watching a video on my Xbox and a window suddenly came up that said "Computer name invalid". I went and looked and sure enough, Digsby was dead and it took my network connection with it. It's been stuck like that a few times as well when I get back from work.

    I'll grab the debug version, hope it helps.
  • R
    My Digsby auto-updated.

    I never had any problems with crashes before, but now it will not run. It either jams while checking for updates or doesn't open at all. Please help me revert!!
  • Michael
    You should call up Green Hills Software and ask them to help you out. They have a product which records the state of your application in a buffer as its running. Then when the program crashes, it dumps the applications history into a file. You can open up that file and step through the application as if it was a live program.

    Just thought it would help you out in this situation.
  • Brian
    Further to James' report, I've noticed that if I have message window open and MSN disconnects, the active msg window seems to stop working..

    IE: if the same users messages me again it will open a new tab.

    I believe that anything I send in the initial tab will also not get saved to history.

    This has been happening for some time too.
  • @Alan: We forgot to mention that it will only run on 32bit XP - adding that to the blog now.

    @jaba: Are you running 64 bit XP? Vista? 32 bit XP?

    @James: Sending you an email so we can figure out what is going wrong.
  • Geo
    Running great on Windows Server 2008 x86 on a Dell Laptop. No crashes, even on alpha versions. I haven't seen the Firefox spike in CPU usage either since I updated to 3.1 Beta 1. Perhaps there's another system variable that causes such problems. Maybe Server 2008 is more efficient.

    Wanting to try it on Windows 7 Pre-beta but I need a good scrap laptop just for testing.
  • Alan
    XP 64bit here. Had two crashes since the last autoupdate. Digsby has been very stable to me in the past.

    This debug version won't even run. No errors. Nothing.
  • jana
    I figured I would help out with the testing since digsby is crashing quite often on my machine. I downloaded the above file, extracted it and then attempted to launch the .exe file. I know it states that it will run MUCH slower but it took over 15 mins to launch the application..ie it stated loading for over 15 mins. Is this normal?

    Please advise. I also noticed that when running digsby on my machine, it seems slightly resource intense compared to trillian.

    Regards,
  • stihia
    Updated today - no crashes here. I'm running Win XP SP3, no software firewall (I'm on a router).
    Congratulations!
  • James
    Work is a little too swamped for me right now to look into downloading the special diagnostic version, especially if it runs slowly because I really rely heavily on IM for my job. (So sorry for not being able to participate.)

    I've seen several bugs in the past few days:
    (1) I have my tabs clustered. A new user will pop an IM while I'm away at a meeting. When I get back, I will be unable to see that IM because it won't repaint the tabbed chat box correctly. (I almost always will have multiple Yahoo! and one person who has both Facebook and Gmail and will be talking to me with one of those.)

    (2) I will get errors of "too many files open" from Digsby.

    (3) The missing chat will not be saved in the chat history.

    But the unifying factor is that I'll have been chatting with multiple people and stepped away from the computer with the tabbed chat window up on the screen with one or more chat tabs on it when I left and one new one when I got back, usually (possibly always) from a service that wasn't open in a chat window when I left.

    I don't think I had any crashes yesterday (Wednesday), but did on Monday and Tuesday.

    James (Alpha Tester)
  • jimlw
    I've been crashing several times a day on an XP box, so I'll set up the debug version. The vista install has been much more stable.

    It seems to occur for me most often when it's not the active window and I'm working in another app (almost always a browser).
  • Hi, in my machine digsby runs smoother and faster.. but it takes time when loading.. a lil bit of time.. i guess.. :( except this problem.. really digsby saves my lots of time.. keep up the good work guys.. waiting for moreeee.......
  • Hi there the Digsby Team,

    I've often done bug fixes for such things as Racer Xtreme by Ruud van Gaal http://www.racer.nl/ and I software broker free2use&free2keep software over the last twenty odd years on my web site.
    I noticed HERE that your debugging Digsby does not run on vista, at the moment I'm running windws vista 64 bit on this computer and Linux Ubuntu on an old pentium 3. if you want me to give it a go anyhow please feel free to email me, maybe even send me a copy I can test run for you guys and guyesses.
    EnjoY
    mailto:mdbobbo@treezone.co.nz
  • Ian
    Well I've been using digsby for a while now. None of my other machines (all XP) had issues with crashing but my new computer has had to digsby crashes. I'm running Vista Home Premium 64-bit. Both occurrences were random (no similar programs running). It seems that so far the developers are focusing on resolving XP issues prior to Vista. Since it hasn't been crashing regularly I'm not too worried yet. I would, however, like to know why my connection to facebook regularly disconnects.
  • @uthavaakkarai: These are not those kinds of logs. It keeps track of each time it write to RAM or reads from RAM and makes sure the data is not corrupted.
  • Ryan
    The addition of the monitor unplugging features is great, as I have (or should I say, had) that problem frequently when leaving work. Good work!
  • I haven't ever got any crash on XP. The same on Vista for me. ^_^

    Btw good luck for these last bug, I hope you'll fix them.

    Lovin' Digsby !
  • uthavaakkarai
    I would like to help with this effort. But I have a concern. How secure is the dev build? Does it log sensitive details like IM accounts username / password / contact list etc? Where does it keep the log files, may be taking a look at that file will make me comfortable(many people may have the same concern).
  • user
    Any chance you'll be fixing the AIM connection problems anytime soon?
  • Joe T.
    To mantispid: i don't know if that's coincidence. What you describe is exactly what occurs on my laptop at home.

    Home laptop: HP Turion64 single core, 512MB memory.
    Work machine: Custom Athlon64 X2, 4GB memory

    Only get the lockups at home. Crashes on both.
  • Mindi
    I too seem to have some functionality issues with Firefox and Digsby...not necessarily a crash, but memory can spike and slow things down.
  • Mindi
    Digsby doesnt crash daily (for me), but every now and then(maybe once a month ) I get logged out....could be my network though.

    Something I do run into daily though is this:
    It retrieves my email notifications fine, but when I click my taskbar icon to view the email in Thunderbird...the password manager fails until like the 4th time; once again this may not be related to your processes within Digsby....but just FYI
  • Joe T.
    i've downloaded and am running the debug version (at work). Even after the latest update this morning (11/13) the program crashed just from typing an IM. Most other crashes i've experienced happen while i'm trying to switch TO the IM window from another application.

    i'll also be running the debug version at home, as i've noticed several times that while typing an IM, Digsby seems to freeze momentarily. Hoping that something can be found if i submit a report when that happens.
  • Andrew
    I have noticed on rare occasions that it won't update the e-mail count (on Yahoo! Mail) but that's usually the exception rather than the norm.
  • Cliff
    I have Digsby running at home most days all day, and sometimes half the night! It has never crashed on me, the only comment is that when I fire it up on my laptop at the office (when not at home) it starts slowing down (even the screen display is slow) after running a good few hours. I don't know if this is a bug (memory issue / build-up?), although I suppose it could also be something to so with the office network traffic. No way of proving it one way or the other for me, I just thought I would mention it.
  • Sascha Heinze
    I run XP SP3 and Digsby crashes not even every week, I think that is less than Windows Live MSG or Yahoo! MSG so I would say keep on the good work.
  • mantispid
    One thing I've noticed whenever I get lockups with Digsby, is that Firefox is running as well. Either Firefox, or Digsby will shoot to near 100% CPU usage... But both will become non-responsive. Close one or the other, and the remaining behaves itself for a while.

    It could just be coincidence, though.
  • Sands_of_Pain
    hey I don't know anything about crashes...(I have Last XP)
    this Digsby make my staying all day on him telling everyone about him ...if it will be some crashes ,seriously I WILL REPORT HIM EVERY SINGLE DATAIL ..couse I don't wanna lose this app...ITS SO COOL :> ..sorry my english ;))
  • Michael
    I came off Trillian to Digsby about a month ago. I use IM products at Home, Commuting (train/bus) and at Work (firewall), and have been on WIN/Vista since it came out.

    I have loved the centralization of my Digsby with no crashes what-so-ever Knock on Wood.
  • tcharl
    I love digsby, I will never live without anymore.
    I've no problem with vista or others windows distribution. But try to make a linux distrib please...
  • Peter Ritchie
    Here's a bug to fix: don't pop up a system-wide dialog when you want to communicate information with the user; use a toaster popup or only show these popups when Digsby is or becomes the active application. When you're typing documents and this popup comes up and steals the keyboard focus, it's annoying enough to unistall Digsby.
  • Mark Edwards
    I'm not having crashes, but since adding the newest version yesterday and one today, my screen is going black about every 5 or 6 minutes. This is definitely new since yesterday. Not sure if I should add the drbug version or not.
  • We got your back Digsby!
  • This has happened ever since I can remember:

    Using the Yahoo protocol. When I am signed in on Digsby, if I sign in on my mobile device (or from another location) Digsby freaks out and spikes CPU, hangs and crashes. Using Vista Home Premium 32-bit and latest Digsby public release. Thanks!
  • Andrew
    I don't know if the newest update for the Alpha builds (I believe it was released yesterday or the day before) has fixed it yet as I haven't used digsby that much in the past two days but I was having daily crashes and I'm running Vista.

    I'll reply back if it starts happening again, but so far so good.

    Keep up the great work!
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