PRB: Unable to open database file - possible corruption

Document ID: Q101013

This article applies to the following:
Product(s): Second Opinion Standard 4.0
Last Revised On: April 24, 2001

Summary

Second Opinion is unable to open a database table and displays a "CodeBase error -70", "CodeBase error -200", or other.

Discussion

Second Opinion uses a variety of industry standard database tables to store information. Each table consist of a primary data file (.DBF), an index file (.CDX), a memo file (.FPT) and a version control file (.VER). For example the folder data is stored in FOLDER.DBF, FOLDER.CDX, FOLDER.FPT, and FOLDER.VER. Should one of these files become damaged or deleted, Second Opinion will be unable to work properly. You should avoid adding any more data until the problem is resolved.

Possible causes or database corruption

There are several things that can cause database files to become corrupted.

1. If your database is stored on a server and you are running on an Microsoft Network environment and Windows 95, ensure that the VREDIR.VXD file is up-to-date. See Q101007 - PRB: Frequent index corruption under Windows 95 for more information.

2. If your computer crashed while saving information to the database, the database file might not be properly updated and become corrupt.

3. If your database is stored on a server and your network connection or server died, the database file might not be properly updated and become corrupt.

Regardless of the type of corruption, your document files, which are stored separately from the database can still be saved.

1. Make sure Second Opinion is not running from any computer using the database.
2. Run and log into the Second Opinion Administrator program.
3. Click on the Databases tab.
4. Make sure the Location column is referring to files in the correct location.
5. Make sure the Version column contains only numbers and no warnings.
6. Click the Clean Up button. The program will open each table and attempt to clean it up. Make note of any messages that appear.
7. Exit the Administrator program. If any problems were reported, proceed to Step 2, below.

Step 2. Repairing corrupt tables

1. Make sure Second Opinion and the Administrator program are not running from any computer using the corrupt table. 
2. Using Windows Explorer, browse to the Second Opinion database directory. This is usually C:\OPINION\DATABASE.
3. Locate and delete the corrupt table's CDX file (the Clean Up operation will re-create it). Ignore any filenames that begin with a '$' or a '_'. For example, if you have identified the FOLDER.DBF file as being corrupt, delete the FOLDER.CDX file.
4. Repeat Step 1, above to see if the tables are still corrupt. If they are still corrupt, proceed to Step 3, below.

Step 3. Restoring corrupt tables

Unfortunately, if you cannot repair the table (for example, because of a damaged .DBF file header), you must restore it from a backup or, if you do not have a backup, install it from scratch. If you are restoring from a backup, you will loose all information added or modified since the backup was created. If you are restoring from scratch, you may loose all information, depending on which table was corrupt.

Restoring Tables from a backup

1. Make a backup of the existing Second Opinion database directory.
2. Restore the corrupt tables from the most recent backup that was made before the problem occurred.
3. Repeat from Step 1 above. If it still reports errors, revert to a previous backup.

Reinstalling Tables from scratch

NOTE: You will permanently loose information in the tables being replaced.

1. Make a backup of the existing Second Opinion database directory.
2. Using Windows Explorer, browse to the C:\Windows directory and locate the OPINION.INI configuration settings file (make sure that you turn on the Windows option to make file extensions visible).
3. Rename the file to "BACKUP OF OPINION.INI"
4. Insert the Second Opinion installation CD and install the program to "C:\tempso" or some other temporary directory. Do not install it over the existing version.
5. Enter the minimum required information to complete the installation.
6. Copy the desired tables from the new installation directory to the Second Opinion directory. For example, if the folder table is damaged, copy FOLDER.DBF, FOLDER.CDX, FOLDER.FPT, and FOLDER.VER from C:\Tempso\Database to C:\Opinion\Database.
7. Delete the OPINION.INI file in the C:\Windows directory and rename the BACKUP OF OPINION.INI file back to OPINION.INI.
8. Repeat Step 1 above to verify that all tables are now fixed. If necessary copy additional damaged tables from the C:\Tempso\Database directory to fix additional problems.
9. Finally delete the C:\Tempso directory.