IEEE-OES Digital Archive

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Troubleshooting the Search Engine

General Issues

Use the Archive without ASTAware search engine: Several possible problems can arise when using the search engine, in particular on the Macintosh. Note that, if you get stuck and can't get the search engine working, you can still use the CD-ROM set by starting with the file "start.htm". You do not need to start the search engine first in this case.

Disk space requirements for installing the ASTAware search engine and index: Please make sure that you have at least 300 MB of space on your hard drive before you install the ASTAware search engine. Before you install, make sure that remove any remaining files from your hard drive which were the result of earlier ASTAware installations.

Starting the browser with ASTAware activated: If your browser does not automatically start when you start the search engine, you can start it yourself and load the "index.htm" file into your browser from the top level directory of the CD-ROM numbered 1 or more. Then select the "Enter" link to enter the Digital Archive with the search engine enabled.

Windows users need TCP/IP: ASTAware requires TCP/IP to be installed. If you use the Internet or a local Ethernet network on your computer, then you should already be adequately set up. But even if you don't normally connect to a network, you need to enable TCP/IP. To do this under Windows, go to the Network Control Panel, click the "Add" button in "Protocol", select "TCP/IP" (under "Microsoft"). Macintosh users see below for TCP/IP instructions.

Don't use proxy servers (otherwise your browser may fail to load anything after start.htm): For all platforms: you will need to disable the use of proxy servers in your browser before activating the search engine. If you don't do this, you may notice your browser failing to load pages from the CD-ROM. In Netscape, under "Edit" select "Preferences", go to "Proxies" under "Advanced" and select "Direct connection to the Internet". In Internet Explorer, under "Tools" select "Internet Options", go to "Connections", click "LAN Settings" and uncheck "Use a proxy server." If you don't want to disrupt your usual preferences, we recommend creating a new user profile for use with the CD-ROM set.

CD-ROM changing issues:

While the CD-ROM changing mechanism works very well for certain platform and browser combinations, the mechansim has a few quirks and exhibits erratic behavior on some browsers and platforms due to varied interactions among the browser, the CD-ROM drive, and the ASTAware search engine. The recommendations below will address most of the issues that you are likely to encounter and suggest reasonable solutions.

When a CD-ROM is Inserted, the Screen Refreshes to Start Page: You are likely to encounter this problem if you are using Internet Explorer. Once this happens, clicking OK in the window that prompts you to change CD-ROMs will not take you to the desired file. More likely, it may give an error message. This problem is due to the fact that the Internet Explorer is trying to refresh when a CD-ROM is inserted and the refresh seems to have a quirky behavior. Moreover, this problem is only likely to occur when you are not using the ASTAware search engine. There are three solutions to work around this problem.

  1. Disable Auto-Insert Notification: If you disable auto-insert notification of your CD-ROM, the problem will be solved and you will be able to change the CD-ROMs following the basic instructions. Use the instructions for disabling auto-insert notification.
  2. Use Netscape Browser: In our experience, Netscape browsers do not suffer from this problem.
  3. Use ASTAware Search Engine:If you access the Digital Archive through ASTAware search engine (using index.htm as your starting point), you are not likely to encounter this problem.

No Response or Error Message when you Click OK: In some cases, (especially if you are an Internet Explorer user), you are likely to get an error message or no response when click the "OK" button in the Window. In either case, the desired file is not loaded into your browser. This error is probably caused by your Internet Explorer trying to refresh its content when you change the CD-ROM. As a consequence of the refresh, the "state" of CD-ROM changing script can be lost. You have a couple of alternatives to deal with this problem.

  1. Ignore the error message (or inactivate script error messages by unchecking the box "Display a notification about every script error" under Tools>Internet Options>Advanced) and proceed to click the PDF file link in the minipaper once again to display the PDF file.
  2. You can permanently disable the "refresh" feature of the CD-ROM by turning off the so called Auto-Insert Notification.

File Not Found Message: If by chance you inserted the wrong CD-ROM and pressed OK, you will get error message(s) indicating that the requested PDF file is not found. In order to get back the prompt for changing the CD-ROM, reload (better yet, force reload, i.e., press control-C and Reload keys simultaneously) the current document and then click on the title once again.

If, for any reason, the PDF file is not displayed after changing the CD-ROM, reload (better yet, force reload, i.e., press control-C and Reload keys simultaneously) the current document and then click on the title once again.

The System won't let me change CD-ROMs: This should not happen. If the Operating System does not let you change CD-ROMs, shut down your ASTAware search engine and try to eject the CD-ROM.

Windows 95/98/NT/2000

How can I tell if the ASTAware search engine has started up properly? When the ASTAware search engine has started up correctly, there will be a small ASTAware logo/exit window.

Unix/Linux Issues

On some UNIX platforms, changing CD-ROM, while ASTAware search engine is running, may not work. In this case, there are two options: 1. Shutdown ASTAware search engine and use the Digital Archive without the search engine by loading the file "start.htm" from the root directory of the CD-ROM. OR 2. Shutdown ASTAware search engine, insert the desired CD-ROM and restart the ASTAware search engine.

Unix JDK version: Unix/Linux users may need to upgrade to the most recent version of the Java JDK, as described in the instructions.

Unix Java Virtual Machine Memory Problems: Java Virtual Machine memory size is set to 64MB. If you get any error messages while searching (For example, 'java.lang.OutOfMemory' message in your command window where you started running the ASTAware shell script), you may want to increase the memory size of the Java Virtual Machine by editing the "searchdisc-unix.sh". You will find this program under the directory SearchDisc/SDCDSearch/astaware where you installed the ASTAware search engine. The command java -mx64m ... should be edited to java -mx128m ... . Check with your Unix system administrator if this does not solve the problem.

Document Contains No Data: On some Unix systems, you might find this message when you click on a link or when you try to search. There could be a variety of problems that could cause this message. Please retry the link or the query. If this does not solve the problem, try increasing the Java Virtual Machine memory size (see the previous paragraph).

How can I tell if the ASTAware search engine has started up properly? When the ASTAware search engine has started up correctly, there will be a small ASTAware logo/exit window.

Why won't the ASTAware search engine start? Make sure you have the latest version of JDK (version 1.1.8 or higher) installed. Also make sure the JDK Java interpreter is in your path.

Why did the ASTAware search engine crash? The search engine may crash if an outdated or nonstandard HTML browser is used. It has been tested on Netscape 4.5 and higher. Installing the latest version of Netscape may fix the problem.

The ASTAware search engine requires the Java JDK version 1.1.8 or higher. Earlier versions may cause the search engine to malfunction.

The Java interpreter (JDK) must be in your path for the ASTAware search engine to run properly.

I got stuck on a page where none of the links work. The ASTAware search engine may have crashed.

Macintosh problems and solutions:

  • Memory: You will need at least 64 megabytes of RAM to use the CD set with the search engine. Turning on Virtual Memory may help if you are running out of memory (but turning it off may help if the system is running too slowly).

  • Some Queries Produce Error Message: Some queries to the ASTAware search engine may crash the application if the memory is low. Please check your search engine application memory and increase it to handle queries that might result in a large number of hits.
  • MRJ version: Make sure you have MRJ (version 2.1 or higher) installed as described in the instructions.

  • Use ASTAware only when necessary: Usage of the CD on the Macintosh can be somewhat slow when you are going through the ASTAware search engine. If it seems too slow, try reloading "start.htm" from the CD-ROM. You won't be able to use search in this case, but you can always restart using the ASTAware search engine when you do need it.

  • Enable TCP/IP: The browser connects to the search engine through the Internet's TCP/IP protocol. If you use the Internet or a local Ethernet network, then you should already be set up. But even if you aren't connected to a network, you'll need to have Open Transport installed, and TCP active. Open Transport comes with MacOS (versions 7.6 and above), but if it is deactivated on your system, you need to use Extensions Manager to activate the TCP/IP control panel and the extensions named "Open Transport..." or "OpenTpt...". Then, after rebooting, go to the TCP/IP control panel. Under the Edit menu, select "Administrator" under "User Mode". Then in the control panel, under "options", make sure that TCP/IP is active. After activating it, quit everything that is running and try the CD again.

    If you still have trouble, try going back to the TCP/IP control panel, and selecting "AppleTalk" for your network. Select "manual" configuration. Pick an IP address (192.168.1.10 should work), and clear out the "router" and "DNS" fields. This should successfully set up TCP/IP running only on your local machine.

  • Not getting search results in Netscape (localhost problem): Some versions of Netscape have trouble in some network environments. If the search engine seems to start normally, but your query never returns results (and gives an error instead in Netscape), try this: Look in your Preferences folder in the System Folder. If there is a "Hosts" file there, open it with SimpleText. Otherwise create a new file (somewhere outside the System Folder) with SimpleText. Add the following two lines to the file:

    localhost CNAME local.local.local
    local.local.local A 127.0.0.1

    If you just created this file (as opposed to editing an existing Hosts file), go the TCP/IP control panel. Under Edit, select User Mode "Administrator". Click "Select Hosts File" and select the file you just created.

    Now reboot and try the CD again.