Troubleshooting

This section covers commonly experienced installation problems, as well as what to try and where to get help in general. See also Making the Installed Files Available to Clients and General Troubleshooting on page 32.

Most Commonly Experienced Issues

Program already installed

If you got any error messages about already having the program installed, check for the following files on your system:

• .sversionrc in the Solaris or Linux home directory

• .sversion.ini in the Windows\Application Data directory

Open the files; they contain the path and version number of program if it is currently installed. You can either uninstall that version, or do some sneaky editing to fool the program into thinking it's gone. See Installing the Same Version Multiple Times on the Same Computer on page 35.

UNIX client installation freezing

If you run the client installation of the multiuser installation with ./setup , the installation can freeze. This can happen with a normal user or root. To solve this, get the latest XFree86 at http://ftp.xfree86.org/pub/XFree86 Be sure to follow the installation instructions and system prerequisites stated on the site.

General installation or startup problems

Depending on how your system is set up, you might not have the correct permissions to the directory where you're trying to install. Make sure you can read, write, and execute in the program directory and in your system temporary directory.

Trouble starting or running the program on client

If you have any problems starting a client, with messages such as "Cannot determine current directory" or "Cannot initialize gallery," check the file access rights on the server. All clients must be able to read and execute in all directories within the installed program directory on the server.

The program not starting, or claiming it's still running

In UNIX, killing the program doesn't always bring down the underlying process, just the interface. When you try to start it again, the operating system thinks the program is still running, so nothing happens. If you kill the program, use a command like ps -ef to list processes, then kill any that correspond to the soffice.bin file or the server installation of the program.

The following Solaris command searches for all processes containing soffice :

 ps -ef  grep soffice 

It also might have started and you just can't see it. The program occasionally likes to hang out up at the very top of your screen, sometimes. If you see a horizontal line that looks like the bottom of a window, drag it down. If it won't move, hold down the Alt key, then drag it.

Cannot find file filename

Start the program in a terminal window. Navigate to the program directory on your computer (not the server computer) and type ./soffice

Command not found

Search for the . sversionrc file in your home directory or sversion.ini in Windows (locations vary) and do one of the following options:

• Open the file and remove the line OpenOffice.org = file:/// some_path

• Move the file or rename it

Installer cannot run in this mode

The JRE that comes with the program wasn't installed or is damaged. Reinstall it and reselect it; see Specifying the JRE on page 34.

Installation failed message

The program was running while you installed. Shut it down, restarting your machine if necessary, and run the installation again. Also check the quick launch icon, the seagull icon in the lower right corner of your task bar. Right click it and select Close.

Linux installation problems

This is a broad category; however the following are solutions to the installation failing, and not being able to start an installed version of the program.

• Make sure that the /var/tmp directory has enough free space.

• Check the SAL_DO_NOT_USE_INVERT50 variable and make sure it's set to true .

• Install a new S3 Savage graphics driver from http://www.probo.com/timr/savage40.html

Missing java.ini

Make sure you're installing only the client version, if you're on a networked installation of the program. If that doesn't work, reinstall and reselect the 1.3.1 JRE. See Specifying the JRE on page 34.

*.dll not found

Make sure that no other tasks except explorer and systray are running. Press Ctrl. + Alt +Delete to get the task manager and end all other tasks.

Installed the wrong language

Uninstall the program and reinstall with the new language setting.

Other Things to Try

Try all the basics:

• Make sure the JRE 1.3.1 that comes with the program is installed and selected. See Specifying the JRE on page 34.

• Check the . sversionrc or sversion.ini and either delete or comment out (with a semicolon) the line indicating the current install, or just rename the file.

• Make sure the program isn't running. Shut it down, restarting your machine if necessary. Also check the quick launch icon, the butterfly icon in the lower right corner of your task bar. Right click it and select Close.

• If you installed the StarOffice 6.0 Beta, uninstall it.

• Run the repair option.

• On UNIX, and possibly in Windows, nothing remotely related to the program, whether your GhostScript application or the program itself or your data sources, should be installed in a directory with a space in it. So if you're having problems, make sure nothing you're using is in C:\Program Files , for instance.

Good Sources of Information Online

Note

If you're having problems, always check Troubleshooting on page 37.

There's a mass of help and troubleshooting information out there; here are the sources that are worth checking.

• Check the OpenOffice.org help lists and FAQs. If you're trying to find out something particularly hairy, this is your best bet:

  • http://www.openoffice.org/faq.html

  • http://documentation.openoffice.org/user_faq/index.html

  • http://documentation.openoffice.org/HOW_TO/index.html

  • http://documentation.openoffice.org/setup_guide/index.html

  • http://dba.openoffice.org/FAQ.

  • Join the [e-mail] or [e-mail] mailing list, at http://www.openoffice.org/mail_list.html . allfeatures is the mailing list for new features.

• The site http://openoffice.swiki.net contains FAQs as well as Portuguese and French translations.

• Check Sun's FAQs. Much of the information in those FAQs is here too, but specific "What if it's a month ending with a K and I'm running a JavaStation desktop" problems aren't in this book.

  • http://wwws.sun.com/software/star/staroffice/6.0/techfaq.html

  • http://wwws.sun.com/software/star/staroffice/6.0/migrationfaq.html

  • http://wwws.sun.com/software/star/staroffice/6.0/faq.html

• Check http://supportforum.sun.com/staroffice, which is free.

• An independent StarOffice group has the site http://www.staroffice.com. StarDesk deals with questions and there are User, Developer, and International forums.

• Also check the Web site of StarOffice guru Werner Roth: http://www.wernerroth.de/en/staroffice

• Database information for ODBC and UNIX can be found at http://unixodbc.org . See http://www.unixodbc.org/doc/OOoMySQL.pdf in particular.

• Macro-specific sites are listed in Finding Macros and Macro Information on page 960.

Repairing Damaged Installations

If you suddenly start having problems with particular applications, or if the program just won't start, the files might be damaged. Use the built-in "file repair kit."

1. In Linux or Solaris, click the program icon on your taskbar and choose Setup. In Windows, choose Start > Programs > OpenOffice.org > Setup.

   You also can locate the installed program's \program directory and double-click the setup or setup.exe file.

2. Select the Repair option.

3. Click Complete to run the installation.

Removing the Program

To remove the program, follow these steps.

Multi-User Uninstall

For clients, complete the single-user uninstall. For the server, delete the installed program's main directory from the server computer.

Single-User Uninstall

1. Click the program icon on your taskbar and choose Setup, or locate the setup or setup.exe file in your installed \program directory. (In Windows, you can choose Start > Programs > program_name > Setup.)

2. Select Deinstallation and click Next.

3. Select Delete all files if you want to delete configuration files and files you've created, in addition to the program files. Click Complete.