FAQ: Warnings and error messages

I am having connection problems, please help?

The most common connection problem is a firewall. Also check the settings for Parental Control Programs like Safe Eyes.

A firewall is software on your computer which can prevent that programs access the internet. Firewalls can block per program, so even if you can visit websites, our programs may still be blocked.

You can follow the steps below to solve this :

Check that your computer is online. Start your web browser and enter a web address like www.google.com
Movie-, Book-, Music-, Game- and Comic Collector for Windows have a built-in button to Check the Connection.
You'll find this button in the top right corner of the Add Automatically screen. It's the leftmost button, the Check Connection icon.
When you click on it, the message should read 'Connection OK'.
If the message indicates 'No connection is allowed', check your firewall settings.
Check your firewall, it should not be blocking the program from accessing the internet. This can occur especially after installing a new version of your Collectorz.com program. In that case, change your firewall configuration to allow internet access again.
Disable your firewall. If that doesn't help, uninstall it. Some firewalls are known to interfere with internet access even when they are disabled.
Check that you have no invalid proxy settings. To check these settings, select Tools | Options on the menu, then select the 'Check for Update' tab, and press the 'Proxy Info' button. Clear all fields in the Proxy Settings screen.

There are many different Firewall programs. Most of them nowadays come integrated in what is called "internet security" software. Such software contains antivirus software, anti spam programs, and firewall software, all-in-one.

Well known packages are : Norton Internet Security, McAfee, Zone Alarm, Kaspersky, Etrust and Panda. All of these packages come in different versions, being relatively newer or older. So you can understand it is impossible to list all of their options, and more important their settings to allow Collectorz.com software onto the internet.

For a few we will nevertheless try to point you in the right direction (due to version changes it might be different on your computer !). Most of the following is taken from help files these software companies themselves have listed on the topic

Norton

In case Norton is used, start Norton Internet Security or Norton Personal Firewall. Click Personal Firewall, and click Configure. On the Programs tab, in the "Settings for" drop-down list, select the Network Location that contains the program rule that you want to add a firewall rule to. By default, the current Network Location is selected. In the Manual Program Control list, select the program rule that you want to add a firewall rule to. Under the Internet Access column, in the drop-down list, click Custom or Manually configure Internet access. Click Add. In the Add Rule wizard, select the action that the rule should take, and then click Next. Select the type of connection that the rule should monitor, and then click Next. Select the computers that the rule should monitor, and then click Next. Select the protocols that the rule should monitor. Select the ports that the rule should monitor, and then click Next. Select whether the rule should be tracked and how you want it to be tracked, and then click Next.

Norton 360

In some cases, Norton 360 seems to use incorrect settings for our software which can have odd side effects, such as not letting the Collectorz.com sortware close properly, or not allowing proper download of data (movie, book etc). What you should do then is
- Open Norton360 and select PC Security, Manage Firewall
- Select "Program Rules" tab and then select / highlight the Collector program from the Programs list
- Change "Access" setting to "Allow" and close Norton 360.
- Reboot computer

Zone Alarm

If you are using ZoneAlarm: select Program Control | Programs, locate your Collectorz.com program, and in the Access column check the 'internet' setting.

Panda

For Panda click on "Status" in the main window. Expand the Security protection panel, then click on Settings. Click on Firewall, and in the Access tab, you will find several options that you can configure. In section Programs with access to the network, click on Settings. If the Apply the permissions specified without asking box is checked, uncheck it. Look for the program whose permissions you want to change and modify them. You can do so through the drop-down menu displayed to the right of the program.

Microsoft one Care

If you are using Micorosoft One Care, and you can't make changes in Windows Firewall, the way arround this is to bring up MS One Care and click on "Change OneCare Settings". In the next dialog turn off the firewall by moving the slider all the way down. Apply the changes. NOW activate Collectorz.com software. Then turn the firwewall back on in MS OneCare and apply the change.

Specific Error Messages

Users have reported an error message with Movie Collector that says "System Error. Code 64" or a similar number. The database does not get saved. If you have Kaspersky Internet Security 2009, then our software is prevented to create or modify its own Lock File. The Lock File is an essential file that needs to be created and updated by the program to use our applications. To solve this:
- In Kaspersky Internet Security 2009, set Movie Collector to "not scanning files" and "not scanning network activities".

Notes about Firewalls:

Firewalls can block each program on your computer separately, not just websites you are trying to access. This means that if you allow Movie Collector access but not Music Collector, the first will work and the second won't. Your web-browser is allowed access by default, which is why that works even if a Collectorz.com program does not.
Firewalls can not detect program version changes. This means that if a program has changed after updating it to a new version, you may need to tell the firewall to allow it access again - even if you had already done so.
What may be the most effective way to get your firewall to ask for new rules for your Collectorz.com program is to remove its reference in the program list of your firewall. Once done, start up your Collectorz.com program, which should make the firewall prompt you to set a new rule.
If none of the above solutions help, you have a problem that we cannot solve for you. Most likely there is a problem somewhere with your internet software or hardware, which may require support from your ISP.

"Failed to open database. Your license key is already in use".

The most common reason this message can appear is if you have copied your data from one computer to an other recently.

You most likely have accidentally copied over a file that makes our software think the database is still opened and in use. This can happen if the software was not shut down before copying the data folder.

To correct this, please do the following :

Close down the program first
Start the Windows explorer and browse to the folder where the database is in
In that folder, find the file that has the same name as the database, but with an extension ending in "lck" (So e.g. "muclck" for a Music Collector database)
The file, normally very small in size, can be deleted

Be careful!

Now start up the program again, the warning message should no longer come up

The other reason the warning can come up is if are trying to open the database from more than one computer (concurrently) using one and the same license key. This is not allowed, and you will in this case require additional licenses. See our Volume license order page for more information.

"Trial expired"

In case you are using a trial edition, this can happen after a certain number of online searches have been performed.

If you are a licensed user, this means the items that have this message were probably added before you entered your license.

To remove this message, delete the items for which the "trial expired" occurs from your database, and re-add the item.

Any items in the search queue may also have to be reset. Right click on such items, and select "reset selected" from the menu that comes up. Now perform a new search on these items.

Note : For Photo Collector a message will come up after entering 500 items into the program.
Note : For MP3 Collector a message will come up after using the program for 15 days.

I upgraded to Snow Leopard now Collectorz.com crashes

If you have recently upgraded to Snow Leopard, you will also need to upgrade your Collectorz.com software. v3 License owners can upgrade for free, you need to remove the current version, and download the latest version from here. If you own a v2 license you will need to purchase a new license to upgrade to v3 in order to use Collectorz.com with Snow Leopard.

"Backup folder ... not found" or "Code 6 - the handle is invalid"

First, you can press OK to the message and the program will open normally.

When the software starts up it, by default it tries to make a backup of the database file. If the file path for the backup does not exist, this causes problems.

Correct the issue by going to Tools | Options, Backup tab and enter a valid file path.

In case you have recently migrated to Vista, you may also want to read through the FAQ on Vista compliant folders for your database and images.

"Stream write error"

This is a Windows mesage telling you that you're trying to write to a drive that is almost full.
If you are using the harddrive, make sure to clean up or at least make enough space for the software to be able to store the database.
Try avoiding drives with limited data size, for example USB sticks, CDs or small memory cards.

"Could not initialize installation (CRC)"

That sounds like the download did not complete.

We recommend to try the download again from our Download page. If the problem persists, please try a second web browser, and make sure no malware / adware is causing the problem.

"Not a valid Win32 application"

This message can pop up after downloading software.

The download may have been corrupted, please try downloading again
Ad ware / Malware or a virus might be causing this, also due to corruption.

You may need to install and run an anti-Adware program and clean the computer.

"Failed to create backup: A call to an OS function failed."

This error is due to the Backup folder as defined in your Collectorz.com software.

That folder appears not accessible to Windows Vista or Windows 7.

If you are having this problem, your software will most likely not function properly and you will need to move your collection to a different location and change some settings.

Please see here on how to do that.