MOPEKS FAQ - Troubleshooting

MOPEKS^® FAQ - Troubleshooting

1.   How do I Kill a Program?
2.   My PC is Frozen, what can I do?
3.   I have Weird Faults, what can I do?
4.   I have Problems with MOPEKS
5.   List of Known Faults in MOPEKS
6.   Not in use

1. How do I Kill a Program?

The following applies to all computer programs and is not specifically aimed at MOPEKS

If a program starts doing odd things, stop it and start again. As a general rule, you should not try to stop a program by clicking on the 'X' in the top right hand corner. That is because doing so may kill that particular form but still leave the main process running. This should not happen but it might. It is a bit like leaving your coffee on the roof of your car while you make a phone call - bad practice.

So, to end a program press 'Exit'. Often by going to 'File' in the top left hand corner and clicking on 'Exit' at the bottom. In the case of MOPEKS, all forms have an 'End Mopeks' button. The convention seems to be 'Exit' rather than 'End' but the latter sounds more definitive to me - if you 'exit' a nightclub it still continues to run! Enough pedantry.

If a program is 'frozen' you can pull up the 'Task Manager'. Either by the familiar 'Ctrl + Alt + Delete' or, easier, by right clicking your mouse over the Time eg '08.27', as I write these words. This is normally in the extreme bottom right hand corner of your screen but could be elsewhere if you have reorganised your screen layout.

Once you have the 'Task Manager' visible, you can stop the Application by highlighting it and then pressing 'End Task'. In my experience a better way is to click on the 'Processes' heading. Then click on the heading 'Image Name' to sort the Processes into alphabetic order. Then go down the list and kill each copy of the relevant program that is running by pressing 'End Process'. Save what you can first, obviously.

Left click on image for a full size shot in a new tab or window. Press F11 for a full screen, if you wish. Then F11 again to return

[Why is the heading 'Image Name' rather than 'Process Name'? Maybe I am missing something but it looks like one of those errors that nobody notices. In fact this is the first time I have noticed it. Now they are too proud to admit that it is an error, I guess!

It will have been copied across from another program that had been used to view images. In my experience, very few programs are totally written from scratch - you incorporate chunks from stuff you wrote previously and then change it - or not.]

2. My PC is Frozen, what can I do?

We have all experienced this. Nothing works. You have tried 'Ctrl + Alt + Delete' and everything else you can think of (including swearing) so what now? Well, if it is a mains powered PC, just pull out the electric plug. This may sound drastic but disks are built to withstand this.

But what about battery powered laptops? Well, with mine, I disconnect the battery by just physically removing it. Drastic, I know but this is last resort time. Obviously, it would be better if you can wait for your disk to stop running. Maybe by just letting the laptop run without a mains connection until the battery goes flat. Then the disk will definitely be stopped when you remove the battery.

Yes, I know. Life is too short to just sit there waiting for it to run down. But that must be the best advice - not that I wait, of course.

3. I have Weird Faults, what can I do?

The following applies to all computer programs and is not specifically aimed at MOPEKS

For a long time, Windows has had a facility called 'System Restore'. The best way to understand this is to read the Wikipedia article on it here. In simple terms, 'System Restore', will take you back to an earlier time when everything on your PC worked perfectly. And the policemen looked a lot older and you could leave your keys in your car.

To understand how to use this facility on your particular PC, do a Google search using you operating sysem eg "System Restore" Windows XP.

Learn how to do this NOW - not when your PC has stopped working.

4. I have Problems with MOPEKS

Firstly, see List of Known Faults in MOPEKS immediately below.

If this does not solve the problem, please read 'Guide ⇨ Quality Control'.

Errors will be in one of two categories, as follows:

Input Errors

MOPEKS uses a lot of data - much of which boils down to computer programs ('Methods') which it runs under an interpreter. Or, Scripts, which again can drive MOPEKS. If these are faulty, MOPEKS should tell you.

Program Errors

MOPEKS is a computer program and undoubtedly contains errors. All programs contain errors. That is just a fact of life. If you find an error please let me know.

[People have claimed that it is possible to prove mathematically that a program contains no errors. Clearly to do this you need to specify in minute detail every conceivable action that the program can carry out. Otherwise, who is to say whether a button labelled 'Pause' as opposed to 'Continue', is an error or not? That means that, in effect, you write the program twice! Enough said.]

5. List of Known Faults in MOPEKS

Yes, I know. What am I doing releasing a program with known faults? Well, first of all, I am being honest. Rather than pretend everything is perfect I am admitting that there are a couple of things that need sorting out. But to do that will cause another month's delay and probably cause more faults if carried out under pressure. As it happens, none of the faults on this list is a killer and you would probably have never noticed them anyway!

Fault A

If you construct an environment which contains less than 7 objects you may experience problems.

Solution: Ensure that all the environments you build have 7 objects by adding dummy objects if necessary. Currently, environments cannot have more than 7 objects