Search MENU bar DISAPPEARED !?!
 

This is very frustrating. I have tried everything I can think of to fix it.

I am running 2.8.6 Pro and just today my search screen menu bar has totally disappeared. When I do searches now, I can see the number of entries, however the actual list of files that i would click to download is no longer available. Instead it is just solid WHITE screen.

Has anyone had or seen this problem? Does anyone know the fix?

I have attempted the REPAIR option, and it fails claiming that it cannot run the /temp/LimeWire*.msi file. I have completely removed it, rebooted, reinstalled. And I have even attempted to install a previous version 3.8.5, but to no avail. The only version that seems to work is 2.3.3.

Does anyone have any NEW thoughts how to get LimeWire fixed and working?? Thanks.

I've had something similar.

I cannot remember the exact combination of searches I did, but after using the 'Any Type' search once or twice, clicking on Audio didn't show the correct search details. Instead of showing 'Artist' or 'Title' it just showed 'File Name.' Infact, after that ALL the search types only showed the 'File Name' field.

Sorry I couldn't help anymore.

Cheers
Vaz

I have tried every search type possible now, and in all cases, I still get the number of found entries in a grey tab up top, however NOTHING below when i click on any tab with found entries.... not even the filenames at all.

This is definately a weird bug. I've used limewire since version 1 and have never seen this before. I'm not sure what spawned this bug in 2.8.6, but I posted it also to the Beta forum and hope a developer takes note of it. The fact that 2.8.5 also didnt work when reloaded, makes me think its not so much a beta issue though.

I'm not sure what to try next to fix it. I have even tried to install into an entirely new directory. That didnt change a thing. I hope i don't have to abandon limewire and move to the other big download machine... limewire is much cleaner and more professional in my opinion than the competition. But we do need something that works, and mine is definately broken now. I had it working for a few days though. So I'll just wait and watch for someone to give new suggestions on fixes. Thanks for your notes above! :)

Still not there
 

I'm assuming that since no one responded... no one has ever had this problem. I have done disk checks, windows registry repairs, and completely deleted limewire (including the program files directory), rebooted many times, and reinstalled from scratch, yet nothing brings it back..

Still as first reported... there is a missing "screen". When I search, i can see everything normally in the lower 'downloading files' section, I can also see the 'download', 'chat', and 'browse host' buttons on the middle bar just fine. I can see the little "X" up top for each search, including the text being searched and the (#) number results found tab. However.... NOTHING but white screen remains when a tab is clicked. And no blue buttons to show name, size, stars, connection type, or any thing else that is supposed to be in the blue button bar. Its just GONE. It never comes back. I cannot use limewire like this.

All other screens remain in perfect condition. Any suggestions??? Coders have any clues of what broke, or how to fix it, since reinstalling doesnt change anything?

You are not alone
 

I am having the same problem. Today I downloaded Limewire Pro at the cost of $9.50. So far I'm regretting it. I don't see any improvements. The only thing different seems to be more apparent fields for entering more search info. I've already discovered that entering more specific info into these info fields does not prevent the annoying tendencies for Limewire to post completely irrelevant hits.Why, when I look up *****videos do I get a result for 'something Ant Farm'? Even worse, depsite entering the artist name, song title, and album title, I still came up with a gazillion irrelevant hits for a song with 'love' in the title.
I am also getting that grey field where the title information should be. I'm getting the stars, file size, etc. but no actual descriptive information. I have not been able to fix it. Also, everytime I did a video search I came up with a bogus file ending in .mpg and comprising exactly 67 KB. It didn't matter what I looked up I always got one hit like that? What the hell is that about?
I am very unhappy right now. The only reason I went ahead and purchaced Pro was I got a pop-up window telling me I needed to upgrade to whatever version it was. Sorry, I don't remember which version I had. I downloaded it back in 2001. I have a MacG3 running on 8.6 (blush). Other possibly pertinent info is I'm connected via cable modem. I have yet to download a single (real) file today. My daughter managed some mp3s but I was looking for music videos. I didn't have any luck with mp3s either.

I Got My Search Results Back! Here's How!
 

While re-reading these threads I noticed a mention of a 'repair' file. While I found no such file I randomly clicked on a file in the Limewire folder called 'video.props'. This automatically opened Limewire and when I did a search for audio file, ***** everything appeared where it should. I'm not sure if this did anything. Previously, I had opened Limewire via my Apple Menu. The last couple of times I did this I actually had to go through all the new user set up stuff again. I am going to delete the Apple Menu alias and make a new one and see what happens. I have no idea what 'video.props' is. There is also a file called 'audio.props'. I wish I had an explanation for why this worked. I am still not happy with the interface of 2.8.6. I really want the ability to reload a search instead of having to re-type the information every time. GOOD LUCK TO YOU!! I started a new thread before I fixed the problem, using a very detailed explanation of my system, etc. and a very descriptive heading so maybe someone will answer that thread.

Still not working for me
 

I dont use a MAC, and so your fix doesnt seem to apply. I use windows 2000.

My limewire missing search menu issue is a bit different from yours, because I dont even have the stars, or filesize, or anything at all... I was very clear about exactly what the problem is, in the above post! :)

If anyone knows anything about a repair file for me on Windows 2000, any help would be very appreciated.

(I just have a hard time believing that unistalling, deleting everything, rebooting and reinstalling in a new direction wouldn't fit it. But it really didn't. No matter what I seem to still not have that one subscreen at all. Its sooo weird. Perhaps I should show some screen captures to prove how bad it is. I cannot download a thing this way.

Hope someone knows the fix. (because I used to love limewire.)

Search Out
 

I have the same problem that Vasquez had. I hadn’t touched Lime wire in like a month. Suddenly I had the urge to find a few old songs, but when I opened it up I noticed that all of the slots in Search had disappeared. I thought, huh perhaps it loaded wrong, so I closed it out and tried to re-open it a few times but nothing changed. My only option was Filename. I took a quick peak here, but noticed that many have similar if not the same problems. I did look for a repair file, but couldn’t find that. I am stumped and annoyed.

Anyone have any other ideas on how we could fix this? I did try also as melismatica suggested but I also couldn’t find that one file.

:confused:

Hi Cougar,
First off let me say, I'm so jealous you don't use Mac! Just kidding. I actually love Mac for many things. But when it comes to the fun and games of the computer world, Mac-users are definitely at a disadvantage.
I read a post in a different thread which discussed a similar problem to this one. I think the difference was that when they opened limewire all they got was a blank white screen----period. Nothing else. I can't remember if anyone had a solution but I will do a little research to try to find it again and get back to you. I think we are dealing with a bug. While, for the most part my Limewire is back up and running normally, I still haven't been able to reload a search. I now know that it should be the same function as the older version, which is just to click the screen to bring up a menu of commands. For some reason that isn't working for me. In fact, it was in trying to figure out what happened to this function that I originally messed up my screen in the first place. I wound up dragging items around untill some of the stuff just disappeared. I know this isn't your problem exactly but I think it is part of a bigger problem---a new software loaded with bugs.

I'll go look up that other thread for you now.

Melissa

Problem may be do to memory/RAM issues
 

I did a bunch of different searches of several forums. The most helpful advise seems to have come from the Mac Support forum, sorry to say. But the information may have cross-platform relevence. I will just give you a bunch of links to the various threads. They should all have to do with the blank screen issue in one form or another. Be forewarned, a lot of the threads just adress the problem--not necessarily a solution. Also, they don't all deal with the same version. I offer them because I'm hoping that a barrage of dialogue on the topic may bring the problem to the attention of someone with an answer or better yet, someone who can fix the problem in the software.

The one that seemed to really address the problem with some knowledge is the first link. This one suggest that problems with missing information is due to memory overload, RAM problems, and Virtual Memory problems (I don't know if PCs have Virtual Memory, sorry).

http://www.gnutellaforums.com/showth...t=blank+screen
http://www.gnutellaforums.com/showth...threadid=18617
http://www.gnutellaforums.com/showth...threadid=18688
http://www.gnutellaforums.com/showth...threadid=18419 http://www.gnutellaforums.com/showth...threadid=18609
http://www.gnutellaforums.com/showth...k+white+screen
http://www.gnutellaforums.com/showth...threadid=18636 http://www.gnutellaforums.com/showth...t=blank+screen
http://www.gnutellaforums.com/showth...t=blank+screen
http://www.gnutellaforums.com/showth...t=blank+screen
http://www.gnutellaforums.com/showth...t=blank+screen


GOOD LUCK!

No - The Missing Search Window contents remain absent
 

Thank you very much for the list of links above. It took me some time to sit down and read and research them all. I have verified that none of them are my problem. I have always got at least 500Meg FREE at all times when using LimeWire 2.8.6 and I run Win2000 not a mac as all the others. So my problem is different from any of theirs, and I was unable to find a resolution using their fixes and ideas.

The weird thing here is that I have exacted the issue down to a very specific bit of LimeWire code. Every feature and 'window' of Limewire works perfectly and reliably, except the top right Search Window RESULTS (white background) Text.

What works? --->> The Search Feature in every option possible. The bars to resize windows (within the main top search tab, meaning the grey leftside window, the lower right download window and the SPACE allocated for top right search results window) all work fine.

So if the top right search window is failing to load on startup, then what is missing?? ----->> Well this will be easier to show you what IS There. (Perhaps I should take a screen capture and link it here.... hmmmmm.. Would that even be helpful?) Anyway, when I do 3 searches, there appear 3 tabs in the Results Window. The text in the grey tabs is also fine, including the number found. However when you click on a tab it SHOULD show you the list of results... and allow you to sort them. NO TEXT COMES UP - and NO MENU BUTTONS to sort with are showring at any time.

On the other hand, keep in mind that the sorting buttons are showing up just fine in every other window, including the lower download part of the Search page. In Fact, on the middle bar, 'download' (or wishlist), 'chat', and 'browse host' are all available fine too. Its just the inner white background text and menu for Search results that fails to load on startup.

My idea is that this is a registry corruption of type that is NOT repaired when uninstalling, and reinstalling LimeWire. Since it started, I even installed older versions, and they also have the same problem now.

I'm SURE if a real LimeWire Coder just was able to read this problem, he or she could verify the exact code block which is failing to initialize, and write a quick script that I could run to log errors on startup, thereby showing them and me the location of the corruption, and hopefully giving us a suggestion on what to edit to fix in the system.

I have to use 2.3.3 until someone can help me resolve my 2.7/2.8 LimeWire Failure. If you have any experience with this problem, or ideas and want to take a shot, please respond here. I'll check back every day. Thanks. :confused:

Hi Cougar.

Sorry you're having such a problem. I know trap_jaw had mentioned uninstalling and reinstalling. I know you said you did that. However, I notice that when I run uninstall it doesn't always remove all files. Have you run uninstall and then searched for any left over files and trashed them and then tried to reinstall? Maybe something is left over that is messing up the newer installs?

You said you are now using 2.3.3? Are you having any luck with that? According to the developers, you need to run 2.6 or newer to connect.

I'm sorry this isn't anything new, but sometimes, it seems with LW, you need to try and try again.

Good luck.

:cool:

What would I search for? I have definately removed the entire LimeWire directory from program files with each and every uninstall (prior to reinstall) But your theory does make sense that something doesnt get uninstalled. WHAT could it be???

I thought that perhaps something in a hidden directory or the registry might be left (and corrupted). If I knew what else i could delete, id try it. Thanks for the idea. Wish we knew what else to delete.

As for 2.3.3... its wonderful. It gets about only 1/3 the search results that my 2.8.6 was getting (so id never go back once getting 2.8.6 to work, but since Limewire is clearly broken, 2.3.3 is better than nothing... and now i am forced to use Kaaza and other methods instead too. Its a shame. I quit encouring friends to buy limewire since this happened a few months ago. But im not sure that other people would even be affected by the problem im having (above). Perhaps it broke limewire when my computer crashed one day, however nothing else on the computer seems to be broken (oh except simcity 3000 unlimited, that no longer runs at all.. it gives an exe error when started - but i didnt think it was related). There are no errors with 2.3.3 except that random login/password boxes show up... however clicking OK or Cancel seems to remove them find. Its a mere annoyance but at least I have something to download with.

Thanks for your response. Hope to have others soon.

UPDATE
 

No, the new 2.9.7 STILL maintains the corruption, however when I remove it, and load 2.7.x or before, limewire performs perfectly.

Something changed between 2.7 and 2.8 so far as the code for the windows is concerned. Whatever that change, it is acting incorrectly with my Windows 2000 or J2RE 1.4.1_02, in some way that does not affect any but this 1 single part of this one page.

Ideas? Any coders out there who desire to help me out on this? Thanks.

ok, i think i have an idea.

do a search on your computer for 'limewire.props'. the folder that has that file should also have a 'Display.props' file. if it does not, then create one and put:

---
COUNT=32
SPEED=64
NAME=314
SIZE=84
VENDOR=53
TYPE=65
LOCATION=117
---

in it. if it does have one, change the contents of it to be what i pasted above. (make sure LimeWire is already closed when doing this.) then open LimeWire.

i dunno if this will work, but it's worth a shot.

just as a note on the above info -- don't include the "---" in the file contents.

i hope it works! please let us know here if it does (or doesn't).

OH MY GOSH
 

YOU ARE ON THE RIGHT TRACK! Good job.

Yes, I found many instances of limewire.props and Display.props because I had tested about every version possible.

It appears that most earlier versions have this file at path C:\Program Files\LimeWire\[Version Number]

However, when I installed 2.9.7 again, ran it, and changed a few options and resaved it. I was able to verify that the apparent NEW active location is actually now C:\Documents and Settings\[username]\.limewire because the timestamp changed on the limewire.props at this location.

When I opened the Display.props file at THIS location, I found a blank line of nothing, then the rest of the file was blank. I highlighted the blank line and scrolled a short way, then clicked DELETE, saved the file (after backing up the old file of course), and attempted to start limewire 2.9.7

Immediately it was clear that the menu bar was BACK, before even doing anything else. However, as i looked at it for a few seconds and limewire crashed with an error.

However Im running it again now, with no further changes, and it appears to be working fine. THANK YOU!!!!!

It appears that this file had been corrupted in some way, and you have directed me to fix it. Other people on here should recieve this same fix information.

It seems that you gave me information to set the menu bar titles and initial length of those individual squares. (but I could be wrong on this) Now, if you or anyone has knowledge of ALL the possible fields, I would very much appreciate having the titles, so I can choose my own version of this bar and its sizes for best future use. Is it possible to format my own titles and square sizes for all my windows?? Are there additional titles that I can add. Anyone know all the options??

I will attempt to load older versions now, and test it. But as of April 1 2003 (since I first complained of this issue in January), I am confident that a person has finally RESOLVED my LimeWire issue. And as I initially suggested, it turned out to be a file corruption... one that was not repaired through uninstall/reinstall attempts.

THANK YOU to Open Sourcer sberlin from New York - for the ultimate fix to this long time limewire corruption/issue. This forum has proven successful. I'm glad I joined.

wow -- i'm really happy it worked. :)

the easiest way for you to change the width of or add/remove columns in the search results is to right-click on the columns themselves -- a popup box should appear with checkmarks and various column options. you can choose what you want to see, and drag the widths and order of the columns as you see fit. what you choose _should_ stay and be remembered for other limewire sessions.

for the current release, the only table that will remember your positions/widths/visibility is the search results. however, i've got a development branch going that adds this functionality to all the other tables (and adds a nifty little 'revert to default', incase you forget and want how limewire suggestions they should be). in the meantime, you can still reorder/remove/add columns to the other tables, but you'll have to do it again next you start limewire.

Excellent!
 

Excellent, That right mouse click, is exactly what I needed to find the other titles. I like that it maintains my sizing, and i look forward to seeing all the menus of limewire have this same functionality.

Currently I'm using:

LOCATION=105
COUNT=15
QUALITY=67
TYPE=37
VENDOR=60
SIZE=67
CHAT=28
audios__audio__bitrate__=59
SPEED=57
NAME=393

Good luck on your next venture. I'm taking some time to help others who had my same problem... and give them your answer. This forum only works when people who are helped, help others.

Appreciate all your answers.

hi cougar -- i just wanted you to know that thanks to your help, we've isolated the problem in the code that allowed a corrupt Display.props file, and have fixed it for the next version.

thanks again.