Author Topic: POSSIBLE SOLUTION: Bug: Tournament director 2.0 does not start  (Read 28812 times)

It762

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POSSIBLE SOLUTION: Bug: Tournament director 2.0 does not start
« on: February 20, 2006, 03:33:40 PM »
Hi!

using 1.3 successfully for our little home tourneys and it's great. Now I upgraded to TD2.0 to test the new features and to evaluate. But after starting the exe a blank window opens:

Title  "ms-its:TD.lib::/directorFS.hta"

That's all :)

I have windows XP SP2 media center edition 2005 update pack 2. Everything patched.

Rgds
« Last Edit: March 10, 2006, 09:03:43 AM by Corey Cooper »

kirk5713

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Re: Bug: Tournament director 2.0 does not start
« Reply #1 on: February 20, 2006, 06:05:34 PM »
That is exactly what is happening to me.....help???

Corey Cooper

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Re: Bug: Tournament director 2.0 does not start
« Reply #2 on: February 20, 2006, 08:51:45 PM »
This is very hard to debug because I simply cannot reproduce the problem, and it's fairly obvious from the description that whatever is causing the problem is actually preventing the program from executing, so there isn't even any type of debug code I could insert into the program to try to determine what the problem is.  This is definitely high on my to-do list.

It762

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Re: Bug: Tournament director 2.0 does not start
« Reply #3 on: February 21, 2006, 01:29:03 AM »
Please note that I disabled activeX in my IE and similar things to protect my system from trojans viruses and all this stuff. Maybe it is related to some security setting ? kirk5713: did you take modifications on your system?

rgds

Corey Cooper

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Re: Bug: Tournament director 2.0 does not start
« Reply #4 on: February 21, 2006, 07:15:59 AM »
Well, the TD definitely needs access to Active-X.  Without it, you won't be able to load or save tournaments, templates, etc.  There are other scripting controls that it needs access to, too, which you might have disabled at the same time.

So this (these) would definitely be a problem.  Although I wouldn't think they would cause the program to not run at all.

It762

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Re: Bug: Tournament director 2.0 does not start
« Reply #5 on: February 21, 2006, 08:42:17 AM »
I doublechecked and for applications running under "my computer" activeX is is either enabled or at least set to "prompt".
Please point out what other resources the application requires, so we can rule out other possible error sources.

rgds

Corey Cooper

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Re: Bug: Tournament director 2.0 does not start
« Reply #6 on: February 21, 2006, 10:23:03 AM »
Well, that's just it.  Because of the nature of the program, NONE of these settings should matter.  But apparently, on some PCs, they do.  And then when they do, they exhibit different behavior on different PCs.  On the PC I am currently working on, I can disable basically every form of scripting, active content, and active-X controls, and the TD still runs perfectly (as it should).

Can you be more specific about where you checked for applications runing under "my computer"?  Because I don't know where these settings are.

It762

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Re: Bug: Tournament director 2.0 does not start
« Reply #7 on: February 21, 2006, 11:10:31 AM »
I dont know the names in english must be similar to :
internet explorer -> Extras -> InternetOptions -> Security-> in the window you see Internet, iNtranet, trusted sites, blocked sites and MY COMPUTER

That's where i checked. Other fixes i did was unregistering the dll responsible for th ewmf exploit that was spreading lately.

hmmmm.... not sure what else is related to that.

let me know if you need more information.

Corey Cooper

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Re: Bug: Tournament director 2.0 does not start
« Reply #8 on: February 21, 2006, 12:30:43 PM »
OK, we were looking in the same place.  I'm using a Windows Server 2003 machine at the moment, and my Security tab of IE does not have a "My Computer" selection (it has Internet, Local intranet, Trusted sites, and Restricted sites).  Yet another example of the differences...

alobar

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Re: Bug: Tournament director 2.0 does not start
« Reply #9 on: February 21, 2006, 02:40:14 PM »
Just wanted to let you know that i am having the same problem. I have XP SP2, fresh install of TD 2.0

Ive attached a screenshot of the window.

It762

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Re: Bug: Tournament director 2.0 does not start
« Reply #10 on: February 22, 2006, 03:15:11 PM »
not fixed but I have an idea.... how can i check if the ms-its handler is working? should there be a registry entry in "HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\PROTOCOLS\Handler\ms-its", If yes what should be inside? I only have "ms-itss" in there?

I thought that this might be related to load these CHM and HTA files and there was quite some time ago a CHM exploit which only recommandation at the time was to disable the CHM files at all.

Though i checked - the CHM help files open fine :/

Iam puzzled but I keep trying.

BTW: Active X works fine for other stuff and I re-installed windowsScripting host.

Maybe I'll get a discount If I pull this off  :)

rgds

Corey Cooper

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Re: Bug: Tournament director 2.0 does not start
« Reply #11 on: March 09, 2006, 09:07:36 PM »
Here's a fix that has helped at least one user.  I also tried this myself, confirming that I could duplicate what several of you are seeing, and then could fix it.

First, download this utility:

http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/files/Merijn/bugoff.zip

This is a small security program designed to show you where you might be vulnerable to certain malware exploits, and turn those Windows features on or off.

So, run "BugOff.exe" (which is inside the zip file you downloaded).  This will display 7 or 8 protocols and objects that Windows supports, and whether or not those features are enabled or disabled.  The second one is "ms-its".  If this protocol is disabled on your computer, you can bet this is preventing the TD from functioning.  So, enable the ms-its protocol and then try to run the TD.

Is it a security risk to enable the ms-its protocol?  Possibly, if you generally use Internet Explorer.  This protocol has obviously been abused in the past, but I do not know at this time whether or not this hole has been patched by Microsoft, nor whether or not this exploit is prevalent "out there".  It's not a risk to run the Tournament Director, but it could be to leave this protocol enabled while you generally surf the web with IE.  On the other hand, I personally wouldn't consider it a higher risk than any of the other security holes that exist in Windows, Internet Explorer, etc.  Best bet: use Firefox.

Finally, for the paranoid, you can always use this utility to enable the ms-its protocol before you start the TD, and then disable it after you're done using the TD.  (Don't disable ms-its *while* the TD is running, it *will* cause problems!)


It762

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Re: POSSIBLE SOLUTION: Bug: Tournament director 2.0 does not start
« Reply #12 on: March 11, 2006, 06:19:59 AM »
yes it worked for me. Thanks.

CanopicJar

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Re: POSSIBLE SOLUTION: Bug: Tournament director 2.0 does not start
« Reply #13 on: March 15, 2006, 08:17:07 PM »
I am having this problem as well.  When I run bugoff, it states that all the programs in the list are already enabled (including ms-its) with the exception of the last program which is ms-itss.  ms-itss is disabled and when I click on enable, it will not allow it to enable. 

I would really appreciate any help I can get.

Thanks,
Travis

Barry

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Re: POSSIBLE SOLUTION: Bug: Tournament director 2.0 does not start
« Reply #14 on: March 23, 2006, 04:40:48 PM »
The problem is likely the result of unregistered DLLs associated with the ms-its protocol. People with this problem are likely running XP SP2 and are also unable to open some windows help files. (E.g., c:\windows\system32\windows.chm.)

I was able to fix the problem by running this windows help diagnostic utility which registers the necessary DLLs: http://helpware.net/downloads/MJsDiag.zip.

Let us all know if this works for you.

Barry
Ottawa, Ontario