Troubleshooting

Damage to LM and/or the Borland Database Engine (BDE) is quite unlikely. So, if you have serious problems running LM, eliminate other possibilities first. For, the following remedies won't fix problems with Windows or your hardware.

Remedies (Try them in order.)

If all four cures fail, then you may have a serious problem with your system or the BDE. To test the BDE, either verify that a rebuilding kit starts ok (see above), or download and install LM 2000 (freeware). To our knowledge, there is no case where LM Pro would not work with the BDE if LM 2000 on the same machine does.

If a test with LM 2000 or a Paradox rebuilding kit shows that there's a problem with the BDE, keep in mind that this problem might be caused by some other program using it, not LM.

Note: The acronym "BDE" is not unique to the Borland Database Engine. So, make sure that the program you find fits the description given here.


Uninstalling and Reinstalling LM and the BDE

  1. Evacuate your data from the LM program directory.
    1. Move copies of your backup ZIP-files from the BACKUP subfolder to another place for safekeeping. Doing this preserves your database.
    2. Back-up a copy of the whole Literary Machine program directory to another folder. Doing this preserves the information in the program's subfolders, such as the text files for your LM projects and the outline structures you have created. These include the files in the program directory's EXCEL, OUTL, OUTLTXT, FMT, and PROJECTS subfolders.

  2. Press the Windows Start button and choose Settings > Control Panel > Add/Remove Programs.
  3. On the Install/Uninstall tab, scroll down through the list of programs on your computer and select "The Literary Professional Edition." Press the OK button.
  4. Delete the LM program directory and anything left in it. (The uninstall will not clear files created after installation.)
  5. Uninstall the BDE (See the Uninstall page .)
  6. Reinstall LM.
  7. Add-in the latest update package.
  8. Copy the data files you saved back into the new program directory — your backup ZIP-files and the saved contents of your EXCEL, OUTL, OUTLTXT, FMT, and PROJECTS subfolders.
  9. Restore your latest good backup ZIP-file.

Did this procedure solve your problem? If the answer is no, then read on.


Unusual BDE problems

If the BDE is suspected to cause the error, the logical cure is to uninstall and re-install it (as described above). Since this may have an impact on other programs, try all other actions first. One type of problem is that another program may have installed the BDE without following the standard rules.

Special Case: If you found the BDE in a Corel directory, like "..\Shared\IDAPI\", a Corel product (e.g., WordPerfect™ or Draw™) installed it before you installed LM. In that case you might be able to fix the BDE by just refreshing that Corel installation. So, try reinstalling that Corel program (without uninstalling it first). If that doesn't work, try again, choosing the option to Validate and Verify. If that doesn't work either, try yet again with the option to reset Registry Keys (you will lose your customization settings, because they will be reset to their default values).

Note: refreshing a Corel Office installation may change a setting that prevents LM from opening thereafter due to a database "mismatch" error. If this happens, just reinstall LM. No need to uninstall it first.

If all these attempts fail, delete the BDE directory again and continue with the steps below.

Next step is to clean the Windows Registry by removing the BDE's Registry keys. Use a registry cleaning program (like MS REGCLEAN.EXE, MS REGEDIT.EXE, or various freeware and commercial products).


Finally, you reinstall the BDE by reinstalling a program that installs it. Which program? That depends. Choose the remedy that applies:

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