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Error: Another copy of BeerSmith is already running.

cheier

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As the topic says, I'm suddenly unable to run BeerSmith 2 on my mac. I just got an error trying to open it stating, "Another copy of BeerSmith is already running. You may only run one copy at a time." Only problem... I'm not running another copy, and I don't see any BeerSmith 2 process running in the activity monitor. I also ran "ps -ax" in the terminal and there are no open processes with the word Beer. There was, but in times where it was working. I'm not sure why it isn't running at this moment though.

I'm running Mac OS X 10.7.2.
 
Update. A restart of the computer fixed the issue, but it seems there was a lock file that Beersmith overwrote when I fired it back up again. All good now.
 
Hi
  I've had a few people run into this so far.  Most reported running an apple update before having the problem.  I'm thinking having the program open while running the apple update might be contributing to the problem.

  In most cases a reboot fixes this issue.  The lock file can be safely ignored - it is a consequence of the previous instance not closing properly but not a problem by itself.

Brad
 
after running beersmith2 on my macbook pro for several months, i just encountered the "another copy is running" problem tonight.  i've tried restarting the macbook, as well as shutdown and restart, all to no avail.  i looked in Activity Monitor and don't see anything running with reference to beersmith.

any ideas?
thanks!

ken

 
Hi,
  Its possible a bad or corrupt file is stopping one copy from running, and then you click it again and it starts another copy running.

  The worst case fix (which still is not too bad) is:

  - Rename your "Documents/BeerSmith2" directory to something else like "OldBeerSmith"
  - Restart your computer which will kill off any process that might be hung
  - Restart BeerSmith2 - which will create a new BeerSmith 2 directory with the sample recipes in it
  - You will likely have to enter your registration key again
  - Once you have BeerSmith running again, use the Open command to open your old Recipe.bsmx file
    that is now in your "OldBeerSmith" directory  and then copy/paste any recipes you need into
    your new "My Recipes" folder
  - You can do the same with Equipment.bsmx, Hops.bsmx, etc... if you have added items beyond
    those that came with BeerSmith 2
  - If you can't open one of the files (Recipe.bsmx for example), you can also try opening the numbered
    backups (Recipe1.bsmx, Recipe2.bsmx, etc...) - these contain older copies of the original.
  - Let me know if you have any problems - and please keep your "OldBeerSmith" directory around
    (the one you renamed earlier) as it will have all of your data in it!

  Also - if you are willing you can zip up the OldBeerSmith directory and send it to me via email and I
will take a look at it with the debugger and see if I can figure out why the program is hanging.

Thanks,
Brad
 
Brad--thanks for the quick reply.

i renamed the beersmith2 folder and then decided to try to reopen the app (without rebooting) before going thru the rest of the steps.  BS2 opened, said it was deleting a stale lock file, then opened.  then i quit the app, deleted the newly created BS2 file, restored the name of the renamed file, and BS2 opened fine.

thanks for the help!

ken
 
i just looked at the "lock file" that is placed at the root of my boot drive.  it is a document with a 4-digit number in it.  what is it for?
thanks

ken
 
Ken,
  I think I may have found the source of the problem today and will be posting build 55 to the main download page later today for Mac/64 bit only.  I think it was a bug in the 64 bit library that prevented one of the startup dialogs from closing and could cause a hang of the type you describe.  Not sure this is the exact problem you are having, but it is likely.

  The lock file was left by the previous version crashing.  It can usually be safely ignored - but it is often an indication that BeerSmith did not close properly the last time you ran it.

Brad
 
Brad--i'm stuck with the problem again.  when this happened the last time, all i needed to do was rename the documents/beersmith2 folder, and reopen the app, then rename the folder.

now that doesn't work, nor does your advice a few posts above to rename, then reboot.  after renaming, then rebooting, i still get the "another instance is running" message.

i also downloaded the latest build, rebooted, but to no avail.

any other ideas?

thanks

ken

 
for a variety of reasons, i've rebooted my macbook several times since being unsuccessful in running beersmith.  i just now tried to open it again, and it worked.  i have no idea what didn't get taken care of with a couple of reboots but did get taken care of after several more, but the bottom line is that all is well now.

ken

 
Ken,
  I'm hoping the latest builds resolved this (there were some bugs in earlier ones that could conceivably cause this).  If not please let me know.

  One other thought - is the system connected to the internet?  I'm wondering if not being able to access the internet for updates could be causing a hang?

Brad
 
Hi Brad - this is still happening to me.  I've tried renaming, restarting, and updating to 2.0.58 and I still get the same thing.  It's occuring to me how much I rely on this tool.  I'm feeling helpless without it!  I would appreciate a fix ASAP.
Thanks,
blazinbrush
 
Hi,
  I sent you some emails with suggestions of items to try.  Please let me know if they work.

Brad
 
I am having the same problem here...
could it be possible that Beersmith is opening at startup?
I renamed the file, restarted the computer, then, before I opened the application there was another Beersmith2 folder already in my documents.

Any help is appreciated
Thanks
-Joe
 
Joe,
  For the most recent case of this I had, deleting the lock file which is located in your Home directory corrected this:
  - Reboot your computer to make sure no BeerSmith processes are hung in the background
  - Delete the file "BeerSmith2-Doc" which is likely in your Home directory
  - Then restart BeerSmith.

Brad
 
Brad,

Just to be absolutely clear you mean to

1) rename your Beersmith 2 folder in your documents folder...contains recipes and equipment profiles

2) Delete Beersmith 2 application from application portion?  that's all I see in my home directory.

3) Install a new copy of BS and enter product key then copy and paste in recipes?

I'm really not a mac person but have to use a laptop for work which has kind of become the brewery computer as well.  I really need to use the program but don't want to manually enter all the recipes from hardcopy printouts.

Cheers,
Eric
Thorn st. brewery
 
Brad,

Just letting you  know that I encountered this error this morning and deleting the file from the home directory corrected the issue.
 
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