Sentinel Missing or Data in wrong FL

Status
Not open for further replies.

bearcat

Member
Joined
Dec 24, 2002
Messages
734
I made a quick search of the forum and found nothing. So if this is a re-run, sorry.

This issue has happened before but now it seems to be happening often.

I was in Houston TX earlier this year and made a Houston TX FL. For some reason that FL is now totally empty, nothing but the FL title.

Also I have an FL of local Universities, for some reason about half of the data from my Florida FL is now in the University FL and the stuff that is supposed to be in the University FL is gone.

99% of the time I write to my scanner. I do not read it very often.

Any ideas what is going on here?
 

ofd8001

Member
Premium Subscriber
Joined
Feb 6, 2004
Messages
7,891
Location
Louisville, KY
Is this something you notice on the scanner itself as in nothing being scanned in a Favorites List, or in Sentinel when you edit a Favorites List and "stuff" has disappeared?

If its on the scanner, I'd be suspicious of an SD card wearing out.
 

bearcat

Member
Joined
Dec 24, 2002
Messages
734
Since I rarely read the card I do not think it is the SD card. I do think it is something that Sentinel confuses when writing to the card.
 

ofd8001

Member
Premium Subscriber
Joined
Feb 6, 2004
Messages
7,891
Location
Louisville, KY
There is a lot of "business" that goes on with the SD card as a normal process. For example, each radio transmission is recorded on the SD card for replay purposes. Other times a read/write process occurs is when the scanner is powered on/off.

So there is a lot of "behind the scenes" use of the SD card regardless Sentinel "involvement" (reading from or writing to, the scanner).
 

bearcat

Member
Joined
Dec 24, 2002
Messages
734
That is true but that does not explain why it would corrupt data from what should be a normal Read/Write.

This has happened several times over the years I have had the radio(s) and the SD cards have been changed. So if it happens with different cards then the issue is related to something else.

At least I would think so
 

ofd8001

Member
Premium Subscriber
Joined
Feb 6, 2004
Messages
7,891
Location
Louisville, KY
I would think so too since different SD cards are used.

You can locate your Profile and Favorites List list files with your Windows Explorer (not using Sentinel). A possible location is in your C:\Users\yourname\Documents\BCDx36HP\Profile(or FavoriteLists) folder.

You can open the Profile and Favorites List files with a text editor such as Notepod to examine them. If you see any weird characters or shifted information, it may indicate the files got corrupted somehow. There isn't any harm in looking, but don't make any changes or save the files to avoid adding "bad" stuff to them.
 

Ubbe

Member
Joined
Sep 8, 2006
Messages
8,944
Location
Stockholm, Sweden
Computer is Mac/PC and what operating system?
What antivirus software and any 3:rd party computer management software?

/Ubbe
 

bearcat

Member
Joined
Dec 24, 2002
Messages
734
Any of these suggestions could be possible, but having files moved from one FL to another FL in perfect condition with no corruption seems more like a software bug than an SD card issue.
 

jonwienke

More Info Coming Soon!
Joined
Jul 18, 2014
Messages
13,416
Location
VA
I keep the master copy of scanner programming on the computer, not on the scanner. That way a card failure is solved by replacing the card and writing to scanner.
 

Ubbe

Member
Joined
Sep 8, 2006
Messages
8,944
Location
Stockholm, Sweden
Not many facts presented. What scanner is it and was the missing/wrong FL in Sentinel or the scanner, what OS is used and does the computer ever say that the SD card is corrupted and windows would like to fix that for you, and usb driver says it is Uniden and so on?

Please give as much info as possible or it will be impossible to suggest anything. If it only happens once or twice a year it is probably not worth going any deeper into the problem. Just keep a backup in another folder after changing anything in Sentinel and read the scanner to verify all seems ok before taking a long trip.

/Ubbe
 

bearcat

Member
Joined
Dec 24, 2002
Messages
734
I keep the master copy of scanner programming on the computer, not on the scanner. That way a card failure is solved by replacing the card and writing to scanner.
So do I. It is happening on the PC not the radio. A given FL will be empty or files moved to another FL on the PC. As long as I do not overwrite the SD card the scanner is good. If I catch it I can read the radio back to Sentinel.

I think it is based on adding/deleting FLs or changes made to FLs.
 

bearcat

Member
Joined
Dec 24, 2002
Messages
734
The card has never reported corruption. The scanner is the 436. The OS is Win10.

Regardless of how often it happens, I would still like to know why.
 

jonwienke

More Info Coming Soon!
Joined
Jul 18, 2014
Messages
13,416
Location
VA
I'm running Win10 also, and have never experienced this problem.
 

ofd8001

Member
Premium Subscriber
Joined
Feb 6, 2004
Messages
7,891
Location
Louisville, KY
One other thought comes to mind. In Sentinel, there is a tool/setting that can be changed to point to different computer locations (Tools/options/Sentinel Folder). Any chance you could have changed this a time or two, which would lead to duplicate files, some of which are accurate, some of which are not?

(Yeah, I'm reaching into left field, but this sounds so very unusual).
 

jonwienke

More Info Coming Soon!
Joined
Jul 18, 2014
Messages
13,416
Location
VA
A slightly more likely scenario is that the Windows path for My Documents got changed, and Sentinel is looking in the new location rather than the old one.
 

Ubbe

Member
Joined
Sep 8, 2006
Messages
8,944
Location
Stockholm, Sweden
But why would Sentinel then move parts of a system from one FL to another?

Sentinel are developed for a US windows version and you can run into problems if the region
is set to another country. Even Gommert of Butels says to stay on the US region with your windows when
using his software for the US range of scanners.

/Ubbe
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top