smg:I have MS 7.22 installed on my laptop. I do also face similar problem when I try to open a security in Downloader by FILE > OPEN. Although I do not get any error message of illegal operation. In my case Downloader simply closes down.
I hope your experience might help me also out.
Regards
SMG
MS Pro version 7.22 , OS WIN XP Pro SP2
Hi SMG,
I hope I can be of help, but let me first say that I am not an expert on either the deeper and finer points of Microsoft nor Metastock, otherwise I wouldn't have sent out my request in the first place. Nonetheless, I hope that my experience can be of assistance.
My error message said that MSFL72.DLL was causing the problem, but I eventually discovered that it WASN'T. I was unable to even find the said .dll file at first, but eventually discovered (trial and error) that this particular file was an "invisible" file and the customisation of my system told it to "hide" invisible files. So once I changed the properties of my window it eventually displayed the offending file. I discovered (by looking at its Properties [right click etc]) that by re-installing The Downloader it also re-installed the "offending" .dll file. Yet when I tried to use The Downloader again (all brand new this time remember) it still crashed with the same error message. So this said to me that neither the .dll file NOR The Downloader were the problem in the first place. It dawned on me that it might be the data file that was corrupt, and it seemed logical that if the data file WAS corrupt then the "garbled rubbish" of a corrupt data file might send the programme using it in the wrong place to look for something that wasn't there... in other words, exactly the same symptoms I was experiencing.
To test this I used The Downloader to open individual stocks and found starting from A that I got as far as B successfully but all stocks beginning with C caused Downloader to crash. I started from Z backwards and got as far as N successfully, but all stocks thereafter starting with M caused Downloader to crash. This was proof to me that my data WAS corrupt.
Answer? I went to my last data backup (which was regrettably August of last year) and made a new copy of that data file (which was Metastock format) got all the ASCii data files for the MISSING period and then told Downloader to add all the missing data in the usual way I do with my daily data. It took an age, but when completed I deleted my old metastock formated data file after noting down its name and renamed the new data file with the same name of the old file and Metastock itself was able to access it and because all my "Smart" data was still intact (having been stored by Metsatock in different folders) it read the new data and applied all the old customisation I had previously applied.
I hope that helps. It was wordy because if your problem it not the same as mine the process itself might assist you to find your own answer.
Good luck.