I'm not sure where to post this, but this seems close: For the past couple of days I've been unable to upload photos to my MyTripJournal.com blog. All the other features of the entry updates work but every time I try to upload photos I get a message saying Oops! an unexpected error has occurred and telling me all the things I must have done wrong to make it happen (none of which I did). There is an error message that says: "Specific Error: Page = 'ExceptionPage'
java.lang.NullPointerException "

I've been e-mailing someone there about it and he's been very nice and willing to help, but essentially unable to either replicate my problem or figure out what is happening. Our traveling companions, who are using our satellite connection are also having the same issue, and none of us had a problem until a couple of days ago.

Is anyone else having a similar problem? Any idea of a common theme we can pass on to help the tech guys? It's been working fine for two years for me and I can't figure out what all of a sudden changed.

Margaret

Update: I was successful this morning in uploading photos using the campground wi-fi, which had been down yesterday. So I've isolated the problem to something relating to the satellite connection -- any thoughts on why suddenly this would stop working (it's working fine for all other applications, just not uploading photos)? Also, when it first wouldn't work we were at a location where it had worked fine two days before. I'm baffled.

Ian and Margaret,

If you're using a satellite connection then it might be that you are maxed out and down to a reduced access. This is especially true if you have someone else using the connection.

The pictures may simply be too large for the server to handle. Or it could be the server is simply having trouble.

Since you were successful with the wi-fi it looks like it might be the sat connection limitation.

Glad you got it to work.

HamRad

I know we're not FAP'd because I have a monitor and keep a close eye on that and the other people on the connection are aware of the issue and very responsible. And the picture files are the same as I've always used, or even smaller in some cases. Also, I've tried with a variety of sizes, numbers, etc. of photos, with no difference in outcome. So neither of those explanations will work. But thanks for the thought!

I've now heard of two other people, in different locations with different satellites (actually one may not be via a satellite connection, although I don't know for sure) who have had problems, so it sounds like something at the My Trip Journal level, although their techs haven't yet been able to sort it out.

Margaret

Put one of your pictures in an email attachment to yourself and see if it goes through.

I've done that -- it's pretty clear to me that the problem is on their end and has something to do with interface with a satellite connection. I've been in touch with 3 other people with the same problem and the only common thread I can find is that we're all connecting to the internet via satellite. I know that two of us are with Hughes (via Motosat) and I suspect the other two are also. I had a software expert tell me that the error code cited indicates bad data on their end, but I'm not sure why it affects only satellite users and only some of those, at that.

I use My Trip Journal and upload tons of pictures on my blog. I usually connect with my Verizon air card but we are in Nova Scotia now and have to rely on the parks wifi... If I have a good signal I can upload 10 at a time but in the places where the signal is low, I do one at a time or it will just kick me off line..

I guess in answer to your question, I would agree that your problem has something to do with the Data Storm connection... Good luck.

Helen

quote:

I would agree that your problem has something to do with the Data Storm connection

Just as a clarification, the problem would not be with the Datastorm but rather the Hughes internet service. The Datastorm is just the antenna that allows users to connect to the Hughes service.

quote:

Originally posted by Ian and Margaret:
I've done that -- it's pretty clear to me that the problem is on their end and has something to do with interface with a satellite connection. I've been in touch with 3 other people with the same problem and the only common thread I can find is that we're all connecting to the internet via satellite. I know that two of us are with Hughes (via Motosat) and I suspect the other two are also. I had a software expert tell me that the error code cited indicates bad data on their end, but I'm not sure why it affects only satellite users and only some of those, at that.

One thing you might check . . . Hughes recently changed transponders for some of us on the 83W satellite. I found out by accident. We actually were experiencing periods of connectivity followed by outages. If you go into your Modem control center, go to your statistics and see what transponder it says you are on. Then go into the MotoSat Datastorm page and see what it says there for your transponder under the configuration. They have to match. If they don't, change it in the Motosat screen. In a few minutes, you should connect. I can't say this is the problem, since you apparently do have some connectivity, but that is how ours acted. We had problems for about a week before we were unable to connect at all.

You may also go to Datastormusers.com and do some reading there. They will help you determine if it is your system. That is where I found the problem. (I just read where someone else experienced the same problem, but spent 10-12 hours on tech support until this was discovered. Grrr.) I spent about 30 minutes on the Datastormusers web site and found the answer to my problem.

I don't think there is any way are you going to be maxxed out on your DAtastorm.

Good luck.

Dale

PS: Hi Bill. Good to see you last week.

Hi Bill, thanks for the clarification; Dale, thanks for the info, but I'm on top of that issue and don't think it's relevant here. Those of us who have had problems are on at least two different satellites and none of us has any problem doing anything but dealing with MTJ. I've been communicating with the MTJ people and have been assured that they are working diligently to figure out what the issue might be. The consensus seems to be developing that it is a software glitch on their end relating to incoming files from satellite transmissions. I'm not smart enough to figure out how that could happen, but trust they are!!

I also have a Datastorm and started using My Trip Journal. I found that Blogspot.com works much better, and is much easier to make a CD copy of the journal for archival purposes. FYI