"Check for Updates" not working in Windows

[Steve Westfall]

I use Accordance on MacOS Big Sur (11.6), Windows 10 Professional (64-bit), and iOS 14.8.  The last couple of times I've run Accordance in Windows, I've had a problem when trying to check for content updates.

 

After selecting "Utilities -> Check for Updates" from the menu, the "Check for Updates" window pops up and then nothing happens.  It just sits there.  After a couple minutes I click on the "X" at the top right of the window to close the "Check for Updates" window, but it doesn't close.  Windows Task Manager shows that Accordance Bible Software has two processes running.  In the "Check for Updates" window the "Free" and "Paid" buttons are active; clicking back and forth between them multiple times switches back and forth between the two options.  But Accordance is using 0% of cpu and network resources.

 

The only way I can dismiss the pop-up window is to use the "End Task" option in Windows Task Manager, which closes both the pop-up and the main Accordance application.

 

This happened both before and after updating Accordance to the latest version, 13.3.1.0.

 

I don't have this problem with the MacOS and iOS versions; only with the Windows version.

 

How do I fix this?  Do I need to do a complete uninstall/reinstall?

 

Thanks.

 

Steve Westfall

[Tech Support]

Steve,

 

Are you by any chance using a VPN? If so turn it off and try again. Also, do you have security/filtering/cleaning software that may be affecting Accordance?

 

 

[Michel Gilbert]

I had the same problem on my Surface Go today. App update worked, so did Easy Install for a recent purchase. But check for content updates got stuck with the progress bar in the middle, with no modules showing. I could only close the window and Acc itself with the Task Manager > End Task.

I tried to update several times after restarting Acc, Windows, etc. Nothing worked.

Something similar happened on my W10 desktop right after that. The check for content update window opened, but there wasn’t even a progress bar. I had to use Task Manager to close it and Acc. But content update worked after I restarted Accordance.

I don’t have time to help troubleshoot this right now, except to say that my answer to all the tech support questions is no. And, I’ve never had this problem before on either device.

I will just use Acc on my tablet the way it is for now.

Michel

[Billy32792]

We can't reproduce this issue here in testing. Here are some things that you can try to see if it clears this issue up for you.

 

We've already covered VPNs and security software that have been known to cause these same issues in some instances.

 

It is possible that you may have a damaged installation. Did you by any chance use Google Chrome to download Accordance? Chrome is mistaking Accordance for malware on some computers and will cripple the download to various degrees and it will never work correctly. If you used Chrome, please throw that download away and get a new download and run it again using any other browser. Please restart your PC before running the new download to quit any background processes that may still be running (Task Manager alone can do this sometimes, but restarting the PC does it every time).

 

If you did not use Chrome, Accordance Safe Mode will allow you to easily remove or disable User Content, Settings, Connectivity and do Clean up for troubleshooting purposes. 

 

On a Windows PC, press and hold your ‘alt’ key ‘immediately after’ you click on the Accordance icon in order to open Accordance Safe Mode.

 

Please select ‘Remove startup session’, ‘Clear Library Cache’, ‘Clear Research Cache’, ‘Clear cached downloads’ and then launch Accordance.

 

If this doesn’t correct the issue, you can go back into Accordance Safe Mode and select ‘Remove General Settings’ and then relaunch Accordance. This will reset some of your personal preferences and you will need to put in your name and account information again, but this is normal.

 

Let us know if these steps do not help and we can escalate the trouble shooting.

 

Thanks.

 

[Kiyah]

I had this same issue for a while. However, today I ran Windows update and it installed the 21H2 November feature update, then I ran Windows update again and it immediately installed a cumulative update for that update. I did this as I normally would, I wasn't trying to do it to fix Accordance or anything. However, after doing this and then opening Accordance I tried to run a content update and it worked with no problems.

 

So my point is, maybe run Windows update and make sure you're running the latest of the latest for Windows 10. I'm running OS build 19044.1348. The cumulative update that installed after I ran windows update again was KB5007289.

 

I have no idea what the original problem was and why this would have fixed it but I just know it's working now.

[Steve Westfall]

Sorry I did not see the responses to my original posting sooner.  

 

Yes, I have a VPN, but I normally don't use it except in very few circumstances where I'm concerned about extra privacy, and I don't believe it was running when I had the problem with Accordance.

 

My security software is Microsoft's Windows Security.

 

My OS version is Windows 10 Pro, version 20H2, build 19042.1348.  It is up to date with all non-optional updates for 20H2.

This morning I tried "Check for Updates", the window opened, and nothing seemed to happen.  After a few minutes I switched from the "Free" to the "Paid" button, and nothing happened.  I then clicked on the gear icon and selected "Refresh List".  At that point, Accordance let me open a crash report in Notepad, and Accordance itself closed.  The crash report is attached to today's post.

 

When I started Accordance again, it asked if I wanted to recover the things I had open in the last session, and I replied no.  As it was opening, I noticed that the main screen covered up a "Check for Updates" screen listing an update for Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia.  I don't know why that was open, since I had not asked it to check for updates in my new session.  I let it proceed, and it successfully downloaded and installed the update.

 

Steve Westfall

Accordance_2021_12_14 11_00_38.txt

[Kiyah]

20H2 is not the latest version of Windows 10. 21H2 is the latest version of Windows 10. I really do think it has something to do with those Windows Update files. Windows update ran automatically for me about a week ago and the Accordance Content Update stopped working again. This morning however, I cleared out my Windows Update files through Disk Cleanup to free up hard drive space and restarted, and now the Accordance Content Update is working again. It just updated my Berean Study Bible. Maybe try either updating to the latest version of Windows 10, the 21H2 fall Feature update (which would probably clear out old Windows Update files in the process). Or try running disk cleanup and clearing out old Windows Update files manually.

 

I don't know why Windows Update would be causing the problem, but it seems to have something to do with it since my Content Update is working again.

[Steve Westfall]

Kiyah, thanks for your comments.  I did not say that 20H2 is the latest version of Windows 10.  I only said that my copy of 20H2 is up to date with all the updates and patches that Microsoft has issued for it.  20H2 is still fully supported by Microsoft.  Microsoft comes out with feature updates twice a year, and it is not required to upgrade to the latest semi-annual update (21H1 and 21H2 are the two that have been released in 2021).  Like many people, I do not move immediately to Microsoft's latest version because it usually has bugs.  Also, if all it has is new features that I don't care about, I don't need to upgrade to the new release.  Most application software, including Accordance, does not require us to be on the very latest release of the OS. 

 

I don't think the Disk Cleanup has anything to do with the problem I've had, since I still experience it even after running Disk Cleanup.

 

I may solve the problem by doing a complete reinstall of Accordance since I was already planning to reinstall my OS because I want to enable the Secure Boot and TPM (Trusted Platform Module) features on my system, which are required in order to upgrade to Windows 11.  My motherboard supports those features, but they are not currently enabled.

[Kiyah]

This bug is still a problem for me. Has anyone at Accordance looked into this? Can someone tell me if this is still an issue in Accordance 14 (I have 13)?

[JohnABarnett]

This morning on startup Accordance 14 opened a content update window. I followed the instructions to SHIFT-select those I wanted to install, but the action button remained ghosted. There was nothing I could see to do about it but to force-close the update window using my task bar and forgo the update.

 

Can't follow up on it now, but will try again within a few days and see if it recurs.