I/O Error

Report · Jul 31, 2007

System: Windows XP, Firefox, office network (with firewall, proxy)
Error Message: IOError on Network Request. Please check your network connection and try again. Network Path: htpp://... Error #2038

Please help. I originally had Adobe Reader 7, and I was perfectly able to download and view DRM-protected ebooks. However, since I upgraded to Adobe Reader 8 and Digital Editions, I can't view an ebook any more. I have limited privileges with the firewall, but this should not have been a problem since I was able to view the ebook before. Thanks!

Report · Aug 27, 2007

I am having the same issues. MacBook. OS X 10.4.10. I cannot get any help on this issue. I have tried to uninstall and reinstall too many times. We have no firewall running.

I am awaiting any one's suggestions.

Report · Aug 27, 2007

I've had a customer with the same issue. He had this setup: WinXP SP2, IE7, AVG Free, Adobe Reader 8.1 and he consistently got the IOError #2038. However, his co-worker on the same local network had no problems downloading ebooks on his machine, using Vista.

This error is quite puzzling. The only thing we know about the error is what Ric Wright wrote back in April on the now closed DE forum at ADobe Labs: "the message is simply that DE couldn't contact the server via your network. We don't get much info beyond timing out."

I know there are probably tens if not hundreds of possible reasons for this error to appear, but why it only appears on one of the two computers on the same network is beyond me.

Anyone else care to share their experiences with Error #2038? Maybe we can work it out together.

Report · Aug 28, 2007

Martin,

We order our books from MBS Virtual Bookstore. They are well aware of the problem. It might be worth contacting them as well. Here is what other little information I can give you. When I read the log file it says there is an authentication error. Which is odd, as I am only trying to download the free ebooks in pdf format from Adobe's library. Also in scouring my hard drive for items used by DE I found a voucher folder. Do you know if this is installed initially or only when content is successfully downloaded? ON the machine that will not work, the voucher folder is missing. I tried copying it over from one of the machines that works and that did not help. I didn't really think it would.

I am happy to trouble shoot in any way I can. I can provide details of our systems, computers, logs, etc. My daughter needs the ebooks for school and is going to be stuck in one week's time if I cannot figure this out.

Is there anyway I can find Adobe Reader 6 or 7? I know the ebook reader was built into that version. It would be a temporary fix at least.

Last question for now. DE did not come with an uninstaller. If I truly wanted to start over what do I need to uninstall? Remember I am on a Mac. OS X 10.4.10.

I look forward to any and all suggestions.

Debbie

Report · Aug 28, 2007

Debbie,

When you download an ebook which is delivered through an Adobe Content Server, I believe the ebook reader (Digital Editions or Adobe Reader 6/7) needs to perform some form of authentication in order for the DRM to work. Before the advent of Digital Editions, you could choose to do a named activation of your Adobe Reader 7 or 6, but some form of anonymous activation always took place and still does, it seems.

By the way, here's a link to our free ebook for testing purposes. It's in Danish but if it works, any Adobe ebook should work:
http://services.publizon.dk/retailer/FreeEBook.aspx

Whether or not you can use Adobe Reader 7 depends on the kind of Mac you have. An Intel Mac (such as the Macbook) will not install Adobe Reader 7 according to Adobe.com, but a PowerPC Mac will install v7.0.9, as far as I know. Download it here: http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2_allversions.html.

The missing voucher folder problem is not something I'm familiar with. I've just tried deleting it; the folder recreates itself, but any ebooks on the machine cannot be opened and a download of an ebook subsequently failed. I restored the original folder and all was back to normal.

Digital Editions shows up in my Add/Remove Programs (I'm using WinXP). I've also noticed these related folders:

*C:\Documents and Settings\Your User Name\Application Data\Macromedia\Flash Player\www.macromedia.com\bin\digitaleditions2x0 - this is where the actual program is on a Windows PC

*Documents/My Digital Editions - where the ebook PDFs are located

*C:\Documents and Settings\Your User Name\Application Data\Adobe\Digital Editions\Voucher - the voucher folder

If you could post details of both the system that works as well as the one that doesn't work it would be great.

I have of course contacted Adobe about this but that doesn't mean we can't try to work it out ourselves while we wait for an official response :-)

Martin

Report · Aug 28, 2007

Martin,

Thank you so much for replying so quickly. We are all running OS X 10.4.10. The computer having trouble is running Safari 3.0.3. That is a full version ahead of the other macs. I downloaded Firefox on the troubled computer and tried that installation as well (after a full uninstall). That did not work either.

I also called Adobe yesterday and was told there is no support for a free products.

It is really baffling why her computer will not download or authenticate even free books. I have tried many off the Adobe site.

Keep me posted. I am willing to try anything.

Report · Aug 28, 2007

Debra,

You're welcome. I've just installed Digital Editions on a Macbook Pro running OS X 10.4.10 and Safari 2.0.4. I had no problems whatsoever. It is possible to downgrade your Safari to 2.0.4?

The system requirements actually state that Safari 2.0.4 is supported. No mention of 3.0.3.

If this is the only difference between your Macs this may solve the problem. I'll try to remove DE, update Safari to 3.0.3 and try downloading an ebook. I'll let you know how it goes.

Regarding Digital Editions as a free product, that seems to be only for the time being. The plan is to have two versions, a free, ad-supported version and a premium version without the ads. Read about it here: http://www.adobe.com/products/digitaleditions/faq/#section-3

Maybe the premium version comes with a support plan!

Report · Aug 28, 2007

OK. I've just tested Safari 3.0.3. No problems at all downloading an ebook.

This may be because the previous install of Digital Editions using Safari 2.0.4 was succesfully activated and that this only needs to be done once per computer.

Report · Aug 28, 2007

I did not think it was Safari as I could not get it to work with Firefox either. The only version of Safari running on the difficult machine is 3.0.3. I also updated the flash player on that machine in hopes that would help. No dice.

I am definitely running out of ideas at this point.

Clearly there is something on that machine that is not happy with Adobe. I have no other programs running when we try. I have turned off ichat, and itunes.

How does DE activate? I keep thinking that is the problem. When I uninstall and redownload I feel that I am missing a piece.

Can DE run with out Reader 8.0? I get the impression that it cannot.

Debbie

Report · Aug 29, 2007

I still think a downgrade of Safari 3.0.3 to 2.0.4 would be worth a shot if it's not too inconvenient. It seems to be the only significant difference between the Mac I used successfully and the Mac with the problem.

I believe DE activates like Adobe Reader 7. I think the software uses a kind of "snapshot" of the computer's hardware among other things to obtain some form of unique identification when downloading an ebook. When downloading the first ebook the ebook reader then contacts the activation server at Adobe with this information and activates the computer. In the days of Adobe Reader 6.0.0 you actually had to perform a manual, named activation.

The old named activation method required for Adobe Reader 7 and 6 is still available from here: https://aractivate.adobe.com - you'll need a Windows Live ID to activate: https://accountservices.passport.net/ppnetworkhome.srf?lc=1000.

I have absolutely no idea if this will work with DE, but it's a form of activation.

As far as I know, DE can run without Reader 8 or any other Reader present.

Report · Aug 29, 2007

Martin,

I would normally not disagree with you on moving back one version of Safari, but I tried Firefox and Opera as well and neither of those worked either. I do believe that Adobe needs to consider what is happening and offer a suggestion or two. As this means of text book becomes more popular, the program needs to work more successfully.

Debbie

Report · Aug 29, 2007

Martin,

One more comment. I uninstalled Adobe Reader 8.1 on the troubled machine and reinstalled it. Still did not work.

I am convinced the issue resides with the fact that a voucher folder does not exist on the troubled machine. I am sure this has something to do with authentication or registration.

I look forward to any other suggestions.

Debbie

Report · Aug 30, 2007

Debbie,

Did you try named activation? I know it's a long shot but it may reveal whether or not your Mac is able to connect to the Adobe activation server.

Regarding the browser, the system requirements (www.adobe.com/products/digitaleditions/systemreqs)state that only two browsers are supported: Apple Safari 2.0.4, Mozilla FireFox 2. Why other Mac browsers wouldn't work with DE, I have no idea. I'm not a programmer, unfortunately, just a Danish Project Manager in charge of supporting Danish ebook customers :-)

I know Adobe reads this forum. Ric Wright and lead architect Peter Sorotokin also posts here occasionally.

I'm guessing there is no straightforward solution or they would have posted it already. I suggest you summarize the problem and our attempts to solve it and send an email to Adobe. You may experience better luck than I have had recently in my attempts to obtain answers from Adobe to our questions on Digital Editions.

Martin

Report · Aug 30, 2007

Martin,

Great minds must think alike. As a last resort I downloaded Adobe Reader 7.0 yesterday on the troubled machine and attempted to perform the DRM named authorization at the Adobe website. That led to more errors.

Could not create an EDB database: specified database path is invalied or cannot be accessed.

More digging suggested it was a permissions issue. I ran disk utility to fix the permissions. No luck. I also found that Adobe wants you to use the new DE even if you are running Reader 7.

On another note. I found some posts by Ric and sent an e-mail. It was actually my second. I have had no responses from Adobe.

I am convinced that that I need to do a clean uninstall of both DE and Reader 8. Then re install Reader first then DE.

The no voucher folder still puzzles me and I believe that is the crux of what is going on.

The named activation server at Adobe has been down for a while.

What a mess.

Thank you very much for all of your suggestions. I will continue to post as I learn more.

Debbie

Report · Aug 30, 2007

I think there are two different problems in this thread, though they appear to be manifested the same way. The error 2038 is the generic error the Flash player (which underlies DE) throws when it gets a network error. Basically, DE made a request with a URL and got an error back. Most common reason for this is a firewall or virus checker has blocked the call. We have seen cases where the user (or a friend or some other person) configured their virus checker or firewall to allow Acrobat/Reader access but when they upgraded to DE they did not make this change. Could this be the case here?

I note that one of the posters has AVG Free, which is a virus-checker.

Ric, DE Team

Report · Aug 30, 2007

Hey, Ric. We are on a Mac and do not have any firewalls or virus software running.

It seems odd that I can download DE and Reader and not get the free ebooks.

I will dig deeper into any other settings.

Do I need to open any specific ports for the Flash player? We opened ports for things like iChat.

thanks for any and all suggestions.

Debbie

Report · Aug 31, 2007

Ric,

First of all, thanks for responding!

Indeed, it was my customer who had AVG Free but then so have I on my laptop and I have no problems downloading ebooks with DE (that is, once I changed my user name to one with no Danish characters!). I have not changed any permissions for DE or Flash Player manually.

Are you saying the user in some cases has to manually configure the virus checker and/or firewall to specifically allow access to Flash Player and/or DE? I second Debbie's request for info on which ports need to be open, if that is the case. In AR7 you sometimes needed to grant specific access to the activation server at aractivate.adobe.com. Is something similar the case with DE?

If so, we'll update our FAQ and support info.

Martin

Report · Sep 12, 2007

Debbie,

Were you able to solve the problem?

If you were, what did the trick? I'm still getting support requests from customers with the same error and I still have no definitive answer to give them.

Martin

Report · Sep 12, 2007

Hi, Martin. I am glad you did not forget about me. Ric at Adobe has been e-mailing me. He is currently stumped and claims that the error is very generic. He asked that I send the Save As from System Profiler from the Mac that works and the Mac that is acting up. That was 10 days ago and I have not heard back yet.

I ran out of ideas at that point. I even tried to go back a version of Adobe Reader. Even if you install 6.0 or 7.0 when you click on an ebook it now down loads the new ADE.

I have a few ports open of iChat on the computers that work, so I opened them on the "bad" Mac. That did not work.

From there I gave up. Not the solution, but ....

Adobe is aware. What they are doing I am unsure.

I would ask a few questions of you:

Are your customers with the troubles using Intel Core 2 Duo machines? What system are they using? Are they downloading with Safari? Wireless vs. ethernet? Firewall?

I would be willing to put together a table of similarities and "dis similarities" for the computers that are acting up. Maybe something will jump out at us.

Let me know what we should put on that list if you are willing.

I will say that the "bad" mac spends a lot of time on iTunes and uses a program called lastfm. I do not know why that would matter especially since I quit those before I try and run ADE.

Sorry for the rambling,

Keep in touch,

Debbie

Report · Sep 12, 2007

Martin,

One more idea. The "bad" computer does not install a voucher folder when it installs ADE. This is the crux of the problem. Any ideas why that would be? It seems that it would have something to do with permissions or write access. Why all other programs install correctly I have no idea.

Thanks in advance,

Debbie

Report · Sep 12, 2007

I am glad to see that I am not the only one with this problem. Our user is not able to download a DE file. They purchased it and are limited to only one download. To troubleshoot this issue, I went to http://www.adobe.com/products/digitaleditions/library/ and tried to download The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. I am getting the same sort of error that the user is receiving. From a laptop outside the network, I am able to download and view the file. Our user's on the network are behind a ISA 2004 firewall. When I try to watch the logs, I see a number of "12210 An Internet Server APO (ISAPI) filter has finished handling the request" errors.

Does anyone else know what else the download process is trying to do? It does not look like a port issue, but I am not 100% sure.

Report · Sep 12, 2007

Debbie, Ric forwarded the system logs on to me where I looked at them (I'm the Mac geek on the team), and I have to admit, I was also stumped. We haven't forgotten about you, but are doing a collective head scratch trying to figure out what the problem could be. A thought after I wrote this.. Have you tried creating the voucher directory yourself - it should be at ~/Library/Application Support/Adobe/Digital Editions/Voucher (where ~ is the Unixism for your home directory usually at /Users/<username>) If you can't create the folder, then it is most likely a permission issue somewhere up the directory path and a "Repair Permissions" from the Disk Utility might be in order. If you can create the folder, do a "Get Info" on it and make sure that you have "Read & Write" permission on it. Then launch Digital Editions and try (yet) again (I'm really sorry that you have to keep jumping through hoops like this for what should just work) Jim Lester Adobe Systems

Report · Sep 14, 2007

Debbie,

None of my customers with this issue use a Mac. I tend to agree with Ric that your problem must be of a different origin, albeit with the same end result.

I currently have three users with this issue, all using Windows XP (two SP2, one SP1). The browsers are IE6, Firefox 1.5 and IE7. All three users are attempting to download ebooks on computers situated in some form of corporate enviroment (i.e. no local access to firewall and/or antivirus settings). The only user able to inform me of his firewall/anitvirus settings had the following information: AVG Free Edition (antivirus) and Jetico Firewall, set up to Allow All.

I'll check with the users if the "Voucher" folder has been created properly on install.

One thing my users have in common is that they are not ebook enthusiasts. They are forced to use ebooks because the content they want is not available in any other format. They do not have the time to delve deeper into problems - they simply expect this to work.

In my experience people are willing to accept the problems if we are able to help them and explain what went wrong. Unfortunately, neither is currently the case.

I'll post any updates regarding the error and user setups in this thread.

Martin Krøger

Report · Sep 14, 2007

Martin,

I think that is a reasonable expectation. My daughter is the one with the troubled Mac and has no patience for this nonsense. We do not use a firewall at home. We are wireless. Her school is moving to electronic texts in an effort to hold costs and paper content down. For her this is terribly annoying.

Ric has mentioned that the firewall tends to be an issue. He has not suggested a solution other than to disable it. It is clear this is not an option for all users.

I find it interesting that itunes created a system with the necessary protection in place and users have had no trouble. I appreciate the concern for copyright protection, but clearly this system has overwhelmed many users in various situations.

Keep me posted on the Voucher issue. That would be something in common. I have received another e-mail from Ric. Although no suggestions. Upon one, I will quickly post to the forum.

Thanks once again for continuing to trouble shoot,

Debbie

Report · Feb 07, 2011

Hi,

Try copying and pasting the error pathway in your browser window and download.I did and the book downloaded beautifully.