Just lost 5 year old ICQ account :~(

[THELAIR]

Im really pissed. Last night I wanted to format and reinstall win2k on my laptop. So i do the standard stuff before i wipe my system, back up email, favorites etc and my 2000b folder where my ICQ accounts are stored. Ive done this a million times ever since ICQ first came out (6 digit ICQ user here), ive had this list for AGES with hundreds of people on it.

So i reinstall windows, get everything back up and running again, install ICQ, choose EXISTING USER, enter in my UIN# and password, it loads up. Then i shut it down and paste over the new 2000b folder with my one from yesterday that i backed up to a blank CD. I then go to run dbconvert, and it crashes. Says it cant read it and ICQ gives an error and crashes.

Now i cant get it to load, and i fear i may have lost the whole list, an accumulation of over 5 years of contacts. This REALLY REALLY SUCKS.

Any ideas what could be wrong? I read somewhere that someone said there is an option when you are installing to "import" yoru database? I've never heard or seen that option? Is there another database conversion utility that could fix my accounts?

I also thought maybe the cd was bad and the files corrupted, but they are not, all the files on the CD are good.

Im using hte latest ICQ ver from their web page.

 

[THELAIR]

anyways, i made some progress

I have 2 accounts.

I was able to get the 2nd account to load if i only copied over the .dat file and nothing else.

Tried that on my old account and the DB convert program sitll gives me an error

anyone have any ideas?

 

[kuk]

Calm down. I know what it is. Very very simple

Since you backed it up to a CD, all files get tagged as read-only. When you coppied it back to the HD, they still carried the read-only attribute. Now just go to your 2000b database dir, select all files, right click and choose properties. Uncheck read-only.


Now try converting the database again.

 

[blueghost75]

well, i have nothing to recommend, except that you ask in another forum, because you are off topic in the off topic forum....

 

[blueghost75]

good one kuk, thats probably what the problem is.......

 

[THELAIR]

im aware of the read only thing. I did that, thats how i got the other account to load, selected the file and made sure hte read only tag wasnt selected. Still not working

bah

maybe its time to start over again.

 

[lowfatbaconboy]

i have about the same problem when my hd died

but it took me like a week of trying random stuff to get it back

although im using icq 99a cuz i hate 2000b and all the newer ones

 

[kuk]

I can't see the day the ICQ contact list is stored online, like AIM.


One thing you can do, albeit very stressful, is going through the .dat files using notepad (or .uin files... can't remember), and looking for your contacts' UINs. And entering them manually.



I did that before.

 

[Elledan]

You can get all contacts back by taking a look at the <UIN-number>.dat file. This file contains all contacts. When you use the 'find' function of the text-editor you used to open the file with, you can search for email-addresses. Write those down and later search on email-address.

That's how I got my 40+ contacts back

[edit]: c'mon kuk, don't type so fast!

 

[dc]

good luck saving your icq account. sucks to lose something that important. =/

 

[kami]

Try different versions...different builds, etc. of ICQ. What version and build were you using when you formatted? Make sure you use the exact same build.

 

[Valhalla1]

I think if you uninstall all of ICQ, reinstall, exisitng user, get it up and running.. exit, then replace JUST the <uin>.dat files, then give it a shot.. might work out.

perhaps the reason its not working is because when you burned them to CD, it makes all the files the read-only attribute.

I have to go and select the whole folder and uncheck the read-only attribute and let it scan the whole dir. tree and make them able to be written to.

 

[Wik]

When I reinstall I keep my ICQ folder back-up on another drive. I first install ICQ. I cancel out when it comes to putting my account info in and close down the ICQ setup. I then just copy over the old ICQ folder over the new one. I mean I don's jsut copy over the dat files, I copy over the whole thing. I have even transfered this folder over to another system in the network to do the same thing on it. Then I just start ICQ and everything is the same as I last used it.

 

[DannyLove]

I don't believe you..........you're a LiAR

danny~!

 

[BigToque]

Your problem is that your files all have the read-only attribute on them. You have to change that. Select all files in the folder -> right click -> properties -> read-only.

I've had this happen before.

 

[DannyLove]

<< Your problem is that your files all have the read-only attribute on them. You have to change that. Select all files in the folder -> right click -> properties -> read-only.

I've had this happen before. >>

that is exactly what it is

danny~!

 

[SpeedTrap]

haha mine works, its having brains, that makes it work

 

[dawks]

Same thing happend to me man.. been backing up ICQ DB's for years, and then tried it back in november, bang, no good.. Lucky I remember the password to mine, and just started fresh with the same account.. Frikin AOL screws everything up.

 

[arcain]

I just use it as an excuse to trim my ICQ list of people that never use their accounts.

 

[FatAlbo]

I had to do this last week because I had to reinstall everything on my computer and trying to import an existing account wouldn't work. Here's what I did to get my old account back: I created a new account and closed the program. Then I dug through the registry for the new number and replaced it with my old number. I copied the old files over and everything was fine when I restarted ICQ.

 

Your using 2000b thats the problem.