Error message "Incorrect key file for table"

[Ian Lawther]

I tried to amend text in the products_description table of my website today and got a message saying "Incorrect key file for table" and refused to accept it. Alterations to quantities in teh products table did go through.

 

I ran "Repair Table" and got back to where I started from but need to work out why text changes to the description won't work. I'm not a techy so simply explanations/instructions would be good if possible....

 

Thanks,

Ian Lawther

[failsafe]

I ran "Repair Table" and got back to where I started from but need to work out why text changes to the description won't work. I'm not a techy so simply explanations/instructions would be good if possible....

After you repaired the product_description table, did it not work next time you tried and then generated the same error? Did you repair again?

I know it's a silly question, but are you running your query using phpMyAdmin on the correct osCommerce database?

[Ian Lawther]

After you repaired the product_description table, did it not work next time you tried and then generated the same error? Did you repair again?

I know it's a silly question, but are you running your query using phpMyAdmin on the correct osCommerce database?

 

I'm definitely on the right database. When I repair the table things seem stable until I try and make the edit to the description in products_description again and then it crashes. Having said that I have managed to get it to make some edits today but it is very hit and miss (more miss....).

 

Ian

[failsafe]

Well perhaps you could do this, just to see what happens:

 

In phpMyAdmin,

1. click on "Database: xxxxxxxxx" (where xxxxx is your database) to get a list of all your tables

2. Scroll down and click "Check All" link to select all the tables

3. click on the option box to the right ("With Selected")

4. select the "Check All" option, this should show Msg_txt as "OK" for each of your tables.

 

Repeat 1-3 above and select "Analyze table", this should show Msg_txt as "Table is already up to date"

 

Repeat 1-3 above and select "Repair table", this should show Msg_txt as "OK"

 

Do you get these expected results for your osCommerce database?

 

If you get a reproducable test case where it causes the problem then you might contact your hosting provider to see if they have any suggestions as to why it's happening.

 

I don't think the problem has anything to do with osCommerce itself, more likely it's related to your particular server or hosting environment. Perhaps a hardware problem, operating system problem, server load problem, something like that. If it keeps on happening then you might even have to consider changing your hosting to overcome the problem? Have a Google for "Incorrect key file for table mySQL" to see what I mean. I found this article fairly interesting, see here.

 

You could paste here the exact mySQL statement you're trying to add to your database that causes the error, so someone can check it is OK, but it's hard to imagine that will be the cause of the error.

 

Good luck!

[Ian Lawther]

Well perhaps you could do this, just to see what happens:

 

In phpMyAdmin,

1. click on "Database: xxxxxxxxx" (where xxxxx is your database) to get a list of all your tables

2. Scroll down and click "Check All" link to select all the tables

3. click on the option box to the right ("With Selected")

4. select the "Check All" option, this should show Msg_txt as "OK" for each of your tables.

 

Repeat 1-3 above and select "Analyze table", this should show Msg_txt as "Table is already up to date"

 

Repeat 1-3 above and select "Repair table", this should show Msg_txt as "OK"

 

Do you get these expected results for your osCommerce database?

 

If you get a reproducable test case where it causes the problem then you might contact your hosting provider to see if they have any suggestions as to why it's happening.

 

I don't think the problem has anything to do with osCommerce itself, more likely it's related to your particular server or hosting environment. Perhaps a hardware problem, operating system problem, server load problem, something like that. If it keeps on happening then you might even have to consider changing your hosting to overcome the problem? Have a Google for "Incorrect key file for table mySQL" to see what I mean. I found this article fairly interesting, see here.

 

You could paste here the exact mySQL statement you're trying to add to your database that causes the error, so someone can check it is OK, but it's hard to imagine that will be the cause of the error.

 

Good luck!

 

I did the above and found that five tables in the database returned OK instead of "Table is already up to date". These were counter, counter_history, products_description (the one I've had trouble with), sessions, and whois_online. This was the case both before and after I had done the repair part of the above process.

 

What does OK mean in this instance (as opposed to "Table is already up to date").

 

Thanks,

 

Ian

[Ian Lawther]

I'm still getting this error when I try to edit a products description but I have found that if I create a new product it gets added to the database without a hitch. I don't know how relevant that is to identifying what is going on but it it helps anyone get ideas as to what I need to do it would be great.

 

 

Thanks,

Ian Lawther