Error Codes 98 and 99
Error Code 98 needs action from a tech with admin rights to the school server. Error Code 98 warns program administrators that the program will soon stop working. If left unresolved, some weeks later you obtain an Error 99 which says the program has stopped working.
To gauge the degree of urgency, go to your program “Help / About” menu: “Version 5.006.02 – 034” is the format you may expect. The trailing -034 indicates that without action the program will fail in 34 days’ time. An error code 99 occurs once the downward count has reached zero: The program will close after approx. 90 seconds when it detects the Help/About version count is at - 000.
What causes Error Code 98?
Both “Error Code 98” and “Error code 99” occur when the program cannot validate its licence. The most common reason for this is that the White Space Service that should be running on the server failed to start after the server was last restarted.
- It can happen if the program licence has been deactivated.
- Our service can time-out if the server is unable to restart its "Automatic Start" services within the 3 minutes default “timeout” period – for example if the server has been restarted after an OS update, and the update took almost 3 minutes to apply.
- It can also occur if the XML licence file (contained in the root of our data folder wordshark-shared or numbershark-shared) has become corrupted. This is most likely to occur if you have experienced brown-out or power failure or other server malfunctions.
- It will also occur if migration has occurred without following our instructions, if the active data folder is NOT the one that is licenced
- It can occur if the client computers are looking at one non-licenced instance of the data folder, but the server, White Space Network Manager and Service are looking at a different, licenced, instance.
To fix:
Review the reasons above, which may provide clues.
Restart our White Space Network Service (normally on the server hosting the data folder wordshark-shared or numbershark-shared) manually via “Services”. If it starts, and continues to run:.
- Consider carrying out TWO restarts after future server updates – one to allow the updates to apply, then a second to ensure that all services have time to restart.
- Try running the program again from a client machine and see if this appears to clear the error.
- As a further check, wait for at least one hour, try again and ALSO sign in as program administrator, go to Help / About / Version: If the program version is in the format 5.006.07 then all is well. If the version is followed by a hyphen and digits, e.g. 5.006.02 - 033 then read on, as the program is still in “error 98” mode.
- A surprisingly common reason is that the White Space Network Service and related interface program “White Space Network Manager” are NOT looking at the same wordshark-shared as the program: Check that the desktop icon “Start-in” path is exactly the same as the paths shown on your server White Space Network Manager program. This will rule out the possibility that the client computers are looking at one non-licenced instance of the data folder, but the server, White Space Network Manager and Service are looking at a different, licenced, instance.
Examine your program diagnostics: Within the numbershark-shared data folder, the “Diagnostics” folder normally contains a daily log for both programs: There should be around 50-60Kb of data per program, within a “monitoring log” for every day. Sort these in date order, and you may quickly spot when problems started. Look at the current or most recent log, and open this in “Notepad”, as this will pinpoint exactly when the programs stopped functioning correctly. If you ONLY have Wordshark, then these diagnostics are stored within the wordshark-shared folder.
- If the diagnostics are NOT showing “Wordshark 5 IS activated” and “Numbershark 5 IS activated”, then go to your server program “White Space Network Manager and click the “Activate” button to activate your licence, then check the diagnostics 10-15 minutes later to see if the programs are activated.
- If the diagnostics are NOT showing “Successfully written the XML file with 0 errors and 0 retries” then this can indicate that the XML licence has become corrupted. This is rare, but is a good reason to contact Support for individual help.
If the service does NOT restart happily, download the Install Instructions from our installation page.
The "Troubleshooting" section, Annex A, gives common reasons for the Service failing to start.
If the service is running BUT the program is still returning the error message then the most common remaining reasons for this are:
- The wordshark-shared folder has been moved but the manager and service are still looking at the original folder
- There is a $ in the path preventing the program and service from communicating
- Permissions on the wordshark-shared folder have been changed (or over-ridden by a new group policy)
- The folder must be shared with share permissions of ‘Full control’ for ‘Everyone’
- Folder/NTFS permissions should be set to read/write/modify and delete for all users
All of the above cover around 98% of issues with our network programs.
If all of the above has not helped you to resolve the issues, please phone or email us:
If contacting by email, supplying the following information can very often help us to identify what the issue is.
1. A zipped copy of the numbershark-shared and wordshark-shared folders – this includes various diagnostics that may help us.
2. A screenshot of what is shown in the ‘White Space Network Manager’ (set to the "Files and Folders" tab)
3. A screenshot of what is showing in the Server's expanded registry entries for White Space Ltd:
a. HKLM\Software\(Wow6432node)\White Space Ltd\Manager
b. HKLM\Software\(Wow6432node)\White Space Ltd\Networks\Wordshark 5 (ensure the SharePath is visible) (and/or Numbershark 4 or 5 if this is installed)
4. A screenshot of the shortcut properties of the desktop launch icon, showing the "target" and "start in" paths. You may need a couple of screenshots to show the full path