The Millennium Client software is not easy to troubleshoot.  When it cannot connect, it usually just closes right after starting, leaving you wondering what went wrong. 

Before you call opalhelp, try a couple of simple troubleshooting procedures that will help us diagnose the issue.

1. Restart the client.  Make sure that the client is closed all the way, then, after ten seconds or so, start it again.  If that does not help, try restarting the entire computer and then try the client again.

2. Check connectivity.

Can you get to the Internet (with good performance) using the same computer’s web browser? 

Can you get to the OPAL OPAC in that station’s web browser?

Is this the only station on which the client won’t work, or do all of them fail to connect?

3. Check client version.  If the client will not run, look in the folder named “jre” that is in the “Millennium” folder on the C: drive.  There should be only one folder in there, and it should be named after the current recommended version of the client (1.60_02, as of this writing).  If the client will run, you can find the version of the client under the Help menu–just click About and see what it reports as the JRE Version.

Armed with this information, your call to opalhelp will get off to a quick and decisive start! 

The World Wide Web depends on a service called the Domain Name Service.  Essentially, this allows us to use words instead of IP addresses to find services on the Internet — like using street addresses instead of latitude and longitude to locate our homes.  A less well-known advantage of using DNS is that it allows service providers to move services from one IP address to another without changing the name we use to access those services; they can move a service without disturbing its users’ ability to find it.  Herein is a strategy for taking advantage of this second feature.

There are two ways to specify the OPAL catalog server for the Millennium client.  When the Millennium client is installed, it asks for the address of the server, which it stores in a text file called iiirunner.lax.  Additionally, some of us add a directive to the shortcut that starts the client (the “ip=” directive) that tells the client where to go for the service.

In either case, if you specify the domain name, cat.opal-libraries.org, instead of the IP address of the catalog server, your clients will find the catalog no matter what IP address it may use in the misty future.  There is a tutorial about installing the client, located on this very site, that shows this process in detail.

Friend, I see that you are troubled.  Do you run the Millennium client in Windows?  Does your Mill client reload its jar files every time you start it?  Have you installed a new version of the client, and are seeing errors from the installer? 

Has it got you down, bud?

The problem is permissions!  Windows permissions, that is.  Lucky for you, chum, I have the solution to your problems right here.

Have your IT people make sure that the Windows account you use has “Full Control” over the Millennium folder (usually C:\Millennium) and all its contents.  When you install the client, make sure you do so while logged in to an Administrator-class Windows account, and “trial run” it once in that Administrator-class Windows account before you run it in your usual Windows account.

You will find a full Elluminate session on installing the client here: http://staff.opal-libraries.org/index.php/resources-support/training-2/opal-elluminate-training-archives/

Satisfaction guaranteed!