Crazy resolution
This was fun(not really), so I thought I'd share.
So I was contacted by users who said that after having their computers replaced, a certain function on one of the new machines would no longer work. They worked in an engineering department and would daily upload engineering drawings to a server where users could view them off a webpage. The drawings that they were uploading from one computer were no longer being accepted, but this was only affecting a single person.
Basically, they were scanning these drawings which were then turned into .tiff files, but the server would not accept them. The admin looked at the files and said the compression on the file was weird.
I had her login to a different computer which users had no problems with, and she still was
not able to upload any .tiffs. >=(
I took a step back and began troubleshooting from the beginning. I ensured that when she was scanning the drawings that she followed the exact same process as everyone else in the room. There was an application on all their computers which would take the drawing being scanned and turn it into the .tiff, which was then stored on the local hard disk. She would go into it, make sure it looks good and rename the file appropriately, then send it across the network to their department lead who was responsible for uploading the files to the server. Noone had a problem except this one user.
I checked the compression on both machines involved, and there was nothing specific setup. The scanner was fine and worked for everyone else. I had a random user from that area follow the same process and scan a drawing from this woman's computer and it came out fine. No issues, she sent it to their admin who uploaded it to the server.
I couldn't see there being anything wrong with her account, but I mentioned it to our server admin and we went over the .tiffs together. While on the server in a unix environment we ran tiffdump, which showed that the compression level on tiffs from all users in that department was always a "4." However this problem user was uploading tiffs that were displaying a compression of "5." This was the only difference we could see, and the server was not accepting them.
For some time I tried various things, such as reinstalling the app that creates the tiff on the client machine, or playing with the permissions and folders where the tiffs were being dropped, etc.
Yesterday I grabbed a windows copy of tiffdump and went to each computer checking the file compression. It was a 4 after she scanned it. I watched as she went through the process of renaming and transferring to their lead admin. I checked it again after it was on the admins machine and it was a 5. o_o;
I had already checked the lead admins machine and found nothing peculiar, so we tried sending the file to different directories hoping the compression wasn't being inherited from somewhere. No luck.
Finally I returned to the original users machine and went to check the file that was listed as a 4 earlier...but this time it was a 5. O_O; (raging sounds)
I sat down with the user and we went through the process again, having her scan the drawing. After scanning it was a compression of 4...but I decided to check the compression just before she sent it off this time...and I found that it was a 5. (confusion)
I thought maybe when she renamed the file that it was changing the compression, so we went back through and I checked it...and it didn't change when she renamed it. (confusion)
Finally I realized what was happening. The name she gives the .tiff file comes from some numbers that are written on the drawing itself, so she needed to open the file and view the drawing before she could give it a proper name. She would double click on the .tiff and open it in Windows picture and fax viewer, where she would flip the image so that she could view the tags.
This action in Windows picture and fax viewer changed the compression level of the file when she manipulated the image. It was a quick and simple task, which didn't require any writing to the file...and yet it did actually change the file. I met with the server admin and we tried uploading the .tiff before and after she opened it in Windows picture and fax viewer...and that was indeed the source of the problem.
I changed her default viewer to Microsoft office document imaging(which everyone else in the department used), and she has had no problems since then. I'm flabbergasted.
Microsoft, why must you make me question my faith.
