Dear William,
this can also happen when a Stata file becomes corrupt.
One sign for that is when you put a value in the editor in one of the
columns, it mysteriously shows up in several others as well (not
necessarily in the same obs). Look for a str0 bug description I posted
sometimes ago to the statalist for symptoms (str0 is an invalid type,
and Stata goes crazy when openes a file with it). Check if your files
are being produced by Stata or another program, like a converter of
some sort, or another statistical package.
Test your files, try them on another computer. If any converter is
available, try to convert the Stata files to another format, to see if
a converter complains.
To check your memory you can disable "quick-boot sequence" in the bios
of your computer and it will do a thotough check of your memory. It is
highly unlikely that your work with other Windows programs can be
stable if the memory is failing.
Best regards,
Sergiy Radyakin
On 1/30/08, Joe McCrary <[email protected]> wrote:
> There are a few memory testing programs available. Do a Google search for
> 'memtest' and you'll find them.
>
> Are you running any programs while you're running Stata? You may want to try
> exiting as many programs and services as possible.
>
> Is the data file large relative to the amount of RAM on your PC or that
> you've allocated to Stata? Again, clearing out everything that's running may
> help.
>
> Does this happen with multiple data files, or just one?
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: [email protected]
> [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of William Bishop
> Sent: Tuesday, January 29, 2008 4:57 PM
> To: [email protected]
> Subject: st: Stata 10 bug or bad memory?
>
> I have been having a problem with Stata 10 and I'm not sure if it is a
> problem with the software or perhaps my hardware.
>
> The problem is that when I view a dataset using Data Editor sometimes
> I see duplicates of the same variable (two columns that are identical
> next to each other). Also when I close the Data Editor with the X in
> the top right corner (OS is XP Pro) or the Preserve button, I see Edit
> then Preserve in Results Window, then when I re-open Data-Editor one
> of the variables will be missing. This happens consistently. I
> open,close, and re-open Data Editor and each time I do that I lose a
> column. (Note: in the Variables window the lost variables still
> appear but if I run a display command on them the result is "not
> found")
>
> I have the most recent update of Stata and am thinking it might be a
> memory problem but I thought I would check to see if anyone else had a
> similar experience because I have not noticed any memory problems in
> other applications.
>
> William
> *
> * For searches and help try:
> * http://www.stata.com/support/faqs/res/findit.html
> * http://www.stata.com/support/statalist/faq
> * http://www.ats.ucla.edu/stat/stata/
>
> *
> * For searches and help try:
> * http://www.stata.com/support/faqs/res/findit.html
> * http://www.stata.com/support/statalist/faq
> * http://www.ats.ucla.edu/stat/stata/
>
*
* For searches and help try:
* http://www.stata.com/support/faqs/res/findit.html
* http://www.stata.com/support/statalist/faq
* http://www.ats.ucla.edu/stat/stata/
