# Help with "Updating Gem Source Index" **URL:** \ **Category:** Rails\ **Created:** [February 16, 2006, 6:29pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/help-with-updating-gem-source-index/53913 "2006-02-16T18:29:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Sean\_Roylance](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/e480ec/32.png) [@Sean\_Roylance](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Sean_Roylance)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2006, 6:29pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/help-with-updating-gem-source-index/53913/1 "2006-02-16T18:29:21Z")
After hearing so much about RoR over the last few months, I finally decided to give it a try. I decided to follow the “Rolling with Ruby on Rails” article on [ONLamp.com](http://ONLamp.com) to get up and running. Unfortunately, since that fateful decision, I have run into nothing but obstacles. First, I downloaded and installed Ruby. That was my last success event. Then, I typed “gem install rails --remote” (and about a billion variations after consulting the --help options, etc). The only thing that happens is that it gets to this line and hangs: “Updating Gem source index for: [http://gems.rubyforge.org](http://gems.rubyforge.org)”. I have searched around on Google for others who have run into this problem. There are many, but the only solution anyone seems to give is to wait longer–sometimes it takes awhile. Well, I’m not sure how many hours or days I’m supposed to wait, but so far a couple of multi-hour attempts have not worked. I have tried downloading rails-1.0.0.gem and .zip along with actionmailer, actionpack, etc, but I don’t see how to install the rails part. (I believe I successfully installed all of the other modules–actionmailer, actionpack, activerecord, activesupport, and rake). I downloaded instantrails and ran it, but when I try to run cookbook, it hangs on the redirect to the application. Needless to say, it has been a very frustrating experience. If anyone can be so kind to help a newbie just get the “cookbook” app or any other test app running, I would be very grateful. I read what Rails can do and am very excited. I was about to push for a significant new project to be done on Rails. But, I need to at least show that I can get it up and running on my laptop. Thanks in advance for any help. Sean ---
**Author:** ![Sean\_Roylance](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/e480ec/32.png) [@Sean\_Roylance](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Sean_Roylance)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2006, 6:44pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/help-with-updating-gem-source-index/53913/2 "2006-02-16T18:44:43Z")
On Feb 16, 2006, at 10:29 AM, Sean Roylance wrote: > event. > many > I downloaded instantrails and ran it, but when I try to run > it up > and running on my laptop. > > Thanks in advance for any help. > > Sean Hi Sean, I’m sure you’ll find a lot of kind and helpful people on this list who can get you on your way. It seems you’ve had more than your fair share of show-stoppers for such an enthusiastic start 🙂 What kind of system are you running on? I’ll assume you’re on Windows XP if you’re using Instant Rails. Have you tried ‘uninstalling’ the unsuccessful gems in case they’re clashing with instant rails? Also, what exactly do you mean by ‘hangs on the redirect’? What is the URL you’re typing in, and where’s it redirecting to? Another good thing to help gather more useful information is to check the log files. For cookbook, like all Rails apps, they should be in the “logs/” subdirectory. Look for development.log. Duane J. (canadaduane) [http://blog.inquirylabs.com/](http://blog.inquirylabs.com/) ---
**Author:** ![Sean\_Roylance](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/e480ec/32.png) [@Sean\_Roylance](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Sean_Roylance)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2006, 7:02pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/help-with-updating-gem-source-index/53913/3 "2006-02-16T19:02:15Z")
Duane, Thanks for your response. I figured there were details absent from my post that I needed to include. You’ve helped identify them. 1. I am running on Windows XP. 2. The cookbook redirect problem happens I go to [http://www.mycookbook.com/](http://www.mycookbook.com/). It tries to redirect to the cookbook rails app (I believe). I do have the hosts file set up correctly so that isn’t the problem. The redirect is trying to go to: /recipe/list. It had the same problem both before and after I installed the other gems packages. I played around with different ports, and anything else I could think of. It definitely finds the right index.html, but then can’t seem to run the Rails app. The scgi.log file has entries like the following: [INF][940] POSIX signal control disabled. [INF][940] Running in development mode on 127.0.0.1:9999 Nothing else interesting. development.log is empty besides the first comment line: # Logfile created on Wed Feb 15 22:25:07 Mountain Standard Time 2006 by logger.rb/1.5.2.7 I’m sure there is just something simple, but still no success for the things I’ve tried. I play with a lot of different environments, but am at least competent enough to stop all of them before trying this. I have Apache with MySQL installed on my box. I have IIS running [ASP.NET](http://ASP.NET). I have PHP and Perl functioning properly. I mention all of that in case somebody knows of a possible conflict that could cause the problem. But, they are all shut down and I can get InstantRails to show that its Apache and MySQL both start successfully and it does get to the correct web root. I am about ready to try it on another machine to see where I can get. Sean Duane J. wrote: > On Feb 16, 2006, at 10:29 AM, Sean Roylance wrote: > > > event. > > many > > I downloaded instantrails and ran it, but when I try to run > > it up > > and running on my laptop. > > > > Thanks in advance for any help. > > > > Sean > > Hi Sean, > > I’m sure you’ll find a lot of kind and helpful people on this list > who can get you on your way. It seems you’ve had more than your fair > share of show-stoppers for such an enthusiastic start 🙂 > > What kind of system are you running on? I’ll assume you’re on > Windows XP if you’re using Instant Rails. Have you tried > ‘uninstalling’ the unsuccessful gems in case they’re clashing with > instant rails? > > Also, what exactly do you mean by ‘hangs on the redirect’? What is > the URL you’re typing in, and where’s it redirecting to? > > Another good thing to help gather more useful information is to check > the log files. For cookbook, like all Rails apps, they should be in > the “logs/” subdirectory. Look for development.log. > > Duane J. > (canadaduane) > [http://blog.inquirylabs.com/](http://blog.inquirylabs.com/) ---
**Author:** ![Sean\_Roylance](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/e480ec/32.png) [@Sean\_Roylance](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Sean_Roylance)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2006, 7:17pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/help-with-updating-gem-source-index/53913/4 "2006-02-16T19:17:59Z")
Sean- ``` One thing that can make your rubygems stall like that on updating ``` the gem index is ZoneAlarm and a few other windows firewall programs. These firewalls mess with the way ruby uses sockets to connect to the gem server. The only way to get around this is to uninstall zonealarm. Its not enough to just turn it off you have to uninstall it. If you run Zone Alarm then this is most surely the problem. try this out and get back and we can try to help more. Cheers- -Ezra Z. Yakima Herald-Republic WebMaster > **[yakimaherald.com | Yakima, Washington - We Tell Your Stories](https://www.yakimaherald.com/)** 509-577-7732 removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid ---
**Author:** ![Sean\_Roylance](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/e480ec/32.png) [@Sean\_Roylance](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Sean_Roylance)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2006, 7:22pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/help-with-updating-gem-source-index/53913/5 "2006-02-16T19:22:21Z")
The good news is that I was able to get InstantRails running on another machine. With my regular machine, the problems persist. I do not run ZoneAlarm. Windows FireWall is turned on and I use AVG Anti-Virus. I have to run for a couple of hours so I won’t be able to respond right away to further assistance. Thanks for the helps so far. Sean Ezra Z. wrote: > Sean- > > One thing that can make your rubygems stall like that on updating > the gem index is ZoneAlarm and a few other windows firewall programs. > These firewalls mess with the way ruby uses sockets to connect to the > gem server. The only way to get around this is to uninstall > zonealarm. Its not enough to just turn it off you have to uninstall > it. If you run Zone Alarm then this is most surely the problem. try > this out and get back and we can try to help more. > > Cheers- > -Ezra Z. > Yakima Herald-Republic > WebMaster > [http://yakimaherald.com](http://yakimaherald.com) > 509-577-7732 > removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid