4.0 "finished" downloading , so now what?

Q u o t e:
im having a problem with this new update. its finished but when i try to play, i can't. a message pops up telling me i have mismatched versions... wtf?

"this application has encountered a critical error:

ERROR #121 (0X85100079) Version Mismatch
Program: E:\World of Warcraft\WoW.exe

Unable to open DBFilesClient\GMSurveyAnswers.dbc

Press OK to terminate the application."

this is the exact text in the error window, caps and punctuation, everything.

then WoWerror pops up with a 'send this data to blizzard' window. does this mean i cant play til the new pathc goes live? cuz ill tell ya, im apt to go nuts til then. /sadface

You may wish to post this on the Technical Support Forum, Azurewrath. I did locate this section of a sticky in the Tech Support forum that may be of help:

TECHNICAL ISSUES: Error and Crash Info
http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=10021039&sid=1

Q u o t e:
5. Error 121

If you've gotten an error 121 recently, please check your message to see if it matches the underlined part:


World of WarCraft (build 6080)

This application has encountered a critical error:

ERROR #121 (0x85100079) Version Mismatch
Program: C:\Users\Public\Games\World of Warcraft\WoW.exe

DBFilesClient\Startup_Strings.dbc has wrong number of columns (found 19, expected 11)


If it does, it means that you've downgraded from a major 3.0 patch back to 2.0 using the Burning Crusade install disc or a very old download. This happens most often if you install World of Warcraft using the InstallWoW.exe file and then installing an old Burning Crusade on top of that. To fix this, uninstall the game and use InstallWoW.exe to start the installation, but pick Burning Crusade from the dropdown menu instead of World of Warcraft.


If it does not match the bold part, this errors root cause is extensive corruption in the World of Warcraft files. The corruption is usually caused by one of two things; missing important data files or mixed patches installed. A system restore will sometimes trigger this error by mixing the patch files in the program. I.E. some files have been reverted back to a previous version while some files are patched to the most recent version.

Example of the Error 121 message:

Q u o t e:
Q u o t e:
ERROR #121 (0x85100079) Version Mismatch
Program: C:\Program Files\World of Warcraft\WoW.exe

DBFilesClient\VideoHardware.dbc has wrong number of columns (found 19, expected 22)

The first approach to resolving this error should always be the repair tool. The repair tool is located in the World of Warcraft folder called repair.exe. If you are unable to locate this file in the WoW folder it is available for download here: http://ftp.blizzard.com/pub/WoW/other/Repair.zip . Please use this tool. It will try to repair any corruption that exists, if it is unable to you may need to follow up with the next step.

The second step, as the repair tool will sometimes advise, is to reinstall World of Warcraft. Before reinstalling, be sure to uninstall WoW first by using the provided short-cut placed in WoWs Start Menu folder or by using the Add/Remove Programs tool in the Control Panel.

If you are still encountering this error we will need to see the complete error log. The error will have created a text file in the World of Warcraft\Errors folder. Please locate the most recent error file there and copy and paste the contents in a new thread on this forum.