Are you running OpenVix?
The correct file is [FONT=courier\ new]/etc/cron/crontabs/root[/FONT] and your cron daemon (as seen - a bit truncated - in #52) has been told to look in [FONT=courier\ new]/etc/cron/crontabs[/FONT] for the file(s).
I am indeed on openvix, the reason for it being truncated is because i deleted the default entry as i thought it was not necessary - should i add it back?
What log, and how? The /var/log/messages file is always there, and if cron is running it reports each job that it starts there.
i was researching and saw a way to create a cron timer log, sorry i didn't realise the default location this log is
/var/log/messages i have checked the log, and the cron timer runs as expected - please do forgive me i am new to cron timers especially (but loving them as they are an extremely powerful tool)
each file was called the same, which is crontab.[random-number]
That first line is the first line of the default root crontab (no idea why it's there, though, as it shouldn't be - but that's for a different thread).
i deleted it

sorry. was just trying to trouble shoot.
Now, first i want to thank you for the location of the log, as after checking that I can tell whether the job is running , which it was, so it was a script issue not a cron job issue - I fixed this by removing from the beginning of the script '#!/bin/sh' and just started with the code itself and now it works - hence loving Cron Timers now
Thank you for your patience with me, i knew i hadn't broken much as i had installed a fresh image yesterday.
You and others are a great asset to this forum, and i have learnt a lot from you guys - have tried many images and i must say the tag line from OpenVix is perfect
often cloned, never bettered...