YeOldeStonecat
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PM Sent with link to my N-Central portal for remote assistance.
Help !!
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nlinecomputers
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So how'd this turn out?
YeOldeStonecat
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Spent about 2 hours remoted in...looking at things, a couple of little speedbumps all added up to cause a non-fixed by the end of the day, have to revisit things.
Server:
*The firewall on the server did not have exclusions for the Quickbook Server Database Manager...so I added that to the rules.
*TCP/IP on server was setup OK....I only changed the netbios over IP option to "Enabled".
*Had AVG Antivirus on it (Ugh!)...with no exclusions in the real time file protection at all! SBS has a lot you must put in. Should also do the Quickbooks database folder.
*Quickbooks database server manager was set to a company file path that was no longer valid..probably from someones earlier and unsuccessful attempt, so I pointed it to correct path, picked up the files and served them.
*The tech guy prior to the OP installed Quickbooks the whole program on the server. Not commonly done, but nothing necessarily bad either. But oddly did the share on the servers "F" drive...there was a big "Shared" folder on the F drive, and inside of that was something like Quickbooks\Intuit\common files\blahblahblah\data\companydata
So the actual data files were many layers deep. Nothing itself a showstopper...but.."why". Permissions didn't seem consistent in that whole train of folders. I went to make Q:\Quickbooks and share it out as qbdata. Attempted copying the quickbooks data files from the original path to this new one, and it kept getting hung up at 20% or so. Error copying files. Database manager was shut off (manually through services.msc), I killed AVG antivirus. Still no love copying files. Rebooted the server...repeat...still no love. Noticed on the F drive, a Found.000 directory dated about 2 months ago. OP also told me that one of the girls at the front desk had some corrupted database error once when opening Quickbooks. She repeatedly had problems opening it. So server clearly have issue on this data volume. OP stated it was a home built server. Unknown HDD configuration.
Yet the second girl that runs Quickbooks could get in. So I got curious where this second girl was opening it from. Her Quickbooks history showed 4x different file paths, most recent being C:\Users\Public\blah blah (the default location for Quickbooks on Vista/Win7). "Aha..so she's just been opening it locally!" But it was named "Old Company"...and 10 megs in size. Versus "Company" which was 13 megs in size on the server. "It should be obvious to the girl at the front desk"....I thought. Yet...I've seen it happen quite commonly.
So it was not 100% clear as to which Quickbooks file was the one with current data. I assumed the server. But based on the servers firewall not have the exception, it shouldn't have worked. And the apparent corruption of that servers data volume...file was dirty. So perhaps girl at front desk reverted to using that local file.
Attempted to launch Quickbooks program on the server..but it wasn't registered...and went into that registration screen. Goal was to open the company file (try to)..and run database repair, verify the data as being correct and current..and then do a backup to a USB thumb drive or something since we couldn't "copy" the data off of the server. OP couldn't find the e-mail address/password for the Intuit site to allow completion of the registration..was going to call the owner to find it. Else..call Intuit and do a phone registration.
So my advice was:
*Replace that drive on the server...a server with a "found.000" directory of recent data...plus possibly a corrupted Quickbooks company file..should be of immediate concern. The fact that the server could not copy files within that folder only added to that concern.
*Get Quickbooks program registered on that server..so we can open/repair/backup to portable media that company file. Once open that file..confirm that it is or isn't the most recent company file.
*Compare that with the other company file on second front desk girls computer..perhaps she's been using that one for the past 2 or 3 months even though it's smaller. Without knowing for sure...we're in a tough spot.
Had to leave and hit my afternoon onsite at that point.
Server:
*The firewall on the server did not have exclusions for the Quickbook Server Database Manager...so I added that to the rules.
*TCP/IP on server was setup OK....I only changed the netbios over IP option to "Enabled".
*Had AVG Antivirus on it (Ugh!)...with no exclusions in the real time file protection at all! SBS has a lot you must put in. Should also do the Quickbooks database folder.
*Quickbooks database server manager was set to a company file path that was no longer valid..probably from someones earlier and unsuccessful attempt, so I pointed it to correct path, picked up the files and served them.
*The tech guy prior to the OP installed Quickbooks the whole program on the server. Not commonly done, but nothing necessarily bad either. But oddly did the share on the servers "F" drive...there was a big "Shared" folder on the F drive, and inside of that was something like Quickbooks\Intuit\common files\blahblahblah\data\companydata
So the actual data files were many layers deep. Nothing itself a showstopper...but.."why". Permissions didn't seem consistent in that whole train of folders. I went to make Q:\Quickbooks and share it out as qbdata. Attempted copying the quickbooks data files from the original path to this new one, and it kept getting hung up at 20% or so. Error copying files. Database manager was shut off (manually through services.msc), I killed AVG antivirus. Still no love copying files. Rebooted the server...repeat...still no love. Noticed on the F drive, a Found.000 directory dated about 2 months ago. OP also told me that one of the girls at the front desk had some corrupted database error once when opening Quickbooks. She repeatedly had problems opening it. So server clearly have issue on this data volume. OP stated it was a home built server. Unknown HDD configuration.
Yet the second girl that runs Quickbooks could get in. So I got curious where this second girl was opening it from. Her Quickbooks history showed 4x different file paths, most recent being C:\Users\Public\blah blah (the default location for Quickbooks on Vista/Win7). "Aha..so she's just been opening it locally!" But it was named "Old Company"...and 10 megs in size. Versus "Company" which was 13 megs in size on the server. "It should be obvious to the girl at the front desk"....I thought. Yet...I've seen it happen quite commonly.
So it was not 100% clear as to which Quickbooks file was the one with current data. I assumed the server. But based on the servers firewall not have the exception, it shouldn't have worked. And the apparent corruption of that servers data volume...file was dirty. So perhaps girl at front desk reverted to using that local file.
Attempted to launch Quickbooks program on the server..but it wasn't registered...and went into that registration screen. Goal was to open the company file (try to)..and run database repair, verify the data as being correct and current..and then do a backup to a USB thumb drive or something since we couldn't "copy" the data off of the server. OP couldn't find the e-mail address/password for the Intuit site to allow completion of the registration..was going to call the owner to find it. Else..call Intuit and do a phone registration.
So my advice was:
*Replace that drive on the server...a server with a "found.000" directory of recent data...plus possibly a corrupted Quickbooks company file..should be of immediate concern. The fact that the server could not copy files within that folder only added to that concern.
*Get Quickbooks program registered on that server..so we can open/repair/backup to portable media that company file. Once open that file..confirm that it is or isn't the most recent company file.
*Compare that with the other company file on second front desk girls computer..perhaps she's been using that one for the past 2 or 3 months even though it's smaller. Without knowing for sure...we're in a tough spot.
Had to leave and hit my afternoon onsite at that point.
Last edited:
nlinecomputers
Well-Known Member
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- Location
- Midland TX
Wow, even for QuickBooks that is a train wreck.
YeOldeStonecat
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- Location
- Englewood Florida
I know, right? Now I can see why his thread kept on going.
Usually Quickbooks issues are fairly simple....
*name resolution
*Shared folder permissions
*Firewall rules for the database manager
*Database manager pointed to folders and picked up files and serving.
But this one added a few unforeseens to the mix
*Nobody sure what company file was actually being used most recently and consistently
*Server hard drive with probably corruption
Oh yeah, I forgot to add one thing to the list in prior reply...will edit and add. (The Quickbooks database manager was previously set to scan/pickup files in an old and no longer existent database location on the server..probably from the first tech's attempts at getting it working).
Usually Quickbooks issues are fairly simple....
*name resolution
*Shared folder permissions
*Firewall rules for the database manager
*Database manager pointed to folders and picked up files and serving.
But this one added a few unforeseens to the mix
*Nobody sure what company file was actually being used most recently and consistently
*Server hard drive with probably corruption
Oh yeah, I forgot to add one thing to the list in prior reply...will edit and add. (The Quickbooks database manager was previously set to scan/pickup files in an old and no longer existent database location on the server..probably from the first tech's attempts at getting it working).
nlinecomputers
Well-Known Member
- Reaction score
- 8,607
- Location
- Midland TX
I've seen wrong versions of the data file a lot with QuickBooks. It's almost always a situation where for some reason the server is not available to the main user, the bookkeeper, so the bookkeeper restores from backup and does so locally and keeps on going. Only when other users, who are still connected add things does anyone realize what has happened.
Not having had much of any experience with SBS, even I can see that this was an ad hoc, path of least resistance type of installation. Throw in a bad drive (good idea to go 'round and check the clients for this too) and you've got a recipe for a real treat.
Good job sorting it, guys!
Good job sorting it, guys!
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