Peculiar quickbooks issue

[thecompu-doctor]

I have a client that runs a small accounting firm with 6 computers in a workgroup. There is a win 7 dedicated file server that hosts files and quickbooks data files. All of the employees can run quickbooks fine, except one on only one company file.

Now being that they are accountants they all have multiple versions of QB installed and access dozens of different company files. One user has lots of lag when running just one specific company file. The rest of the company files she accesses have no problems and the rest of the employees have no troubles with any of the company files, including this one specific one. They are all on a wired, gig network.

I'm not really sure where to start with this one. Any troubleshooting suggestions?

 

[YeOldeStonecat]

First thought....they have a desktop running instead of a proper server. Not only is there likely hardware deficiencies....but operating system inadequacies also. A desktop operating system does not have a file system, nor a TCP stack (network system) designed for many concurrent users. A desktop OS can suffice with two or three users...but once you get over 4 or 5...you start to run into random quirks. One that comes to mind is the max TCP connections...granted Win7 increased the number of max concurrent connections from prior versions of Windows desktop OS's...but since some applications can use multiple concurrent sessions (Quickbooks uses .NET Framework amongst other things)....you can quickly reach that limit with just a few open windows...not to mention a multiple users.

Antivirus real time protection set to exclude the mapped drive/folder that the QB data files are on...from BOTH the client workstation...AND the server side. Big no-no having AV sniffing accounting database folders.

I know you said just one user has lag with one particular company file....but in what order are they opening it? It's very difficult to troubleshoot something like that when it's a setup that isn't really proper in the first place...you have no hard proof rules to go by.

Can you restart everything..and just have that 1x "slow" user log in and open that one "slow" company file? Nobody else even thing about connecting..just her. I'm just wondering if she's the last one that logs in and the poor little desktop system is already maxed out of resources...and she just experiences the "pushed over the edge" experience. Plus...as we all know, clients often are inaccurate...I'd want to see 100% consistent proof of every compliant.

 

[thecompu-doctor]

I inherited the client with the current desktop file server and they aren't likely to change the hardware setup anytime soon. But I do agree its not the best setup.

Good point about the AV. I'll double check it.

You may be right, that she's the last through the door, but I don't think this is the case. I'm going to test it though.

 

[carrcomp]

Hey Kevin,

Just throwing this out there, but on that 1 client that isn't working, check to make sure they aren't getting any errors on the updates.

I've seen some weird stuff pop up when the update fails, and of course the user wouldn't have checked that.

 

[thecompu-doctor]

Hey Kevin,

Just throwing this out there, but on that 1 client that isn't working, check to make sure they aren't getting any errors on the updates.

I've seen some weird stuff pop up when the update fails, and of course the user wouldn't have checked that.

Are you talking about quickbooks updates or win updates?

 

[carrcomp]

Quickbooks, and Payroll if they have it.

 

[pceinc]

Is the server running an instance of the QB Database Server for each version? I ran across an issue recently with QB Enterprise on a server. Each year the client updated, the main program was updated, but the QB installation routine did not remove the prior years DB service. I had to manually remove them. You mention they are using multiple versions of QB so this may not be possible. What I would try is to copy the problem QB company file to the user's local PC and see if it will open the file. If it does, start looking at the firewall settings. Their File Doctor app can sometimes resolve these types of issues.

 

[thecompu-doctor]

Good idea about bringing it down local. I'll be troubleshooting it probably this weekend