Procedures
Observations are useful within QuickBooks and at the operating system level.
Take its temperature.
Almost anyplace in QuickBooks, press Control-1 (the key above Q) or z-1,
for a diagnostic display XE "diagnostic
display" . (In earlier versions, its is
Help|About QuickBooks and then Control-T.)
Product
tells version and release XE "release level:of QuickBooks" number, to tell if you have the latest.
During the life of one version XE "version:of QuickBooks" , the program may be updated by maintenance
releases. QuickBooks 5 has online updates, by clicking
Online|QuickBooks Update Service.
For earlier
versions, the web site, accessible as www.intuit.com/ QuickBooks will have the latest information, which can
be expected to change after this book is published. In
Version 4.0D
the “D” stands for CD ROM version.
Customer number
XE "Customer number" is your registration number XE "registration number" with Intuit,
and should be written down where you can find it, perhaps inside the front cover of the user manual or on the
program distribution disk. If you have to recover from a hard drive crash, this saves calling Intuit. In some
instances of file damage, this will save you trouble.
Free USER Resources
XE "USER Resources" should remain above 50%, but is not usually an indicator of
problems in QuickBooks.
GDI Resources
XE "GDI Resources" refers to the loading of the Graphics Display Interface system, and
should be watched when running under Windows 3.1. Above 50% available is preferred; below 40% is
jeopardy. A number as low as 25% will not be seen, because the computer would have already crashed.
QuickBooks is good at using up GDI, as is Collage Complete, used to capture and edit the screen images.
This has impacted the writing of this book. Under Windows 3.1 XE "Windows 3.1" , after a few crashes, I
learned to be careful about how many applications I have open. You may find the unpleasant answer that
QuickBooks does not share well, and you can’t keep as many programs running as you wish.
Windows 95 XE "Windows 95" has far fewer problems with available resources. Converting to Windows 95
was not easy, but has allowed me to run with QuickBooks, the Collage screen capture and screen edit
programs, a word processor, and a spreadsheet (needed to track a thousand screen shots.) Minor problems
remain. Now and then, a program will get squiggly. The solution is to close each data file, shut down each
program, and re-boot. I have not encountered any data loss.
Back up to floppy disks,
or other removable medium. Make the backup directly to the floppies. The
floppies should be newly formatted, on the same drive. Two backups would be a good idea. Do not back up
to the hard drive. When trouble appears, we should avoid writing anything to the hard drive, at this point. As
an alternative (probably safer) shut down QuickBooks and back up the company file using the backup
program in the operating system.
File system
XE "file system" condition
should be checked, using SCANDISK or CHKDSK, allowing
corrections to be made. This is better done with Windows shut down. In Windows 95, click the
Start button, then Shutdown.
Select
Restart the computer in MS-DOS mode.
Windows 3.1 only needs Alt-F4.
Then type SCANDISK and press
Enter.
You may first need the command
CD\WINDOWS\COMMAND (Windows 95) or
CD\DOS
(Windows 3.1.) If you are running MS-DOS 5.0, type
CHKDSK and press Enter,
but the problem may be that any system system that old is too small. If cross-links or lost allocation
units are found, the damage is done, and it is a matter of putting the pieces together again. Scandisk will
suggest a surface scan, but I recommend against that. Modern hard drives are subjected to high-stress tests at
the factory. Weak areas are identified and fenced off.
File systems face a problem. Your QuickBooks company data file, for example, keeps growing, so a larger
file is needed on the disk. Meanwhile, a different file has been written, beginning at the end of the original
length of your company file. The original piece stays where it is, and the addition is written elsewhere
. Generally, the operating systems handles this situation with finesse. Sometimes we find lost allocation units,
pieces of disk space that are neither parts of files nor listed as available space. In a very few cases, they are
part of files, and data recovery technicians can put them back together again. A different problem is called
cross linking. One stretch of the disk is listed as parts of two different files. Obviously, one file has a problem
. The scanning program does its best, making two files, with shared portion copied into both of them. With
luck, one will be OK. The other will be useless.
Hard drive copy
XE "copy:company file" , of the company file, to a different file name is a good idea, once
the file structure is known to be sound. Use the copying capability provided in the operating system.
Restoring a recent backup
may be necessary, in spite of its obvious (and not so obvious) negatives. Some
data will need to be re-entered. Use a different file name, do not overwrite an existing hard drive file. In rare
cases, the backup will be bad. Once a backup begins to overwrite an existing file, the existing file is gone.
Interfering programs
XE "interfering programs" can be a problem, albeit rarely. This problem appears a
little more frequently in Macintosh systems, where it may be necessary to start without extensions (hold down
the shift key.) In Windows, Shift-Escape brings down a task list, which may name some programs that you can
do without. If they are in the StartUp window, they will always be started when Windows starts. Windows
95 seems to be a little less subject to interference between programs, if you have QuickBooks 4.0 or above.
Windows 3.1 is based on MS DOS, and programs may be started with CONFIG.SYS or AUTOEXEC
.BAT. Systems using MS DOS 6._ may be started with some of the programs left out, by pressing F8 when
DOS begins to load. Windows 95 may have a legacy CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT.
Operating system
XE "operating system" damage
is possible, whether Windows 3.1, Windows 95, or Mac
OS. If this is suspected, the fastest thing to do is to re-install. Users with Windows 3.1 may need to re-install
DOS first. I am not aware of any diagnostics that can specifically check for operating system damage.
QuickBooks program file damage
XE "damage:QuickBooks program files" is possible, and the solution is
also to re-install. If the file is very large, this will be faster than rebuilding data.
Company data file
XE "company data file"
problems
are a possibility. The file could be the victim of
external damage, or QuickBooks might have made mistakes. The latter seems less of a problem now, as
succeeding versions of QuickBooks have seemed to be more reliable in handling their data.
Verify Data
XE "Verify Data" examines the company data file, but makes no changes. The intent is to see if
Rebuild Data is necessary, but the correlation seems less than perfect. Files may look OK to Verify, but be
corrected by Rebuild, and a file may get through Rebuild two or three times, and still show errors in Verify. It
is worth trying. Click
Window|Close All and then
File|Utilities|Verify.
Rebuild Data
XE "Rebuild Data" is designed to correct certain, specific problems. If these problems exist,
Rebuild Data will correct them. If the file has other problems, the results are not certain. The problems might
be made worse. That is the reason for copies and backups. Rebuild Data should be started only if you do not
suspect problems in the operating system or QuickBooks program file. In Windows 3.1, a large, permanent
swap file (virtual memory,) at least 16 megabytes, is a good idea.
Protect your position.
In addition to floppy disk backups, a hard drive copy is a good idea.
Click Window|Close All
, then File|Utility|Rebuild Data.
A backup copy will be required. When the
backup is completed, Rebuild will proceed immediately. On a very large file, Rebuild can run hours, or more
than a day. Before starting, shut down other programs. QuickBooks will need the computer all to itself when
Rebuild is running.
Technical Support
XE "Technical Support" may have to be called. As this book was being written,
purchase of QuickBooks included thirty days of free tech support. The thirty days begins with the first call.
This is a matter of company policy, and subject to change.
A call to tech support begins before you reach for the phone. Be prepared. They need to have you at your
computer, with QuickBooks running. It is worthwhile to have some information written on a paper, and be
ready to take notes. Remembering all of the call may be difficult. Should you be tempted to try the obvious
solution, remember that the law in many places prohibits recording a telephone conversation, except with the
knowledge and agreement of both parties.
Assess the problem and describe it in QuickBooks’ terms. Account names unique to your company may have
meaning to you, but will slow down the call. Whatever steps you are taking or actions you expect, be ready to
describe the problem to the technician in the terms the program uses. If not, the call will be prolonged while
you dig for the needed terminology.
Your name will probably be requested, plus your phone number and customer number.
Version and release will also be needed. The technician will need to know what he or she is working with.
And for the benefit of chauvinists, “he” or “she” makes no difference. If you come from a culture that believes
that women can’t be technically competent, do not deny yourself access to good help. I can’t promise you a
good tech, but having been there, I have seen clearly that gender makes no difference.
Get the technician’s identity, probably a first name and extension number. Ask if there is a case number for
your call. This advises the tech that the job should be done right. If any follow-up becomes necessary, it is
good to know who gave (or tried to give) you help.
Record the date and time of the call.
When the tech is helping you, try to take some notes, as to what was done.
After the call, go over your notes and fill in anything else you remember.
Severe problems
with data may require efforts of Intuit’s data recovery technicians. This can be arranged
only through calling Tech Support. Disks must be sent in. A two-week turnaround is good, and a month may
be needed. The programs used in data recovery run for hours, like Rebuild, and several may be needed, so
there is a reason for the long cycle. There is no certainty that data recovery will be successful, all leading to
the notion that frequent backups are a good idea.
On-line technical
support is limited. As of the publication date, QuickBooks Forum is available in
CompuServe, where a few people participate on a user-to-user basis. Some find useful answers. At one time
, Intuit supported this Forum. Support was withdrawn in July of 1996, along with the end of unlimited free
telephone technical support. I have been a regular contributor in the past. With the publication of this book, I
must become reluctant to show my name there. In particular, if a Forum message is addressed to me but
requests information available here, I may not reply.
The web site, www.intuit.com XE "www.intuit.com" , has an extensive library of standard answers to
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ’s.) Clicking a “browse” button lets you see the various sections, and
answers available in them. Some users in the CompuServe Forum have berated the web site, alleging that it
only contained what they knew anyway, and did not answer their specific problem. From the author’s point of
view, I don’t see it killing the market for this book. On the other hand, it does contain some specialized
information that has not been duplicated here.
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