Access97 Hard-resetting Windows 2000. Please help!!

[DavidMark]

Hi guys,
I have spent the past few days chewing off my own left leg in an attempt to sort this one out. I have a 97dB on the network whose job it is to periodically change the data in a table (every few minutes). What I am doing is running a delete query to empty the table then running an append query to re-populate it. People within my company can then access this table from databases set-up as 'viewers' and can apply filters on the table via buttons. Now here's the problem. This works wonderful on Windows 98 machines but, on a windows 2000 machine, if someone applies a filter when the linked table is deleting/appending their computer does a hard reset. No warning, no errors messages, nothing.... just resets the computer.

Has anyone experienced something like this before? All machines have Service Release 2 (SR2) installed. Would SR3 fix this? Is it some weird file-locking problem with our network? Any help or pointers to web sites would be much appreciated, before I chew the other leg off....

Thanks in advance,

Dave

 

[mac318]

Thank God I'm not the only one having problems with Win2000 performing a hard reset. It occurs on my computer when I place a USB flashcard in a different port than the one in which I installed the software. No warning. Just a reset.

Looking at both our situations, I believe the problem is with Win2000 not handling the network error trapping properly.

mac

 

[lameid]

I've also noticed weird file things occuring on Windows 2000 with Access 97 although no crashes. W2k seems to use a different file locking and security scheme than the earlier OS's. I'm surprised you don't have any problems on the other client types since they to should be annoyed with deleting the records. Can't say I know why but you could make sure everyone is out before you do anything to the table.

Create a table that you put a flag in that you will set when you need users to get out of the database.
Make a hidden form with an on timer event that reads this value. If it is true the form should open a modal form with a dialog telling users to get out or they will be exited automatically in x time and should open another hidden form with an on timer event to close the database. This will force everybody out even if they leave the database open and lock there workstation.

Sometimes cheating is easier than understanding.

Some shots in the dark that may be causing problems... Verify that all the users have the same permissions to the directory the file is in and that Access is set up to open files for shared access (I prefer removing the permisson of the ADMIN user to open the database exclusively).

 

[mac318]

Lameid, doesn't your explanation suppose that Win2000 isn't handling the network error condition properly. Dave should receive an error code from Access if the problem were Access related. It really does appear to be a memory leak problem within Win2000 because my problem has nothing to do with Access.

mac

 

[lameid]

Mac, I was writing my post when you posted yours. The problems I have seen are Windows 2000 related although I have not seen the reboot issue. On the other hand I have not tried to recreate the reboot problem either.

My shots in the dark are a few things that may cause Access to request locks on the tables instead of reading and letting go. That may alleviate the problem from occuring in W2k by avoiding it. My first method will definately get the users out of the database so that the update can be made without triggering the problem. Avoiding the problem is usually more expediant than waiting for someone to pay MS to tell them there is a problem in their product. To that end, are you running W2k SP2 and all the other little updates? While it is clearly a W2k issue, I'm guessing if Dave called MS on this one they would tell him that Office 97 is not supported anymore.

 

[mac318]

Lameid, you're on tarket about contacting Bill Gates with a 97 problem. I wander if XP has the same problem? I have both Access97 and Access2000 loaded and working well together. I have too many clients with 97 to abandoned it as Gates did. I'm an independent software developer so these issues are going to create havoc for me (and other developers). I have to leave for the weekend; however, I shall seek out this posting when I return Sunday evening. I hope we don't drop the issue. It may be a potential, hidden problem which will bite us all, one by one, in the future.

Have great weekend all. I love our communications and live to participate in them.

mac

 

[DavidMark]

How about I send you guys a stripped down demo of my dB that shows the problem?

Dave