NW6/WinXP/Application=Btrieve 84 errors

[gillis]

We have successfully used the Infotronics applic. "AttendancePro" for a number of years on Win98 desktops (NW6 N/OS). However we are preparing to upgrade PC's to XPPro and found on a prototype machine that the app. won't run. Entering, editing, exiting the program we are prompted with numerous Btrieve 84 errors, and eventually must exit without saving due to them. Infotronics can't seem to help and this is holding up the upgrade of all computers.

Does anyone know what might be happening differently in the Netware/WinXP combination that was not an issue in Win98?

Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks, Jerry Giles

 

[marvhuffaker]

Yes, I have worked extensively with legacy btrieve applications, and your problem most likely has to do with the protocol. It may also have to do with speed/duplex of the NICS.

Although I am not familiar with your AttendancePro application, I do know that some applications are hard coded to only run over the IPX protocol, not TCP/IP. So if you don't have IPX on your workstations, that could be causing the problems. You could also ask the AttendancePro support specifically if the application requires IPX.

Compare the protocol bindings on the Win98 workstations that worked okay.. then try to duplicate the configuration on the XP systems. Also make sure that if you had IPX on the server before, nobody has removed it.

Specific items to check:

- NIC Speed. Make sure it's correct and matches recommendations from Switch vendor. (Both server and workstation)
- NIC Duplex. Make sure it's correct. same as previous note. (Both server and workstation)
- Check the BTI.CFG file at SYS:SYSTEM\BTI.CFG -- Look at the bottom for the "SUPPORTED PROTOCOLS" line. What is listed? IPX? IPX AND TCP? or TCP? If IPX is listed, then it's very possible that the application needs IPX. Keep in mind that legacy apps such as this one were developed when IPX was the dominant protocol on NetWare.
- do a CONFIG at the server console.. Does IPX list as being bound?
- On Workstation -- Check to see if IPX is installed and bound to NIC. Install it if necessary.


Try those ideas, see what you come up with. I none of those work, let me know and I'll send you some more ideas.

Marv

Marvin Huffaker MCNE, CNE
Marvin Huffaker Consulting

http://www.redjuju.com

 

[grazman]

For what it is worth, I've found that using a Traditional Volume with Legacy BTRIEVE applications running on Win2k/XP instead of NSS volumes has made a difference.

If you have an XP or Win2k machine with FAT32 instead of NTFS this may also work differently.

 

[marvhuffaker]

The issue with NSS vs. traditional is interesting. Pervasive claims that btrieve apps work fine on NSS, in fact sometimes faster.

But in testing, I saw an incredible drop in performance which I was unable to get past (This was on NW5)..

I don't believe the the volume type has anything to do with btrieve 84 errors.

Marvin Huffaker MCNE, CNE
Marvin Huffaker Consulting

http://www.redjuju.com

 

[gillis]

Thanks for your input, everyone. The troubleshooting part of my brain always asks "what changed?" when things don't work; and since it was just the Windows O/S I'm not sure how the NIC would be a factor? re: BTI file - it only contains 3 lines of code:
[MicroKernel]
MaxFiles=50
CacheSize=1024

Running "config" on server I do see reference to IPX as one of the LAN protocols and an "NWLink IPX/SPX, etc... transport comp. protocol" is installed in the LAN connection properties of desktop PC.

Once again, I appreciate your help,

Jerry Giles

 

[marvhuffaker]

Your BTI.CFG file should be much longer. Is it possible that someone changed it?

It's possible for someone to change it accidentally, I just can't remember how. It happens from a workstation, I think running the Pervasive admin utility. Check and see if your SYS:SYSTEM folder has a copy of BTI.CFG in the salvage bucket and recover it. compare and save.

I can't tell you why the NIC would be a factor. Only that in 2 years working on a very large btrieve system, that is a problem we saw a lot and many times it could be traced to a NIC config problem or a protocol configuration problem.

about the BTI.CFG file again.. you should have an option to specify the protocol. I'm guessing it wants IPX, but it will default to TCP unles you specify otherwise.

If you do a packet trace from your workstation, you should be able to tell what protocol the application is trying to use.

Marvin Huffaker MCNE, CNE
Marvin Huffaker Consulting

http://www.redjuju.com