"Could not update; currently locked" Intermittant Access 2003 error

[nodrog77]

I have a multi-user database (single mdb with everything in it) on a network drive which has been working fine for about a year now.

The problem that is occurring is intermittent. The user will be editing a record in a continuous subform and/or adding a new one (the VB code will be doing it for them) and the application will hang with the message "Could not update; currently locked" in multiple message boxes. Sometimes instead of adding a new record it will overwrite the old one.

This doesn’t seem to actually be a record locking problem – the database is set up to be Shared with No locks .
In the event that two users try to edit the same record (I reproduced this to see if that was what was happening) the database will issue the correct messages about a “Write Conflict”

I will usually have to exit access and start access up again if this happens – if I can’t exit I will usually kill access and start again.

I’ve tried compacting and repairing the database but that isn’t helping

The network is pretty bad and i can expect it to drop out on me briefly at least once a week but it usually the Database just issues an error that it can't access the drive and hangs. I believe this problem is related to the network – which I have no control over or access to help with – but I need some way to find out what’s happening and possibly avoid it.


Oh – and by the way the database isn’t split and I hope to avoid doing so, the dodgy network being part of the reason why not. I’ve been running versions of this database for 6 years now without this problem

It is getting a bit large – 45MB

Many Thanks,
Leandra

 

[nodrog77]

By the way - I've just tried to split it and the file size it's not the data - the Backend Database is about 4mb - it's probably just the photos on the startup form.

It is very slow when it's split (both front end and back end are on the same network drive). I know now why I didn't do it.

 

[RuralGuy]

The BackEnd is in a good location but the FrontEnd should be on every users local machine.

(RG for short) aka Allan Bunch MS Access MVP acXP ac07 winXP Pro
Please respond to this forum so all may benefit

 

[nodrog77]

Thanks Allan - I did know that - again I haven't done it because of the unreliable and SLOOOOW connection to the server among other things.

The other being that I do not have access to every users local machine, nor can I rely on them to install versions themselves (ie copy files from an email to their PC).
They are a great bunch to work with but some of them can't even work out how to drag and drop a shortcut.
I work in a large Department where IT is outsourced to an external company which is expensive and often not particularely good.

But anyway - How would this help??

Lea

 

[RuralGuy]

The problem you described sounds like one you would get if two people were in the same FrontEnd. Having said that, Access is not very forgiving with a dodgy network. It just does not handle it very well. Is it a Local Network (LAN) or are you using the Internet (WAN)? How many users are on the system?

(RG for short) aka Allan Bunch MS Access MVP acXP ac07 winXP Pro
Please respond to this forum so all may benefit

 

[RoyVidar]

> The other being that I do not have access to every users local machine, nor can I rely on them to install versions themselves (ie copy files from an email to their PC).

It sounds like you/your company could benefit from Tony Toews FE updater - check out

http://autofeupdater.com/

Roy-Vidar

 

[nodrog77]

Thanks Roy-Vidar,

I didn't know there was a utility like this around!! I'll give it a try - maybe not with this MDB quite yet until I've sorted out the other problem.


Allan,
To update our network details: You'd probably call it a WAN, it serves a couple of hundred users and the servers are located in a different building. My access database serves around 15 users, most open it up when they get in to work but use it only 2 or 3 times during the day.

Lea

 

[RuralGuy]

Bob Larson also has a FrontEnd updater that he developed a while back.

http://www.btabdevelopment.com/main/MyFreeAccessTools/tabid/78/Default.aspx

Of course Tony's is excellent, I just wanted to point you to another one as well. What is the speed of your Network? If it is 100Mb then it is a LAN and can give acceptable performance. If it tend to run poorly there could easily be corruption in your db. It is still a good candidate for splitting and FE's on each user's PC.

(RG for short) aka Allan Bunch MS Access MVP acXP ac07 winXP Pro
Please respond to this forum so all may benefit