Reports don't open OR crash Access 1

[CJTyo]

I have about 2 dozen reports, all created using the Wizard and based off different queries or tables. None of them are complex, nothing special - lists of fields, some "max" or "count" groups in some queries, really simple stuff.

The problem is... when I go to Print Preview (either right clicking OR double-clicking), most of the time the reports will NOT open and sometimes just close Access. Now, what truly has me yanking my hair out is there is NO consistency on which reports misbehave and/or crash Access. I can go down the list double-clicking and five won't open, one will, then heading back UP the list three won't open but the very first one suddenly will! It's driving me absolutely insane!

I've uninstalled and reinstalled Access. I assigned a specific printer to all the reports thinking that would help. Nothing changes. Some work, some don't, it changes in a second which do and don't...

Any thoughts, suggestions, or insight would be very much appreciated! The IT guys here haven't a clue and I've never had this type of problem with an Access database before. And I've compacted and repaired it a dozen times! I've made a copy and tried using the copy... same issue.

It's Access 2000 on Windows 2000. The database is on my C drive, Access is also locally installed.

Help!

C *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Insanity is a matter of Perception.

 

[JohnLowell]

Make sure you are using the default printer for each report.

Open a report that doesn't work in design view and go to File - Page Setup.
Click on the Page tab and make sure Default Printer is selected at the bottom. Click OK, Save the report then try to preview it

 

[CJTyo]

John,

I went through and changed each FROM the default printer to a specific printer to see if that would help. They were all already set to the default printer.

:-(

Any other ideas?

Thanks!
C *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Insanity is a matter of Perception.

 

[JohnLowell]

Check and make sure your system has a default printer setup.

Go to Start - Settings - Printers and make sure 1 of them is set as the default printer.

 

[CJTyo]

John,

I have a default printer, and it's actually the specific printer I pointed everything to - just to be on the safe side. I've never changed the default printer from the one it is now. Haven't changed drivers, nothing like that.

I know this printer works because I print to it, as my default, numerous times a day from Word, Excel, and Access (not this database but two others I use regularly).

C *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Insanity is a matter of Perception.

 

[JohnLowell]

Try Repairing and Compacting your database. If that doesn't work, you can try decompiling the mdb.

To decompile:

"Access location msaccess.exe" /decompile "Full location of the mdb"

 

[Steve101]

CJTyo,

You hav'nt made it clear, but have you tried running this application on any other computer. It would be interesting to identify whether it is in fact the workstation, or the application which is causing the problem.

Similarly, do you run other Access applications on this computer; if so, presumably they do not suffer from the same sort of problems.

Answering these questions might help to eliminate some of the possible causes.

The other thing you can try is to create a new empty database, and then import all of the objects from the old database into it. If the existing database has some form of corruption in it, this might clear the problem.

Good luck, Steve Lewy
Solutions Developer
steve@lewycomputing.com.au
(dont cut corners or you'll go round in circles)

 

[vanders]

Were the reports written on the windows 2000 machine or on another platform?

 

[CJTyo]

I have compacted and repaired it numerous times. Doesn't change the behavior.

I need more information on what exactly decompiling would do before I do that.

It seems to be this particular database. On other machines (all W2k running Access 2k) and under other people's login it does the same thing. I've made copies - same thing. I've imported everything IN to a blank DB - same thing. I've exported FROM this one in to a blank DB - same thing. Now I've uninstalled and reinstalled office completely - didn't make a lick of difference.

I'm not sure if I had a corrupt install of Access that tainted all the DBs I made, or what is going on.

This is the only DB I have with a lot of reports. I did notice a couple times with the smaller DB's I made that a report would not launch, but I wasn't doing as much and it didn't really register that I had an actual problem. Those DB's seem to be functioning fine, or else the people I made them for aren't running the reports. I'll have to check and see.

I develop all my DBs on my C drive because of serious network latency issues. When they're ready, I move them to the server for testing and then implementation.

Does anyone know the relationship between Access reports and the office install of VB? In uninstalling and reinstalling office did I clean out my VB install, or is that seperate (and I'm talking about the Access/Word/Excel VB components, not Visual Basic as a stand alone program)?

Thanks!
C *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Insanity is a matter of Perception.

 

[Steve101]

Well, you seem to have done all of the right things to try to isolate/fix the problem. Dont know if this will help, but here's something that I sometimes do to find a similar problem.

1. Create a new database.
2. Identify a report where the problem manifests.
3. Import just that report.
4. Import just the objects that the report depends on.
5. Try reproduce the problem.
6. If you can reproduce it, then at least you have narrowed down the "offending object set".
7. Try reducing the data sets to minimal records, and confirm that the problem still appears. You should now have a "small" database which you can "carry around", and try on different computers. You can also safely provide it to others to inspect (eg. tek-tips).
8. To further reduce the object set, remove forms, and "hard code" in parameters to queries that would normally be fed off forms. Does the problem still appear?

I hope that I'm making my point; what you're doing with this approach is effectively "cutting a whole in the sheet", from which you can operate on the "injury". Once you've identified the problem objects, you might want to re-write them from scratch, maybe on a different computer, to see if the problem can be solved in this environment.

I'll happily have a look at such a database, once you're "cut it down" to its minimal object set.

Good luck,


Steve Lewy
Solutions Developer
steve@lewycomputing.com.au
(dont cut corners or you'll go round in circles)

 

[GCornwell]

I've just had exactly the same problem on my database.

To clear it I simply previewed a table to see if it could format the page on my default printer. When I went back to preview the reports, they had all returned!

Hope this helps...

Geraldine

 

[Hap007]

Now you broke it....

I have seen 2 problems like you have described, but both were on Win 98 machines and with Access.

I tried reinstalling access and no luck, reports would print on other PCs but not the problem PC.

I think what you need to do is,
1) Remove All printers
2) Remove Access
3) Remove all temp files in C:\Windows\Temp directory
4) Restart your PC
5) Now Reload your printers
6) Now reinstall Access.

Seems that windows and Access have gotten confused about what printers it will see.

No guarentee that this will fix your problem, but it is worth a shot if nothing else works....

FYI:
You said you copy DB to a network drive when done.
Copying data to a network server is good, and coping your Access DB to the sever is good for distribution, but you should not run your access program from the server if more than one person will be running it at the same time.
If you do, well strange things will happen because of the way access programs run and share variables.
You should have your Data in a backend database located on the server and your program in a separate Frontend database on the local PC with links to the shared Database.

Hope This Helps...


Access Add-on developer

http://www.fcs-software.com

 

[ppkgoldengun]

Are you using Roxio GoBack on your development machine? I've had similiar problems and finally narrowed it down to GOoBack. Since then I do all my development on a non-goback machine.

 

[CJTyo]

Thanks for all the suggestions.

Steve101, that looks like a good list for breaking down to the lowest common denominator. I'll see if I can find one.

I'll let you know if I get anywhere with it, or might want another set of eyes to check it out when I get it to that LCD state.

Thanks again!
C *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Insanity is a matter of Perception.

 

[MelissaBerrett]

I am having a similar problem. Since I converted to XP I can not get any of my reports to open, nor can I create new ones. I get the error "There was a problem retrieving printer information for this object. The object may have been sent to a printer that is unavailable."
All of my queries, tables, etc I can print by choosing a specific printer. I can't even open the reports in design view to check default printer setting - any suggestions? I've unistalled and reinstalled the printer.
Thanks,
Melissa