Please help. My bag of tricks doesn't include this one. Maybe this is a DELL question instead of a REVELATION question…

TIA! (Maggie Woo, maggie_woo@natureserve.org)

I have a client who is experiencing serious difficulty working in his AREV system.

Critical symptoms:

1. Unable to function because system completely freezes and monitor turns off. Tried disabling indexing to see if it mattered–not apparently. Problem is sporadic, often happens during logon, but can also happen after successfully logging in and beginning work. Tried disabling expanded memory and it seems to help (but this was not tested often enough to find out if it helped consistently).

1. When expanded memory is on, when able to log in and "look around," consistently "crashes" to the debugger after a few levels (~7 levels)–may or may not include system hang.

1. - I've suggested he use TAMEDOS, but have not heard yet if he has–not sure it'll even help.

His answers to a couple of queries:

Q:I'm assuming that the problem is that the system freezes and shuts down your monitor. When you go several levels, do you just go to the debugger, or does the system freeze and shut down your monitor?

A: It breaks to the grey debugger screen I had a CALCALYST error message and ESC took me back to the main menu. The freezing problem seems to be bad when I am viewing full screen. When I run in a small window it seems to work much better (as in I haven't locked it yet). In the Properties, the SCREEN Usage is set to window and the PROGRAM Run is in normal window.

Q: And when the monitor shuts off, did you mean that the display just went blank, or did it go into power-save mode, or did the power actually cut out?

A: It could just be the powersave mode. I hear an audible click and when I ALT-Tab away from the frozen BCD I get the power flicker of a monitor being turned on.

Q: Can you also tell me when the server was upgraded to Windows 2000? I have an old email from last November when you were telling me it was imminent. Did the problems exist before this upgrade?

A: We are running a new server now. It was brought on line this May(ish) in time for the Biotics upgrade. The freezing problem did not exist prior to the upgrade.

Q: On indexing, change the delay to zero (not null).

A: OK. There are a number of users logging on as bcd.mgr. Should I be setting up a new user so that only one person is running the indexing? This has been going on for a year or more and hasn't caused a problem yet. I've been running BCD with the delays set to zero for 15 minutes now and no freezing - a record:-)

Server:

Windows 2000 Server with SP2 and latest hotfixes

Using NT Service (V 1.5.0.0)

Standard workstation:

single processor

Windows NT 4/Windows 2000

Shortcuts are all consistent (expanded memory, always suspend off, etc)

LAN protocols in order:

Client Service for Netware

Client for Micrsoft Networks

File and Printer Sharing for Microsoft Networks

NWLink NetBIOS

NWLink IPX/SPX/NetBIOS Compatible Transport Protocol

3Com BCAITDI DMI TDI

Internet Protocol (TCP/IP)

Problem workstation:

Dell Precision 530, dual 1.5gHz processors and 1mB RAM.

Windows 2000

He is connecting using a 3Com 3C920 Integrated Fast Ethernet Controller (3C905C-TX Compatible) which may or may not matter…

His Network protocol matches that of the standard workstations (which are not experiencing these problems).

Brief history:

In the past, they ran AREV over a Novell Network without using the NLM (all workstations were Windows NT). However, they were able to lock records and function normally. Sometime before the year 2000 they migrated to an NT server (and got the NT Service). During Y2K remediation work, we experienced problems with their system that we were never able to nail down–but they were related to being unable to create a functional stand-alone version to run the Y2K scanning software so it didn't seem to be an issue that affected their production system.

Last November, they reported that they were "about to" upgrade the NT server to a Windows 2000 server. Next communication was about a month ago after their main information manager got a new computer with a dual processor and began experiencing serious problems using the system. As it happened, the shortcuts tended to have Always Suspend turned on (easy fix that fixed everyone except this one pesky workstation).

Verified that it doesn't seem to matter who logs in where to which machine–it's this workstation that's having this strange behavior.

Maggie, check for BIOS upgrades for the Dell PC, and also check that the expanded memory is supported on that particular model. Do any other apps fail on this box?

The Sprezzatura Group

World Leaders in all things RevSoft

Thanks! I still haven't heard back from my client about this one, but I now have another who has the same symptoms but different setup. Better description of the symptoms too:

1. Just moved app to Windows 2000 Server from Banyan.

2. Installed Linear Hash Service to server.

3. Installed NPP to app.

4. Banyan client still on workstations (although we tried uninstalling to no avail).

5. Workstations are all Windows 2000, Dell Precision 380.

To repeat problem:

1. log in, it opens in window

1. Alt-Enter to go into full screen (tool around, do stuff, behaves normally).

1. Alt-Enter to go back to windows–THEN IT HAPPENS

   The App called BCD is in the taskbar with the the title "BCD - FROZEN" just like that. If you click on the taskbar icon, it opens in a window and looks normal, no cursor, but the title says "BCD - FROZEN".  If you Alt-Enter, you get a black screen, but you can Alt-Enter again to return to windows.

In this case, all the workstations are experiencing the problem; no one has a dual processor.

Is this a Windows 2000 thing? I find it odd that we suddenly have two different locations that are experiencing this thing. Any ideas welcome. Feel free to email me directly at mwoo@natureserve.org. We test upgraded our own server here to Windows 2000 a few years back and things seemed fine (but we never upgraded). Is it perhaps one of the newer service packs? I can look elsewhere too if needed.

TIA!

Maggie Woo

View this thread on the forum...