File does not exist (?!)

[Mike L]

Hello all

We have an app running at a few sites. It is a split FE-BE app, BE on
the site server, FE on each user's machine, FE is XP, BE is A2K
format, FE running on XP runtime.

At one of the sites however on some of the user computers the app
sometimes won't open - it will start up to the point of showing the
splash form, and get no further. We determined eventually that the app
'hangs' at the point where it tries to access the BE on the server.

If you try to open the BE from the FE computer by using Windows
Explorer to navigate to the file and double-clicking on it, nothing
happens for a minute or two, and then an error message is displayed to
the effect that the file can not be opened as it does not exist!

After rebooting the FE computer, the app works, and the direct-opening
of the BE with Explorer works.

According to the users they can use the app immediately after starting
up or rebooting, but after a while (an hour or so apparently) it won't
work any more. There is a fair amount of security / recovery /
anti-virus software loaded on the system, but I'm no expert on these,
don't know what else had been installed, and the consultant who did
the whole hardware and software installation has absconded and is
unavailable.

Has anyone had a similar experience or have any advice or suggestions
to offer?

Many thanks in advance

Mike L

[Allen Browne]

Last time I saw a message like that it was actually a user-defined function
generating the message, and the underlying cause as a lack of permission
(MDW) to access the file, or a lack of user rights under Windows to access
something required.

--
Allen Browne - Microsoft MVP. Perth, Western Australia.
Tips for Access users - http://allenbrowne.com/tips.html
Reply to group, rather than allenbrowne at mvps dot org.

"Mike L" <ml******@metroweb.co.za> wrote in message
news:b9**************************@posting.google.c om...

Hello all

We have an app running at a few sites. It is a split FE-BE app, BE on
the site server, FE on each user's machine, FE is XP, BE is A2K
format, FE running on XP runtime.

At one of the sites however on some of the user computers the app
sometimes won't open - it will start up to the point of showing the
splash form, and get no further. We determined eventually that the app
'hangs' at the point where it tries to access the BE on the server.

If you try to open the BE from the FE computer by using Windows
Explorer to navigate to the file and double-clicking on it, nothing
happens for a minute or two, and then an error message is displayed to
the effect that the file can not be opened as it does not exist!

After rebooting the FE computer, the app works, and the direct-opening
of the BE with Explorer works.

According to the users they can use the app immediately after starting
up or rebooting, but after a while (an hour or so apparently) it won't
work any more. There is a fair amount of security / recovery /
anti-virus software loaded on the system, but I'm no expert on these,
don't know what else had been installed, and the consultant who did
the whole hardware and software installation has absconded and is
unavailable.

Has anyone had a similar experience or have any advice or suggestions
to offer?

Many thanks in advance

Mike L

[osmethod]

A process of elimination point of view....

If its only on 1 site,

1. Check if similar happens other apps running from server on
client... might be network congestion.

2. Antivirus software can lock files - consider disabling it untill
you can narrow down the problem. Also consider a virus scan of the
client...

3. Allow the user to log in as Admin and see if the problem re-occurs

4. Check that the User Account/Password/Details on XP is the same as
on server

5. Has the client installed anything lately..... might be
conflicting....

6. Run a scandisk/chkdsk on the client and server

7. Check security permissions on the directories where the BE and FE
are located

8. If its only 1 client... maybe a faulty network card...

Hope this gives u some ideas....

[Mike L]

Thanks for the responses!

I think we can rule out network congestion, as this is a 6-computer
setup on a 100MB network, and the problem occurs even when there is
no-one else in the office.

I also think we can rule out a lack of permissions or user rights or
anti-virus software, as the users do have perfect operation with no
disabling of anti-virus software, and logged in as he normally would,
but only immediately after a reboot. It is only after the computer had
been sitting idle for a while that this problem occurs.

The most likely problem seems to me the possibility of faulty network
cards. Is it possible for the computer to be able to navigate to and
open a file in Windows Explorer immediately after a reboot, and after
a while to still navigate to the file but fail to open it?

Many thanks for the help

Regards

Mike L