"Calculating..." showing in info bar at {almost} all times

[dgunner71]

I have a MS database running in 2010 on a server that is running MS Server 2008r2.

When I open my database on this server, the info bar at the bottom of the screen just shows "Calculating..." at almost all times (when tables are open, forms or queries). The only times it does not show is 1.) when you put a form or report in design mode or 2.) when I first log in, I have a custom log in screen. This screen shows just fine (i.e. my field descriptions show up appropriately).

As soon as I log in, I'm getting the "Calculating...".

I've tried bypassing the log in screen by pressing shift and I still get the "Calculating...".

I've opened this exact same database on 2 another computers (1 - MS Access 2010 on Windows 7 and the second MS Access 2007 on Windows 7) - these appear to work just fine???

I did see a 2009 post on this but I did not see a solution.

As always, any assistance is greatly appreciated.

Kind regards.

Gunner

[CheeseNugget]

Sorry, no solutions here. just some validation and 'company' while you are in misery.

I just noticed this issue yesterday as well. 3 different projects (all using the same version of MS Access 2010) on 3 different servers (different versions of Windows Servers).

As a test, i created an unbound form with no controls (and thus no open recordsets) and then opened it (with no other objects open) and still found Calculating... in the status bar.

[TheSmileyCoder]

If you open a NEW BLANK database and create a unbound form, is it still happening?

Are you using any addins?

[dgunner71]

No plugins in my environment.

A new database seems to be fine on my server.

Also, the back end of the database seems fine as well. (however, if I look at the linked tables in the front end, then it displays "Calculating...".

I know Server 2008 can exhibit some odd behavior on Access.

I'll wait to see what I hear - I'll keep you all updated.

Gunner

[CheeseNugget]

TheSmileyCoder – thanks for the suggestion. Here is what I tried but was unable to recreate the issue.

1. Made sure no Add-ins were ‘installed’.
   
2. Created blank db with a blank form. All is OK.
   
3. Added a very simple test table with 3 records. Did NOT connect the form to the table. All is OK.
   
4. Set the Form’s record source to the table, still no controls. All is OK.
   
5. Add controls. All is OK.

I did notice that some of the ‘context-sensitive’ tabs/buttons on the ribbon where not showing/enabling when they should. For example, went into design view on the form and the Design/Arrange/Format tabs were not there. Saved, closed the form and tried again and they were back.

[CheeseNugget]

i went back to the original project and opened ONLY a single local table with 2 records and still had the Calculating... thing. same for linked tables (which are ODBC connections to SQL Server).

[TheSmileyCoder]

I've got nothing. Check if any office related updates were installed recently. Besides addins, do you have any VBE tools (such as MZ-tools or other) running?

I recently had a plugin installed that was causing me some very weird errors until I un-installed, and it was errors in what I considered to be completely un-related and unexpected places, but un-installing the plugin everything worked as expected again.

[zmbd]

dgunner71:
Please clarify for me...
Are you using terminalservices and remoteapp to run Access at the server, or are you sitting down right infront of the server terminal and running it native on the server-hardware?

[dgunner71]

zmbd;

No one sits at the server (no Access users at least). While there are 2 users who are in the same location as the server, everyone else is scattered in various countries. I'm under the impression that you should never use a split db over a VPN or wireless network to reduce the chance of data corruption.

So, to answer your question, some of us connect to the company via VPN then use Remote Desktop services (I think this is terminal services) to log on to the server.

Each user has their own log on and their own front end file to access the back end.

All files are located on the server.

Gunner

[CheeseNugget]

In my situation, it is both seen on local machines AND remote desktop.

i just dialed into a client's remote server (using remote desktop connection) running Windows Server 2008 R2. i opened the data file (where only the data tables live, no UI) and opened a single table with 3 fields and 37 records and still see "Calculating....". The fields are all 'primitive' data types; i.e. nothing 'fancy', nothing calculated, etc.

seeing this in all of my client's production servers. Windows 2003/2008 R2/2012.

[zmbd]

I'm under the impression that you should never use a split db over a VPN or wireless network to reduce the chance of data corruption.

Although true that VPN is not your friend when it comes to running a split Access database, it't not quite that dire either.

By moving all static tables and very rarely updated tables to the frontend on the client machine one can vastly reduce the networkband width used; thus, speeding up the application and minimizing any chance at data corruption.


With Remote Desktop Services:
It is better if each user has a local install of the Access program rather than running it from the server. I've also heard that only a few versions of MSOffice/Access will work when being ran over the file server vs. local instal.

If you did install the Office image to the server correctly, along with RDS then I think that you're down to asking MS for help here: Supported installation methods for Office 2010

[dgunner71]

zmbd,

As always, thanks again for all the info -

Gunner

[CheeseNugget]

The server (Windows 2003) that I 1st noticed this issue on has since resolved itself. the only thing that changed was 2 automatic updates were applied.

KB2914368 (Security Update for Windows Server)
KB890830 (Windows Malicious Removal Tool - January 2014)

neither seems logically &/or directly related to this issue. but who knows.

it has also resolved on the client with Windows Server 2008 R2. it has NOT resolved on the Windows Server 2008 Enterprise; but i am working on doing a reboot to see if that somehow helps. both servers are up-to-date with Automatic Updates.

my current guess is the server may have had a run-away process that caused the CPU or RAM to not allow Access to complete it's operations...thus "Calculating...". perhaps one of the Automatic Updates has fixed this issue. again, who knows.

[TheSmileyCoder]

I suppose it could be something transient. While looking around online I noticed that similar questions have been posted before, and none of them seemed to be resolved in a sense of finding a solution. Most of the threads seems to have died, probably since the problem went away and people forgot about it.

[CheeseNugget]

All instances that i know of that were having this issue have been resolved. i did nothing to resolve them. the best i can tell, this was an issue created by and then resolved by Microsoft Automatic Updates.

[zmbd]

not the first time that's happened!

I think it's a symptom of quantity vs. quality - get it out now and worry about the defects latter.

[dgunner71]

My issue also seems to have resolved itself. Choose my battles...

Thanks again for everyone's help!

Gunner

[zmbd]

Just a tad frustrating in that we suspect MS has a hand in this and yet no true solutions. Worse is that MS hasn't even mentioned the issue one way or another and we all know that they surf sites like bytes.com and others as a means of Bug hunting (IMHO a good practice as the bugs tend to show up in the forums long before they are reported to MS).

One day, we'll all be in a perfect happy place where OS runs as it's supposed to!

[CheeseNugget]

RESOLVED! Evidently this is a known issue and a hotfix exists to resolve it. i have only been able to test it with 1 client but i appears to have worked.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2598379

i hope this helps.

[zmbd]

That is good to know.
Funny how I scrubbed the hotfixes and patches and this one never showed up in any of the search engines nor MS's own search.

Good to have a solution, thank you.

[dgunner71]

Thanks, CN!

If this issue presents itself again (it has mysteriously corrected itself) I'll try to install this hotfix and see if that corrects the issue.

Take good care -

Gunner