Home Forums Discussions Problems AC Freezes when typing notes

Actually, I agree with almost everything that you guys have said. I once bought a HP multifunction copier/printer/fax machine on ebay (out of warranty) and when the sheet feeder stopped working they sent me a new one within 3 days, no questions asked.

There is a difference between home and business both in quality and in cost. If you do buy a great deal on ebay, though, it just makes sense to see what is "under the hood" to see if there are any parts that could/need to be changed out for better performance, then factor that in before you buy. I screwed up in that I didn't do that with either the monitor or the computer, both of which were problematic. Sometimes on ebay folks unload these lemmons...

Let me make myself clear- I buy from HP frequently. I love their printers and scanners in particular. Their computers could sometimes be improved quality-wise.

For laptops I like Dell; for desktops I personally like Dell and Gateway. I never have had to go "business" with these companies to get quality. I also frequently use the ebay "bare bones" computers ( http://search.ebay.com/barebone ) to upgrade some of my computers to add speed, power, and quality (cost is $300 to $400 including RAM memory). You just swap out the drives from your old machine; everything else is already installed.

One thing that I disagree on is that a client/server setup will "fix everything". If one has a bad LAN connection, a bad server, or whatever, it might tolerate a bit more hardware issues, but you still will eventually end up with corrupted data. As always, on the client/server vs file/server setup one has to balance cost with power. If you're willing to get your hands dirty a little bit, you can go for cost savings and file/server setup.

The other thing that I semi-disagree with is with over-reliance on IT professionals. At first, do use them to set stuff up. It's always a good idea to have a notebook where you write down the problem, then write the solution. It seems that the same problems recur over and over and over again. You'll see that before long, you'll be able to solve almost all of your problems in-house. If you call the guy everytime, you'll end up broke! Also- don't forget to use Google. Google is your friend! It can give you professional pictures, explanations, and how-to advice for free.

Cheers,
Al

Bert, I agree that his problem is most likely a networking issue, not an AC issue and not a hardware issue. The real bugger will be in finding the issue. Since it sounds like he's using a P2P, this could be the source of problems. If he is using Vista Home, this could very well be the problem. As you know, I once ran my P2P on XP Home and it worked fine for a while before everything got screwed up. My problems resolved w/ addition of my server and upgrading my client OS's w/ Vista Business.

On Vista options however, it should not be as complicated as it would seem. There is Vista Home Premium and Home Basic. Neither of these are options for the small business user, as these are HOME editions. Like Bert has said to me when I ran XP Home in my office, "What part of HOME don't you understand?" Then, you have Busniness-N and Enterprise. Neither of these are options because Business-N is only for Europeans and Enterprise is designed for complex IT setups and is for large businesses.

Therefore, that leaves Vista Ultimate and Vista Business. Business does what it says, it is set up for Networking, P2P or Server/Client setups. Ultimate supposedly has it all. The only choice should be "Do I buy Business or Ultimate?" So Bert, you could ask a similar question that you posed about XP Home, "What part of BUSINESS don't you understand?" If an AC user is going to use Vista, they need to ENSURE that it is either Vista Business or Ultimate editions.

Al, I agree whole heartedly that over-reliance upon IT professionals is in error. We need to know our systems and learn to fix them, or at least enough to keep them working.

The original poster of the message could consider subscribing to ExpertsExchange, a very inexpensive online tool to email experts in the fields of computers and IT. Answers typically get back to posters very quickly. I use it all the time and ExpertsExchange has saved me MANY a time.

I agree wholeheartedly with both Alborg and Adam. However, as well as Adam explained the editions, six (not seven as I said earlier) is four too many. Let's make all the home versions, Ultimate and all the business versions, Business. Nuff said. Simple.

The IT proposition is a difficult one. You may say I am flip-flopping (and no political reference there), but they are a double-edged sword. Every single friend of mine who had a network designed by a so-called expert got ripped off and left with a configuration that was not only done incorrectly but was left without the username passwords or instruction manual (not a real instruction manual). And, the IT person was't necessarily trying to rip them off; they are usually an acquaintance who, at the time, knew more than they did about networking and had all the buzz words.

When I refer to IT, I am talking about something like a Microsoft Small Business Specialist that will set up your network perfectly. Hopefully, they will show you what they are doing, but there is such a thing called job security so tney may not.

Bert,
I got a FEVER!

and you know what that means don't ya?

that's right....MORE COWBELL !!!

But, the question is: "Do you have a fever ON medicine!"

No, but my baby has a fever of 102.4 and she is ON TYLENOL. This must be really bad, therefore justifies my calling you at 1AM, RIGHT?

Al,
I could not agree more about the network "gurus" as I call them. Heck, the last one I got who came so well recommened barely set up any security at all. A minimal password (admin and 1,2,3, no CCHIT) set-up on the oldest weakest encription format WEP no less. No mac addresses or static IP's or nothing. Now I have learned enough from Wireless networks for Dummies to do most of it myself....

And our first guy who did a decent job, did exactly what you said, he left us with no way to get in ourselves, for Job Security??? And then he was never available in an emergency. No Thanks. Rather be self reliant.

hey guys, guess what, my AC freezes again yesterday around noon time. :-( I have to reboot the MAIN computer again. Sigh!!! Ummm, so now I don't have any Vista machine on my network and I already replaced the switch. My only guess is maybe my MAIN computer now. But then it's a brand new machine which I purchased in December 07. One other possibility that I can think of is the built in network card. My next step is to disable the on board network card and install an internal network card (PCI). What you guys think? thanks so much, everyone.
Tommy

I think we hit in this way earlier in this thread, but have you run Amazing Utilities of late? Every now and again the database itself can get a little "disorganized" I guess, so it doesn't hurt to run AU now and again. But this usually gives you the warnings of disconnection from the database. Are you by chance getting any of these or is she just freezing up with no warnings from AC what so ever? Good luck....

Don't forget the server power supply (PS)...

Heck, I just finished buying one for that HP node computer with only 250 Watts (I got a 600 Watt PS): http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=280204723685

The issue is that if the PS is too weak, it can slow down the processing and lead to freezes.

FogCity:
Are you certain this is not a network configuration problem?

Fog,

It's not a bad idea to replace your onboard NIC with a PCI card. May as well get a 10/100/1000 while you are at it. I always prefer cards vs onboard devices unless I don't care much about sound quality.

The only thing which argues against it would be that a reboot fixes it. Which makes one think of a RAM issue. Have you checked in Task Manager to see what is using what? I don't think it is the computer unless you are having an issue with RAM. Again, what is your configuration again? You simply have it running on the main computer shared out and all the other computers are running XP Pro?

If none of these things help, message me; and I may have a suggestion.

Usually Windows will fail to even boot up with a faulty audio, modem, or network card. If it does boot up, then it shouldn't detect them at all: click on Start-> right click on My Computer-> select Properties-> select Hardware-> then select Device Manager. Check for red X's. Same goes with RAM memory for what I've seen.

The flakiness problem should occur with moving parts- i.e. the HD, the fans, or the Power Supply. They are the ones to faulter with use, leading to freezes. In the case of the HD, you simply will have a crash, so it's down to the fans (specifically the fan on the CPU chip) and the Power Supply.

hey hockeyref, I did run the AC utilities periodically. But AC still freezes up with no warnings. What I heard from the doctor is that he will be typing and typing along the way on his workstation and after he was done all the typing, he will need to click the "SEND" button then there should be another window come up. But when the hanging happened, once he finished typing the notes, when he tried to click the "SEND" button, nothing will happen. Then he realized the software is not responding. Then he will hear from his staff that AC is doing the same thing to them. The doctor will then need to go to the MAIN computer and restart it. Everything will be ok after the reboot but the note that he was typing will be all gone. Very frustrating...:-(

hey alborg, Lauer and bert, happy Good Friday, everyone. I did run the hardware diagnostic on the MAIN computer (DELL Optiplex 330 - 2 hard drive w/RAID 1). The test came back just fine. Plus it's a relatively new computer (just 3 months old). I found it hard to believe that would be a power supply or RAM issues although I cannot completely rule out those possibilities.

The strange thing is when AC crashes, other functions on the MAIN computer still work. For example, I can move the mouse, type from the keyboard, get on the internet etc. But if I tried to launch AC from the MAIN computer, it won't open. Another strange thing is all the client workstations will not be able to open any shared folders on the MAIN computer. It almost like the server cut off the connection to all the workstations when AC crashes. I just don't know why...:-( But the reboot of the MAIN computer will fix it.

I mean it's a very simple setup, peer to peer network, all Windows XP Pro w/service Pack 2. Already checked firewall, anti-virus software...

Oh, I checked the DELL website last night and guess what I found. They have a new BIOS update available to be downloaded. It said, "Urgent Dell highly recommends applying this update as soon as possible. The update contains changes to improve the reliability and availability of your Dell system." So I updated that last night. Well, not sure if it has anything to do with AC but I am once again keeping my fingers crossed. Please pray for me. :-D

have a wonderful Easter.
Tommy

Tommy,

Sorry, I know this must be frustrating. Certainly, this could be a BIOS issue. If you flashed the BIOS and it is up to date, you may be all set. That's the frustrating thing about troubleshooting computer problems. You could look at the network and/or AC for days, and it would be something with the computer.

If that doesn't fix your problem, I would look at your device drivers. They are notorious for not playing well together. Do all of your Microsoft Updates and get needed drivers and then look at other drivers separately.

Try typing EventVwr.msc into the Run window and check for error messages in your System and Application logs right after a crash. If there are any red ones or even yellow, post them here.

I don't think that Amazing Tools will help, but you can make a shortcut of an Amazing Tool from your local AC folder to the desktop. (or from the server). This tool will work on the server AC folder whether it is on your desktop or not. While this may not help, it is possible that rather than rebooting your computer, maybe you can just run a "Fix Database."

I wouldn't give up. I don't know if this is helpful or makes it more daunting but, as I posted before, I once had four to five complete crashes per day for over a month, before the problem just went away.

Tommy:

How about making another computer the "server"? If it doesn't freeze up, then you've narrowed down the problem...

I do wish everyone a happy weekend! Don't eat too much Easter candy. It might freeze you up!

Cheers,
AL

Not a bad idea.

I also have occasional freezing of AC during opening or running interface.

My biggest trouble is no autosave function of progress note. If anything happen during writing note before forwarding the note, it is lost. I wish we have certain autosave function which is PRACTICALLY helpful(instead of unstable saved file - which disappears when I attempt to open new note).

I experience frequent problems including loss of forwarded chart. But I figured out those were from the malfunction of my wireless router. Router seems like unstable(because of windows vista?) and forwarded chart is not delivered immediately which makes me shocked. Anyway these were the problem of my router.

Good luck.

Alan Kim, MD

If it only happens with this computer (ie you've done a "back end" computer change), you can reread everything we've suggested (and some changes still pending) or go to...

Computer freezing 101:

http://forums.techarena.in/showthread.php?t=481151

Computer freezing 102:

http://www.computerhope.com/issues/ch000690.htm

OK, OK, so they say similar things in different orders, but it shows that our suggestions are pretty good.

Good luck!

Follow-up on the HP Pavillion computer:


(photo taken just as I was starting, during the power supply change)

I had changed the Power Supply (250 to 600 Watt), I also increased the RAM memory from 1 GB to 3 GB (all new chips), and I made the original Seagate HD the slave and put in a new Maxtor HD as the "master".

During this time I had to reinstall windows XP Pro three times. (I lost my smile very quickly!)

A good deal of the issues had to do with the combination of faulty RAM chips and an underpowered power supply. Yesterday though the slave Seagate drive began forcing the blue screen of "pre-death" then stopped working altogether.

Now I have a very nicely working HP computer with essentially two thirds of its parts replaced. It's probably the nicest computer in my office. I think this will be the last HP computer I'll be purchasing in a long while!

Oh- about the HP screen. Maybe one day I'll take it apart; maybe not. I'm using another flat screen in the meantime.

Hello everyone, I thought I wouldn't need to bother you guys any more but I got a call from the doctor yesterday saying that AC froze again while he is in the middle of the typing notes. Sigh!!! It was almost a month ago when AC last froze. So at this point, I think I am going to replace the MAIN PC (even though that was a brand new machine) I am just going to migrate the entire database to a temporary computer that I setup and just let AC running on it and go from there. I will keep you guys posted. Have a great weekend.

Tommy :-D

Any luck on the changeover of the backend?

My HP computer is rock solid now with it's RAID 1 configuration that allows for periodic ghosting of data on the 2 new hard drives. No more issues with this computer after changing just about everything but the motherboard. I'm happy again...

This may sound crazy, but I thought of it since one of our pragrams (billing) will only work flawlessly if it is mapped out to each computer.

I wonder what would happen in this or other netwroking problems if you mapped the AC folder to each computer, thus making it a basic "virtual" drive on each machine. I have no idea if it would make a difference, but it's worth a try given it takes about five seconds.

After 12 years of working with a MS Access Jet backend, I've come to the realization that billing is best done on the host computer using that computer as a local connection.

Why?

1) Because the accounts tables tend to be the largest and can slow down the LAN considerably. My accounts table has 70000 records at this time.
2) You don't want crashes and corruption of the tables that keep your office going financially.

Nowadays, with the 100 or 1000 mbps LAN connections it is not such an issue as was when things ran at 11 mbps, but that is the best optimized mode.

Food for thought...

Hey just the other day someone told me in little networks like ours, even if you have lots of equipment running at lets say 100 or 1000 wired, that the entire network will slow down to the speed of the slowest link on the netork. So let's say you got three computer hooked up gigabit like at 1000, but you still have one old computer running a real slow old NIC card at 10 the entire network can be brought to a scretching halt back down to 10 just because of this one client.

This sounded wrong me if everyone has their own path back to the router, but what the heck to I know about all this CCHIT...

I just tend to like having all my data in one place so I know it is backed up correctly. While what you say has some merit, it's just one more issue, one more hard drive, one more thing to keep track of as far as the backups go.