Hi Dubl,
The spontaneous restarts of the notebook may have been the cause or
symptom of some file corruption on the notebook. Either in FileMaker
or in XP. You may want to run a disk check on the system. If the disk
check reports bad blocks possibly a re-install of XP and FileMaker may
be in order. I know this becomes a big job.
I think you covered everything else that comes to mind regarding the
network, UPS and corruption of the Database itself.
Best of luck.
Bruce Herbach
dublClick wrote:
Hi List,
Recently I installed a peer-to-peer 3 client solution for a small
depot. Two printers are also connected to the network - one by USB to
the host machine - the other by USB to one machine and shared with the
other.
Initially the host was a laptop - it started to exhibit spontaneous
restarts and the host was changed to a desktop. All running XP with
SP3, FM 9.03.
Four days ago the client phoned to say the three machines all hung
with the coffee cup displayed - he restarted them and the solution
seemed fine. The following day I visited the client and exported the
data into a new set of files. I tested some sample data entry and all
seemed fine.
Today he phoned to say the same thing had happened. The 2 driver-entry
terminals as well as the host had the coffee cup showing. The host did
not respond to a ctr-alt-del and had to be restarted. At some point
when restarting the driver machines, he did say the 'Communication
with the host was interrupted etc" dialogue was showing on the driver
screens. The host was restarted before the driver machines.
Without being there and seeing this happening, I have no way of
knowing who was doing exactly what at the time this happened - all
that was happening was routine data entry.
If the switch they are using to connect the three machines is faulty,
could it cause all machines to go coffee-cup crazy? I ask because when
first installing, the switch played up a bit - their IT guy swapped
one of the ports being used.
I'm going there in the morning and I will swap the switch with a spare
that I have. The CAT-5 cables he used were factory fitted, so I'm
presuming they are ok.
All three machines are connected to a large UPS, but only the power -
no USB for shutdown control. The location is adjacent to a petrol
station (gas station to you upside-downers) and is known for severe
power fluctuations. I will check tomorrow to see if the power supply
for the switch is on the UPS as well, and whether the PC's are getting
regulated power, or if the battery backup only kicks in on power outages.
Last week I installed a similar setup - one host and three clients. I
used the same set of master files I always use for installations,
which I know have never crashed. These files are running fine. Which
is the reason I am looking at extraneous factors which might cause
coffee cups being displayed.
Can anyone suggest anything else?
Thanks very much.
Steve aka Dubl
TaxiCab Manager
Taxi Owner & Taxi Fleet Management Software
www.taxicabmanager.com
m: 0414 555 195
