Alpha stopped working on a network

[Mike Reed]

I have a customer with a peer to peer network. They run Windows XP pro on all machines. There are only 3 machines on the network. They have an application that has been running fine until about a week ago. It does not run on their network any longer. The app will run fine on the computer that has the data files. When the other computers try to access the app, it will load the main menu, but from there it will freeze up. In other words, if they select to open another menu or any other form or run a process it locks up their computer and it freezes. The machine has to be rebooted to run again. There were not using shadow files, but accessing the app directly. I did try shadowing, but to no avail. I copied the app and put it my network, it runs fine and I cannot duplicate the problem. I tried swapping out the switch, that didn't work either.
Any thoughts on what we can look for?

thanks,
mike

[DaveM]

Re: Alpha stopped working on a network

Hi,

I guess the first question is what did your client change on the server and/or the work stations. What new software, etc. how did they change their places or network.

another: delete the .muf file on the server. a5 will regenerate it.

another: shadow will be faster on the norm than directly because you are using everything off the server with direct instead of just data.

if the lan is down and not working with a shadoow, you should get an error for the muf file


Hope this helps

EDIT: afterthought. without shadow and sometimes with shadow, one weak or bad network card can cause real havoc.

.

[Mike Reed]

Re: Alpha stopped working on a network

Hi,

I guess the first question is what did your client change on the server and/or the work stations. What new software, etc. how did they change their places or network.

another: delete the .muf file on the server. a5 will regenerate it.

another: shadow will be faster on the norm than directly because you are using everything off the server with direct instead of just data.

if the lan is down and not working with a shadoow, you should get an error for the muf file


Hope this helps

.

They claim they have changed nothing. I tend to believe that because they aren't very "hi tech" folks. I didn't try deleting the muf file, but we will.
Clearly, using a shadow is best. In this case, I tried both... with a shadow and without. Same result, the main menu loads, but can't go beyond that.
They are using the same "most current version" of the runtime. The odd thing is that the hosting computer will run the app fine. It is only those machines going over the network that have a problem. It makes me suspect something in the network, perhaps a card or a switch, but I don't have any equipment to test that out.
Thanks for your ideas.

mike

[DaveM]

Re: Alpha stopped working on a network

For hardware: Cards cost about 15.00?? Might be worth it, but take(unplug from network) each computer(w/s) and see if the others work. replace the cable for the server and if nec, swap a card from a station to the server for testing.
is the memory on the server good??


software: i tend to think something was added like a firewall or virus software.

Is the version of alha on the server the same as the runtime?


Can you access anything else on the server from a w/s? like open a file with msword that is on the server or on another work station, modify and save it?

.

[Doug Page]

Re: Alpha stopped working on a network

Something I might try in this situation is to do a complete COLD reboot of the network. What I mean is to actually power off all devices - computers, switches, routers, etc. A reboot of a system only restarts the OS but does not turn off the hardware. This will sometimes reset a hardware device that has been "confused".

[Ed Barley]

Re: Alpha stopped working on a network

Mike,

After you do as Doug suggested(good one). Make a little txt file with wordpad or notepad.

Have them place the text file on the XP machine they are using as the server.
See if you/they can open up the txt file from all 3 XP machines with wordpad.

At least that will let you know if they can read or not read from the hard drives.

Hey Dave, I did not read the last part of your post. Same thing

Ed

[Mike Reed]

Re: Alpha stopped working on a network

Thanks for the ideas. I'll be going there tomorrow to see what we can do to make it work.

Again thanks,
mike