SP2 and Data Access Page problems

[MartinaL]

I have a CRM which runs on Access Data Access Pages and since installing SP2 i have been having many problems.
First, whenever you try and move between pages it freezes on a white screen for about 2 minutes, and I get various pop up errors such as "Session Timed out" etc

[confus-ed]

Welcome to windrvers forums Martin.

Some questions now to figure out 'where you are at' ..

Which XP ? Home or Pro ? & 'everything' got from windows update ? (I mean 'post' sp2 'essential' ones, there are some 'corrections' in a subsequent patch).

Office version ? Patched up or not ? (if not do so ! - all the patches are now interdependent between o/s & office version & need sometimes doing in a certain order too, I always have an extra check at each ;))

CRM ? Customer relationship manager ? Some access app/'thingee' or something else ? (e.g. another appplication) & is this getting its files/data locally or remotely ?

Firewalled ? Is the Windows firewall on also ? So are you 'double-firewalled' ? (SP2 has an annoying habit of turning the windows firewall service included in it ON, without telling you it did).

Any chances of screenshots (btw despite what the board says you can't add attachments) or more exact error messages such as what 'event viewer' has to say about matters ?

Anymore to add to your rather brief info that may help us ?

[MartinaL]

We are on XP Pro, all updated for Windows and Office have been installed.

Yes the data access pages in access run on SQL server and the files are stored remotely.

The computers that use this Project that are on SP1 have no problems, it is only those running n SP2.

The exact problem is that when you click between data access pages, the screen goes white for around a minute of so.

Some errors occur also such as;

- "Data provider could not be initilized"
- "Timeout expired"
- "Save record error = The Save command failed"

None of these problems have ever occured on non-SP2 PC's

__________________________________________________ __________


Welcome to windrvers forums Martin.

Some questions now to figure out 'where you are at' ..

Which XP ? Home or Pro ? & 'everything' got from windows update ? (I mean 'post' sp2 'essential' ones, there are some 'corrections' in a subsequent patch).

Office version ? Patched up or not ? (if not do so ! - all the patches are now interdependent between o/s & office version & need sometimes doing in a certain order too, I always have an extra check at each ;))

CRM ? Customer relationship manager ? Some access app/'thingee' or something else ? (e.g. another appplication) & is this getting its files/data locally or remotely ?

Firewalled ? Is the Windows firewall on also ? So are you 'double-firewalled' ? (SP2 has an annoying habit of turning the windows firewall service included in it ON, without telling you it did).

Any chances of screenshots (btw despite what the board says you can't add attachments) or more exact error messages such as what 'event viewer' has to say about matters ?

Anymore to add to your rather brief info that may help us ?

[confus-ed]

Mmmm .. a new one on me then, so some helpful links to start with (for me anyway & anyone who follows later ;)) while we hopefully figure it out :thumbs:

How to deploy data access pages over the Internet KB q291783 (http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=http://support.microsoft.com:80/support/kb/articles/Q291/7/83.ASP&NoWebContent=1)

Deploying Data Access Pages on the Internet or Your Intranet -MSDN article (a bit old !) (http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/dnacc2k2/html/deploydap.asp) (& there's loads of associated links off them too for anyone just 'wanting to know ..')

Just to confirm , these sp1 machines are using the same databases in the same remote locations as your errant sp2 machine ? (I think thats what you are saying, but just to be certain, as this error could mean either what it apparently does, a timeout, or the data objects aren't named as expected).

All I keep finding for this error 'answer wise' is this ! Common data access page deployment Errors q300699 (http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb%3Ben-us%3B300699&Product=acc2002) or people just saying 'read this' & you'll know, & all it actually says is
These errors occur when the database cannot be found because of a data source that is not valid in the ConnectionString for the page, or when the UseRemoteProvider property is not configured properly.

Now I'm sure all that would be most useful if we didn't have sp1 machines with 'supposedly' the same info that worked !

At the risk of being a PITA, this is an upgrade sp2 install or a 'clean one' ? If you've upgraded it from sp1 level I'd suggest you take the time to do a clean install with a slipstreamed copy of xp post sp2 & then a clean copy of office (or as clean as you can ever get 'Billy's patched up mess' !), experience tells me that whatever Billy says, the two aren't necessarily exactly the same.

What are you running this through ? IE ? Sp2 upgrades you automatically to IE6 - maybe that's it ?

[MartinaL]

Yes it was a clean install, and this means I am running IE6.

It is not just my PC though, it is any PC on the network with SP2 (about 20) and all those with SP1 are fine (around 100).

Someone here has suggested it's something to do with MDAC??

Mmmm .. a new one on me then, so some helpful links to start with (for me anyway & anyone who follows later ;)) while we hopefully figure it out :thumbs:

How to deploy data access pages over the Internet KB q291783 (http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=http://support.microsoft.com:80/support/kb/articles/Q291/7/83.ASP&NoWebContent=1)

Deploying Data Access Pages on the Internet or Your Intranet -MSDN article (a bit old !) (http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/dnacc2k2/html/deploydap.asp) (& there's loads of associated links off them too for anyone just 'wanting to know ..')

Just to confirm , these sp1 machines are using the same databases in the same remote locations as your errant sp2 machine ? (I think thats what you are saying, but just to be certain, as this error could mean either what it apparently does, a timeout, or the data objects aren't named as expected).

All I keep finding for this error 'answer wise' is this ! Common data access page deployment Errors q300699 (http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb%3Ben-us%3B300699&Product=acc2002) or people just saying 'read this' & you'll know, & all it actually says is


Now I'm sure all that would be most useful if we didn't have sp1 machines with 'supposedly' the same info that worked !

At the risk of being a PITA, this is an upgrade sp2 install or a 'clean one' ? If you've upgraded it from sp1 level I'd suggest you take the time to do a clean install with a slipstreamed copy of xp post sp2 & then a clean copy of office (or as clean as you can ever get 'Billy's patched up mess' !), experience tells me that whatever Billy says, the two aren't necessarily exactly the same.

What are you running this through ? IE ? Sp2 upgrades you automatically to IE6 - maybe that's it ?

[confus-ed]

Its bound to be to do with MDAC somehow as those letters stand for Microsoft Data Access Components (stuff here (http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/dnmdac/html/data_mdacinstall.asp) for anyone interested) & if it is we might be at this a while !
..MDAC installation and configuration issues are quite common and can be very difficult to resolve..

So now I don't feel so bad about not 'really' knowing what the hell is up here ! :thumbs:

The latest greatest MDAC update is here Microsoft Data Access Components (MDAC) 2.8 (http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=6c050fe3-c795-4b7d-b037-185d0506396c&DisplayLang=en) .. & the MDAC versions do differ between sp1 & sp2 , so perhaps try it ? (but as you'll have gathered I'm just at the educated guesses stage now ! So set a restore point first at least ;))

[MartinaL]

I tried to install MDAC 2.8 yesterday and it wouldn't let me install as apparently SP2 has a more recent version.

This being said, i found a post somewhere that said how to repair the MDAC installation, ran this, all went according to plan, but I still have the problem.

The main issue is the freezing of the screens as it is mainly used by call centre staff and while they are talking on the phone they cann't afford to wait so screen changes

[confus-ed]

I tried to install MDAC 2.8 yesterday and it wouldn't let me install as apparently SP2 has a more recent version.

Mmm ... bad wording I suspect, I think maybe sp2 has mdac 2.8 in it (that articles also similarly badly worded !) & it means you have the latest version anyway ? - you could go back with versions I suppose ..
MDAC 2.7 RTM is the earliest version that you can install on Windows XP. which as far as I can figure out is what xp sp1 should be at ..

Who authored all this for you ? Really you want to be asking them - this is tricky to solve by 'remote control'