Quick Books Basic 2005 - previous reconciliations

Try uninstalling your current version of Adobe Acrobat Reader and install the latest version for your operating system.

Thanks for trying but the problem still exists. I had the latest version and even uninstalled that and installed the one provided by Quick Books to see if that worked. No progress. I think the next step is to uninstall Quick Books and return it, then find something that works. Any suggestions?

Del.

Allan Mart>

Can you duplicate the problem using one of the sample companies?

Can you save anything in QuickBooks to pdf format? ...or do you get the same kind of freezing up? Can you open up pdfs outside of QuickBooks. What if the pdf is on a webpage - like this one is: ftp://ftp.tyan.com/manuals/m_s4881_100.pdf

When you say it freezes ...how long are you giving it to unfreeze? A minute, 10 minutes, an hour? What if we let it go for a while, or overnight? It could be that Acrobat is trying to launch and display the reconciliation report, but it's just taking too much time. Does it ever give you an error message or dialogue box of any sort, if we let it go long enough? The previous reconciliation reports are stored internally as pdfs from my understanding.

Also, did this ever work? If it worked before, did anything change on your machine? Do you run anti virus software on your machine? Is it updated? Do you run Spyware/Malware scans? Have you run scandisk or defrag on your drive? I'm also curious how fast your processor is?

If you get it to run in safemode, what's running in your startup? You can see a list of things starting up with your system by going to START --> RUN --> MSCONFIG --> Open up STARTUP. Maybe google for some of the names of the startup items to see what they are. Do you need these startup programs?

There are KBs on "clean boot troubleshooting" for windows 98, that might also help you limit what the cause of this could be.

How to perform clean boot troubleshooting for Windows98:

How to Troubleshoot Using the Msconfig Utility with Windows 98 How to Start a Windows 98-Based Computer in Safe Mode "Out of Memory" Error Messages with Large Amounts of RAM Installed Personally, I'd scan the computer for viruses, scan the computer for malware/spyware, scandisk the drive, defrag the drive, run all windowsupdates, & try to repair IE (under add/remove programs control panel - under Internet Explorer and Internet Tools) and maybe update/reinstall Adobe Acrobat Reader. If that doesn't work, then I'd try cleanboot troubleshooting. If that didn't work, then I'd try uninstalling and reinstalling QuickBooks to a clean directory, after deleting out the Intuit Internal Printer.

You could try to do all of this, and hopefully it works, but, ...you'd still have a Windows98 machine. I have a few strong opinions about using this OS when windows 2000 and XP are so much better equipped. Windows98 doesn't handle a gig of ram very well. Windows98 also has memory leaks that require you to reboot your machine every night or two otherwise performance degrades, and the machine can become unstable. Windows98 isn't nearly as secure as 2000 or XP either. Really, if you can upgrade[1] the machine at all, I'd run, not walk in that direction. An upgrade copy of XP Home costs ~$90. New Dell computers with XP Home already installed can be had for as little as $299 (or less), sans monitor. I could almost guarantee you that it would work without a hitch on a 2000 or XP machine (or a freshly installed and updated windows98 machine for that matter).

[1] When I say upgrade btw, what I really mean is:

1. backup your data files, pictures, music, QuickBooks data, mail, favorites, etc.

1. format the hard drive
2. do a clean install of windows
3. run windows update until you've gotten all the updates and installed them
4. install and update antivirus software, and anti malware/spyware software
5. Do a complete scan of the hard drive for both viruses and malware/spyware
6. Reinstall all your programs and patch them to the latest versions

I suspect that the cause of this issue is system specific. More to do about your machine and less to do with QuickBooks. If it works in safe mode it looks more like a conflict of some sort with something 3rd party. Just out of curiosity, what model of HP printer?

Let the group know the answers to the questions. We might be able to help you more.

-Elw00de : [Remove Pi for my email address]

Del, I understand and you're welcome. I know you're upset at QuickBooks for not working, but QuickBooks, like any other program needs various components of the system to be working for it to do it's job. Windows98 doesn't make this any easier either. I've done Microsoft support and well, the comparison between 9x and an NT based OS(XP and 2000), is night and day under the hood and performance/stability wise. It still works adequately for most things, but, do yourself a favor ...consider upgrading or buying a new machine. It's like what they say in regards to buying quality hardware components, ...buy quality and cry only once.

I posted a huge list of things to try, but it's really not nearly as complicated as all that. If you do nothing else ... give MSCONFIG's startup tab a shot. I bet there's a conflict of some sort in one of the other programs running at startup (especially if it works in safe mode). QuickBooks is SOOO much nicer than Excel. I think if you can just resolve this conflict, it'll be smooth sailing and you'll be happy.

I'm not defending QuickBooks technical support but, if it's not having a problem in safe mode then it looks like it's a 3rd party conflict of some sort, and depending on what that conflict is, it's probably outside of the support boundaries. I've done alot of tech support in my time. There has to be a line somewhere in regards to what's an issue with your software and what's caused by someone else's software.

1. If you post a list of what is in your startup group under MSCONFIG maybe I can help you out a bit.
2. Also, were you able to "save to pdf" within QuickBooks? (when you have an invoice open - go to FILE - SAVE TO PDF - does it work?)
3. What printers do you have installed on your computer if you go to start --> settings --> printers ? (list everything listed)
4. Did you try to repair IE? (it's easy to do)
5. Just a hunch here but, you can also try limiting the memory on your machine to 512MB of ram (still way more than enough and windows98 should like that better):
6. Click Start, and then click Run
7. In the Open box, type msconfig, and then click OK.
8. Click Advanced
9. Under "Limit memory to:" type in 512
10. Click OK or APPLY - i forget which - reboot and then try it again.

I'm still willing to try and help, if you're willing to put in some more time in on it. ...And yes, I get very very bored on the weekends when I'm not working. :^)

-Elw00de [Remove the piece of pie from my name for my real email address]

I agree. If you feel that Excel is a better accounting solution than QB for your business then anyone that tries to tell you differently is a fool. Life is far too short to be wasted on issues that do not matter.

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