X5 Crashing on Network

[lgc30642]

OK, it's still very early in Idaho, but I've already sent in a support ticket, asked them to read up on this forum discussion, and to give me a phone call.

I hope to hear from someone very soon.

[lbuttery]

Louie:

tech support hrs 6 AM - 5 PM Pacific

if you have SSA then calling gets a priority response

Lew

[lgc30642]

The young lady that fielded my call stresses that Chief does not recommend opening files across a network due to the many variables, nor does it support network problems. She agreed to research the matter and get back to me if [Doug Park, are you listening?] they can figure anything out after going over this with others on staff, but reiterated the basic fact that networks issues are not supported by Chief. They will review this forum and what has transpired so far.

I guess this means that I need to individually do a full backup for every legacy plan and transfer them one by one to my new laptop. How many people actually do that??? I hope they come up with a better answer.

[WendyWelton]

Louie,

I've always had my local network/IT dudes help me with such things. It's sounding to me like maybe a registry thing? I know my dudes find the darndest things that I would never in a million years find.

Backing up and then working locally will be a real bear, and I don't think you should have to. I've been working ACA (Against Chief Advice) over a network since version 9.5 and with only a rare incident. imho, the slight risk of data loss over a network pales in comparison to the almost certain loss of data due to human error - dragging files back and forth and accidentially overwriting new with old instead of the reverse. So if I were you, I'd go the extra mile privately if necessary to identify the problem. My guys are good and fast and can work remotely. Do you want a referral? Send me a private email if you do. wendy at artform dot us

[Doug Park]

Obviously if it is a system issue, which I suspect is the case, that is technically up to you to resolve.

However, the more we know about these issues the better we can help our customers get up and running.

It is possible that it is another driver issue.

Earlier this year we had a number of machines that were having odd issues that were resolved by updating the ROM on the motherboard.

If your system is working correctly you should not be having the issues described.

[lgc30642]

OK, I've now posted to the HP Forums to see if anything comes from them.

[lgc30642]

After a disappointing response yesterday from Technical Support regarding network support and my problem, I must admit I was rather urninated of mind most of the day........ I didn't get much sleep for a variety of reasons.

So, about 1 AM, I got up and onto the computer. I was able to get ahold of a HP Tech Support. After a new BIOS update, along with some driver updates I did not know existed [hurray for Wendy and all of her persistance], several systems updates had taken place.

I opened X5 and attempted to open a file over the network once again. After five minutes of watching the little blue circle whirl itself away, I went to bed with my urniated mind still twitching in disgust..... This morning, some five hours later, I discovered the plan had opened, and I knew not how long it had taken.........so I once again began some trials.

This afternoon, I heard from Chief TS once again, asking for input on my system configuation and such.....seems they wanted to know more, afterall. I really do appreciate that.

The saga continues, but I think I now have them on my side. Even if I have something terribly wrong with my new laptop, and even if is not their fault, I want to find it and correct it. And with Chief being absolutely the only program that I own that is experiencing this problem, I'm glad they are stepping in to offer some degree of help because I think they have some skin in the game to want to know the answer too.

After all, they built that program, likely without government help as worthy small business people from years ago. I built my business, too. I'm happy to have like business partners intersted in my well being and helping find solutions for my circumstances without taxing me for it.

[WendyWelton]

"urninated"? new word or typing while tired? I tried to look it up, but didn't find it.

Glad to hear you're making some progress, and thanks for letting us know. Someone else someday will be helped by your saga.

[WendyWelton]

btw - when I had my rare but deadly network problems several years ago - same experience. They said they don't support use over network, but they also made some efforts at helping. I don't remember if I behaved like a lady or not, but I do remember giving them some Miss Prissy Pants lectures about businesses using networks.

Anyway - with the much greater range of configurations and additional components with networks, I can understand why they draw the line at making sure it works when you open a file on your hard drive. It frustrated me at the time, probably would again, but I understand it. So I both understand their policy, and would probably do the same - and I feel your pain and would probably twitch a little bit at getting that answer.

The good news is that your problem is very clear. The file opens, but takes something approaching forever to do it. It's not an intermittent problem. It's not some wishy washy slight slow down that would be just enough to be annoying but not enough to say "broken". That should actually help you solve it. Clearly it's trying to do or find something that's not happening as designed.

Good luck, and let us know. I'm thinking a skilled IT person who understands networks, either they guys I referred you to or someone local, will be able to sort it out.

[lgc30642]

"urninated"? new word or typing while tired? I tried to look it up, but didn't find it.

Glad to hear you're making some progress, and thanks for letting us know. Someone else someday will be helped by your saga.

That was probably the 1:30 AM sleep deprived effort to spell anything.......

Wendy, your guys have not returned my call as yet, but I can call them again next week------headed out of town to visit my daughter for a few days.

I did finally get a good sized legacy file to open, and it took over eight minutes for that to happen.

[Doug Park]

Being slow to open makes some sense.

Chief plans are very large in comparison to typical plans from other programs so it can look like Chief has a problem while other programs don't.

However, the time to open a plan should be on par with copying it across the network if the network software is working correctly.

I don't know if this is an option for you or not, but it might be worth trying to see if using a wired network makes a difference. It would at least help you to eliminate whether it is the wireless that is a problem or something else on your system.

You may also want to cycle the power on your wireless router.

[WendyWelton]

You're wireless? Ah - I missed that part. I'm wired. My network dudes looked at me like I'd sprouted three heads when I even mentioned wireless. Wireless will always be both slower and have a much higher error rate.

I agree with Doug - try wiring directly, and try cycling the router. My network periodically gets grumpy, with slow access the hallmark. Cycling it (unplug, wait 5 minutes, plug in again) is the cure 99% of the time.

[WendyWelton]

Wendy, your guys have not returned my call as yet...

I'm surprised. There are two of them, and generally one in the office, one doing the off-site work. I have had them fail to check voice mail however. Did you email them?

But boy, if you haven't tried wired instead of wireless first, and cycling the router - I can promise that's the very first thing they'll have you try. Wireless can be mucked up by so many things, including new interference from something your neighbor did - that an integral step in troubleshooting any network is always wired. If you have more than one element, you also try wiring as directly as possible (iow, if you have a VOIP router or anything like that - take it out of the equation for testing). The goal is to reduce until it works, then add back in until it fails - which reveals the trouble spot.

[lgc30642]

I guess I never thought to mention secured wireless network before 'cause that's all I've used for the last four years, and I will say with very minimum of problems. Maybe I'm just lucky in that respect.

Wendy, Doug called late this morning, but I'll have to get back to him due to my trip to see my daughter, but I'll also wait until I can try the wired network for the two machines.

Here is a puzzle, though. I installed X5 on my "old" laptop, and it reads X5 files across the wireless network in a flash using the Woodstone plan that I downloaded from Chief. However, using X5 on my new laptop to read the same file resident on the old laptop is also substantially slower and appears to "crash" as I had thought before.

So, identical program, identical file, reads quite differently from one machine to the other. That became my benchmark as of yesterday. Logically, that doesn't seem quite right for the huge time difference.......at least not to me.

I have reported this to tech support and they have requested a systems report for all my machines. I sent that in to them within the last hour.

[WendyWelton]

So that sounds like there's some difference between the two computers for how they read across the wireless. Whether it's something about how Chief is installed (ie, when you open over the network, it's looking for some resource it's not finding), or there's some difference in network connection.

I've seen Chief grind away for a frighteningly long time looking for textures it can't find. I would go to your original Woodstone location, a computer that opens it nicely and quickly, and do Backup Entire Plan from there, selecting the option that backs up all referenced files. Then try opening that over your network. It puts all referenced files in the same directory as the plan, and will report any that are missing. If that opens quickly, your answer is in your Chief install, missing libraries etc.

I would also look for any utility that times transfer of data - not using any program, but simply copying maybe a large directory, and compare machines.

It's obvious to me that something is making it work much harder than normal. So there's either a severe bottleneck or it's looking in 8 billion places for something, or there's some conflict that it's working really hard to try and resolve. The trick is to find it.