Re: Client PC losing database connection - problem with mdb files

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Roger Cook wrote:
I have a PC where the user likes to keep several apps open all day. Two of these apps maintain connections to mdb files on a new Dell SBS 2003 R2 server. However there is an intermittent problem with these database-based apps losing their connection to the server. It does not seem to be a hardware issue - you can still open documents etc and the network connection icon in XP still shows everything as connected. (I have changed the cable between server and switch just in case)

Until recently an NT4 server was in use and these problems were not evident then. The cabling infrastructure and switch are still the same as before -only the server has changed. The network card diagnostics on both server and workstation seem to show all as OK. I am told that the first connection loss is invariably exactly one hour after he starts work - yet I can see nothing in the event logs - I am wondering if it is something in the ODBC configuration for these two apps. Another application that uses MSDE has no problems and is perfectly stable.

Does anyone have any ideas ? The strange thing is that at times the connections are perfectly stable for hours at a time - I am also told that the problems seemed to start after an RWW connection session suddenly terminated. Most other users report no problems apart from one other unit that may possibly have a similar problem to a lesser degree.


I can give you some negative information: I haven't known this to happen with a split Access application on a wired network on the original SBS, even after five or six hours, in over three years of operation.

You mention .mdb files and ODBC: it's one or the other. Access can use ODBC, but if it's using an .mdb file for data, there's nothing involved but Access itself. And NTFS, of course.

A thought: are you using offline folders for the location of the file? They tend to add a bit of strangeness to life. And if it is an .mdb file, steer clear of VPNs and wireless networking. You've obviously been lucky so far, but a loss of connection at an inopportune moment can wreck an .mdb beyond recovery. Take frequent backups.

As for offline folders *and* wireless networking... I've been there, and I won't be going back.
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