Greig Hollister
Moderator
ACT! Online Community
Sage

No error at all. Just the splash screen followed by the main ACT! screen that only shows for about a second or less.

A possible cause for this could be conflicting assemblies. Do this:

- From Windows Explorer, browse to C:\Windows\assembly

- In the assembly folder, sort the list by version

- The ACT! 2006 assemblies should begin with 8...look for any assemblies that are a different version than the majority of the assemblies (ie, 8.0.1 instead of 8.0.2). Delete these odd assemblies by right-clicking on them and choosing "Uninstall"

- When done, try and open ACT!

Greig Hollister
Moderator
ACT! Online Community
Sage

Mike449,

Your problem seems to have now taken you 10 days since you first raised it on this forum.  This would probably have been resolved on the first day if you had had an ACT! Certified Consultant on site.  Although this would have been at a cost, I'm sure it would have been less than the cost you have had to bear in time and effort.

My question to you and all similar users who have problems during installation is why try and do it 'on the cheap'?  It's a false economy!  And a consultant would have shown you so much more on the day with lots of practical advice etc..

My 2 cents worth - not as a criticism but an attempt to help you and others realise the enormous value an ACT! consultant brings with them.

Well, David what you say is probably correct in that an expert in the installation and operation of ACT! could have fixed this problem fairly quickly. On the other hand, a simple installation and evaluation of a product to be used in a 4 person office should not require said 'expert'. If a product is this difficult to set up by an experienced user, then its utiltiy to a greater population is surely handycapped.

Thanks for the interest and reply,

Mike

Installation of ACT! on a PC in a non-networked situation on a machine of good specification and condition, that is not 'tainted' by earlier versions of ACT!, has a good chance of successful install. It appears that your installation had a prior version or perhaps you had upgraded with an inline release of ACT! 2006.

In our experience in the days of ACT! 2006 installation we found it important to do a complete uninstall of any prior versions rather than an inplace upgrade. Success rate was substantially better. Additionaly stopping any antivirus software was important.

When you add in the complexity of sharing, permissions and firewall issues of networks the chances of problems are increased. Whether it is a 4 person office or a 20 person office the risks are the same, even perhaps more so if the 4 person office doesn't have a server but relies on the flakiness of a peer to peer network which appears to be the case here. There can be multiple causes of a problem so discerning network issues, from SQL issues from .Net issues from permissions and rights issues etc is learned from experience. I suggest that is what David is pointing out.   

After doing many installs of ACT! in commercial offices large and small, I can say based on experience that the problems are more often than not related to networks, SQL, .Net 1.0,  prior instances of ACT!, and undespecified or poorly maintained machines. Unfortunately software companies are solely dependent on selling licences not successful installs, wheras the ACT Consultant is interested in a successful outcome for the client both from a technical and a business perspective, i.e. ACT! customised to fit the business need.

So Sage marketing are somewhat hesitiant in boldly advising people that perhaps they should engage an experienced consultant when embarking on a project involving a network.      

Thanks Graeme for your comments.

The situation:

1. ACT! was originally installed on a purpose-built PC running a new fresh copy of XP with the current service packs.

2. Client PC's (2 of them) had sucessfull installations of ACT! and are able to use their local demo database without issues.

3. Clients are able to create, read, and write to files in the ACT! directories on the server.

4. Clients cannot access the ACT! demo database on the server.

5. ACT! on the server is able to access and modify its own local demo database and the company database.

6. I still receive the error message: "The databse PFM_2 could not be accessed. In order to access the database, check your network connection and verify that your database server is available."

Thanks, Mike

Some things to check:

Firewall setup: Go through Document ID 19420  and check that the Windows firewall on the 'server' conforms with these settings

Pad File:  Can you open the pad file that you access from the client that gives you the error message, and copy the contents here. Right click, Open with Notepad and Copy & Paste.

Network: Are you running IP addresses? Can you browse the Internet OK from all machines? Is there any network storage device installed on the LAN? Is the network wired or wireless?

Peer-to-peer setup: Presumably you have 3 Windows Users. Is each Windows user represented as users with passwords on all three machines?

Other SQL Applications: Was MS BCM ever installed on the 'server"?

Other Firewalls: Are there other software firewall products installed?

Anti-spware: Is there antispyware on the 'server'?