Database Corruption

Unfortunately, databases sometimes get corrupted.  It's most often caused by a computer that crashed, was turned off without being properly shut down, or by a network that is having trouble keeping up with demand.

Recovering From Database Corruption

Time Logger has a corruption repair command (choose Advanced/Compact/Repair Databases).  Choose this command to repair a corrupted database.  If you suspect that your descriptor database is corrupt, repair the timelog\support\descript.mdb database.  Note that if you have a multiple Time Logger users, you will need to have everyone exit Time Logger before you can run this command. To determine which files to compact and repair, please see the Help topic Time Logger's Databases to learn where each database is located. You may compact and repair each one.

This command is not available on Windows 98 machines.  If you have Windows 98, you can use Microsoft Access to repair the database, or use Microsoft's repair utility, Jetcomp.

How to Avoid Corruption

Be sure that you have the latest version of Time Logger installed.

Make sure that all users have the latest version of MDAC installed.  You can see what version you have by choosing Advanced/Diagnostics in Time Logger, and looking at the version number for the file msado15.dll.  This version should be 2.80 or later.  For more on MDAC, click here.

Click here to read a Microsoft article that details other steps you can take to avoid corruption.

New Anti-Corruption Feature

When a database is opened and closed several times in succession it puts stress on the network which may result in corruption.  If you are experiencing repeated corruptions of your database, Time Logger lets you add a short delay each time a database is opened.  This pause lets the network catch up.  Here's what to do:

1. Make sure you have version 4.03.10 or later of Time Logger.
2. When Time Logger is not running, edit Time Logger's timelog.ini file with notepad (choose Advanced/Diagnostics to check the location of the file you should edit).
3. Look for the line in the [Settings] section that reads "OpenDelay=0".  Change it to "OpenDelay=1000".  If that line does not exist, add it.

This will add a delay of 1 second (1000 milliseconds) each time a database is opened, and should reduce the chances of corruption.  You may find that shorter delays are sufficient to eliminate corruption.

Other Steps for Preventing Corruption

Here are steps that Microsoft recommends to reduce corruption: 

1. Make sure all users understand that they should not turn off their computer without exiting Windows first.
2. Make sure that each user has at least 8-10 megabytes of free disk space on the hard disk that is used for his or her temp directory.
3. Compact and repair the database periodically.
4. If a system crash occurs while Time Logger is running, compact and repair the database before using it.
5. Make sure your server can handle your user load.
6. Do not run IPX on NT Server where Jet databases are located across the network and the client is Win95 with IPX/SPX. Instead run TCP-IP on the NT Server and a dual protocol stack of IPX and TCP-IP on the Win95 client. (NT to NT with IPX/SPX will not cause the problem, nor will Novell to any client).
7. Avoid dropping network connections.

Other Articles on This Topic

Click on the link below to learn more.

Microsoft's article Q148424 on this topic

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