Peachtree 2004 incredibly slow across network.

[jferrante]

I know that Peachtree is a little slow across a network, but this is stupid. I’ve got 1 Windows 2003 server, and 3 XP Pro workstations. All are fast P4’s with 1gig of RAM. From the server, opening the company takes less than 1 second. From any workstation it takes between 35 – 45 seconds. All other network apps are fast.

I have changed the network switch, replaced the wiring, and replaced 2 of the network cards. It makes no difference. I have also disabled the anti-virus real time scanner but nothing helps. The company data file is about 35MB in size. Doing a backup from the server to a workstation seems fast, takes less than 1 minute total. Like I said, all other network apps are fast.

If someone could give me any suggestions to improve performance, I’d appreciate it.

Thanks,
Jeff

 

[WinterDragon]

Did you by any chance make the registry and INI changes that Peachtree suggests?

Edit the Registry

1. Go to Start/Run and enter regedit. This takes you into the Registry Editor.

2. Click on the plus signs only for the following:

H_Key_Local Machine
Software
Btrieve Technologies
Microkernal Workstation engine
Version 6.15

3. Click on the Setting folder which does not have its own plus sign.

4. Find these settings on the right-hand
side of the screen named Cache Size,
Compression Buffer Max Communication
Buffers, Max Files, Max Handles and
Max locks

5. Look at the numbers for each of the above named setting which appear IN
PARENTHESIS at the end of each line.

These values should be

Cache Size (10485760)
Compression Buffer (1048576)
Max Communication Buffer (64,512)
MAX Files (750)
Max Handles (750)
Max locks (1000)

6. If any of these settings differ from those above, do the following on each
line Right-click on each, then left-click Modify. Change the Hexadecimal to
Decimal. In the Data Value field, change the value to the above numbers.
Click OK.

7. Exit the Registry editor.


Then, edit the BTI.ini file

Go to Start, Run and enter bti.ini and click OK

In the BTI.INI Notepad text file, locate the second section, Btrieve Client.
On the options line, change the L:500 to L:1000, F:500 to F:1000, H:100 to H: 1000, M:2048 to M:10240, U:50 to U:60 and the G:10:10 to G:1:1. Click File and Save and File and Exit the screen.


Edit the Config.NT (XP, NT, WIN 2000 (Start, Run config.NT), and a Notepad file should open - or (WIN 98), Sysedit (Start, Run Sysedit, Config.sys file) Locate FILES=40 and change this to FILES=199 (if this machine is a workstation) to FILES=250 (if this serves as the Host in a Peer network).
Click File and Save. Then Exit the Notepad file.

You need to reboot the cpu after making these changes.

 

[dgillz]

I did not think btrieve 6.15 was supported on an XP Pro machine nor on a windows 2003 server.

Please let me know if the suggestions WinterDragon made were able to help.

Software Sales, Training, Implementation and Support for Exact Macola, eSynergy, and Crystal Reports

http://www.trianglepartners.com

 

[WinterDragon]

We use an XP (home and Pro Systems) peer to Peer Network (100Mbps) So with The Database being on different machine, it made it slow accessing data. After making these changes, It improved the speed some. Not going to say its lightning fast, but its better. This also helps with Lock Table errors as well..


WinterDragon

 

[jferrante]

Thanks for the advice. I'll try it and keep you posted.

Jeff

 

[jferrante]

I finally had a chance to change the workstation settings that WinterDragon suggested.

The computers "seem" to be a little bit better. I'll post back in another week after the users give me a better feel for the changes.

Jeff

 

[mattjurado]

1. Is it slow launching the app or logging into the company?
2. Have you entered the path to the peachtree folder on the server in the pcw*.ini file (its not really pcw*.ini, but I forget what version this is, search for pcw*.ini, and you'll find it). There should be a statement called DATAPATH. It should equal F:\peachw (or whereever the peachw folder is).

Matt J.

Please always take the time to backup any and all data before performing any actions suggested for ANY problem, regardless of how minor a change it might seem. Also test the backup to make sure it is intact.

 

[jferrante]

Matt J.

The data paths are all correct in all of the ini files. The slowdown is in opening one particular company out of three. The data file size is approx 35MB.

These are all P4-2.8 machines with 1 gig of RAM. The two "smaller" companies open quickly.

Jeff

 

[dgillz]

How big is the database in the larger company?

Software Sales, Training, Implementation and Support for Exact Macola, eSynergy, and Crystal Reports
askdon@srhconsulting.com

http://www.srhconsulting.com

 

[mattjurado]

If its only with one company, then that would indicate a problem with the data, do the other companies open fine on ALL computers, and this one opens slow on ALL the computers?

You did mention it opens okay on the server, I'm just curious about the desktops.

Matt J.

Please always take the time to backup any and all data before performing any actions suggested for ANY problem, regardless of how minor a change it might seem. Also test the backup to make sure it is intact.

 

[jferrante]

The other companies open fine on all computers. This "problem" company (35MB) is slow on all computers.

And yes, the "problem" company opens very fast on the server.

Also, all other networks apps are fast on all workstations.

 

[jferrante]

One more thing. Peachtree itself opens quickly on all.

 

[mattjurado]

That's strange, that one company loads slowly over the network, but the rest are fine. I have a client with 2003 server, and data much bigger than that, no problem.

Copy the database to one of the desktops, and login to the company locally. Post the results.

Also, has this company always been this way, if not, when did it start?

Matt J.

Please always take the time to backup any and all data before performing any actions suggested for ANY problem, regardless of how minor a change it might seem. Also test the backup to make sure it is intact.