Loss Of User Names

[skiptaylor]

After nearly 5 months of not seeing this problem reoccur, the same ward that was having this problem before reported to me that it happened again. Early yesterday morning the ward clerk had used MLS and everything was fine. He backed up changes and exited MLS and shut down the computer without incident. Later in the morning, the ward was scheduled for a finance audit. The Finance Clerk, Bishop and auditor were present. They booted up the computer and tried to log into MLS. All the user logins were gone. They recovered by using the procedure described in one of my prior posts in this thread. They are running MLS 2.7.3.

I've had this happen on 2 machines. One of them had it happen 3 times. Each time recovery was done according to a prior thread post. One is a branch machine, the other a ward machine. Hope they fixed this in 2.8 (on 2.7.3 now).

[russellhltn]

You may want to review how these machines are used. It seems to defy "random" that the same wards are getting the problem.

I had one ward that kept having problems with their computer clock. Funny thing - once I disabled access in Windows to change the time, the problem went away.

The same ward had problems with file corruption. Twice. I taped a note on side of the screen on the proper shut down procedure (Including to WAIT for the computer to turn itself off before turning off the power strip.) Odd, they never had a problem after that.

[wasatchpowder-p40]

I've had this happen three times on the same computer.
I believe it might be related to not shutting the computer down properly and things getting left in a corrupted state.

This is a good reason to do backups every time something is changed.

Dave

[skiptaylor]

You may want to review how these machines are used. It seems to defy "random" that the same wards are getting the problem.

I had one ward that kept having problems with their computer clock. Funny thing - once I disabled access in Windows to change the time, the problem went away.

The same ward had problems with file corruption. Twice. I taped a note on side of the screen on the proper shut down procedure (Including to WAIT for the computer to turn itself off before turning off the power strip.) Odd, they never had a problem after that.

I went through log-out and shutdown procedures with the clerk. He told me that he had been doing it as I told him (log off MLS then exit, wait for shutoff before power strip). There are other people using MLS and I have a feeling they aren't shutting down right. Maybe I need a big yellow sign on the monitor screen.

[skiptaylor]

I've had this happen three times on the same computer.
I believe it might be related to not shutting the computer down properly and things getting left in a corrupted state.

This is a good reason to do backups every time something is changed.

Dave

I think it's probably more like the database is being left open and it knows it but has no clue what to do towards fixing it. I also believe they aren't shutting down correctly.

Backups should be done often and plenty. They aren't that hard to do and can save a LOT of time later!

[russellhltn]

There are other people using MLS and I have a feeling they aren't shutting down right.

Exactly.

Maybe I need a big yellow sign on the monitor screen.

The note I made was about the size of a 3" sticky note and I stuck it to the bottom corner of the screen.

[PEPSIISPEP-p40]

FYI this same problem has just occurred in one of our ward units, under current MLS ver is 2.8.1
Thanks all, for the restore tips and info posted in this thread! I will give it a try.
-Raimo

[dellisea-p40]

I have one ward that continues to lose their user names. It has happened about seven (7) times now. Our cure has been to use a system restore point. It seems to happen about every 3 weeks. I suspected there were other units with the same problem.

[aebrown]

I suspected there were other units with the same problem.

If you've read this thread, then you know that the most common (in fact, as far as I know, the only) cause of this problem is improper shutdown procedures. If MLS is allowed to shut down completely, and the computer is also shut down properly, I've never seen it happen.

Although you may have a cure that seems to work, it would be better to eliminate the cause. Since the problem is clearly related to the MLS data, I find it curious that simply using a system restore point would fix the problem without loss of data, unless you also restore a backup you made on some removable media. Are you doing an MLS "Restore from a File" as well after you do the system restore?

I suspected there were other units with the same problem.

Is there actual evidence for this suspicion?

[dellisea-p40]

The use of the last or second to last restore point has been an effective fix to the problem. This has been without having to restore any data backup's. I will train the bishopric in the proper shutdown procedures and post the procedures at the computer. I will also ask that they train the necessary ward leadership in the same procedures.
Thanks for the help.