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Monday, September 29, 2008

Software that Does not Support RAM higher than 1.9 GB

That's right. Today I couldn't use a software because I had too much RAM.

Adobe Authorware(formerly Macromedia Authorware) would not run on my PC because my system RAM is higher than the supported 2 GB. It kept telling me -"Computer Memory is full" when I started it.

I closed all my programs, only to find out that it was a known problem and "Authorware was not designed to work on machines that have 2 GB RAM (physical + virtual). Your only real option is to remove some RAM."

I tested this by launching a couple of VPC's and then the program worked 'just fine'.

Adobe discontinued development on the software in 2007, and I used to wonder why. I had used it about 10 years back and loved it for creating quick professional quizzes.

Friday, September 26, 2008

Microsoft Small Business Financials Being Discontinued from Jan 2011

Got this via the US GP Team's Blog

Important message regarding Microsoft Small Business Financials (SBF) Statement of Direction and Product Roadmap!!!

Microsoft Small Business Financials (SBF) will be officially discontinued, along with product support and maintenance, on January 11th, 2011.  SBF 9.0 sales to new customers will end on January 1st, 2009.

At this time, Microsoft has no plans to introduce a new product to replace SBF.  However, existing SBF customers have many options that ensure their investment is secure and that provide them a strong roadmap with Microsoft Dynamics® business applications moving forward, including a significant discount offer for moving to Microsoft Dynamics GP.

Tuesday, September 23, 2008

Checklist of Troubleshooting a GP Problem

Developer and entrepreneur Leon came up with a Troubleshooting Checklist while developing an application.

Check it out at  http://www.secretgeek.net/simple_checklist.asp

Leon's a funny guy - here are some of his Gems

  • blame the guy who left last week
  • disable the customer experience improvement program
  • what would Jesus do?
  • reboot 3 times
  • temporarily allow Popup's
  • remove and then recreate all Bluetooth partnerships

There are 164 items, enough to Keep you busy, if nothing else !

Inspired, here is my list for

Troubleshooting a Common GP Problem

All the items don't apply to all cases, looking at the problem you normally know which ones to look at first. I'll probably update this - but these were all the things I could think of at the top of my mind.

  1. Note the exact error Message
  2. Search Knowledgebase with exact search on
  3. Search Microsoft GP Groups
  4. Search your system using Google Desktop or Microsoft Desktop
  5. Does the problem occur only on one machine ?
  6. Gather the following information from the machine that has a problem
    1. Generate a DexSQL Log and review it
    2. Get a copy of Dex.ini and Dynamics.set
    3. Check Version of Software (GP, FRx, IM, Biz Portal, 3rd Party, SQL)
    4. Check Windows version and service pack
    5. What 3rd party products are being used ?
    6. Check the ODBC
    7. Is the user using named printers ?
    8. Does the logged in user have restricted permissions ?
    9. Does the user have required permissions in the required folders on their machine and on the network
    10. Check Hard Disk Space
    11. Are any Anti-virus software's running on the machine ?
    12. Have any changes been made to this machine recently ?
    13. Check Event Log
    14. Create a new ODBC
  7. Check the user's security, try the process with a user with full permissions
  8. Talk to the IT guy to get this view
  9. Try and replicate the problem on the test server for the company
  10. Try and replicate the problem on your test server
  11. Check queries fired in Profiler
  12. Use the Support Debugging tool
  13. Ask a consultant who has used Great Plains in the last millennium
  14. Open a support ticket with Microsoft Support

And then, follow up with the user after a couple of days for small talk, and to make sure they are doing fine.

Sunday, September 21, 2008

GP 10 (with SP2) and FRx 6.7 Full Download Links

This is kinda old, but because me and a few other people have trouble looking for the downloads when they need it.

GP10 + SP2 Download Link

https://mbs.microsoft.com/partnersource/downloads/releases/mdgp10_featurepackreleasedownload_eng.htm?printpage=false

This is the feature pack version. Bypasses the irritating .Net 2.0 SP1 issue!

 

FRx 6.7  + SP 9 Download Link

https://mbs.microsoft.com/partnersource/downloads/releases/frx67fullinstall4gp10.htm?printpage=false

The download page says FRx Full Install for GP 10, but it works equally well with GP 9. Its just FRx 6.7 with SP9 slipstreamed.

 

FRx Service Packs

GP 10 Service Packs

SQL Server Service Packs

Sunday, September 14, 2008

Setting up a new Company in Dynamics GP (The 2008 Way)

In 2007, if you had a set up a new company in Great Plains, you would

1. Create a company using Utilities

2. Review the settings in the setup screens of the old company(or your documentation), and set them up one by one in the new company.

3. Do this for most of the core modules one by one -
System
GL
BR
FA
PM
RM
SOP
POP
Inventory
Payroll

In 2008, if you have to set up a new company in Dynamics GP, you would

1. Create a company using Utilities

2. Use the Rapid Configuration tool to export the company configuration.

3. Review and edit the configuration in Excel sheets and Import the Configuration into the new company.

Download Here : http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=D9DFA747-63DA-4CAC-B92D-28BB24192C1D&displaylang=en

Thursday, September 4, 2008

Changing the Path of Integration Manager Database for All Users (GP 10)

Back in April, I wrote about changing the path of Integration Manager Database for a user.  There is now a new KB article out(953217), which gives quicker steps to set the location for ALL users.

You basically go in and add a switch in the Microsoft.Dynamics.GP.IntegrationManager.ini file.

Mark pointed out correctly in the comments, there are often very few users and its normally easy to set this from the User Interface.

This trick, however, can be helpful in cases when you are setting up integration manager on a terminal server. Often after upgrades, I have had to manually set the path for each user, one by one. And when multiple terminal servers are set up - this becomes even more difficult.

This is a big help in those cases.