Allday Consulting's Peachtree and QuickBooks Support Boards

We are having trouble with our Peachtree causing all of our workstations to lock up after we have input data for several hours. It appears this happens when we are trying to save a file. One workstation will lock up and then the rest follow suite. The only way we have been able to solve the problem is to reboot everything on our network. I've called Peachtree and they have told me they've never seen this problem. Online research is telling me this has happened to others using 2009 versions of Peachtree. Can anyone help me with this?

First thing -- If you're using Quantum, you have unlimited, free, higher-tier tech support (http://www.peachtreequantum.com/contact/ --- you will need your customer info to prove you use Quantum for this). The guys at PT should be able to Remote in to your systems and take a look themselves. I haven't heard of this issue either, but they should have at least looked...

To hazard a guess, it may be a network issue. Here's a few things to check, with help from your IT guy:

Look in each computer's settings, including the server, and (Right-click on My Computer > Properties > Hardware > Device Manager), go in to the Properties screen for your NIC cards, and make sure that they do NOT allow Windows to "turn off this device to save power". It's on by default on most setups, especially on laptops. Make sure no systems have Hibernate/Sleep/Snooze enabled. If any of these kick in while the file is open on the system in question, that would be bad.

Are you using wireless between the Peachtree "server" and the clients? If so, run wires.

Can each computer ping the server and vice versa?

Are the firewalls set properly to allow access for PT's files (8 or so of them depending on version and year), on both the server and the clients?

Do you have a really intrusive Antivirus program like Norton of McAfee installed? Consider removing them entirely; they're notorious for interfering with PT/QB. I have found that Trend Micro usualy plays nice with PT for corporate settings, and AVG works well for "normal" computers.

On the non-network side:

How big is the file? Peachtree "officially" recommends keeping the file size under 100 MB. I would say "under 200" is more realistic, especially if your file has been in use long enough to have done a year-end close more than once. Note, I mean data file size, NOT backup size. Go to Help > Customer Support and Service > File Statistics to find this out. Look for Grand Total at the bottom. Once you hit 250 thousand (250mb), you're likely to see some slowdown due to sheer bulk. Once you pass 350, you're in the territory of "data corruption because it's too big for its own good". You should consider purging data from closed years before it gets that big.

Are you using real-time posting/SmartPosting, or batch posting? If it's the former, all transactions are posted/saved as they are entered. All maintenance records (items, vendors, customers, etc) are saved immediately after you finish editing it.