Access file does not open.

[Guest]

My Access 2002 database was working fine until one day I tried to open the
file and received the following message: "The Microsoft Jet database engine
stopped the process because you and another user are attempting to change the
same data at the same time. OK Help" There is no other user, and so the
message seems inappropriate, but I click on Help and am advised that this is
Error 3197. Apparently there is a way to overwrite the "other user's"
changes, which is exactly what I want to do, of course, but how do I
accomplish this when I cannot open the database, not even in design view? I
have been using a version of the database I saved a week before this
happened, but I do not want to lose a week of data collection, some of which
will be lost if I cannot open the problem file.

 

[Joseph Meehan]

My Access 2002 database was working fine until one day I tried to
open the file and received the following message: "The Microsoft Jet
database engine stopped the process because you and another user are
attempting to change the same data at the same time. OK Help"
There is no other user, and so the message seems inappropriate, but I
click on Help and am advised that this is Error 3197. Apparently
there is a way to overwrite the "other user's" changes, which is
exactly what I want to do, of course, but how do I accomplish this
when I cannot open the database, not even in design view? I have
been using a version of the database I saved a week before this
happened, but I do not want to lose a week of data collection, some
of which will be lost if I cannot open the problem file.

I suggest you start by opening the folder where the Access MDB file is
located and look for a LDB file. If one is there, delete it.

In the event you are in the habit of turning off the computer before
shutting down Access. you can expect this.

 

[Guest]

Having received your reply, I went to the folder where the Access MDB file
was located, and indeed there was a corresponding LDB file as you predicted.
I then deleted the LDB file, but my subsequent attempts to open the Access
MDB file have all resulted in the same error message. I think we are on the
right track, however. Several days ago, just before the problem with this
Access file developed, my computer became unresponsive and to get it going
again I had to depress the "off" button.

In your message you recommended that I start by deleting the LDB file. Is
there something else I should do as well? I appreciate your help with this.

 

[Joseph Meehan]

Having received your reply, I went to the folder where the Access MDB
file was located, and indeed there was a corresponding LDB file as
you predicted. I then deleted the LDB file, but my subsequent
attempts to open the Access MDB file have all resulted in the same
error message. I think we are on the right track, however. Several
days ago, just before the problem with this Access file developed, my
computer became unresponsive and to get it going again I had to
depress the "off" button.

In your message you recommended that I start by deleting the LDB
file. Is there something else I should do as well? I appreciate
your help with this.

Make sure the LDB file is really deleted, sometimes they are stubborn.
You also may try rebooting. If it is a LAN based application you may need
to allow the system to work it out (the next day is usually enough.

It is not certain that this is the problem, but it is a common source of
that kind of problem.

 

[Guest]

Thanks for your reply. I searched my computer for LDB files, found one more
and deleted it. I waited a day. I rebooted several times. All to no avail.
I still get Error 3197 when I try to open the Access file.

I searched this discussion group for "Error 3197" and found that I was not
the only one with this problem. One of the suggestions someone had was to
attempt to open the file with a newer version of Access. I happened to have
Access 2003 installed on another computer and so I copied the file and tried
to open it with Access 2003, but the result was the same, "Error 3197."

I think my file was corrupted when my computer crashed, and that it has been
rendered unusable. Computers really should not crash at all, but it is
something we all live with and accept as inevitable. As for Access, "Error
3197" is a major flaw. The file I lost was a database I was developing for
my employer. Now I am hesistant to recommend that the staff use Access at
all. The only work-around is to make frequent copies as backups, something
few people are likely to do. Everyone else runs the risk of losing the
entire database and all the information that was entered into it. Just think
of all effort that has been lost by people who bought this product in good
faith hoping to improve their efficiency. In my view, Microsoft has a moral
obligation to address this defect and eliminate it.

 

[Joseph Meehan]

Thanks for your reply. I searched my computer for LDB files, found
one more and deleted it. I waited a day. I rebooted several times.
All to no avail. I still get Error 3197 when I try to open the Access
file.

I searched this discussion group for "Error 3197" and found that I
was not the only one with this problem. One of the suggestions
someone had was to attempt to open the file with a newer version of
Access. I happened to have Access 2003 installed on another computer
and so I copied the file and tried to open it with Access 2003, but
the result was the same, "Error 3197."

I think my file was corrupted when my computer crashed, and that it
has been rendered unusable. Computers really should not crash at
all, but it is something we all live with and accept as inevitable.
As for Access, "Error 3197" is a major flaw. The file I lost was a
database I was developing for my employer. Now I am hesistant to
recommend that the staff use Access at all. The only work-around is
to make frequent copies as backups, something few people are likely
to do. Everyone else runs the risk of losing the entire database and
all the information that was entered into it. Just think of all
effort that has been lost by people who bought this product in good
faith hoping to improve their efficiency. In my view, Microsoft has
a moral obligation to address this defect and eliminate it.

:

Sorry to hear that it appears nor fixable. When you listed that error
code, I knew it was familiar and I was going to suggest you do exactly what
you did.

Backups are the only safe way to go. When I was working we did have a
good backup system. A mirror drive gave us two copies of any file in less
than a second. We baked up every night and after seven days we keep them
for every week for about six weeks then one every month for at least a year.
I had to use backups more than once, Never lost any serious amount of data
and we could always re-key anything that was lost.

BTW there are data recovery outfits that may be able to recover your
data, but I understand the cost is not cheap.