Access file will not open... Need some Creative Ideas

[Guest]

I have a client who has been using a custom built Access DB for years... a
few days ago he calls me to say his Db wont open and it gives a message...
Maybe someone can help me recover his data... ( and no he has no recient back
up) Here's the message:

This database is in a unexpected state; Microsoft Office Access can't open it.

"This database has been converted from a prior version of Microsoft Office
Access by using the DAO CompactDatabase methoud instead of the Convert
Database command on the tools menu(Daabase Utilites submenu). This has left
the database in a partially converted state.

Second part of the message:

If you have a copy of the database in it's original format, use the convert
database command on the tools menu to convert it. if the original database is
no longer available, create a new database and import your tables and queries
to preserve your data. your other database objects can't be recovered.

I have created a new Db and atempted to import the data... I have been
unseccuessful in everything I have tried... any ideas here would be great...
FYI ... I am not a Db guru... infact, I know very little about Access, so
please be gental.

 

[John W. Vinson]

I have a client who has been using a custom built Access DB for years... a
few days ago he calls me to say his Db wont open and it gives a message...
Maybe someone can help me recover his data... ( and no he has no recient back
up) Here's the message:

This database is in a unexpected state; Microsoft Office Access can't open it.

"This database has been converted from a prior version of Microsoft Office
Access by using the DAO CompactDatabase methoud instead of the Convert
Database command on the tools menu(Daabase Utilites submenu). This has left
the database in a partially converted state.

Second part of the message:

If you have a copy of the database in it's original format, use the convert
database command on the tools menu to convert it. if the original database is
no longer available, create a new database and import your tables and queries
to preserve your data. your other database objects can't be recovered.

I have created a new Db and atempted to import the data... I have been
unseccuessful in everything I have tried... any ideas here would be great...
FYI ... I am not a Db guru... infact, I know very little about Access, so
please be gental.

:-{(

Ok... you have a corrupt database and no backup.

There are good reasons why *tested, current* backups are considered essential.
This is one of them.

If you're VERY very lucky, and have a few hundred dollars that you have no
better use for, there are database salvage services which may be able to help.
See the list at

http://www.granite.ab.ca/access/corruptmdbs.htm

One of the database recovery services is

http://www.pksolutions.com/

I have never had to use their services (thanks to backups...) but I'm told
that they are very capable and very honest; if they can't recover you don't
pay, I understand.

John W. Vinson [MVP]

 

[Guest]

If there is no previous version of the database anywhere, then you may be
sunk... However, I've run into the identical problem and managed to come up
with a solution. That is, if you've got an older versin of this database
somewhere. Use the Convert Database option from your tools menu to convert
the database to a usable version. You will need to specify the application
to be converted and an older version (backup) that you can convert to. You
will be required to rename it, however. Sometimes people don't refer to
older versions as backups simply because they don't contain updated data, or
that changes were made to parts of the design. I hope this is the case, and
we're just not talking the same lingity here. I gather that the cause is
some incorrect or corrupted code changes that have taken place.
--
Why are you asking me? I dont know what Im doing!

Jaybird