Greg, could you email me please.
jwild at tyenet dot com
--
Joan Wild
Microsoft Access MVP
: We have our software installed on about 300-400 individual computers
: throughout the country and Canada. We’ve had the same .MDE compiled fully
: functional application running fine at our customer sites for the current
: version for over 18 months with no problems.
:
: All of the sudden yesterday we were getting dozens of phone calls that our
: software stopped working for no reason, other than the Microsoft Windows XP
: Service Pack 3 release or the Security Release for MS Access was installed on
: our customer’s computers. I am still concerned that we have many, many
: customers who have yet to have the Service Pack installed, which will result
: in another nightmare of a day for our company.
:
: The suggestion that we have to recompile our application using a machine
: using Service Pack 3 is a fine solution if all you have is a few local
: computers to take care of, but to have to role out an update for hundreds of
: computers is quite a different story. Our customers can’t stand upgrades as
: it is, much less have to apply an update to solve a Microsoft Service Pack
: problem.
:
: What I’m looking for is reason why Microsoft’s Service Pack releases would
: render our software useless, when it has been functioning just fine for over
: a year.
:
: The only solution we had for our customers yesterday (for immediate response
: purposes) was to have them do a System Restore to the previous day to remove
: the Service Pack 3 update. After customers removed the Service Pack 3 update,
: our software resumed working just fine, with no changes on our part, so
: something in the Service Pack 3 update clearly did something it shouldn’t.
: Also, this will now result in our customers having to update our software now
: and then have the service packs reapplied manually. That will be an utter
: mess.
:
: What I’m looking for is an explanation as to why a service pack release
: would render our Microsoft Access software dead in the water, after it’s been
: running fine for so long. We are getting ready to do a major upgrade release
: in about two months and I would like to learn what this Service Pack is doing
: to our software so that we can resolve any Service Pack 3 related issues
: “before†we role out our update.
:
: I wish I had more specifics other than that one of our queries was all of
: the sudden perceived as bad after the Service Pack 3 update. I don’t know how
: much more detail I can get into other than that.
:
: And, what really scares me is the fact that our repair was merely to delete
: the query and recreate it and bingo it runs fine under Service Pack 3. That
: just scares the heck out of me, so that’s why I’m looking for a “reason†why
: Microsoft’s Service Pack would do this to our Access software package, which
: is a valid and compiled version of MS Access database as an MDE. It’s either
: a problem with the Service Pack or a problem with MS Access.
:
: Where would I report such a problem to Microsoft (where someone would
: actually respond to me about this serious problem) so that I can get the
: information I need to make sure we don’t end up with dozens of customers with
: hundreds of computers that stop working because of a Service Pack release. I
: just want to try and be pro-active so we don’t have a catastrophe like this
: again in the future. This whole situation has reflected very poorly on our
: company as it looks like we screwed up, but in reality, it is something
: Microsoft did while everyone was sleeping that caused our software to stop
: working.
:
: I need some insight on how to find out what the problem really is, and how I
: can avoid such a disaster in the future. And, I know the information I am
: providing seems too simplistic, but our software basically did stop working
: because the Service Pack 3 update decided it did not like one of our queries.
: And, I’ve looked at the query too. It’s one of the most basic and simplest
: queries we have. It simply joins two valid tables (with no schema changes)
: and outputs all of the fields. Can’t get much simpler than this.
:
: Anyway, if I’m sounding a bit frustrated and upset, it’s because I am. This
: whole disaster has cost our company a pretty penny in monetary terms and in
: terms of our reputation in the industry now. What will those costs end up
: being?
:
:
: "Curtis" wrote:
:
: > Are the joined tables in your query remote tables (Sql Server, Oracle, ...)
: > or are they tables stored in the Jet database? It sounds like your query
: > needed to be recompiled after installing the service pack. If the query goes
: > to remote data, has anything changed on the remote server or DSN, such as a
: > server upgrade, table schema change, etc? I don't know what caused the query
: > to need to be recompiled (if that was the case) but something like that could
: > trigger it.
: >
: > Also, on a test machine you might try compacting the database after
: > upgrading to XP SP3 and see if the query works after the compact.
: >
: > Lastly, in design mode after applying SP3, what appears to be corrupt?
: >
: > Thanks,
: > -Curtis
: >
: > "Greg" wrote:
: >
: > > Sorry I did not provide enough details, but since I posted we have come with
: > > a solution, but I am still confused as to why this has happened in the first
: > > place.
: > >
: > > Anyway, the database I am referring to was started in MS Access 97, but has
: > > grown over the years and is now developed in MS Access XP/2002. All of our
: > > customers who stopped working were running Windows XP Pro. Initially, we had
: > > to have all of our customers do a System Restore to the previous day and turn
: > > off Automatic updates as a short term fix to get our customers up and
: > > running, since we had no idea why our software worked one day just fine. I
: > > really am not comfortable with making our customers have to do this. But
: > > after the service packs were applied, either Windows XP Pro/Home Service Pack
: > > 3 and/or MS08-028. Both of these rendered our software broken in just a
: > > single form (and of course it was the most important form: Order Entry - and
: > > Job Ticket creation).
: > >
: > > Anyway, it turns out this service pack prevented one out of several hundred
: > > queries broken. The error message said something about not finding a database
: > > to some degree. The query mearly returns a recordset with two tables joined.
: > > The solution was to delete the query from the database and then I completely
: > > created a brand new one and made aboslutely no changes. Actually, I copied
: > > the SQL from the original query into the new query. This had to be done on a
: > > machine that did not have the service packs installed.
: > >
: > > Then, when we put the application back on the Service Pack 3 computer it now
: > > runs fine with no errors.
: > >
: > > What concerns me though is that the query functions and can be viewed in
: > > design view just fine prior to the service pack, but appears currupt after
: > > the service pack.
: > >
: > > Why would a service pack, such as the ones I'm referring to cause a query to
: > > stop working, even though it runs fine and can be viewed in design view prior
: > > to the service pack update?
: > >
: > > Anyway, we are back in business now, after a whole day of lost productivity
: > > and a lot of angry customers. But, I would like to understand why this
: > > happened at all and what is it the service packs are doing that would make a
: > > perfectly good query useless afterwards.
: > >
: > > Any light that can be shed on the Service Pack issue would be helpful. I
: > > just want to understand what is going on more than anything at this point so
: > > I can understand why one of our queries would become broken after a service
: > > pack update so that I can be pro-active for our customers in the future.
: > >
: > > Thanks,
: > > Greg
: > >
: > > "david" wrote:
: > >
: > > > Are you sure it is MS08-028 causing the problem,
: > > > rather than -026?
: > > >
: > > > Is that an Access form? Or a VB form? Word? Excel?
: > > >
: > > > You've made no changes in the last 10 years? That means you
: > > > are using Access 97/ Jet 3.51? Or do you mean that you only
: > > > updated to new versions of Access? Which version of what
: > > > software are you using?
: > > >
: > > > (david)
: > > >
: > > > : > > > > It appears Microsoft released a service pack update last night that
: > > > > includes
: > > > > the following as a part of the service pack:
: > > > >
: > > > > MS08-028
: > > > > Severity Level: Important
: > > > > Vulnerability in Microsoft Jet Database Engine Could Allow Remote Code
: > > > > Execution (950749)
: > > > >
: > > > > It appears that after this service pack was applied at many of our
: > > > > customer
: > > > > sites (who apparently have automatic updates turned on). that all of our
: > > > > customers can no longer get into one of our primary forms, our Order Entry
: > > > > form.
: > > > >
: > > > > Because we have made absolutely not changes to our software we have
: > > > > concluded this update is the source of the problem and have in fact proved
: > > > > it. We had one of our customers do a restore proint, that removed the
: > > > > update
: > > > > and our product works fine now, which has been in use for over 10 years
: > > > > now.
: > > > >
: > > > > Anyway, has anyone heard about problems arising because of this update and
: > > > > if so, what are some of the solutions to allow our MS Access product to
: > > > > work
: > > > > with the service pack applied?
: > > > >
: > > > > Thansk
: > > > > Greg
: > > >
: > > >
: > > >
We do not have any "embedded" SQL statements in the