PowerChurch 8 freezes when using the Tab key

[aaronott]

Hello.

I've got a weird problem and I'm not sure if it's a software problem or just an 'old computer' problem. I'll outline what we do: we begin by opening the screen to enter our Sunday contributions, then we search for a member by entering a first name and last name, then we tab through the fields to enter their contribution. (It might be helpful to note that we mainly navigate using keystrokes.) As soon as we tab away from the search dialog box, the program freezes. The only way to close it is to force a system shutdown, and then cancel the box that wil close all open programs.

Any ideas?

We're running PowerChurch (v8, 7/25/01) on a Gateway2000 P4D-66 w/ Windows 98.

Thanks,

Aaron

[NeilZ]

Hello.

I've got a weird problem and I'm not sure if it's a software problem or just an 'old computer' problem. I'll outline what we do: we begin by opening the screen to enter our Sunday contributions, then we search for a member by entering a first name and last name, then we tab through the fields to enter their contribution. (It might be helpful to note that we mainly navigate using keystrokes.) As soon as we tab away from the search dialog box, the program freezes. The only way to close it is to force a system shutdown, and then cancel the box that wil close all open programs.

Any ideas?

We're running PowerChurch (v8, 7/25/01) on a Gateway2000 P4D-66 w/ Windows 98.

Thanks,

Aaron

Two things: How much memory do you have on that box, and you're running an old release of V8.0, the latest maintenance release is dated 12/27/2005.

[Jeff]

As soon as we tab away from the search dialog box,

Can you be more specific where the actual freeze is happening and how you got there. Are you searching for and envelope number, a fund number or a pledge? Also did you get to the search by pressing F2 while in the respective fields or Alt+P in the case of the pledge search. When you say you are tabbing from the search box which control had focus and where were you expecting focus to go? Can you give us the specific keystrokes that cause the behavior every time?

[aaronott]

Hi again. Sorry for not responding sooner....it's been very busy around here and I haven't gotten back to this issue until today.

To be truthful, I'm not familiar with the PowerChurch software at all. From the 5 minutes I watched over the shoulder of the bookkeeper, it looked like this is what was happening: she had the window to enter Sunday contributions open; then she opened a dialog box to search for a member by first and last name. After she entered a first and last name to lookup, she would either tab or enter (I'm not sure which) to populate the window and then enter their amount. It would freeze after she filled out the lookup window.

I'm sorry I don't know any more. And I misplaced my note sheet so I don't recall what it had for memory. Something like 16MB or 32MB because it's so old.

If you have any suggestions, I'd be glad for any help.

Aaron

[NeilZ]

Hi again. Sorry for not responding sooner....it's been very busy around here and I haven't gotten back to this issue until today.

To be truthful, I'm not familiar with the PowerChurch software at all. From the 5 minutes I watched over the shoulder of the bookkeeper, it looked like this is what was happening: she had the window to enter Sunday contributions open; then she opened a dialog box to search for a member by first and last name. After she entered a first and last name to lookup, she would either tab or enter (I'm not sure which) to populate the window and then enter their amount. It would freeze after she filled out the lookup window.

I'm sorry I don't know any more. And I misplaced my note sheet so I don't recall what it had for memory. Something like 16MB or 32MB because it's so old.

If you have any suggestions, I'd be glad for any help.

Aaron

First off ... I'd see if there's another computer with more memory available. We used to see this happen on an old machine, much like your's about the same speed and memory. In fact, it was a Gateway too ... you have the option of adding more memory, or just buying a new Dell for around $350. You'd pay about $100 for memory on that old machine, but it really doesn't pay to try and 'speed up' a machine that's about 6 or 7 years old.

Secondly ... next time it freezes, wait about 5 minutes to see if it unfreezes. Take a good look at the Hard Drive LED indicator on the machine, I bet its flickering like mad, as its trying to swap out to 'virtual memory'. Eventually, it will come back with the information you were trying to search for.

[Jeff]

The minimum system requirement for version 8 I think was 32 megs and we really encouraged people to have more.

then she opened a dialog box to search for a member by first and last name. After she entered a first and last name to lookup

Two suggestions, First when was the last time the files were reindexed? To do this go to Utilities -> Reindex. Second, it sounds like to CO lookup has been set to "Find" if you change the lookup method to "Incremental Search" does the same thing happen? To do this, go to File -> Preferences -> Contribution Setup -> Contribution Data Entry Tab