How is QB 2019 running on your computer?

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#1
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Has anyone had problems with QB 2019 running well on their computers? I have a client who is having problems with it freezing up on her computer. She has a large data file, that is large because it's old (goes back to about 2006). We condensed the file prior to upgrading as of 2016 which freed up quite a bit of room. Our goal is to continue this data file to the year end and start a new one in January. I just had an e-mail from her though and she is continuing to have problems.
 

#2
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How was the QB2019 data file initialized? In-place upgrade from prior version (which one?) or import of portable file? Not sure it matters, just wondering.

Does the company file pass complete data verification process? (File -> Utilities -> Verify Data). You should also take a look at "DB File Fragments" value from the "Product Information" dialog screen (use Ctrl-1 key combo to bring it up).

This is just about the time of year when I take my annual ProAdvisor re-cert exam on the new version, and I have a company file of about 180MB which I will probably import from a portable file into QB2019 (from QB2017), so in the next week I may have a better answer for you.
 

#3
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Thanks for the suggestions, Makbo. I'll check with her this morning. Her problem seems to be mostly in payroll although she said QB freezes up the computer at other times as well, just mostly in payroll. So it's a particular concern for us that nothing happen there. She uses mostly direct deposit for paychecks although one or two are written. I wonder if a a work around might be an independent payroll data file for the rest of the year and payroll entered to the main data file manually as a journal entry. That's really time consuming though and a nightmare for a bank rec.
 

#4
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actionbsns wrote:Her problem seems to be mostly in payroll although she said QB freezes up the computer at other times as well, just mostly in payroll.

What happens then? Does it unfreeze by itself eventually, or does the program/system have to be terminated/restarted? Answer can make a huge difference as to the diagnosis.

If it eventually unfreezes, you have a performance problem. If it never unfreezes, you either have a bug (unlikely in my opinion), or maybe there's a dialog box somewhere in hiding behind another window, waiting for an "OK" mouse click that will never come. (more likely to happen with dual monitors)

I couldn't speculate whether payroll has anything to do with it -- I don't think it requires a real time connection to Intuit, although it is an "extra" app within QB.
 

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I have had chronic issues with QBD installs since 2018, either sudden crashes or freezing up. No updates have resolved. 2019 seems a bit better, but still annoying. My largest data file is about 450MB but it occurs with smaller data files that hardly have anything in them.
 

#6
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We got it and it was horrific. My secretary spent all day on the phone with Intuit and got the reports we needed from a client file. But we are still using 2016 after that experience as much as possible.

I like clients to print reports in Excel format so I have not had to use the new QuickBooks much. But it was a terrible experience.
 

#7
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I've been running QB 2019 on a large file (many transactions and journal entries, not so many invoices/bills/inventory items). It's mostly performed the same as 2018 version did.

Beware of QB2016 R17 update release from intuit. Murph has documented that this seems to be an "end of service" patch update from Intuit.

The short answer is, you get 3 years of support from Intuit on QB Desktop versions, after that you are on your own.
 

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makbo wrote:The short answer is, you get 3 years of support from Intuit on QB Desktop versions, after that you are on your own.


Yup, and they have even disabled manual imports of .qbo bank feeds. Last I checked, they were still allowing live imports but not manual imports via File-->Utilities.
 

#9
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I bought QB 2019 and I need to install it on my computer so I can do the payroll for the client I mentioned in my first post. I also have a couple of others who are either on 2019 or will be by the time I get their data. I install from a thumb drive back up. Makbo, do you think there is a reason to do something different? I could upgrade the data file from my computer's 2015 file to 2019, then restore in 2019 using the thumb drive. I'm not sure that would make a difference.

She is bringing me bank and credit card statements so I can do a reconciliation on my computer, she hasn't been able to, or is afraid to do them on her computer, she's afraid she'll lose important information. BTW, sometimes, her computer will "unfreeze" after about an hour, and other times, she needs to just power down and restart the computer. So no consistency with whatever the problem is.
 

#10
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actionbsns wrote:I bought QB 2019 and I need to install it on my computer so I can do the payroll for the client I mentioned in my first post. I also have a couple of others who are either on 2019 or will be by the time I get their data. I install from a thumb drive back up. Makbo, do you think there is a reason to do something different? I could upgrade the data file from my computer's 2015 file to 2019, then restore in 2019 using the thumb drive. I'm not sure that would make a difference.

I'm not sure what you are asking -- about how to install QB 2019 software on your computer, or how to upgrade a company file under version 2016 to 2019?

Installing the desktop software must be done the Intuit way -- you run an executable file, you must be connected to the internet for license validation, and it gets installed like any other Windows program.

Upgrading a company file can be done several ways - in place (open the company file using the new software), or restoring either a backup or a portable file using the new version. I kind of prefer the portable file as the "cleanest" approach, but in the end any of the methods should work.

There is at any given time exactly one production copy of a company file. You have to arrange with the client so that you aren't trying to do parallel upgrades, one to production and one to a test or backup copy. The production copy should never be overwritten by some other copy, except in an emergency recovery situation.
 

#11
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My question is whether or not you thought it would make a difference to upgrade the data file from a thumb drive back up as opposed to directly on the computer from old version to new version of QB.

I had another thought today on this issue. My client installed her program directly from the Intuit website. I have a disc because I bought a hard copy of the program. I wonder if there might be a difference with the install. There doesn't seem to be a consistent problem with the program, but a lot of unhappy campers. Right now, I'm a happy camper, in a good mood, :D things are right with the world. BUT I am about to install QB 2019 so in about 15 minutes that could all change. :o :roll: :cry:
 

#12
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A thumb drive is just another variety of disk, which can be offlined under Windows (as can many other types of disk), so no I don't think it makes a difference as far as QuickBooks is concerned.
 

#13
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Still a happy camper. The install went through without a hitch and I have restored the backup that was given to me yesterday. That was made on her computer where the program is causing fits. I've run a sample payroll, paid some sample payroll taxes, moved data around, made an employee inactive (which the client was having a problem with). So far the program has jumped through all those hoops and not crashed or locked up.
 

#14
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Just came back from my client's office who is having so many problems with V 2019. She uninstalled and re-installed the program to no avail, so I was going to load the program from my own disk thinking that possibly there was something going on with the internet download. But In searching her computer I found several files that were likely causing conflicts, and she seems to be loading the program via a quicklink on the desk top, which I deleted. I tried several procedures that were causing her to lock up the program, added, then deleted a couple test employees and vendors, prepared a sample payroll then deleted it, finally did a bank reconciliation, it never locked up. So I'm hoping the problem is solved for her.
 

#15
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RATS!!! I hope this doesn't feel like beating a dead horse, but the problem continues. I had a call yesterday from the client, she was video-ing what she was doing so I could see what was happening. She opened her data file which worked fine, but when she gets into Employees, and starts trying to clean up her list by making some of them inactive, the computer locked up. I watched what she was doing, and I can't see that she is doing anything wrong. Sometimes it will allow her to click on a couple of names before it locks up, but then it does. I did a Google search and there are a couple of tools she can use, I emailed that information to her. One suggestion was that there could be a bad sector on her hard drive. It just seems so incredibly weird that I can do everything on my computer that she needs to do with no problem. It has to be related to her computer I think. The plan now is for her to call tech support on Monday morning. Since the issue now seems to be connected to the Employee/Payroll part of the program, I'm hoping they will have a solution. She has a clean install now, too. She deleted the program and reinstalled, she has checked for background windows being open. QB is the only program on this computer, other than the operating system and such. They bought this computer just to run QB.
 

#16
Joan TB  
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does your client's computer meet or exceed the system requirements for the 2019 version of QB that they are running?
 

#17
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Aloha Joan, yes the computer is up to snuff as far as its requirements.
 

#18
makbo  
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actionbsns wrote:Has anyone had problems with QB 2019 running well on their computers? I have a client who is having problems with it freezing up on her computer.

actionbsns wrote:She opened her data file which worked fine, but when she gets into Employees, and starts trying to clean up her list by making some of them inactive, the computer locked up. [...] It has to be related to her computer I think. The plan now is for her to call tech support on Monday morning.

Your conclusion that it has to be related to her computer is sound, since it obviously is not a global problem for all QB users.

I think I asked this before, but there are a few basic questions I still don't think you've answered. Is it just the QB program that "locks up" (becomes unresponsive), or the entire Windows system? Does it ever unfreeze on its own eventually? Does she have to manually power down and restart her computer as the only way to recover?

[edit] I see you did actually partially answer this previously: "sometimes, her computer will "unfreeze" after about an hour,". That is odd -- see paragraph below about Task Manager. Maybe some background task, such as a Windows update or a virus/rootkit scan is happening.

Can she perform a full backup with verification? This should address any "bad block" problems.

You might want to consider using the Windows Task Manager (right click on the Start menu button) to see if Windows recognizes the QB process as "not responding". Also, if running QB full screen, I highly recommend (again) making the window smaller and moving it over to one side, so you can see if some other dialog has popped up waiting for a response (which, if hidden, can make it look like the computer is frozen when in fact it is just waiting for a response).
 

#19
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The lock out is to the whole computer, nothing can take place. QB is the only ancillary program on this computer. Sometimes, if she waits long enough the computer will "unfreeze", sometimes she just has to shut down and reboot. We were using Task Manager on Saturday, the program is unresponsive. She has a good sized screen so usually does not utilize the full screen mode since what comes up is large enough to work in, we checked to be sure there were no other screens or windows open in back of the QB screen and there weren't. This only seems to be happening in the payroll part of QB. I can't see any logical reason for that, if there is something wrong with the computer, wouldn't you think any part of QB could have the same result? I'll hear from her later today after she's called tech support, if they can't seem to help or she's concerned about what they want to do I'll go down to their office and we'll call them together. I'd like to be part of the conversation. BTW, this happens so often that I don't think it's related to a Windows update, unless it's stuck there for some reason.
 

#20
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Sounds to me like her operating system has some corruption, likely within the registry. It happens more easily than people realize, but then they in turn place blame on things that have nothing to do with the root cause. Every single software installation and uninstallation, among other things, modifies the registry. So do updates. Each time the registry is modified, it is at risk of being corrupted.

Generally, if the registry is corrupted, the only solution is a fresh install of the OS and then reinstall everything and restore backups. At least, that is also the most cost effective solution.

Same time, it could be hardware such as a RAM stick, SATA controller/driver, etc. Believe it or not, a single bad RAM stick can cause system freezes of that nature. You can run a scan on memory to see if anything is detected (it basically stress tests the RAM), but not something the average person can interpret.

I experience continuous crashes or freezing of QBD, mostly 2018 and 2019, though it has been occurring more with 2019. Nothing wrong can be found with the data files or installations, everything else runs perfectly on my PCs and other computers where I have experienced routine issues with QBD crashing.
 

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