Software install question (problem)

[Richard]

Been using Intuits Quickbooks Pro 99...well... since 99. Now that we have 2 more people here and new payroll issues, figured time to upgrade.

Ordered Quickbooks 2005 and installed it. Went to do an "upgrade check" , or a different time, did a "Payroll registration", or yet another time, (per them) tried to email a bill to myself.

Ok... upshot, the program WILL NOT connect to the internet. I"m on a DSL, have DISABLED all virus, all firewalls. I went into msconfig & disabled ALL startup items.

Ok... still won't connect to internet, yet, my PC WILL... as evidenced by me typing here /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Ok.. (frustration) I was on phone with their tech help for THREE hours yesterday. They insisted I had a firewall (I dont') they insisted I had antivirus going (I dont')

He then said "well, since my (his) quickbooks can connect to the internet (in INDIA for crying out loud) you must have something wrong with your pc and I suggest you take it to service shop"

Excusssssssssssssse me?

He then went on to tell me "you have most recent version, you no need to go online"

Ok, well then WHY does it say (when I click on payroll) "quickbooks needs to GO ONLINE to validate your payroll subscription..." and when I hit yes to do so... nothing happens. He of course, had no answer because he was just trying to rid himself of me, verses helping me and I exposed him /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif

Now, during MY readings, I did notice something about quoting

"Make sure that port 80 (for HTTP) and port 443 (for HTTPS) are enabled, and that the following two files are allowed to connect to the Internet and download updates"

Any clues?

(there're on phone with me "now", so I'm timing their help, with TBN braintrust /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif )

 

[MikePA]

Is your PC plugged right into your cable/DSL modem or do you have a router installed?

If you have a cable/DSL router many of them have built in firewalls which may be causing a problem.

Can you access https sites on the Internet, e.g., your bank?

 

[Richard]

I was in fact, logged into my bank this morning /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

I have had zero, none, nada issues on any typical website at all.

Quickbooks base "program update" wont
Quickbooks payroll login & verification, won't
Quickbooks email invoices... won't

So none of the different ways he tried to get it to "see' the internet worked.

I'm on hold with Mr. Nice guy there who's getting ready to transfer me to their tech people, ostensibly, the same people who couldn't help me yesterday. Been on phone for 15 minutes, on hold most of that time /forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif

 

[MikePA]

What about something like ZoneAlarm that might be stopping an inbound connection?

 

[Richard]

zone alarm, though installed, is currently disabled.

I'm still on phone with them, on hold again, sigh.

We DID just put pc into safe mode, and were successful in logging onto internet for updates. When that happened, he said (essentially) that , that proved I had a firewall or virus software going on.

I assured him that by going to "start/cont Panel/Network, right click, third tab , and UNCHECKING firewall" that it was NOT running, and that I'd disabled ALL items in my msconfig startup folder... (I dont think he belives me)

he's back on phone

 

[Soundguy]

Do you have real high security settings on IE? Perhaps there is a cookie issue?

( Not using AOL are you? )

Soundguy

 

[Richard]

lol not using AOL, they DID seem to have a special instructions for AOL users.

I hadn't thought about a possible cookie issue, I'll go delete them, but my suspicion is it's something else.

It DID work while in safe mode, that was the logic used by the guy to insist that I HAD to have a firewall turned on, in spite of me seeing for my own eyes, that it's not checked.

The first guy that answered & transferred me to the tech dude, said "the FIRST installation of this is on us to get it working, aftter that (like a year later) if you have a problem, it's on you"

Well, while I had Max (who admitted Max was not his REAL name, they just do that to make it easy for us Americans) on the phone, I repeated what the first guy said. Max seemed a bit put off by that comment, so I put him on hold, called the 800 number back and by LUCK, got ahold of the very guy who said it.

So, now I had on a conference call, Intuits man on the left side, saying "we WILL get it working for you the first time", and on the right side, was Intuits man, Max saying "no no no... no work..." /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

I was quickly transferred to a supervisor, as I guess they didn't like me DISALLOWING myself to be pushed back/forth between "he said/he said" since all parties were on same line.

Upshot, the supervisor (much to Max's subtle yet clearly intoned disagreement) is going to put me in contact with technical helps supervisor (Max's supervisor). He assured this new supervisor that his sup. would just come to same conclusions.

In meantime, I've gotten their mailing address so I can prepare to just send the program back to them.

I have 1 (one) as in a SINGLE 1090 to print, and 1 (one) as in a SINGLE W-2 to print. I figured it's time to upgrade from QB99 to QB 2005 and so I spent $245 to do so.

I can write a LOT of singular 1099's & W-2's for $245. Though I prefer it to work, and work properly, I'm not opposed to hand writing those forms out either.

/forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif

 

[btolle]

Another case of an "improved" version that breaks everything else.

I used to be a software junkie and always updated to the latest version of every program I use until I got tired of reinstalling the operating system and all the programs several times a year.

I am using Quicken 2000, Act 2000, and Office 2000 and see no reason to upgrade. In fact, I don't want the later versions because they are just bloated versions of what I already have with features I don't even want. I use an FTP program that is version 8. I tried version 11 yesterday and just like with versions 9 and 10 it crashed when I tried to download certain files. I reverted to version 8.

If possible I would go back to your old version and ask Intuit to give you your money back for the new version.

<rant>

Incidentally, after many years of using Intuit products they have seen my last $. When they pulled that stunt with Turbo Tax a couple of years ago installing malware to prevent CD writers from copying their CD's they caused many computers to slow to a crawl. Even uninstalling Turbo Tax would not eliminate the malware. Lots of folks had to wipe their hard drive and start over after that mess.

Fortunately for me I read about the problems before I installed the new version, sent it back to them unopened, and bought TaxCut the last 2 years. Any company that would pull a stunt like that (and they didn't bother to tell you that they had done it) deserves to go out of business. I will never trust any Intuit product again.

I sincerely hope that the new version of Quickbooks hasn't done the same thing. If it has you are out of luck and may have to reformat your hard drive and reinstall everything. In my case that is a 2 day job.

I haven't called a support line in years, I can find faster and more reliable answers on Internet newsgroups or websites. At least they tell you the truth on newsgroups, the software companies don't. They tell you it is your computer even when it is their buggy software.

</end rant>

A hint: Use WinRescue to back up all your registry settings BEFORE installing any program or update. I have it set up to run at 6 AM every morning and I run it manually before any changes in case they don't work. When I uninstalled the FTP version 11 last night and it didn't work I deleted it, ran the "Crash Fixer" in WinRescue, then reinstalled version 8 and eveything is OK again. I cannot tell you how many days work WinRescue has saved me over the last 5 years or so.

Bill Tolle

 

[Richard]

Well Bill, you make some good points...to be truthful, the idea of reformatting had already crossed my mind... the logic being, reformat and install QB first.

I have since decided against doing that.

I've formatted enough that I can tear down, format & build back up same day although I won't get anything else done. I've got the stuff all boxed up awaiting their technical supervisors phone call.

I can already see how helpful he's likely to be. The last guy I spoke with (Max) finally said when we were on the conference call "There is nothing more we can do, as far as I'm concerned, the program is working FINE and he needs to take his pc to the service shop"

/forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif

 

[MikePA]

What error message are/were you getting?

 

[shadled]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( Is your PC plugged right into your cable/DSL modem or do you have a router installed? )</font>


I didn't see an answer to this question. If you are running a router, it is possible the new quickbooks has a greater security feature that is trying to use a port that is currently being blocked by the router. Futher more, just by disabling zonealarm, doesnt mean it has always freed up the ports it was protecting. Are you using windows XP? Have you turned of the internal firewall in it?

 

[Soundguy]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( used to be a software junkie and always updated to the latest version of every program )</font>

Back in the 'old day' before windows 32.. ( cpm, dos. os-2 CLI.. etc.. ) I used to do a bit of beta testing .. etc. Usually once I got some good working beta software installed.. I ran that even after the final release was out.. as invariably, the software writer would take the good working 'chassie' from the final beta release.. slap some chrome on it.. and break or cripple some important feature in the process.

I'm still running a single Nde BBS on a dial up connection under some hacked up version of dos and some beta front end dialer software for the nostalgia of it.

Soundguy

 

[Soundguy]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( lol not using AOL, they DID seem to have a special instructions for AOL users.
)</font>

I've seen lots of issues and conflicts betweens AOL's firewall, and XP's firewall... funny.

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( hadn't thought about a possible cookie issue, I'll go delete them, but my suspicion is it's something else )</font>

I believe it will ultimately be something else as well.. though again.. something diminuitive. The cookie is a very small possibility.. but then.. I've been frustrated many a time with nte problems only to find an offending cookie holding me up.

Another problem that boggled me for a few hours was when I setup my wireless home network, and at the same time set my computer as the dial out connection for the network, so that my wife with her computer in the dining room, bathroom, front porch..etc.. could log into the network wirelessly, and then log onto the internet, with no phone line available.. Just was having a heck of a time... Had my computer setup as the dhcp server.. etc.. finally boiled down tot he wireless router/accesspoint I was using. It was software configurable, and as an automatic default setting.. it set itself up as a dhcp server. This was not in the paper docs.. but was buried in the e-docs. After a few choice words and 10 seconds of configuration.. it worked fine..

Soundguy

 

[Richard]

Sry guys, I’ve been out meeting people.

Ok..

Mike, the error message is number (I think)1207 or something like that. I’m at home now, so cant recreate it right now. When the help screen comes up, it tells me to disable firewalls, antivirus, and third choice says “"Make sure that port 80 (for HTTP) and port 443 (for HTTPS) are enabled, and that the following two files are allowed to connect to the Internet and download updates" I have no idea what it means, nor how to accomplish it, furthermore, bear in mind, that while in SAFE MODE, I WAS able to connect to internet and update the program. Max said “Problem fixed” and I tried to enlighten him that I didn’t consider having to reboot to safe mode, update, reboot back to regular mode as “working properly” I don’t think Max likes me. Point being that since it DOES work in safe mode, I'd think that would rule out the port issue?? (displaying my ignorance)

Shadled: It is plugged into a Linksys router. Is it possible about the greater security feature and did zonealarm release ports? I have no clue, I guess it’s just as likely as not given my luck.

Operating system is XP Pro and the internal firewall is turned OFF.

The tech supervisor is supposed to call me tomorrow. Guess we'll see. I suppose his name will be Bob or George /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[MikePA]

The fact that it works when in SAFE mode narrows it down to something on your PC and not anything on your network like a router.

If it's possible, a screen print of the error would be great to help solve this problem.

 

[khd]

<font color="blue"> “"Make sure that port 80 (for HTTP) and port 443 (for HTTPS) are enabled, and that the following two files are allowed to connect to the Internet and download updates" I have no idea what it means, nor how to accomplish it </font>

I found this and would try it just for grins. As it works in safe mode it means there is a proc that isn't allowing it to run. Although it's for zone alarm and you say you have it disabled I would try it first and then try the same style action for WIN FW if possible. I know nothing of the win fw so I don't know it's configurability as I haven't gone to SP2...mainly for the same reason you posted this msg.

Good luck

Regards,
Kevin

How do I configure ZoneAlarm firewall software, version 2.6.362 and later or ZoneAlarm Pro 3.0 to allow QuickBooks to update?

Answer:

The firewall software must provide access for the following QuickBooks files:

Note: A delivery agent is a program that handles Internet access for downloading files.

* For QuickBooks 2003 and later:
o qbw32.exe (the QuickBooks program file)
o qbupdate.exe (the QuickBooks 2003 and later delivery agent)
* For QuickBooks 2002:
o qbw32.exe (the QuickBooks program file)
o qbdagent2002.exe (the QuickBooks 2002 delivery agent)
* For QuickBooks 2001: qbdagent2001.exe (the QuickBooks 2001 delivery agent)
* For QuickBooks 2000: qbdagent.exe (the QuickBooks 2000 delivery agent)

To configure ZoneAlarm® firewall software, version 2.6.362 and later, or ZoneAlarm® Pro 3.0:

1. Start Microsoft® Windows®, and then click the Start button, choose Programs, and then choose Zone Labs, and then choose ZoneAlarm.
2. In the ZoneAlarm window, click Programs. See figure below.
3. In the Program window, a list of all applications that have attempted to access the Internet will be listed. See figure below.
4. In the Program column, look for QuickBooks. If multiple versions of QuickBooks are installed, the version and release number will appear next to QuickBooks.
5. In the Allow connect column, you should see a checkmark next to QuickBooks and QBDAgent Module. If you see an X or a ?, you will need to place a checkmark next to Local and Internet. This is accomplished by clicking just to the right of Local and Internet.
6. Do not change anything in the Allow Server column. This is not required by QuickBooks.

If you have another version of this software or continue to have problems, you will need to contact ZoneAlarm technical support for more assistance

 

[Richard]

TBN Braintrust yet AGAIN, kicks tech supports HINEY all over the map.

Seems, even though I DISABLED Zone alarm, that was the culpret. It had a q.exe file for (I guess) my origional qb program. I deleted it, tried again and wa-la.

Yes, I'm still amazed at how the people on this site kick hiney. Geez... we ought to try to bottle it somehow.

Thanks all for help, I can now move onto my next problem

/forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif