URGENT HELP - MONEY 2006 won't start at all !!

This morning when I try to open money I get the message
"We're sorry, but Microsoft Money has experienced an internal error and will
have to restart."
I don't even get to the point where it opens the data file when I get this
message.

I have tried rebooting. Also I have changed nothing on my PC since last
night when it was working .

Any ideas?

Cal
Wed Feb 20 10:46:32 CST 2008

In microsoft.public.money, Fiddle wrote:

>This morning when I try to open money I get the message
>"We're sorry, but Microsoft Money has experienced an internal error and will
>have to restart."
>I don't even get to the point where it opens the data file when I get this
>message.
>
>I have tried rebooting. Also I have changed nothing on my PC since last
>night when it was working .
>
>Any ideas?

In XP, open Windows Explorer. Browse to Sample.mny in your Money
install folder. Open that file by right-clicking and choosing Open.
Does Money open? If not, you could reinstall Money, or you could
restore XP to a Restore Point from a few days ago.

In Vista it is similar, but run Sample.mny as Administrator.

If Sample.mny opens, then the consider restoring your latest or
second-latest backup.

Fiddle
Wed Feb 20 10:59:00 CST 2008

Cal, thanks for getting back to me. I tried your suggestion and Money opened
so obviously it is my data file that is corrupt. Is there any way to
uncorrupt a file. I don't want to restore a back up except as a last resort
because there will be too much to catch up.

"Cal Learner-- MVP" wrote:

> In microsoft.public.money, Fiddle wrote:
>
> >This morning when I try to open money I get the message
> >"We're sorry, but Microsoft Money has experienced an internal error and will
> >have to restart."
> >I don't even get to the point where it opens the data file when I get this
> >message.
> >
> >I have tried rebooting. Also I have changed nothing on my PC since last
> >night when it was working .
> >
> >Any ideas?
>
> In XP, open Windows Explorer. Browse to Sample.mny in your Money
> install folder. Open that file by right-clicking and choosing Open.
> Does Money open? If not, you could reinstall Money, or you could
> restore XP to a Restore Point from a few days ago.
>
> In Vista it is similar, but run Sample.mny as Administrator.
>
> If Sample.mny opens, then the consider restoring your latest or
> second-latest backup.
>

Cal
Wed Feb 20 11:04:14 CST 2008

In microsoft.public.money, Fiddle wrote:

>Cal, thanks for getting back to me. I tried your suggestion and Money opened
>so obviously it is my data file that is corrupt. Is there any way to
>uncorrupt a file. I don't want to restore a back up except as a last resort
>because there will be too much to catch up.

Yes. From Money (now opened to the other file), do
File->RepairMoneyFile->StandardFileRepair level 2 to make a repaired
version of your file.

Note that Money 2006 defaults to keeping a backup from the last 4
times you closed Money. If your latest backup is old, then you
change the default.


>
>"Cal Learner-- MVP" wrote:
>
>> In microsoft.public.money, Fiddle wrote:
>>
>> >This morning when I try to open money I get the message
>> >"We're sorry, but Microsoft Money has experienced an internal error and will
>> >have to restart."
>> >I don't even get to the point where it opens the data file when I get this
>> >message.
>> >
>> >I have tried rebooting. Also I have changed nothing on my PC since last
>> >night when it was working .
>> >
>> >Any ideas?
>>
>> In XP, open Windows Explorer. Browse to Sample.mny in your Money
>> install folder. Open that file by right-clicking and choosing Open.
>> Does Money open? If not, you could reinstall Money, or you could
>> restore XP to a Restore Point from a few days ago.
>>
>> In Vista it is similar, but run Sample.mny as Administrator.
>>
>> If Sample.mny opens, then the consider restoring your latest or
>> second-latest backup.
>>

Fiddle
Wed Feb 20 11:42:01 CST 2008

Stupid me!!!! My automatic backups were switched off - won't happen again.
I tried the repair and it did not work
So now I am back to my two week old backup version and starting to catch up

Incidently, my corrupt file is 79MB and my backup is 96MB. It seems odd
that my backup would be larger than my current one since I never deleted
anything. What do you think?

"Cal Learner-- MVP" wrote:

> In microsoft.public.money, Fiddle wrote:
>
> >Cal, thanks for getting back to me. I tried your suggestion and Money opened
> >so obviously it is my data file that is corrupt. Is there any way to
> >uncorrupt a file. I don't want to restore a back up except as a last resort
> >because there will be too much to catch up.
>
> Yes. From Money (now opened to the other file), do
> File->RepairMoneyFile->StandardFileRepair level 2 to make a repaired
> version of your file.
>
> Note that Money 2006 defaults to keeping a backup from the last 4
> times you closed Money. If your latest backup is old, then you
> change the default.
>
>
> >
> >"Cal Learner-- MVP" wrote:
> >
> >> In microsoft.public.money, Fiddle wrote:
> >>
> >> >This morning when I try to open money I get the message
> >> >"We're sorry, but Microsoft Money has experienced an internal error and will
> >> >have to restart."
> >> >I don't even get to the point where it opens the data file when I get this
> >> >message.
> >> >
> >> >I have tried rebooting. Also I have changed nothing on my PC since last
> >> >night when it was working .
> >> >
> >> >Any ideas?
> >>
> >> In XP, open Windows Explorer. Browse to Sample.mny in your Money
> >> install folder. Open that file by right-clicking and choosing Open.
> >> Does Money open? If not, you could reinstall Money, or you could
> >> restore XP to a Restore Point from a few days ago.
> >>
> >> In Vista it is similar, but run Sample.mny as Administrator.
> >>
> >> If Sample.mny opens, then the consider restoring your latest or
> >> second-latest backup.
> >>
>

Cal
Wed Feb 20 11:50:57 CST 2008

In microsoft.public.money, Fiddle wrote:

>Stupid me!!!! My automatic backups were switched off - won't happen again.
>I tried the repair and it did not work
>So now I am back to my two week old backup version and starting to catch up

Could be worse. Be glad that you have that 2-week old backup.

>
>Incidently, my corrupt file is 79MB and my backup is 96MB. It seems odd
>that my backup would be larger than my current one since I never deleted
>anything. What do you think?

I would not worry about that difference. However you can select to
have backups to be compressed or not. If you set them to compress,
they will be smaller, tho it will take a little time to compress.

In M06: Tools->Settings->BackupSettings
I suggest checking
x Automatically backup my Money file every time I close Money
Save in [a place on your hard drive ]
x Ask me before backing up each time*
x Compress Backup Files
Keep only the _20_most recent backup files [adjust to taste]

x Perform scheduled backups every _14_ days
Save in [a USB flash drive location]
x Ask me before backing up each time*
x Compress Backup Files
Keep only the _2_most recent backup files [adjust to taste,
but Money 2006 does not automatically trim to USB as it should]

Then periodically, perhaps once per month or more, copy your latest
backup (uniquely named by Money) to a CDR. With XP, this can be a
copy and paste operation. Otherwise use the burning software that
came with your CDR drive.

I strongly suggest use of a USB Flash drive rather than floppies.
They are bigger, so you don't have to swap media to back up. Plus
they are much more reliable (but not failure-proof).

* The reason I have Money ask me, is that I don't want to back up
each time I exit. If I went into Money 5 times in a day, I would
not want to back up 5 times, nor would I want to delete 5 other
backup files. You will be given the choice to BackUpNow or to
Postpone.

Fiddle
Wed Feb 20 12:19:00 CST 2008

I set the backup parameters as you suggested. In searching through posts it
seems that Fidelity downloads can cause the corruption and since the last
thing I did last night was download updates that is probably what caused it.

Thanks so much for all your help and patience with me. I have been a quicken
user for years and only switched to money about a year ago. It is good to
know that there is such a fantastic discussion board to help with issues.

"Cal Learner-- MVP" wrote:

> In microsoft.public.money, Fiddle wrote:
>
> >Stupid me!!!! My automatic backups were switched off - won't happen again.
> >I tried the repair and it did not work
> >So now I am back to my two week old backup version and starting to catch up
>
> Could be worse. Be glad that you have that 2-week old backup.
>
> >
> >Incidently, my corrupt file is 79MB and my backup is 96MB. It seems odd
> >that my backup would be larger than my current one since I never deleted
> >anything. What do you think?
>
> I would not worry about that difference. However you can select to
> have backups to be compressed or not. If you set them to compress,
> they will be smaller, tho it will take a little time to compress.
>
> In M06: Tools->Settings->BackupSettings
> I suggest checking
> x Automatically backup my Money file every time I close Money
> Save in [a place on your hard drive ]
> x Ask me before backing up each time*
> x Compress Backup Files
> Keep only the _20_most recent backup files [adjust to taste]
>
> x Perform scheduled backups every _14_ days
> Save in [a USB flash drive location]
> x Ask me before backing up each time*
> x Compress Backup Files
> Keep only the _2_most recent backup files [adjust to taste,
> but Money 2006 does not automatically trim to USB as it should]
>
> Then periodically, perhaps once per month or more, copy your latest
> backup (uniquely named by Money) to a CDR. With XP, this can be a
> copy and paste operation. Otherwise use the burning software that
> came with your CDR drive.
>
> I strongly suggest use of a USB Flash drive rather than floppies.
> They are bigger, so you don't have to swap media to back up. Plus
> they are much more reliable (but not failure-proof).
>
> * The reason I have Money ask me, is that I don't want to back up
> each time I exit. If I went into Money 5 times in a day, I would
> not want to back up 5 times, nor would I want to delete 5 other
> backup files. You will be given the choice to BackUpNow or to
> Postpone.
>