old pc/ software problem - can any one help?

[keys]

Our company accounts (Quickbooks) run on an old notebook under Win XP. This has worked fine for many years, but now I have a pressing problem.

The file for last financial year is ready for sending to our accountant. QB will not save to USB, saving to local drives seems successful but no file found to copy from that location. I can print hardcopy but that is of little use. I tried print to csv file but same problem as data file save.

Ironically, was to be final operation for this setup anyway.

As far as I can tell, all other file copy, paste functions are working normally, so problem is likely in QB.

Any help much appreciated.

 

[Siusaidh]

I know this will sound so simple it must be stupid but, depending on the number of pages it runs too, could you just save as screenshot jpgs and send those off?

 

[starbird]

I'd check the hard drive for errors. As it is ancient you may need to defrag the hard drive. You could try removing the hard drive placing it in an external case and see if a newer laptop/PC can read the files and transfer it that way.

You may need to update the software but this might not even be possible on XP.

I know on Win 10 when it pesters you to update if you don't respond it actually slowly starts disabling features literally forcing you to update. I've had laptops were the mouse would suddenly stop working then to turn it off (which it needs to update) it updates and works fine.

I'd be tempted to install quickbooks in a modern machine (win10) pull out the hard drive into a caddy and then see if it copies.

 

[diablo]

If you can print, can you change the print destination? Mine gives the option to change printer, but also to save as pdf (which may be suitable) or to save to Google Drive.

 

[lazarus]

Most laptops have an SD Card slot. Try that.

 

[keys]

Thanks for the suggestions,

Accountant wants digital data, last resort would be print, scan, ocr
QB will print to file, but no file is created in the shown location
Have run utilities to check and fix pc, no obvious problems
File copy HD to USB is fine from file explorer
SD cards not found, CD drive has an error
From QB, file save to USB returns (false) disk write-protected error

I think this problem appeared after failed wake from sleep

 

[Edwin]

Maybe try booting from power off into Safe Mode. Then shut down completely (power off again) and reboot as normal.
https://www.lifewire.com/how-to-start-windows-xp-in-safe-mode-2624542

That might stimulate Windows to fix some driver problems.

Good luck!

 

[Johnp]

You can save the file locally - which is good. Somehow you need to get the saved file to an alternate machine - can you setup a local network and get at it that way? or upload to an internet based file service (google drive / dropbox) or can you not email it from the XP machine? extreme alternatives such taking the hard drive out of notebook and putting into a USB cradle and plugging into alternative machine as a possible last resort.

Just some thoughts.


JohnP

 

[newguy]

edited: don't worry about it. Have resolved the issue I was going to PM about.

 

[martin-s]

Switch to Xero

 

[keys]

As far as I can tell, the notebook and XP are still good. It seems that failed wake up has put QB into a restricted mode, so the only available output is print to hardcopy. This is a laborious solution but it will achieve the goal.

The lesson from this, for me and anyone viewing the thread, is be aware of likely problems and losses if you use unsupported software. Taking a balanced view, the setup has worked well for 15 years and almost reached retirement without issue.

 

[Systreg]

I don't know if you've looked at the QuikBooks help pages? There was mention on there about it giving errors if waking from hibernation/sleep modes, their help pages are here:

https://quickbooks.intuit.com/learn...verable-error-in-quickbooks-desktop/00/239239