QuickBooks 2015/2016 Unrecoverable Error

As any IT person can probably attest to QuickBooks can be a challenge sometimes, it is a widely popular accounting package used by  millions. Most issues arise when it is used in a multi user environment, from simple issues like firewall ports for the DB server, user error like leaving it in single user mode or making their workstation the host, to crazy issues like QB no longer liking the file name and and the only solution is to rename the file. Well this time it turned into tens of hours of frustration and talking to the Office of the President….

Haha, this is only at Intuit we are talking about, not the White House, now back to the problem.  The issue first came up when trying to move from QuickBooks Online to QuickBooks Desktop, every time the export process would fail. I called QBO (QuickBooks Online) support, they were very kind and helpful yet after about an hour of trying still the same result. Their next step was to send me a QB portable file that they created, later that day I got the file, restored the file and QB crashed with an unrecoverable error. Tried a few things with no change, so I decided to try another computer. Well same result once again, another unrecoverable error. Was there a problem with the QB file or was this a bigger issue?  I tried creating a new company file and also opening a sample file, yet again the dreaded unrecoverable error.

2015-10-14 08_42_47-qbunrecoverableerror.png - Windows Photo Viewer

Doing some research it appeared to be a .Net related issue, I uninstalled and reinstalled .Net and repaired QB installation. No change, still getting the error.  I installed QB on another 3 computers and they all had the same issue. I uninstalled some programs that were the same between computers and still no change. Not wanting to get too bogged down by this issue and hoping their support could use the QB error logs, I thought I would call QB support. After an hour or so of working with Tier 1 support I asked to be escalated to Tier 2. In all I worked with 4 different people over about 4 days with Tier 2 support, then with a Supervisor. Quickbooks 2016 came out during this and still had the same issue. Ultimately the supervisor told me to reload Windows on all of the machines. I was not happy with this solution so I emailed the VP of Small Business at Intuit who is the head boss over QuickBooks.

Within an hour I got an email that the Office of the President at Intuit would contact me the next business day. The next day I got a call from someone in the local Tucson Intuit location. I rehashed everything that had been gone through and we exchanged some emails. I was then told that they would send someone onsite. Now a week later a person from the local site shows up, and we try many of the things that had been done with Tier 2 support. At this point I have blood running down my forehead from banging my head on the wall at the absurdity of doing the same steps that did not work before over and over again. In talking with this person I glean that while I had sent many of these error reports in that nobody had even looked at any of them. The next step was to have development look at the error logs that have been going into limbo at Intuit somewhere. So now I wait again.

After about 5 days I get a email that they have learned something from the logs and have a fix they would like to attempt, so I arrange to do a remote support session in the morning. It turns out one of the 3rd party programs on my suspect list, IBM iAccess 7.1, might be the culprit even though uninstalling it did not fix the issue. This program adds a bad entry into the machine.config file for .Net off to edit the file at ‘C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v4.0.30319\Config\machine.config’ and ‘C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework64\v4.0.30319\Config\machine.config’

iaccessQBissue2

The iAccess software had added an extra line to the machine.config file which is XML and needs to be properly structured. Once the <DbProviderFactories /> line was removed from the machine.config files we attempt to open Quickbooks and it now works. I tried this on the rest of the machines and they all work now. Lesson learned on this one, delete all files even though .Net was uninstalled. I am grateful that Intuit cared  enough to stick through this and help find the resolution rather than just insist on reloading Windows on all of the machines. I am also investigating this support article from IBM to see if it is related to the problem http://www-912.ibm.com/n_dir/nas4apar.nsf/ALLAPARS/SE45767