Switchboard generates Access.exe error (AccXP and 2000)

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We have a small database with a switchboard. It was created in XP, but XP is set to save in Access 2000 format, as not all of our users have XP.

When the database is opened in Access 2000 clicking on any of the options on the switchboard generates the following error:

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MSAccess.exe has generated errors and will be closed by Windows. You will need to restart the program.
An error log has been created.

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Number 1, I don’t know where to look at the error log to see if it will shed some light
Number 2, I haven’t any idea as to what to do next. The objects in the database all work. Could I just rebuild the switchboard from the computer running Access 2000?

TIA

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By chance are you running both XP and 2000 on the same PC? If so there are documented problems with that configuration – see Charlotte’s post on those kind of problems.

Presuming that’s not the case, you should look for any missing references (thought that should not cause a crash in Access), and you might want to compact and repair the database after decompiling it. I’ve not seen that behavior in a database but I don’t believe I have actually created a switchboard in 2002 and then tried to use it in 2000. If you resolve the problem, please post the resolution so the rest of us know about it. Thanks.

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I have had the samew problem, and just gave up and make a simple from for a switchboard

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You didn’t indicate which operating system you’re using, but the log in question is the Dr Watson log, which should be called drwtsn32.log, and you’ll probably find it in your profile.

If everything else works but not the switchboard, the switchboard form may be corrupted. Can you export the code in the switchboard to a text file? If so, do that and then save the form with the HasModule property set to false. Compact the database and then try importing the text file back into the form’s module. That might clear up the problem. If not, I’d try a decompile and see if that does anything for the problem. I’ve seen dr watson errors like this on code that looks innocuous, and it may be a single line of code that is causing the problem.

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How would I go about exporting the code to a text file?

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Go into the VBE and bring up the code module for the form. From the File menu, select Export File. In Save As Type, select All Files (*.*) and change the proposed extension to txt from cls. To use that file later, you would open the form you saved with the HasModule property set to No and click on the code button to open a module for it. Then with that module open, use Insert–>File and browse to the file you saved as text. You’ll have to comment out or remove the text that looks something like this:

VERSION 1.0 CLASS
BEGIN
MultiUse = -1 ‘True
End

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Thanks for all the suggestions. I did export the code, but then I couldn’t find the information you said would need to be deleted, so here’s what I did instead:

I documented everything that I had on the switchboard, then I deleted the switchboard form and the switchboard table. Then I sat down at the computer running Access 2000 (the run the switchboard wouldn’t run on, and ran the switchboard manager. It recognized that there was no longer a switchboard, and I rebuilt it. The new one works in computers running 2000 and XP.

Not the prettiest, but at least I got something to work.

Thanks again for the help!

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You probably exported it with a .cls extension, which hides that part of the code and handles it automatically. You would only see it if you exported the code to a .txt extensions and then used insert–>file to bring it back into a form’s module. Actually, you should have been able to delete the switchboard form and keep the switchboard table, and Access should have rebuilt the form for you.

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I did export it twice, first with the .cls and when I realized I exported it again as text. When I was ready to use Insert/File, I wasn’t sure where I should be in the Project screen, so I was already kind of in trouble! But I didn’t see that code you referred to, either.

As to having Access rebuild the form for me, how would I have done that?

This is quite a learning experience! Thanks.

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Just delete the old form and then start the switchboard manager. It will find the Switchboard Items table and create a new form based on the existing table.

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Maybe my problems are more serious than I thought. I had tried deleting the form and starting the switchboard manager. It did nothing!

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What do you mean, it did nothing? You should have seen the switchboard manager window with the menus from your table listed in it unless you had cleared out the Switchboard Items table as well. If the wizard itself is the problem, you may need to do a detect and repair from the Help menu to get Access back to normal.

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By doing nothing, I meant the switchboard manager did not create a new form based on the existing table.

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Did you see the items from the existing table in the Switchboard Manager? If so, once you closed the switchboard manager, was there no Switchboard form anywhere in your database window? If not, then there’s something wrong with your installation.

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In the switchboard manager I could see all of the items, but there was not a switchboard form after closing it. That’s why I ended up deleting the table, too, and then the switchboard manager let me start all over.

I went to the machine that has Access 2000 on it to re-create it, and now it works fine for all three users (two using XP, one using 2000).

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