[Peter]

2 problems perhaps related.
I first tried to move my Capital program and data to a new laptop (old one dying) and new laptop runs Vista (old one runs XP) and was not successful. I did a full back up and then tried to restore it on new laptop. Could not get it to run. Went back to old laptop to try and print an invoice, and data was not printing at all - I see a related post about mixing up versions of data, and or opening files in programs like Exel - I might have viewed the data of files held in Windows or root directories to see if that was the problem in getting the restored version to work - so unless similar things happened (i.e. data formatting changed on a critical file) I did not intentionally save a different version. I can send PDF examples of before and after if that would help in diagnosing problem. The problem is regardless of what form is used (eg invoices, job cards, quotations etc)

I restored the entire Capital directories (prog and data) to old laptop but still same data not printing problem. So something is mucked up somewhere - sorry for that - Capital has been running fine for several years (version 7.2 no less) and thought that I might be able to update to newer Vista tested version of Capital and maybe import just the data I need for the future - but can't see how I should go about that task - maybe I need to update in a very specific way or do some other tweaks along the way. I noticed some forms would need mods somewhere in these pages, and plan to study those in some detail if I get the basics to work.

I did various repairs and data cleaning procedures as recomended in both these pages and the user manuals. Even tried the Upgrade command/program.

I hope this all makes sense

Cheers

Peter

[COBS Tech Support]

Older versions of CAPITAL won't fully work with Vista.

When you say you can't get it to run, what happens exactly? Do you get an error message? Program does not start? Could you be specific?

[Peter]

No Error messages appear, however none of the menus operate, and there are no graphic elements in the main screen (clickable icons for customers, procedures etc) and no side ribbon menus.

As I now understand more about Vista and Capital 7.2, I am not trying to get the older versions to work in Vista but to update to a newer compatible version of Capital to run on Vista. And while I appreciate your interest in what happened with 7.2 in Vista, I don't think it is appropriate to waste much time on that side of things, but rather to concentrate on updating to 7.5 perhaps.

When I installed Capital 7.5 into the same directory as my real data (from a full Capital restore) on another XP machine (to keep things simple and) separate from my real computer (the failing XP laptop or the new Vista Laptop) Capital reported that it could not find some files (forgot the exact names - something like *cntrl.sys) and to check the CapWin.ini file for program locations - so it was then that I looked into what these files had in them on both the new test computer and the original Laptop (perhaps then the printing problem occurred - although I was not aware of it at that time)

When things did not work with the new version I downloaded from the Capital site, I then tried to print an invoice from the original installation of Capital on the old laptop, and then discovered the printing problem - and as I mentioned none of the data on any form prints - just the fixed items on the style sheets.

So at the moment I have nothing that works - and since I took several backups of the Capital program and data I thought I would be safe, but I suspect that there are a few files sprinkled around the PC's hard drive that do contain vital operational data (such as the Capwin.ini file - that is put in the Windows directory) which are not picked up with a full back up. I suspect that this file must match the data in the main Capital directories and is very sensitive to any changes (ie viewing it with note pad or similar) Or are there other files that I have not found or mucked up inadvertently?

I am hoping that you might give me the step by step procedure to migrate my data to 7.5 so that I might get a clean and reliable Capital system working on the new Vista Laptop as quickly and simply as possible.

Cheers

Peter

[COBS Tech Support]

The only CAPITAL related file outside of your \CAPITAL folder used by CAPWIN.EXE (your main application) is CAPWIN.INI which resides in your \Windows folder on XP and Vista.

[Environment]
CapProg=c:\capital
CapData=c:\capital
CapHelp=c:\capital


If the above paths point to somewhere where your programs and data do not reside then the program will not be able to start. It sounds like you installed the software to the wrong location or have overwritten the CAPWIN.INI that was created at the time of the installation.

If you're attempting to install CAPITAL 7.5 demo version over the top of an older 7.2 version that won't work because the database has changed and you will need to upgrade your database to CAPITAL 7.5. The demo version does not include the upgrade program. Before you worry about that, though, you should at least get back to the point where you can start your CAPITAL 7.2 software again. Once you have this working please email us directly and we'll help you with moving to CAPITAL 7.5 the correct way.

[Peter]

My Capwin.ini file (in the old laptop) did have the correct paths, however there were a no. of other lines with all kinds of strange data in it.

I deleted the extraneous data after making a copy of this file (in case it was needed) and re ran Capital 7.2 to see if the printing problem would be solved and as you say get back to a working installation. Alas this did not seem to make any difference.

I would like to send you a before and after copy (PDF) of what I am talking about. What I have noticed is that some data is printed such as the invoice no. and much of the style information is missing too (i.e. the lines etc) in the middle and lower sections - as if something is happening in the print engine to do with location rather than type of information.

What email address could I send the sample printouts to ?

Cheers

Peter

[COBS Tech Support]

We don't support software versions that are more than 2 major releases behind the current version. You will need to upgrade your software if you want to receive support concerning your problem.

[Peter]

Thank you for the response.

If you could re read my earlier comment that I did not wish to put much effort into the old version (it was your suggestion to get the old one working again) but rather upgrade to the current version (mainly so that I could get it working on a Vista Laptop).

If I have not been clear in my wishes please tell me?

When I spoke to Gunther about a week or more ago, he suggested that I ring Will, but instead of wasting his time on what must be a common issue (upgrading data bases etc) as I figured the problem must have been dealt with many times before and I would find the answers in this forum, or if this is not something that is interesting to others and you or the moderator would not like to have this subject public - I could at least get the answers by email when it was convenient to you. I am amazed how quickly you answer queries - really very impressive.

I sent a detailed email initially to your office and Gunter answered me (by phone) - I would like you to read it and if you would like me to send it to you please advise or you could ask Gunter to forward it on to you.

Cheers

Peter