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P3 troubles for PC user without administrative rights

8 replies [Last post]
Wed, 2009-09-23 00:03
shaju varkey
User offline. Last seen 11 years 34 weeks ago. Offline
Joined: 26 Dec 2003
Posts: 8
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Dear All,

Rcently I have installed P3 ver 3.1 in my laptop which runs on Windows XP. I am loging into the laptop as a user (ie. no administrative rights).

The P3 projects can be opened, but once I try some making some changes it closes without any message. Cannot reopen again without restarting (message: ’Project is locked’).

Can anyone advise a way out?

Regards
Shaju
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Replies

Mon, 2009-09-28 08:40
#1
Rafael Davila
User offline. Last seen 2 weeks 4 days ago. Offline
Joined: 1 Mar 2004
Posts: 5241
Groups: Spider Project Team
Alexandre

I am not questioning about the files being written, I know these will be lost under both systems in case of a crash.

In a well designed server , after a crash that corrupts the Primavera P3 files, the mirror images are still intact to prior of crash, when the server boots again it will recover the uncorrupted files and you will not have to go to your backups, the version just prior to the crash will be the most up to date. This will not happen on a standalone PC, here the PC will reboot back with the corrupted files. Because a well design server will use several hard disks you are not only protected from software crashes but also from hardware errors and even from permanent damage to one (or several) of the hard disks.

The following are the most common technologies; each has various levels of redundancy.
-RAID
-Clusters
-Storage Area Network

My point is that if working on a large job you are better protected by keeping the files on the server, it makes a difference.

Best regards,
Rafael
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Sun, 2009-09-27 16:37
#2
Rafael Davila
User offline. Last seen 2 weeks 4 days ago. Offline
Joined: 1 Mar 2004
Posts: 5241
Groups: Spider Project Team
Alexandre

Thanks for your highlight about which data might be lost and for your recommendation on being careful enough not to enter a large quantity of data in Resources or Activity Codes dialog boxes without closing the dialog from time to time. I always considered it a design flaw P3 does not allows you to save changes up to date in Resources or Activity Codes dialog boxes without need to close the dialog box. It should allow you to save changes the same way you can save changes to your current layout without need to get out of your current screens; a simple click should do it.

What will happen if during a crash P3 was writing to the database? Do you mean that during a server or a PC crash only a few data will be lost and there is no possibility of database corruption? I thought there was a big difference between a crash when writing and a crash when not. I undrestood there are some utilities to restore a P3 corrupted database so not all is necesarily lost if you do not have a backup. If you know about it your comments will be welcomed.

On a server you might have mirror images of your files at different hard disks within your server but on a single PC you are at more risk of data loss under a software crash or a hardware failure. When entering data every other hour I update my backups on my external hard disk, more often when doing changes in logic to the schedule, at times I even keep different file names just in case I want to return back to an intermediate scenario.

Best regards,
Rafael
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Sun, 2009-09-27 13:44
#3
Rafael Davila
User offline. Last seen 2 weeks 4 days ago. Offline
Joined: 1 Mar 2004
Posts: 5241
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Maybe you had a system error. P3 is kind of old software, developed as a 16-bit application; it runs under Windows XP under a 16 bit emulator as Windows XP is set up for 32–bit applications. Not sure about P3.1 but most probably the database engine Btrieve still does. Under Windows XP emulator mode this occurrences are very rare but do happen, the usual fix is to reboot windows when restarting P3 is not enough.

After this happens all unsaved work is lost, get the habit of saving your file after a few changes and do frequent backups so in case your file becomes corrupted or you have to go back to where you started you have a prior version not so different.

Best regards,
Rafael
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Sat, 2009-09-26 12:09
#4
Shah. HB
User offline. Last seen 50 weeks 1 day ago. Offline
Joined: 25 Nov 2008
Posts: 773
Groups: GPC Malaysia, GPC Qatar, Planning, Claims & Contracting, TILOS
I faced the same issue this morning while i was working in P3 all of a sudden a error message popped up and closed the P3 window. I opened the project again but primavera displayed message stating that project is locked.I check access right but still not working
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