MS Access/Win Registry

[Mandi]

I use MS Access to maintain a DB of my site members.[nbsp][nbsp]I export this as a delimited txt file that my online search program can utilize.[nbsp][nbsp]This morning, Access is giving me an error that reads "Can't find Installable ISAM"[nbsp][nbsp]Some cryptic documentation on this refers to setting various paths in the registry, something I *soooo* do not think I can get through without some hand holding . .

This popped up independently of the previous Win98 problems, as it was humming along nicely following that little project, and only this morning is complaining . . . I have tried reinstalling Access, with no success.

Any bright ideas out there?

[Ron]

Hi again, Mandi! The very first thing you should try to do is let Access try to repair the problem for you. You didn't specify which version of Access you're using. For Access 97 go to Tools/Database Utilities/Repair Database. For earlier versions (95 or version 2.0), the option is also in the menus, but I can't quite remember exactly where (under File, I think, but I'm sure you can find it).

With any luck, the ISAM drivers are still there and the repair will fix the problem. You also didn't mention when the problem arises? Does it occur when you opent the database or just when you try to export the file?

Oh, and if you need the export immediately and the repair doesn't work, here's a quick work-around. Export to Excel (which doesn't use the ISAM drivers), then let Excel create the text file...[nbsp]

[Mandi]

Hi Ron -

Thanks for your suggestions![nbsp][nbsp]The problem occurs when I try to export as txt file, sorry I didn't specify.[nbsp][nbsp]Yes, it is Access 97 (Pro, if that matters.)[nbsp][nbsp]I tried your suggested Database Repair utility . . . it zipped through the function in about 2 nanoseconds, and told me the database was repaired . . . but still no ISAM drivers.[nbsp][nbsp]The "help" file asociated with the error indicates:

The DLL for an installable ISAM file couldn't be found. This file is required for linking external tables (other than ODBC or Microsoft Jet database tables). The locations for all ISAM drivers are maintained in the Windows Registry. These entries are created automatically when you install your application. If you change the location of these drivers, you need to correct your application Setup program to reflect this change and make the correct entries in the Registry.

Possible causes:

An entry in the Registry isn't valid. For example, this error occurs if you're using a Paradox external database, and the Paradox entry points to a nonexistent directory or driver. Exit the application, correct the Windows Registry, and try the operation again.

One of the entries in the Registry points to a network drive and that network isn't connected. Make sure the network is available, and then try the operation again.

****

Now, I am not using Paradox . . . and I don't use a network, we are talking straightforward C:\ programs and files here. . . dunno where it went, or why it took a vacation!![nbsp][nbsp]Am going to search through the disk and see if I can locate it . . .[nbsp]

[Mandi]

I am back up and functioning as expected with Access again - the solution was to isolate the affected drivers (I just hauled 'em off to a remote directory) uninstall/reinstall said drivers . . . voila, fixed.[nbsp][nbsp]I think my attempts to uninstall/reinstall before had not worked because the install disk didn't "see" the drivers as corrupted??[nbsp][nbsp]Isolating them made the install disk think they hadn't been installed at all, and I got a fresh copy.[nbsp][nbsp]More to the point, and perhaps this can help another relative novice when scary words like "registry" come up :) - I wanted to share where I found the solution:[nbsp][nbsp]

I have Access 95 on the desktop, but for a long involved reason, I haven't updated it to 97.[nbsp][nbsp]My DB is ver. 97, and the 95 program wouldn't read my file.[nbsp][nbsp]Desperately trying to just do the one conversion so I could post an updated DB to my site, I started searching the MS site for a 95/97 filter (such a thing exists for MS Word.)[nbsp][nbsp]Not having any luck - the Access portion of the site is one giant ad for Office 2000, soooo not helpful - I decided to snoop through the ftp site and see what I could find.

I ftp'd into MS's site, and navigated through deskapps, and then ACCESS, and then the cryptically named KB (turns out this stands for Knowledge Base, a repository of extensive documentation on various problems.)[nbsp][nbsp]Following this is an enormous selection of #'d directories, and one document called index.txt . . . I downloaded that, and did a ctrl+f search for my problem . . . and there it was![nbsp][nbsp]It tells you which directory has your issue/problem - grabbed those two documents, and it went into great detail about how to fix the problem![nbsp][nbsp]To MS's credit, their solution did work.

Ron, thanks again for the hand . . . it's always reassuring to think someone else's brain is on my problem too :D!!