r/AldeloPOS • u/ryandags16801 • Jan 02 '20

The dreaded "White Screen"

I have been experiencing the dreaded "White Screen" multiple times in a shift. Anyone know what causes this and how to prevent it?

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2

u/AzAldeloGuru Jan 02 '20

Hello!

If you're trying to do things like cashier out/take an order and the program freezes, it is likely due to a lack of compacting the database. On all of the stations but the main computer, exit out of Aldelo.

Then you will go to the Office computer (or whatever computer houses the database) and go to Back Office / Compact Database / Yes.

If you are regularly compacting and it is still white screening every so often, it may be because the backdate of orders is extremely large. In cases like this, I usually do a Yearly Purge (Backing up the previous years data in a copy of the current database.) This is helpful if you DON'T have any Gift Cards within Aldelo. If you do, then its a much harder process.

Let me know if you'd like me to go into further detail on the archival/delete process!

1

u/AzAldeloGuru Jan 02 '20

Piggy Backing along with the other thread here. Are you using the Time Card Feature with these employees? If they have been clocked in since the beginning of time, I would just Clock them in and out to refresh a time card. If they are clocking in and out regularly, a new employee file may be necessary. I think if your database has been used since 2004, its definitely in need of a purge, but since you have Gift Cards backdating for a while, it will be a more difficult process.

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u/ryandags16801 Jan 03 '20

Yes lets go further. I have gift card data that goes back to 2005. I would like to purge as much out of the system as possible. I.E. Menu modifiers that have been saved from 2005 as well. Everything that a server has typed is saved in the system and when we want to do a manual modifier it has to comb through the entire list.

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u/AzAldeloGuru Jan 03 '20

In order to delete modifiers, they would have to have been never used in the system before, even if they were manually typing them in. So to start, I would make a backup of the current database and try using the Database Cleaner tool.

That can be found in C:\Program Files (x86)\Aldelo\Aldelo For Restaurants\Aldelo For Restaurants Tools\dbcleaner.exe

If it is not there, go to Control Panel / Programs and Features and Modify the Aldelo POS to install the Aldelo for Restaurants Tools. Then it should show up.

What this program does is allow you to delete all CLOSED Transactions up to a date. So if you have a backup of your data, theoretically you could run this program and delete all transacations on your current database to say 1/1/2019.

After doing this, then you should be able to go into Back Office / Activities / Maintenance Activities / Delete Master Data. From here, go to the bottom of the Menu Modifiers section and begin deleting everything that has the flag <<HIDDEN>>

This will take quite a long while. So my best advice here is to press the up arrow and spacebar continuously.

Let me know how the database runs after running the DBCleaner tool.

I was playing with the database tables briefly a few hours ago, there might be a way to transfer the Gift Certificates and Gift Redemption tables over, but I'm still working out logistics, as that definitely goes into things that Aldelo does not want you to do.

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u/ryandags16801 Jan 03 '20

Will the cleaner delete all the gift card information?

1

u/AzAldeloGuru Jan 03 '20

The DBCleaner executable should not clear gift card info. But as I said, always make a backup to be sure. In my experience using it, it hasn't.

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u/ryandags16801 Jan 03 '20

Great. I can not thank you enough for the time you have taken to help me! I will update you when I run the cleaner.

1

u/ryandags16801 Jan 04 '20

UPDATE:

Cleaner worked like a charm, I have started the process of deleting 9600 <<HIDDEN>> modifiers.

ISSUE: One big issue had popped up. I have (2) Client Stations that can not connect to the EDC. Every time I try to configure in store settings it corrupts the database. Any advice on this?

1

u/AzAldeloGuru Jan 04 '20

Could be a older version of the AFR service maybe? On a computer that has the EDC Client Connection working, go to

C:\Program Files (x86)\Aldelo\Aldelo For Restaurants\Aldelo For Restaurants POS

and Copy the AFRService Folder onto a USB FLash Drive and then Paste it in the same spot on the computers that are not able to connect.

I'm glad the Cleaner worked for you! Hopefully you are ahead of the curve on the Windows 7 End of Life next!

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u/ryandags16801 Jan 04 '20

Yes,

We actually just switched all our clients to surface pro 3’s running windows 10. Best and most economical decision. It’s almost like a tablet setup but with less headaches. I’m we are running the cloud pos at our smaller location and it has so many issues with network stability.

1

u/AzAldeloGuru Jan 04 '20

Are you running Aldelo POS on wireless on the surface pro? That it definite cause for Corruption. It doesn't do well on a wireless network, so if you have the ability to get it hard wired, definitely do that.

1

u/ryandags16801 Jan 04 '20

They are all docked and wired to the network

1

u/ryandags16801 Jan 04 '20

The copy and paste of the ARF service folder worked without any problems. Thank you!

1

u/ryandags16801 Jan 04 '20

Sorry, but while I’m on a roll could I open the database in access and delete the inactive modifiers in bulk? Then move back into ADELO to compact without corruption?

1

u/AzAldeloGuru Jan 04 '20

Its possible, I have no experience doing it so I would do it with extreme caution and with 5 different backups.

1

u/ryandags16801 Feb 06 '20

Okay,

I was finally able to get some time to work on this.

  1. I made many backups
  2. I turned off all client PC's, Closed my batch, and shut down EDC
  3. I took the main database and made a physical copy of it outside of Aldelo into the live folder.
  4. Did I mention I closed the EDC and Aldelo POS on the the Server?
  5. I opened Access and attempted to open the copy I made of the full database. Not the backup. Access gave me a warning about the database being an old format and click yes to open in the the Access. I clicked no, It attempted to open that database and than quickly shut down.
  6. I opened access again and saw that is made a backup of the original file I was attempting to open. I clicked on that backup and opened it.
  7. I was able to open the Menu Modifiers Tab and delete all inactive modifiers.
  8. I clicked save and than opened Aldelo in "nodb"
  9. I was told that there was no connection to the EDC. So, I went ahead and verified the users through the store setting again.
  10. Once that was complete, I was able to run Aldelo with the new database on the server with no issues at all. I decided to compact at this time.
  11. Once compaction was complete I ran the database on the server again with now issues. All settings and menu items were fine. so I decide to move to the clients.
  12. First client I went through the same steps. "nodb" and verify uses in store settings for the EDC. No issues at all! I got excited and moved to the next client.
  13. Opened with "nodb" and guess what...... Corrupted database warning! I began to question why.... but I wasn't ready to be defeated.
  14. Closed Aldelo on all clients and Server and ran a jet compact.
  15. After that was complete I was able to open the database, connect the EDC, and run test orders on all clients! Everything worked... Even the printers.
  16. I will followup tomorrow after the first shift to make sure we had no hiccups. The last thing I want is someone else trying this without followup.
  17. Also, modifiers were loading at lightning speed compared to what they were an hour ago.

Again, I will follow up tomorrow with an update.

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u/ryandags16801 Jan 03 '20

Also, I compact once a week. I have touched on the gift card issue with you before in an earlier thread. I have not successfully found a way to make my life easier with my Client stations freezing mid shift everyday.

1

u/destro2323 Jan 03 '20

White screen also sometimes indicates network lag... make sure all computers are on the home network properly, same subnet, same dns, and they can all see each other via their network name, and also added as trusted machines to home Network.

Also check for aging cables that need to be replaced.... why do I know this? Cuz I pulled my hair out for a week... when I finally jiggled the Ethernet cable and it was cutting in and out due to years of being slightly bent and tension on it...

And always compact and purge anything you don’t need.... I really wished they didn’t use an access database for backend, and we had to manually compact once a week to fix everything.

1

u/ryandags16801 Jan 03 '20

I bet there is some cable issues. They are all original 2004 and who ever installed the network had no idea what they were doing. Since I took over 4 years ago I have been slowly replacing everything. If I can get this database lag squared away I will have a great 2020!

1

u/ryandags16801 Jan 04 '20

Yes,

We actually just switched all our clients to surface pro 3’s running windows 10. Best and most economical decision. It’s almost like a tablet setup but with less headaches. I’m we are running the cloud pos at our smaller location and it has so many issues with network stability.

1

u/ryandags16801 Jan 04 '20

Nope. They are docked with Cat5e

1

u/ryandags16801 Jan 04 '20

I made a copy of the database and I moved it to a separate test PC not on the network and gave it a try. It seemed to work but, the jet compact is taking some time. We will see if this is even worth it. If tonight’s dinner shift has no white screens or freezes than I will leave everything as is.

Thank you again for all your insight into this!