Troubleshooting

SMART is a sophisticated system which makes full use of your hardware, operating system, and network in order to improve your productivity.

Choosing your equipment

In designing Smart we have assumed that the equipment you are using to install Smart has a reasonable level of performance and is in good condition. (As with any technology, higher specification equipment will give even better performance.)

Even in these competitive days, price is still a good indication of equipment quality. We don't expect you to buy the most expensive hardware, but you should be aware that suppliers of cheap hardware can offer you attractive pricing because they are sourcing components made on worn machines which are below the standards required by major brand name PC manufacturers. You may be lucky enough to buy a cheap PC which performs well, but the simple fact is that you are taking a higher risk of poor performance or even failure than if you spent a few more dollars.

You should also consider having your network installed, configured, and tested by a competent professional. Network problems can be notoriously difficult to diagnose. Your professional can also assist you with network security and backups, two areas overlooked (to their cost) by many businesses.

Video Drivers

In making lots of information available to you very quickly, Smart works your PC monitor very hard. If you are experiencing occasional crashes during data entry, check that you have a video card of a satisfactory standard and that the video driver is matched to the card.

You can also try changing your screen resolution. Recommended settings are 600x800 or 1024x768.

Disk space

If you experience a PC crash while printing a report from Smart, check the available disk space.

Temporary files generated during report printing are generated on the user's PC, even when they are running Smart from a server. Reports require storage space of approximately 1 megabyte per 100 pages on the PC during printing and much more if a logo or other bitmap is displayed on the report or invoice.

A crash while printing a report can also be due to a faulty video subsystem. Try printing the report without previewing.

Network Connection

If you get 'file system' or 'timeout' errors, your PC may be having trouble connecting to the server. Select \File \Change Database from the Main Menu, and try a different network protocol (more details here).