1 of 2
Intuit - QuickBooks
Unrecoverable Error - QuickBooks Must Shut Down
2 of 2
Data Error producing an Unrecoverable Error during Rebuild
On occasion you may experience a situation in QuickBooks resulting in a critical fault, also known as an Unrecoverable Error, while you are attempting to run the Rebuild Data Utility. You will almost immediately develop that queasy feeling in the pit of your stomach as you find yourself asking, “if I can’t get Rebuild to run, how am I going to fix the problems from Verify that told me to Rebuild?” There can be several specific application and database errors that can result in this situation (and which will appear as a Code near the bottom of the Error Message), but some forms of data damage, and some preference restrictions, may also result in this circumstance. These are the situations I want to talk about in today’s Techno Topic.
While the QuickBooks – Unrecoverable Error message (as shown in Figure 1) is displayed on your monitor, you need to make certain to write down the Code at the bottom of the message. Then proceed to click on the View report option that will open a window to display various logs that may assist in your diagnosis of the problem. One of these will be the QBWin.log for the current session. (Note: The current QuickBooks session hasn’t ended even though the Unrecoverable Error is displayed, and this means that the QBWin.log is still active. The current session will end once you close the Unrecoverable Error message.) If you select the QBWin.log and open it, you will want to scroll to the very bottom of the log. You will probably find that the very last line of the log contains a message that includes, LVL-ERROR—QuickBooks has experienced a problem and must shut down.
A vast majority of the time, this ‘shut-down error’ will occur seconds (actually milliseconds) after a transaction error is displayed in the log. Figure 2 illustrates such a data error. In this specific case the transaction data problem is an “Error: Verify Target: Transaction out of balance.” (Please ignore the redactions of confidential information.) There are a couple of reasons why this type of transaction may result in the Unrecoverable Error.
1. The type of error, in this case a ‘transaction out of balance’ is a result of the Header (master record) transaction recording a different value than the sum of the Target (target record) transaction(s). (We have previously discussed the concepts of Master and Target records in the QuickBooks database.) There are various reasons why this can occur, but most commonly it results when a transaction is saved during roll-back as a result of a sudden unexpected abnormal shutdown of QuickBooks, or a break between the QuickBooks user application and the QuickBooks Database Server. When you run the rebuild utility QuickBooks has no idea which line(s) of data are correct as opposed to the header, it simply cannot make the choice and as a result it cannot ‘repair’ the transaction. In some cases this type of ‘data damage’ may cause the Rebuild to fail.
- You can repair this type of transaction. If you track down the transaction and make the appropriate correction to either the Header or the incorrect Target(s) in the detail lines, and then save the transaction, you will most likely have resolved the error and the next time you run Verify it may not even appear, and it will not result in Rebuild faulting out.
2. Another circumstance can prevent Rebuild from repairing certain transactions. If you have set a ‘closing period’ and closing period password, and any correction of the transaction that might otherwise occur as a result of the rebuild would change the retained earnings for the closed period, QuickBooks will not correct the transaction and the Rebuild will fail.
- You can prevent this circumstance. Remove the ‘closing period’ and closing period password prior to running the Rebuild Utility. Of course you will need to insure that you have accurate records of your prior fiscal periods so you can easily detect any changes the Rebuild may make during the next run after the closing period is removed. The QBWin.log that can be pulled after the successful Rebuild will show you any/all of the transactions ‘corrected’.
Of course, I really shouldn't need to remind you, but you should ALWAYS perform a back-up of your data prior to making any attempts to manually repair or change your data in connection with data-damage or Rebuild data attempts.
If you have performed the appropriate ‘manual repair’ steps, and/or removed the ‘closing period’ from your file, and Rebuild still faults with an Unrecoverable Error, then some other problem exists and that is where the Error Code (shown in XXXXX XXXXX within our Figure 1 example) can guide you through the various Knowledge Based Articles at QuickBooks Technical Support’s website, or help you discuss your problem with an Intuit Technical Support (or other Data Service) representative.