General Advice

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Many things might go wrong when trying to use SQL Server. Unfortunately, Microsoft's diagnostic facilities aren't always helpful. If an error condition occurs with SQL Server, MainBoss can only display the diagnostic message that SQL Server or Windows provides, and this might not tell you much.

If you get a diagnostic message that doesn't tell you enough, use Google to search microsoft.com for references to the Details section of message. (If the Details section is blank, use the main part of the message.) For example, if the Details section of the message is "Some text", you would type the following into Google's search field:

site:microsoft.com "Some text"

The site:microsoft.com tells Google that you only want responses from Microsoft's web site. Putting quotes around "Some text" means that you search for that exact string.

Note that if the error text contains specific references to names of computers, users, etc., you must remove them before you do the search and only put quote marks around each separate section. Also, if the message is very long, you can just extract important sections. For example, if you get the message

Login failed for user 'JSMITH'. The user is not associated
with a trusted SQL Server connection.
Unable to create the base database session

you could write up the Google search as

site:microsoft.com "Login failed for user" "trusted SQL Server connection"

Several of the sections in this appendix describe tests you can try if something isn't working. Different tests are certainly possible, but the ones we describe provide a productive route for checking potential sources of difficulty. All of these tests use standard Microsoft software. If the tests fail somewhere, you can hope the software provides an error message that explains what went wrong. You can then fix the problem and try again. Once the test works with Microsoft software, you can try again with MainBoss itself.

The tests described in this section should be carried out in the order given. The purpose of each test is to detect problems in your set-up of Windows, your network, or SQL Server and then to determine where the problem lies. It's important to eliminate the possibility of such problems before contacting MainBoss Support—don't mistake a problem in Windows for a problem in MainBoss.

If you have problems with Windows, your network, or SQL Server, contact Microsoft or your software service provider.

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