1. On the main Control Selections screen, the release version is displayed at the bottom of the screen, e.g., 'Advent Sales System - Version 3.59'.
2. From any other screen, the release version is displayed on the top row, e.g., 'Environment Control V3.59'.

On the main Control Selections screen, the port you're connected to is displayed in the lower right hand corner of the screen - Station ID: '______'. This will normally be of the form 'tty__'.

1. Press <F4 - Printer> at the main Control Selections menu.
2. When the printers assigned to this station appear, highlight the desired printer type i.e. Report, Document, Letter or Barcode, and press <F1 - Expand> to view a list of available printers.
3. Highlight the desired printer and press <Enter>.
4. This printer can now be printed to. Remember that this selection is temporary - once you disconnect from Advent you will lose the link to the printer. If you wish to permanently change your default printers, contact your System Administrator or Advent Customer Support.

1. Press <F1 - Store> at the main Control Selections menu. The store selection window should appear.
2. If you are changing to a store in the same auto complex, select <1 - Change Local Store>. If you are trying to reach an off-site store select <2 - Change Remote Store>.
3. If you don't know the number of the store you wish to change to, press <F1 - Expand> to display a list of valid store numbers to choose from.
4. Enter the number of the store and press <Enter>. You should now see the name of the store displayed at the top of the screen.

1. Your screen simply needs to be redrawn. This is accomplished by pressing and holding down the <CTRL> key on your keyboard and then pressing the "R" key. This refreshes your screen by redrawing it.

1. If this error message wont go away, your PC is stuck in a loop. You have to shut down and restart the PC.
2. If you can, click on the Start button and select 'Shut Down...'. Choose 'Restart' from the list in the window that appears and press <OK>.
3. If you cannot do anything then turn the power off manually, wait five seconds, and then turn the PC back on. Windows will do some error checking as it starts up, but the error message should be gone.

Keywords

windows network login startup

Scope

Windows 95/98 PCs

Symptoms

When you start Windows, you do not receive a network logon dialog box.

Cause

This behaviour can occur if any of the following conditions are true:

• The Primary Network Logon field is not set correctly.
• The following entry appears in the 'HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Network\Real Mode Net' registry key:
  AutoLogon=<x>

  where <x> is a number.

  NOTE: The AutoLogon value must be BINARY and must be set to 0 for AutoLogon to work.

• You are logging on to a Microsoft or NetWare network and you have cached your network password.
• The network adapter is improperly configured.

Workaround

There is no workaround - see 'Solution'.

Solution

Use the following troubleshooting steps to resolve the problem. Make sure to restart Windows after each step.

1. In Control Panel, double-click Network. Click the appropriate setting in the Primary Network Logon box, and then click OK.
2. Delete the following entry in the 'HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Network\Real Mode Net' registry key:
   AutoLogon=<x>

The output of any Advent report can be redirected to a printer, the screen, a Unix file, or a DOS floppy. To redirect a report to a DOS floppy, you must first have a formatted, 3.5" 1.44MB floppy inserted into the floppy drive of the main Advent system. If you are using a PC to access the Advent application, your PC's floppy drive is not the drive to use. You must put the floppy in the drive on the Advent server, which is typically located in the main computer room. The floppy should be formatted; you can format the floppy from a DOS, Windows3.1, Windows9x, or WindowsNT machine using the standard format utility. In the Advent application, you should be in the Report Selections screen that lists the report you want to send to the floppy. The following directions will send the report to the floppy:

1. From the Report Selection screen that contains the report you want on the floppy, press the F2 - ADD'L FUNC key.
2. From the Additional Functions menu, select 6 - Set Output Device.
3. Answer the Output to query with the letter F.
4. Answer the File Name: query with a valid DOS filename, prepended with the letters 'A:'. For example if you want the report to be called REPT.TXT on the floppy, enter the name: A:REPT.TXT Note: Do not use a \ character in the file name!
5. If you have entered a valid DOS filename, a window displays informing you that a DOS file will be written to the floppy drive, and you must have a formatted diskette in the drive. Press the ENTER key to continue.
6. Press EXIT/SAVE to close the Additional Functions menu. Notice in the upper right of the screen that Output is now directed 'To File A:REPT.TXT' (REPT.TXT is only an example, the name you entered in step #4 above will be shown on your screen.)
7. Select the report you want to run, answering any additional queries.
8. When the report completes, the message Report Output to A:REPT.TXT should display in the lower left corner of the screen.
9. The file has now been placed on the floppy and the diskette can be removed from the drive. Note that as long as you stay in the Report Selections screen, the output will continue to be redirected to the floppy unless you EXIT/SAVE out of it and return, or unless you again change the output to another destination. The easiest way to do this is by pressing the F10 key, which will redirect output to your default printer.

The Advent software supports the following terminal emulations:

• AT386
• ANSI
• INTERACTIVE CONSOLE
• ISC CONSOLE
• LINK MC80
• SCO ANSI
• SCO CONSOLE
• VT220-7
• VT220-8
• VT320
• VT420
• WYSE60
• WYSE150
• WYSE355
• WYSE370

The easiest way to share Advent data with Windows applications is by using the power of the VisionFS product. VisionFS is a Windows networking application that runs on the Advent server and presents the Advent data directories to Windows clients in the Network Neighborhood. Shared folders on the Advent server can be accessed by all Windows clients, and by the Advent application. Advent reports directed to this shared folder can be opened by any Windows application that can browse to it via the Network Neighborhood, or via a mapped network drive. If the Advent server is not running VisionFS, the only way to share data is by copying it to a DOS diskette and then reading the diskette from a Windows PC. For instructions on doing this see How do I send an Advent report to a DOS floppy?

Sharing Report Data via VisionFS

Contact your system administrator to insure that the Advent server is properly configured for VisionFS and that Vision services are running. The following instructions assume that a shared folder named adventshare exists on the network, and that it's permission settings allow access by all clients.

Running the Advent Report

1. In the Advent application, get the the Report Selections screen that shows the report you want.
2. Press the ADDL FTS key (F2) and select menu choice 5 - Change Output Format.
3. Select an appropriate format for the Windows application you are using. Most Windows programs can import Tab Delimited or MSWord MailMerge format. To select Tab Delimited, enter the letter T. To select MSWord MailMerge, enter the letter M.
4. Select the menu choice 6 - Change Output Destination.
5. Enter the letter F to select a File output destination.
6. A window opens that allows entry of a file name. To share the file with the Windows client, it must be put in the shared directory. To do this, enter a file name that begins with /advent/share/. For example to create an output file called data.txt that you can share with the Windows client, enter the following file name: /advent/share/data.txt
7. Press EXIT/SAVE once to exit the Additional Functions menu. Note that the screen displays the output destination file you selected in the upper right corner.
8. Now select the report you want to run and answer any queries. When the report completes, the message Report Output to "/advent/share/data.txt" displays. The file is now available for the Windows client to open.

For the sake of organization there are several additional folders in the share folder that you can use to save report files. A folder named downloads is available for just this operation and can be used to help organize your files and keep them separate from other files you may store in the shared folder such as Word documents or Word Mail Merge files. There is also a folder named documents that you can use to store Word files. To use the downloads folder, simply use /advent/share/downloads/ as the beginning pathname of the file you created in step #6 above.

Opening the File from a Windows Application

Because there are so many Window applications available that can import files, it is impossible to give generalized instructions to cover them all. Consult the user manual or on-line help of the application you are using for specific instructions. The following instructions show how to use the Mail Merge feature of Microsoft Word to open a file created from Advent and use it as the data source. They assume you have already started the Word application.

1. Select the Mail Merge option from the Tools drop down menu.
2. Click the Create button under the Main Document title.
3. Click on an appropriate document type, in this example we will use Form Letters.
4. Click the Active Window button.
5. Click the Get Data button under the Data Source title.
6. Click Open Data Source in the drop down menu.
7. Click the down arrow to open a selection list in the Look in field located at the top left of the open dialog window.
8. Click the Network Neighborhood icon, it may be necessary to scroll the list to find it.
9. Double click the Advent computer icon shown in the displayed list. The Advent computer will not be called Advent, it will be have a unique name for your dealership. If you are not sure of the name of your Advent system,
10. Double click the adventshare folder.
11. Change the Files of type field located at the bottom left to All Files.
12. If you directed the Advent report to the /advent/share folder eariler, you should see the file you created displayed in the list of files. If you placed the file in another folder, double click it's icon and then you should see your file.
13. Double click the file's icon to open it as Word's data source.
14. Click the Edit Main Document button.

• In the Daily Work Plan screen you can press the T key go quickly return to today�s list of activities
• The memo window in Prospect Control has over 20 editing features available, when changing a memo, simply press the Help key and page through the list of all available edit features
• The letter writer screen has these same edit features
• If you accidentally press EXIT/SAVE while in Work a Deal, you can recall the deal by pressing Shift F11
• If you want to start a new working deal from a current deal screen, you can press Shift F12
• From almost all EXPAND windows, you can start typing a value for the field to close the window, you don�t have to press EXIT/SAVE first
• When you select DataView from a deal to look at vehicles, you can highlight a vehicle and press the INSERT key to put that vehicle into the deal you are working
• You can do the same thing with customers
• To repeat the last Additional Functions window you had open in a deal, simply press CTRL F (that�s the Ctrl key and the F key together)
• To repeat the last Expand window you had open in a deal, simply press CTRL X

1. Have the Customer tell you what existing Advent report they wish to use as a template or what fields they want.
2. Programming will format the report and send it to the Customer�s system.
3. The Customer will �print� the report to a file in a shared folder on their server.
4. The Customer will transfer the file to their PC for importing into their PC application. This can be used for spreadsheets, word processing, desktop publishing, etc.

1. Turn on the PC and watch the screen as it boots up. As soon as you see the words �Starting WINDOWS 95�, press the <F8>.
2. You should be taken to a screen containing a menu of �Boot Options�.
   If the menu does not appear, and you see the color �Windows95� screen quickly press <Ctrl+Alt+Delete> to start over.
3. When the Menu screen appears, select option #5 �Command Prompt Only�.
   
4. When the PC shows the �C prompt� at the bottom of the screen (C:\>) type the following commands:
   cd dbview and press <Enter>.
   
5. The prompt should change to �C:\DBVIEW\>�
   type dbv advent.set -tsr and press <Enter>.
   
6. DoubleView should load and proceed to the blue screen.
   If you don�t see a login message, press <Enter> once or twice.
   

1. Kill the current iolan processes.
2. Cycle the power on the iolan server.
3. Run /etc/rc2.d/S99iolan. If this is not executable, run the command 'sh /etc/rc2.d/S99iolan'. This will restart all the relavent iolan processes.

ADP Printer Support Policy

Virtually all printers sold by ADP are covered under monthly maintenance for the life of the printer. So, once a determination is made that a problem experienced by the customer is NOT software, direct the customer to report the matter to ADP support. ADP will usually send out a replacement printer immediately. ADP is also their source for routine cleaning and other upkeep of the printers as this is also covered in their maintenance contract.

If an issue turns out to be a software problem (involving Advent software) or a request to buy ribbons, we will still handle those issues ourselves.

1. Log onto the system as �asam�.
2. Select item #2 �System Admin�
3. Select item #6 �System Shell�
4. At the �#� prompt, type �ltmenu� and press <Enter> twice.
5. Select <M> for Master Backup from the Lone-Tar Menu and press <Enter>.
6. If asked, do not exclude any files or directories.
7. Label and insert a tape into the server�s tape drive and press enter to continue.
8. The backup will proceed. When finished, exit from the Lone Tar menu by typing �Q� and pressing <Enter>.
9. Type the word �exit� to leave the System Shell to return to the asam menu.

Keywords

Print reports

Scope

From the reports menu select:

Symptoms

Can�t Print To A File

Cause

Errors -Error Return from Report, Segmentation violation-

Workaround

N/A

Solution

Make sure you have correct permissions in the directory and the file you will write to. Here is an example of how to change the permissions:

chmod 0777 directory_name

chmod 0777 filename

The above error (in the �Errors� description) may return if permissions are not correct.
Verify that the path and file name are correct.

Example:
/advent/share/test.txt (most common path used in Advent)

NOTE: You must specify a file name with the path!!! If you do not, you may receive the same error in the �Errors� description above.

If you get an error message �run-time error �30014� : invalid column width value� when you try to log on to ServiceIT, it means a value in your registry has been set incorrectly. You must modify the appropriate entry in your registry.

1. Open Regedit.
2. Expand HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE.
3. Expand �Software�.
4. Expand �PHD�.
5. Expand �PHD�.
6. Delete the entry �InboxFieldwidth� by selecting it, then pressing <Delete>.
7. Close Regedit (which saves your Registry updates) and restart ServiceIT.

1. To remotely shut down a server and have it reboot :

   shutdown -g0 -y -i6

Keywords

mixed up jumbled up

Scope

Third party terminal emulation software

Symptoms

Portions of the Advent screen are in the wrong areas.

Cause

In General setup A there is an option called wraparound. Options are "ON" or "OFF". This causes the screen to wraparound to the next line making it look disjointed and abnormal.

Workaround

No workaround is necessary

Solution

Have the user open up doubleview and once they get to a bluescreen with login have them hold down <ALT> and press the <S> KEY to enter the setup utility. Once there, page down one time to General setup "A". Whatever the wraparound is set it to the opposite, i.e. if it's "ON" set to "OFF", if its "OFF" set to "ON", then hit <F3> to save and hit <ESC> to exit back to login screen. Have the user login and check if everything is normal.

Lone-tar generates its own technical support request form which just happens to have the failure code and possibly the reason it failed. it will also tell which file it failed on if a corrupt or illegal file was at fault. This file is located in the directory /usr/lone-tar and is called tss.out, just vi that file and everything is there.

Keywords

slow, sluggish

Scope

DOS version

Symptoms

bluebook is working slow

Cause

Customer�s Description: �blue book is slow.� �Its slow and takes forever.� �Blue book is not working.�

Workaround

N/A

Solution

Contact the system administrator at the dealer, failing that contact the most qualified person that can affect the solution. Have him or her go to the server room where the Advent console is located. Once there, he or she must start a DOS session on an alternate log in session at the console.

Procedure:

1. At the console, have the user or administrator hold down the <ctrl>+<alt> keys at the same time and press ONE of the function keys <F-3> through <F-12>. For example use the <F-8> key.
2. Once the log-in appears have the user log-in as �kelley� with no password required.
3. If this does not work, Contact the Advent Help Desk and request that the �kelley� Login be added to the system. Verify that the prompt has now changed to a dos prompt.
4. Switch back to the default log-in screen by pressing and holding down the <ctrl>+<alt> keys while pressing the <F-1> key.
5. Run Bluebook at any terminal and verify that it is indeed running faster.

Keywords

PC WinLink, Advscan, Palm Pilot, Barcode Scanner, SPT Symbol Scanner, HotSync, vehicle Download, Advscan Conduit

Scope

?

Symptoms

?

Cause

The "Can't get ip address" error message is a system level error. This is caused only if the Unix server does not have an IP number assigned to it.

Workaround

?

Solution

Assign an IP address to the Unix server.

Keywords

PC WinLink, Advscan, Palm Pilot, Barcode Scanner, SPT Symbol Scanner, HotSync, vehicle Download, Advscan Conduit

Scope

?

Symptoms

?

Cause

The "BeginXMLProcedures: Failed to process MEL string" error message is displayed from the Advscan conduit when the received MEL document from Advent is invalid. This does not necessarily mean that Advent sent the Advscan conduit an invalid MEL document. Most likely the MEL document was corrupted on the transfer through the network causing the Advscan conduit to read the MEL document as invalid.

Workaround

?

Solution

Try using a different Ethernet port to communicate on between PC Win Link and Advent. The default port is 6111. Valid ports are from 1024 to 49151. For further instruction on setting the Ethernet port, see the Solution to "Connect() error address $IP" .

Keywords

Advscan, PC WinLink, Vehicle Scan, Download Vehicles, Palm, Symbol, HotSync, Barcode Scanner

Scope

?

Symptoms

?

Cause

The "Connect() error address $IP" error message ( where $IP is the internet protocol address of the computer ) occurs when the user tries to perform a vehicle download. From the Download Vehicles Scanner menu, the user presses the Enter key which tells Advent to initiate a connection to PC Win Link. If the connection fails, this error "Connect() error address $IP" will display on the bottom left screen of Advent.

Workaround

?

Solution

Confirm that the PC Win Link Ethernet port and Advent Ethernet port matches. The PC Win Link Ethernet port is located in the Communications Properties tab in PC Win Link. The Advent Ethernet port is located in the Win Link Server Communication Properties from System Services. Also, be sure that the Station ID name is entered in the /etc/hosts file in the Unix system.

Keywords

PC WinLink, Advscan, Palm Pilot, Barcode Scanner, SPT Symbol Scanner, HotSync, vehicle Download, Advscan Conduit

Scope

?

Symptoms

?

Cause

The "Signal Timeout" error message occurs if the user does not perform the vehicle download within 60 seconds from the "Please press Hot Sync on the Palm..." screen.

Workaround

?

Solution

Reinitiate the download process.

Keywords

?

Scope

?

Symptoms

?

Cause

The "Could not set environment variables" error message is displayed from PC Win Link on startup only if a communications error has occurred when trying to listen on the specified Ethernet port. Sometimes, especially on Windows 2000 and XP, the default port 6111 may be used by the system or another windows program.

Workaround

?

Solution

Try using a different Ethernet port to communicate on between PC Win Link and Advent. The default port is 6111. Valid ports are from 1024 to 49151. For further instruction on setting the Ethernet port, see the Solution to "Connect() error address $IP" .

Keywords

PC WinLink, Advscan, Palm Pilot, Barcode Scanner, SPT Symbol Scanner, HotSync, vehicle Download, Advscan Conduit

Scope

?

Symptoms

?

Cause

The "Timed out trying to receive locations" error message is displayed from the Advscan conduit when a communications error has occurred on the network.

Workaround

?

Solution

Try using a different Ethernet port to communicate on between PC Win Link and Advent. The default port is 6111. Valid ports are from 1024 to 49151. For further instruction on setting the Ethernet port, see the Solution to "Connect() error address $IP" .

Keywords

PC WinLink, Advscan, Palm Pilot, Barcode Scanner, SPT Symbol Scanner, HotSync, vehicle Download, Advscan Conduit

Scope

?

Symptoms

?

Cause

The "Could not set communication properties" error message is displayed from PC Win Link on startup or from clicking the Set Communications Properties only if a communications error has occurred when trying to listen on the specified Ethernet port. Sometimes, especially on Windows 2000 and XP, the default port 6111 may be used by the system or another windows program.

Workaround

?

Solution

Try using a different Ethernet port to communicate on between PC Win Link and Advent. The default port is 6111. Valid ports are from 1024 to 49151. For further instruction on setting the Ethernet port, see the Solution to "Connect() error address $IP" .