Project 2002 file won't open.

[ProjectAnalyst]

A project that has been used for months suddenly will not open.
It appears to load the tasks, then fails to load resources.

The PM has been adding local resources without telling me. I'm afraid there
is a conflict with the global resource pool.

Interestingly, the project will open fine through Web Access, and uses a
collection called "local resources" to show time for the resources the PM
created.

I am the coordinator and not allowed to access the servers (that is done by
a 3rd party) so I have limited diagnostic capability. I have recently made
certain that I have the latest Office and Windows patches.

Any ideas how I can open this project? Or restore it? Thanks.

 

[Gary L. Chefetz [MVP]]

Not without server access. Sorry.

 

[ProjectAnalyst]

If I can recommend a strategy to the SQL Server DBA team,
they will follow it. I am an MCDBA on 7.0 and 2000, so I'd be
very interested if you have any suggestions from the server side.

Thanks for answering. And thanks for your book--it's been helpful.

 

[Gary L. Chefetz [MVP]]

PA:

You can try opening it from a recently restored backup. You can use the
Project Server single project restore tool:

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/...77-4d8e-4ed9-91f4-7b4a2bc5bce8&DisplayLang=en

 

[ProjectAnalyst]

Thanks. Looking at the documentation, I see this:

Note The restorep.exe utility will not work with a Project Server 2002
database.

I'm hoping that phrase is intended to mean that system databases are not
recoverable this way, rather than ALL 2002 databases, but it reads like the
tool is not useful at all for 2002 projects....

 

[Gary L. Chefetz [MVP]]

PA:

That is a 2003 tool, not enough coffee this morning. Use a simple ODBC
connection to a restored database. Upgrade the system for sanity's sake.

 

[ProjectAnalyst]

I've been promised that once I have 100% participation from resources we will
upgrade.

I've just been told we only keep database backups from this server for 7
days, which means we probably only have the corrupted version of the database
to restore. A fine backup policy, to be sure.

Even though I'm an MCDBA, I've had very little exposure to the Project
Server architecture on SQL Server. I assume that all the project data is
spread out through one database, so restoring a 7 day old backup hardly seems
worthwhile. Do you agree?

Thanks for your help. I am trying to arrange for us to contact Microsoft
directly for assistance, hopefully they still have someone there who
remembers Project 2002.

 

[Gary L. Chefetz [MVP]]

If you can still view a good version of the plan in PWA, you can copy the
task information from the display grid using cut and paste. The answer to
your new question is no, not all project related data is stored in the
Project Server database, as your WSS content is stored in a different
database.

Seven days and no archive? Tsk, tsk.

 

[ProjectAnalyst]

I have already finished most of the cut and paste option, hoping a more
elegant solution would present itself. I can't get the predecessor column to
show up in PWA, (even though the Gantt chart shows them) so the PM may have
to try and recreate a few months worth of relationships between tasks. I
won't be popular for providing that solution.

Thanks for your assistance.

 

[Gary L. Chefetz [MVP]]

You shouldn't take the blame for lack of proper platform support unless
you're the one who came up with the brilliant 7-day backup retention scheme.

 

[ProjectAnalyst]

I'm gonna quote you on that.

Can we even call 7 days a retention scheme?

I've been pushing for a permanent recovery plan, and the loss of this
project may finally convince budget makers that it's worth our time.

Thanks again.

 

[ProjectAnalyst]

After 2 hours with Microsoft we covered the following ground with no
resolution:
1. Updated Msadcs.dll on the server to match client
2. Tried to insert corrupt file into a new project. Received an error. (The
"category" field in Project1 has a value list that restricts the field to
only those items in the list).
3. Attempted to clear Project buffer through SQL Server Enterprise Manager.
4. Attempted to adjust Enterprise Outline Codes (fix the aforementioned
"category" field)
5. Finally, sent database to Microsoft for review.

Stay tuned for further updates...

 

[ProjectAnalyst]

In the end, Microsoft was able to extract the data into an .mpp file. From
there, I had to delete all the resources, add enterprise resources, and then
manually type in their time.

Not a very elegant solution, but the project is back up and running again.
Microsoft sites probable database corruption due to frequent remote access.
This remote access frequently would not log the user off at the end and I
would have to check their project back in the next day.