Another reinstallation question

[Julie]

As I said earlier, I put in a new hard drive this summer. I restored my '06 and '07 returns at that time. Now I need to restore a 2004 return (for reference), but the program insists that it can't restore any of the files because they were made in a different version of ATX. Any suggestions?

[JohnH]

Could it be the operating system?

I'm guessing ATX 2004 won't run efficiently (if at all) on XP or Vista.

[PapaJoe]

I've got 2003 through 2007 running on my XP machine. You aren't trying to restore a 2004 return using the 2006 or 2007 program are you? You need the 2004 program to restore a 2004 return.

[kcjenkins]

Be sure you are looking at the right directory, Julie. Also, if you have a pdf copy of the return, you could look at that without the program at all, if you just need it for reference. And if you don't have pdf files, you should start saving them on all clients.

[Mel in Hawaii]

My guess is that she updated her 2004 program on the old computer over the internet. Then you reinstalled using a not so final 2004 CD, so the version number is less than what saved the return. But this is a guess.

[Julie]

I think that Mel's answer is the correct one.

Mel: Does this mean I have to just keep digging till I find a final 2004 disk? I'm not sure whether I have one. Do you know the final version number, so I can at least check that? Can I still get updates on line?

BTW...before the reinstall, I had all years of ATX running on my XP computer, dating back to 1997. All worked fine.

And although I'm sure I made pdfs, I'm not at all sure I can find the disk I burned them to.

My guess is that she updated her 2004 program on the old computer over the internet. Then you reinstalled using a not so final 2004 CD, so the version number is less than what saved the return. But this is a guess.

[Mel in Hawaii]

Julie, to be honest, I haven't worked for ATX since February 3, 1999. I don't know the latest version of any year anymore, nor if they have maintained the servers to allow updates on old programs.

I bet that someone here could look at their 2004 and tell you if they have a later version than you do. Myself, I don't think I have the 2004 version and was just thinking about the probable cause. If we could find WT around, he would know for sure.

Do you have a full backup of the old hard drive? You could restore the old 2004 program directory to an alternate location and look at the version numbers to compare against your currently installed version. There used to be an *.INI file inside that directory that listed the version information as one of the variables. It's just a text file, so you could open it and take a look as long as you didn't change the file (don't save when exiting). If I remember correctly (off the top of my head) there was a variable called CD Date or something similar to that. It probably got changed with later versions of the software, but somewhere in there you should find the version information.

[Don in Upstate NY]

I bet that someone here could look at their 2004 and tell you if they have a later version than you do. Myself, I don't think I have the 2004 version and was just thinking about the probable cause. If we could find WT around, he would know for sure. ... There used to be an *.INI file inside that directory that listed the version information as one of the variables. It's just a text file, so you could open it and take a look as long as you didn't change the file (don't save when exiting). If I remember correctly (off the top of my head) there was a variable called CD Date or something similar to that. It probably got changed with later versions of the software, but somewhere in there you should find the version information.

For what it's worth, my 2004 version of MAX shows Version 2004.48.3 on the "About Max" screen. The CDDATE shows 20050322, which is the value of CDDATE and RELEASE in the Atx2004.ini file. My physical CD shows a Release of 4.1.2005.

All of which means I don't have the latest version either! (But MAX was not my primary program in 2004.)

[Randall]

For what it's worth, my 2004 version of MAX shows Version 2004.48.3 on the "About Max" screen. The CDDATE shows 20050322, which is the value of CDDATE and RELEASE in the Atx2004.ini file. My physical CD shows a Release of 4.1.2005.

All of which means I don't have the latest version either! (But MAX was not my primary program in 2004.)

My 2004 shows Release 20051108, Program Version 2004.55.37, says it's updated from the Web, Build 4590.

My CD says 2004 Archive Release.

I tend to update from each CD when received, then immediately update from the web. Even though they say the CD won't overwrite anything newer from the web, I still update from the web right after updating from the CD.

[Julie]

Mine is the same as Randall's. No luck there, I guess.

Thought: since I still have my old hard drive (not reformatted yet) can I restore the returns somehow from the program folder if the backup is corrupted?