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Repair Damaged QuickBooks Files with the QuickBooks Company File Diagnostic Tool

14 years ago
22 Comments

If there is damaged data in your QuickBooks company file it can be difficult (or expensive) to find a remedy. If you can’t open your company file, Intuit has released the QuickBooks Company File Diagnostic Tool, a free program that you may find helpful.

This tool can be used to detect (and hopefully resolve) a variety of errors that can be caused by damage to your QuickBooks company file, including the 6130 error. This can be downloaded from the Intuit support web site, and it will work with QuickBooks 2006 and later. Note that it will only work with your company (QBW) file, not with backup (QBB), portable (QBM) or accountant’s copies (QBA).

The only major caution I have for you at this time is that you need to run this diagnostic tool on the same computer that has the company file. Either install it on that computer, or move a copy to your local computer. Don’t run this on a remote server or across the network.

Make sure you don’t have a copy of QuickBooks running at the time. Pick a time when you do NOT have anyone else accessing the file. Note that it might take a long time to run if you have a large file – although I was happy with the speed in my trial run.

Run the tool, use the browse button to locate your company file, then click diagnose/repair.

image The first thing that the program does is to make a backup copy of your company file. This is a very good thing, because sometimes “repairs” to a company file can create new problems.

As the program analyzes your file it will keep you up to date as to the progress.

image I recommend that  you click the link to find out where it has stored the backup file, so that you can find it if you need it. I would have preferred that they just told me on the screen where it was, or let me pick a location.

Does it work? Well, I’ll assume so. I’ve talked to a number of people who have used it with success. Unfortunately, I don’t have a file here that has damage that I can use to test this (if anyone has one that they would like to provide to me, I would love to get one so that I can test various repair options…).

If there are errors you can click on the view log file button to see an error log. In addition, if you are working with Intuit tech support and you have a tech support case ID from them, you can click the submit log button to send the log file to Intuit – the program will as you for your case ID.

This is another in a series of support tools that Intuit is providing to us, for no charge, to help diagnose and resolve problems with the QuickBooks database. A year ago I talked about the QuickBooks Multiuser Network Diagnostic Tool, which can be used to help resolve network issues with your QuickBooks data (including H202, H505 or 6000 series errors).

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22 Comments

  • Charlie – as always you are ‘right on top of things’. Intuit just officially released the new tool, that so many of us have been crying for (for years), just today and here you are with a prompt review (at least a preliminary review) even though you have not yet give it a thorough testing with a error-filled file. Don’t worry, I have several pre-fix copies of files that have been repaired over the past few years ‘the old fashion’ way upon which I can give the new tool a workout.

    I do wish the Intuit website gave a ‘complete’ list of the error codes the tool was designed to fix and upon which the new tool should be used, but with the exception of the -6130,0 error listed, they have failed to provide this kind of ‘critical’ information.

    Once again, thanks for always being on-top-of the game and giving us your review and opinions.

    William “Bill” Murphy

  • Charlie,

    Tks for the great tip.

    Just one question. Does “QuickBooks Company File Diagnostic Tool” work with the Australian version of QB? Unfortunately I do not have any samples of problem files to send to you for testing. Tks.

    • VS Lingam: I don’t know if it will, and I’d be a bit nervous about relying on it. You should talk to the Australian developers about this.

      On one hand, the Australian version shares it’s roots with the US version.

      On the other hand, there are significant differences betwee the US and Australian versions, and they are maintained (as I understand it) by different companies.

      I wouldn’t want to rely on it myself in your situation.

  • Charlie,

    Thank you for the reply.

    I, and many users here in Singapore, have been frustrated with the support provided by the Australian folks. Reported bugs go unaddressed. They hardly respond to queries.

    The only reason why we use Aus version is because it supports GST (or VAT). No other country version of QB is sold here (or in Malaysia) in retail stores. Do you know of any plans for the US version of QB to support GST/VAT?

    Notwithstanding the above, I still rely on your website for a lot of tips and useful info on using QB. Thank you for your easy-to-understand website.

  • VS Lingam: Take a look at the Canadian version. I don’t know if it will do what you want, but it is much closer to the US code than the Australian code. From a programming standpoint, I find the Canadian and US versions the same (with a few variances) while the Australian version has lots of omissions that create problems for addon products…

  • We run QB POS in conjunction with QB. When we bought it in 12/2006 it was pretty buggy and over the 1st Q of 2007 we were constantly on the phone with India. Each fix made it worse and as we were about to throw it overboard, all the big problems were fixed. The remaining artifct is this jumble of two transactions that were somehow conjoined. What could we use to fix this?

    Here’s the journal entry from 3-31-07 that I see everyday.

    Read receipt #3815 created on 3/31/2007 for $41.96.
    Receipt #3815 created on 3/31/2007 has unbalanced payment.
    Receipt #3815 created on 3/31/2007 is skipped from processing.

    Any ideas?

    Eugene Monnig

  • Im having the same problem as Eugene with one particular receipt that cannot be exchanged from point of sale to financial. I check it and realized that the total receipt was 39.53, the amount tendered was 50.00 and the change given was 8.97. Ofcourse, the change given was supposed to be 10.47, which made the figure off by 1.50. Why did quickbooks calculate the change given incorrectly, or is it a mistake by the cashier? How can this be fixed? I need this receipt to transfer to financials correctly and as soon as possible. This also needs to be avoided in the future. HELP PLEASE!!

  • Hi,

    Company file diagnostics tool is effective is quickbooks data is minor damages. If .qbw file severely damaged then you have to use stellar phoenix quickbooks repair software (The only software to repair corrupt quickbooks files).

  • There are quite a few services available that can repair a QuickBooks company file, plus a number of ways to create a new file that is not corrupted.

    Grate site Thanks for sharing
    keep it up. Looking forward for it as well. However, looking good and

    • Of course you would. That is to be expected from any service or site that offers repairs of QB files. As far as qbornotqb.com, that is an absolutely wonderful service by a top flight company that I have referred many people to, and all have been completely happy.

  • A lot of great info here, this info should help most Quickbooks users who suffer some minor corruption. I would like to add that I advise anyone seeking to repair their own data, before you do anything first make a copy of the database (.qbw) and the Transaction log (.tlg) and place those files on an external storage site. Just in case your attempts at repair fail you can always get back to square one. Also if you seek outside help these are usually the requested files.

    In any event, good luck with your repair and remember back up, back up, back up we can’t stress this enough!

    Justin
    QuickbooksDataRepair.com