[LM_NET] HIT: Athena Problems (the end is near) Pt. 2

[Shonda Brisco <sbrisco@GMAIL.COM>]

Here are your suggestions to help solve my Athena problems:

*******************************************************************

I don't know if this applies at all, because my system is Winnebago
Spectrum instead of Athena.
However, a couple of years ago I experienced a similar problem, and
when I called Tech Support they walked me through a procedure called
"System rebuild" or something like that.  (It's been long enough that
I can't remember exactly, but you get the idea!)  Basically what it
does is allow the software to "heal" itself by performing some
internal diagnostic procedures.
I set it to run one afternoon before I left and went home and left it
going, because they warned me it would be time consuming.  However, it
worked!  I have had no more problems!
I don't know if your system has a comparable function or not, but it
might be worth checking into.
Have you had your district's technology people check into it?  They
might have some "secret knowledge" that no one else has!
Good luck!  I know how frustrating that can be!
**************************************************************************
We don't have Athena but we do have Spectrum and your problem sounds
familiar.  If I understand correctly, you can't scan the barcode, but it
looks correct in the system.  Is that the complete barcode or the core
barcode?  Can you type in the barcode and pull up the book?  Have you
tried scanning a barcode giving you problems in a DOS screen or a text
editor screen to see if it looks as it should?  Do your barcodes have
check digits?  If so, do the ones not scanning correctly all have
something in common, like the same ending check digit? (This is a
problem we encountered with Spectrum and had to come up with a
workaround for a bug).  Are the barcodes causing problems the same as
the barcodes that are OK? For example, if you use code 3 of 9 are your
barcodes Mod 10 and the problem ones Mod 43?  These questions are the
ones that come to mind long distance.  It is hard to diagnose without
actually seeing the problem happen.  Good luck.

**********************************************************************
My district of thirty campuses uses the Follett system but we have had
similar problems in the past.  The usual remedy for us was to reindex
and rebuild the MARC databases for whichever campus was having the
problem.  (We don't have a union catalog, but we run all databases
separately from a central server.)  Is it possible to do this with
Athena?
********************************************************
RE: your Athena barcode problems
If it won't even recognize the barcode when you type it in, then that
would eliminate scanner or barcode reading probems.
Have you recently upgraded to Vista or a different circulation
station? Have you tried doing circulation from a different computer?
Is your circulation station plugged into a network switch that could
possibly be dying? It seems like you have got a communication problem
but, of course, I don't know Athena and you may have a corrupted
database or something.
*********************************************************
Sorry you are having problems.  When we had problems like this Athena had us
upload our collection to them so that they could work on the problem.  I'd
call and request this service.  We could not check books out or in, or
catalog on the program....we just did it on paper if a student had to have a
book for a research assignment, or if a teacher needed items...it worked out
OK once we had Athena back up & running.
******************************************************
The problem MAY not be with Athena, but with any system (XP) updates
or conflicts with others which are "spilling" over into Athena. You
might try doing a "system restore" (the system auto backs up random
points as it operates), and you could go to the last "good" system
operation you had which is probably before Christmas. The link is in
the "system tools" folder in the "accessories" folder when you use the
"Start" button on your task bar and select "Programs." This is just an
idea. Windows indicates that if you restore your system to a
previously working "good" time, you will not affect any of your
data/program files.
    No guarantees, but it might be worth a try. At least, if it
doesn't work, you'll know that the problem is coming from an
application program rather than from something within the system.
*****************************************************************
We had this problem on one campus and Athena sent us a new checkin.exe
utility and our tech department did what they do and now things seem to
be working well.
When you said you installed patches, were they Athena patches?
Anyway, sorry to hear this. I guess when Follett bought out Athena that
was to create a new large group of buyers of there other products.
***************************************************************
Shonda, you may have already done this, but have you tried to do a
"check collection -full check"?  We used to use Athena here and had
really weird glitches that made no sense and for most of ours, this
simple procedure really helped.  I'm pretty sure you've probably
already done this, but just in case I thought I'd email.  BTW, we have
upgraded to Destiny Follett and gotten rid of Athena.
*********************************************************************
One of the ways I check scanners is to scan barcodes into notepad or
wordpad. If I can see that the barcodes are scanning correctly there I know
that the scanner is working correctly. If you see issues with the scans
while scanning in wordpad or notepad then the problem is the scanner. I do
not know how to troubleshoot Athena as I have not used that system.
*******************************************************************
I just read your message from Friday so you've probably already
moved on, BUT I have to tell you that I had a problem with one (1) title
a few years ago. Could not check it in, could not check it out, could
not delete.  It was driving me CRAZY.   I don't remember how I
determined what the the problem was but did finally deduce that while I
had left the "equipment collection' open when a student aide came in and
checked a book in 'equipment collection'.  The system seemed to allow
the check-in but it didn't really check it in and the file was somehow
corrupted.  I could change the record but not the status which continued
to show checked out.
I finally went in, gave it a bogus barcode number and then changed the
description to say "Lost", and reentered it as another marc record with
a different barcode.  Athena support tried everything to help, but they
were unable to help.  I know you can't do that to all your problems but
wanted you to know you're not alone and you're not crazy.....yet.
**********************************************************************
If you open notepad - scan a barcode what happens?
Is your scanner part of the keyboard or a USB device?
In Plano it is part of the keyboard connection which means it has
nothing really to do with the software just connections and hardware.
Therefore we can see what the scanner is reading when we open notepad,
scan a barcode and see the results.
Your barcode reader may need to be reconfigured based on the type of
barcodes you are using.
In Athena do you know what it "thinks" you are inputing for the
barcode?  Is it appending or prefixing it with anything like a period
or???  That I would assume would be a system change in settings.
Just a couple of things to look for.

*************************************************************************
Our middel school had a similiar problem and the Athena support sent a
utility that our tech ppl had to install.
If you are still paying for support they should be able to help you.
**************************************************************************
You may want to perform the Circulation Check.  Choose Full check
this usually cleans up some issues.  Next, go to the Circulation
module and locate the Collection Check.  Also perform the Full check.
Schedule these when you have up to 45 mins. of freedom from checkouts
or use.  Do not interrupt or stop the checks.  The Collection Check
will take the longest depending on your collection size.  This may not
fix you problem but it will eliminate database errors as a cause.
This could explain some of the "other" issues where changing or adding
field info fixes the problem.  It's good to run these two checks once
a month as standard housekeeping.  Now check some of your problem
children and see if they are corrected.
       I believe you are correct with leading zero barcodes and those should
be changed.  We initially setup 5 buildings and used an eight digit
barcode.  The first 4 digits determine building in the event we move
to a union catalog or district system.
       Does your admin system run from a local computer or from a server?
We discovered our HS server was inoperable but sucessfully migrated
the files to the local admin station.
***********************************************************************
I'm running into the same situation. I don't have a scanner, so I type
in the barcode number. My "solution" is to check the book out as an
uncataloged item, and then reenter it when it comes back.
One possible clue is that when I do a full check the system quits before
it finishes. The error message says something about the disk being full.
Since the disk in question is many GB, and is actually less than 10%
full, I'm not convinced that is the real issue.
The other librarian and I will be deciding next week on our replacement
for Athena.
*********************************************************
I am a first year librarian in a 1A district.  And I am experiencing
the same problems.  But I can come back 10 minutes later and enter the
barcode numbers manually to check it out to a student and it will work
just fine.  ( No re-boot or any change in between.)  None of the books
are new that this is happening with - I can truly see no connection
between any of the various barcodes scanned.  Is Athena just tired and
ready to be buried or possessed?
*************************************************************
Yes, we've run a collection check (once in December and then again
when we started having more problems this week).  It just seems to be
getting worse...I'm afraid the ol' gal is dying!
**********************************************************
Have you recently made any changes in regards to Patron bar code
numbers?  We had something similar happen when we decided to change
patron bar code numbers to the student's school ID number.  I do not
understand how it happened but somewhere in Athena it knew to consider
bar code  numbers of a certain length to be patrons and another length
to be items.  When we scanned an item it would say it was not cataloged,
even though we knew it was -- and we had the same number of titles on a
full check.  You might look into this avenue of thought: patron id
numbers and item barcode numbers.
*******************************************************
I've encountered the same problem.  I find the quick fix is to close out
the program and start it up again.  It usually works the second time around.
It is very strange because I've used Athena for many many years and have not
had this problem until recently.
***************************************************************
I have found that when the item comes up "not in the collection" it
has accidentally been deleted....the only way to fix this is to put it
in the collection again with Zmarc using the barcode that is on the
book....
*************************************************

~Shonda
-- 
Shonda Brisco, MLIS
District Librarian
Peaster ISD
Weatherford, TX 76086

Currently reading:  "Easy" by Kerry Cohen Hoffmann"

Digital Bookends wiki / blog:
http://digitalbookends.pbwiki.com
http://shonda.edublogs.org/
sbrisco@gmail.com

Resources for Texas School Librarians:
http://txschoollibrarians.ning.com/
http://txschoollibrarians.wikispaces.com/

"Digital Resources" columnist
School Library Journal

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