Windows 7 really slow with Crystal Report

rando1000 · 17 Dec 2009

I recently replaced a computer in our small office running windows xp with a new one running windows 7. The xp machine was an old P4 with 512 mb of DDR RAM. The new machine is an Athlon 64 with 1 gb of DDR2 RAM. So, in general, much faster machine.

BUT...we have a proprietary piece of software that runs Crystal Reports from a gui and queries a SQL server. For some reason, in Windows 7, I get the spinning blue wheel for about 40 seconds before it pops up the results of the report to the screen (took about 3 seconds on the old P4 in XP). If the same report is sent directly to the printer, however, it comes out almost instantly. I plan on contacting the software vendor, but I was curious if anyone has a suggestion of what might be making this take so long, or even how I could find out.

whs · 17 Dec 2009

1GB for Win7 is really pushing it. Put at least another Gig in - better even 2 additional GBs. You cannot compare the XP appliance with a modern system. Think of all the things that Win7 does automatically that you had to do by hand on XP.

rando1000 · 18 Dec 2009

My mistake. The system's running 2 gb of ram. Now, the computer's not doing anything else, at all really, except running basic office applications. It's not using up even a substantial portion of 2 gb of ram when this happens. So, I don't think it's ram related.

TimStitt · 18 Dec 2009

Hi rando1000,

Which version of Crystal Reports are you using and which version of SQL? Also is the SQL database on the WIN7 box or separate?

It interesting that the report comes out quicker direct, this was often the case with versions 6 & 7 of Crystal.

I've got no answers yet, but I'm hoping we can put together some theories.

EDIT - I just re-read the SQL server is separate.

TimStitt · 18 Dec 2009

Some other thoughts: Your scenario makes me think that the response is slower from the SQL Server. So also look at what has changed that could cause a higher bandwidth usage than you had previously.

e.g 1 Your program installed locally but is running from a shortcut that goes direct to an *.exe of the program on the SQL server (you may laugh, but this is common in installations), so the program EXE is running over the network.

e.g. 2 A problem with IPv6 - drop back to IPv4 and see if it works better.

e.g. 3 DNS resolution. When configuring an app with an SQL database, I have often received better results when using the IPADDRESS of the SQL server instead of the servers name.

That's all I can think of. Good luck.

zigzag3143 · 18 Dec 2009

rando1000 said:

I recently replaced a computer in our small office running windows xp with a new one running windows 7. The xp machine was an old P4 with 512 mb of DDR RAM. The new machine is an Athlon 64 with 1 gb of DDR2 RAM. So, in general, much faster machine.

BUT...we have a proprietary piece of software that runs Crystal Reports from a gui and queries a SQL server. For some reason, in Windows 7, I get the spinning blue wheel for about 40 seconds before it pops up the results of the report to the screen (took about 3 seconds on the old P4 in XP). If the same report is sent directly to the printer, however, it comes out almost instantly. I plan on contacting the software vendor, but I was curious if anyone has a suggestion of what might be making this take so long, or even how I could find out.

Hi and welcome

Crystal reports brings back some memories. Are you running workgroup or homegroup? IPv6, or IPv4?

im thinking dns/dhcp.

Ken J+

rando1000 · 18 Dec 2009

Thanks all. In answer, it's Crystal Reports 11, SQL Server 2000, the Server is on a separate computer. None of the XP machines on the network experience the problem, so I'm pretty sure it's not a bandwidth issue. It could well be an IPv6 issue; I hadn't thought of that. My nightmarish experience with IPv6 and my Linux e-mail server should have tipped me off. I'll try disabling that and see what happens.

TimStitt · 19 Dec 2009

Great! let us know how you go with IPv6. Also check if it's being virus scanned, maybe add an exception for the default Crystal report folder and (if you can safely) incoming SQL connections.

rando1000 · 23 Dec 2009

Okay, finally had a chance to try disabling IPv6 following this method: Simple Way to Disable IPv6 in Windows Vista. No luck there. To zig-zag; cant's be dhcp - the network is all hard coded ip addresses. Not sure about dns.

TimStitt · 23 Dec 2009

rando1000 said:

Okay, finally had a chance to try disabling IPv6 following this method: Simple Way to Disable IPv6 in Windows Vista. No luck there. To zig-zag; cant's be dhcp - the network is all hard coded ip addresses. Not sure about dns.

I wish we had something more concrete.

Hmm.. what about DNS?
- You could always add an entry to the hosts file on the Win7 box for the SQL server
- Also add the dns suffix manually to the win7 box by hitting the MORE button on the computer name/domain screen.

I'm just trying to think of anything that could speed it up, even a millisecond or too.

If neither works, you could always remove them.

Other thoughts to help us narrow this down

On the application, check where the default temp file or report repository is. If the Win box is creating a report and saving it on a network location, this will slow things down. Also if it is not storing the *.rpt files (the blank coded reports) locally it would be slow.

Ping -t test to the SQL server from the Win 7 to see if it is slower or drops packets.

MS Excel test - open excel and do a long query to the SQL database via ODBC, verify the same query on another machine. If the Win7 box is slower then the problem is unlikely to be application related.

Good luck and Merry Xmas