R39.17/R39.21 Paycheck Corruption [Edited]

dalehawaii

@Jim_Harman and anyone else...

I was able to get back to a stable version:

This is what I did following a mise en place model:

1. Knowing that 38.30 is relatively stable, I downloaded it via the mondo patch at https://www.quicken.com/support/update-and-patch-20182019-release-quicken-windows-subscription-product. Have that ready to go. 
2. Find a past backup file that wasn't automatically corrupted by 39.XX (and backed up by mistake). For me that was a backup from 3/4 or 3/4. If you don't have that file, look for a file that is automatically saved when you perform an upgrade such as in the Quicken>BACKUP folder...It should be listed as something like "filename-R-38.30-2022-03-dd.QDF-backup". Note where that's located. 
3. Go to the downloaded file in #1 and execute it.
4. Open Quicken and go to File>Restore a Backup File and choose the file from #2 to restore. 
5. Check your past paychecks to confirm they aren't corrupted. If they're okay, you should be good. If not, try a previous backup version, if available. On a side note, I use Microsoft OneDrive (though I pause its sync when running Quicken and turn it back on once I shut down Quicken to avoid corruption issues), and I was able to look at the version history of my backup files and grab the last version prior to this issue being introduced.  

Be careful about restoring backup files too many times, as I've seen the Quicken cloud lock users out...You might want to disconnect from the internet if you have to repeat step #4 multiple times until #5 is satisfactory. 

FYI, just saw a new update come down via Quicken this morning 3/12...Not sure if I should even download it. 

Hope this helps...

3/12/2022 1142 PST
Additional Update 

I was able to go to the latest version (39.23). I spent about 30 minutes inspecting my balances (Net Worth vs Ending Balance, which were corrupted by 39.17) and past paychecks, and they all appear to be fine. 

Note: I had stopped using Quicken Mobile/Web a while back, so the comment from @Chris_QPW further below about keeping this feature off seems reasonable to me.

John623

@dalehawaii Thanks. This is exactly what I did and was able to get everything corrected.

Jim_Harman

@dalehawaii
I also did essentially the same thing and will be staying at R38.30 until things settle down.

One note: after restoring the backup, your Reminders will be back to where they were as of the backup date. If you are using Bank or Quicken Bill Pay, be careful which ones you accept, so as not to send two payment instructions.

Chris_QPW

For what it is worth, I took the plunge, and installed R39.23, and it does seem to be OK.

Note I had already gone back to R38.30, and a backup from 3/4/2022 before I accepted the update this morning to R39.23.

Note that for me, I never had seen the corruption until I did Validate and Repair (with R39.17), which trashed the data file.

Once I updated to R39.23 I looked for problems with the paycheck reminder entries in the register and don't see any, and I have run Validate and Repair without any errors showing up.

Chris_QPW

Lloyd Smith said:

I upgraded to the new release 39.23 this morning, 3/12. Restored a data file from 3/3 which should be prior to 39.17. I still do not have any split level data from prior to November 2021. Submitted my files through Report A Problem. Am I missing something?

I suggest that you try the same thing with R38.30 using this procedure:
https://community.quicken.com/discussion/comment/20252688/#Comment_20252688

It is possible that your data file was corrupted before even 3/3/2022. If the above process doesn't work, that would be my guess.

Note that people that have been using Sync to Mobile/Web and even some others have been reporting problems with split transactions going missing for months if not years.  So, it is possible that some people's data files were corrupted even before R39.17.

Jim_Harman

@Chris_QPW
For you, does R39.23 also fix the issues with screens displayed by Quicken's web browser, such as the Investing > Allocations Rebalance Portfolio button and the LTP Change Assumptions?

One way to find issues caused by 39.17 and 39.21 is to compare the account balances in the Net Worth and Portfolio Value reports to the account registers and the Accounts bar. If your file has been corrupted, the report balances will be different from the register and Account Bar valances. Are the balances OK for you?

Chris_QPW

Jim_Harman said:

@Chris_QPW
For you, does R39.23 also fix the issues with screens displayed by Quicken's web browser, such as the Investing > Allocations Rebalance Portfolio button and the LTP Change Assumptions?

One way to find issues caused by 39.17 and 39.21 is to compare the account balances in the Net Worth and Portfolio Value reports to the account registers and the Accounts bar. If your file has been corrupted, the report balances will be different from the register and Account Bar valances. Are the balances OK for you?

Nope.  Still broken.

PhotoMike

I can confirm a similar experience to that of Lloyd Smith above. After 39.17/39.21 all monthly pension splits from 1/1/2005 to 11/1/2021 were damaged as reported by others. Updated to 39.23 this morning and restored data backup from the 38.30 update. Splits from 1/1/2005 to 12/1/2019 were fixed. The splits from 1/1/2020 thru 11/1/2021 now show zeros for all entries, which is different from the scrambled entries that were there previously. Not sure what to do now. At least only 23 entries are messed up now instead of over 200.

Chris_QPW

PhotoMike said:

I can confirm a similar experience to that of Lloyd Smith above. After 39.17/39.21 all monthly pension splits from 1/1/2005 to 11/1/2021 were damaged as reported by others. Updated to 39.23 this morning and restored data backup from the 38.30 update. Splits from 1/1/2005 to 12/1/2019 were fixed. The splits from 1/1/2020 thru 11/1/2021 now show zeros for all entries, which is different from the scrambled entries that were there previously. Not sure what to do now. At least only 23 entries are messed up now instead of over 200.

In that case I would suggest submitting a problem report with a sanitized data file.
And then going back to R38.30 EDIT: and of course, going back to a data file before the corruption started).

Also, if anyone is using Sync to Mobile/Web I suggest trying these things with it off.  Sync to Mobile/Web has been implicated in causing similar problems for months if not years.  This is little chance that the fixes they put in for the R39.17/R39.21 corruption has anything to do with this other corruption that Sync to Mobile/Web was causing.

PhotoMike

Is it possible/reliable to go backwards from R39.23 to R38.30 by simply applying the Mondo Patch, or must one uninstall Quicken, reinstall, and then apply the patch? Being a retired software manager, I'm skeptical about a simple backwards revision process. This question is probably covered elsewhere in the Community. I'll look.

Chris_QPW

PhotoMike said:

Is it possible/reliable to go backwards from R39.23 to R38.30 by simply applying the Mondo Patch, or must one uninstall Quicken, reinstall, and then apply the patch? Being a retired software manager, I'm skeptical about a simple backwards revision process. This question is probably covered elsewhere in the Community. I'll look.

Reverse patch works "most of the time", but not always.  In my opinion going from R39.23 to R38.30 will work, but you probably want to remove the C:\ProgramData\Quicken\Cache for the embedded web browser problem.

Here are a couple of posts that will help so you don't have to search.
https://community.quicken.com/discussion/7909968/revert-back-to-older-version

Chris_QPW

Chris_QPW said:

Jim_Harman said:

@Chris_QPW
For you, does R39.23 also fix the issues with screens displayed by Quicken's web browser, such as the Investing > Allocations Rebalance Portfolio button and the LTP Change Assumptions?

One way to find issues caused by 39.17 and 39.21 is to compare the account balances in the Net Worth and Portfolio Value reports to the account registers and the Accounts bar. If your file has been corrupted, the report balances will be different from the register and Account Bar valances. Are the balances OK for you?

Nope.  Still broken.

Update. I removed C:\ProgramData\Quicken\Cache, and it seems to be fine now.

miklk

I have also tested on 39.23 and all 39.xx problems are fixed for me.

Lloyd Smith

@dalehawaii
I followed your instructions above and restored to R38.30 then restored several backup files dating as far back as 2/28 but continue to find no split transactions of any type prior to 10/28/21. Any further suggestions?

kingmm01

When you restored to R38.30, did auto-update move it to a higher version? I had to disconnect the internet while installing and then turn auto-updates off

Lloyd Smith

@kingmm01
I did validate that my software was restored to R38.30. All split transaction information between 4/12/17 and 12/31/21 is gone.

adamberger

Just to wrap things up, I want to report that I waited to upgrade to R39.23. I then went to the backups sub-folder and grabbed the one whose filename started with Current-R38.29 (I had skipped R38.30), which was automatically created just before Quicken upgraded from R38.29 and was my last non-corrupt file. FYI, you can just copy this file up a directory and rename it to Current.QDF (the format is the same) rather than going through the Restore process on the menu.

From there, it was an arduous process to re-do every transaction I had done since that backup was taken. It was made a lot easier because I loaded my latest file on to another computer, which I could interact with on a second screen.

A few words about validation: I use it any time something wonky happens. When I had R39.17, it reported damaging thousands of records (forcing me to restore from the pre-validation backup). It did the same to old backups, when I was running from R39.17. Of course, the files were corrupted by this release, and validation only made it more obvious. When I switched to R39.23 and restored the same backup, not only did the transactions that always were bad now look good, but validate was now fine with the file. This was therefore proof that the software and my file were alright. I backed up and ran it several times as I was re-doing my transactions, and it was fine the whole time.

Thank you @Quicken Anja for taking this seriously and escalating. I have one piece of parting advice for you to pass on: The release notes say:
Version R39 R39.23 (Mar, 2022)
What’s Fixed
· Some paycheck splits were disappearing or causing crashes.
· Issues with data file creation and synchronization during some account migrations.

Nowhere does it tell users who may not do a validate and may not inspect their old records for inconsistencies that their data file has been corrupted. It doesn't tell them to see if they ever ran either of the two earlier releases (by checking filenames of automatic backups) and therefore need to stop now, take notes on what they will have to reproduce since their last pre R39.17 backup, and then restore that backup and re-enter those transactions. Without that guidance, each of these users will eventually discover the problem after some unknown amount of time, only after adding more and more records. Then, you will have to pray that they still have those backups, and tell them that they may have to re-enter months or years of transactions after they restore it, when it might have only been days or weeks if they had been told now. If that happens, and Quicken could have prevented it now, then the repercussions could be enormous.

MaazMansori

For what it's worth, I had the same problem with the paycheck splits showing the one in the bill reminder rather than the actual one I recorded. After installing R39.23, I used OneDrive to restore the most recent backup that didn't have the messed up Paycheck splits. This was about 5 days old. After that, I performed a Sync just to see what would happen. The newer transactions came back in, and the splits for the paychecks were still showing correctly. Only minor issue is an account I previously didn't have set to sync showed up as Unspecified Account but it was easily fixed.

jr_ece

@George P Agree. That's why I posted this under "new idea".

https://community.quicken.com/discussion/7909912/issue-user-alert-for-quicken-updates-that-have-gone-awry/p1?new=1

Help us out by up voting. I think there could be quite a few users who won't discover this issue until down the road where it will be way too late to "easily" correct with a revert to R38.30 and a restore to a file prior to R39.17.

mrzookie

Based on the above comments, it sounds like the general consensus is that the paycheck split problem has been corrected in 39.23 and should not be an issue if I update directly from 37.67. Is that a fair read?

@Chris_QPW  
You said you "removed" C:\ProgramData\Quicken\Cache to fix the Quicken browser problem.  Did you clear the contents of the folder or trash the whole thing?

Chris_QPW

mrzookie said:

Based on the above comments, it sounds like the general consensus is that the paycheck split problem has been corrected in 39.23 and should not be an issue if I update directly from 37.67. Is that a fair read?

@Chris_QPW  
You said you "removed" C:\ProgramData\Quicken\Cache to fix the Quicken browser problem.  Did you clear the contents of the folder or trash the whole thing?

I deleted the whole thing.  It will just get recreated.

davidmarketing

@Jim_Harman, my paychecks did get messed up. I looked and there was my split information and my total wealth seemed correct, but I just compared to an actual pay stub and it was messed up. Now I am sad.

Robert Chiarulli

I validate my file weekly with no issues. I installed patch R39.23, after running a validate, my paycheck splits disappear. I backup my file daily, so I restored a backup.

Jim_Harman

@Robert Chiarulli
And after restoring the backup it was OK? 

Zeka

> @"Quicken Anja" said:
> Hello All,
>
... The more problem reports we receive, the better.
>
> We apologize for any inconvenience in the meantime! Thank you.


I LOVE this answer :smiley: !

alias

Quicken - this entire fiasco with the botched-up update was just too much. After finding a backup before this release (thanks to Google Drive's version history) I have reverted back to the Quicken 2017 Deluxe version and am now giving up my subscription because of this issue alone. It has given me much more peace of mind, and in the process made me realize that since I do manual entries, I am not missing a single feature from the past 4 years worth of Quicken updates, despite my heavy reliance on investing, budgets, etc.

Gck#

I updated to R39.23 on 3-12 and the report problems still exist ie. register balance does not agree with Net Worth and Account Balances report for 2 of my checking accounts. The register balance is correct but the NW & AB reports are overstated.

Jim_Harman

Gck# said:

I updated to R39.23 on 3-12 and the report problems still exist ie. register balance does not agree with Net Worth and Account Balances report for 2 of my checking accounts. The register balance is correct but the NW & AB reports are overstated.

@Gck#
Had you previously installed R39.17 or R39.21, which were released last week?

After updating to R39.23, did you revert to a backup from before the first of those was installed? If so, had you previously opened this backup file while R39.17 or 21 was installed? 

Roger Miller

I noticed the corruption in the paycheck details after I had installed 39.17 and then ran a Validate and Repair operation. I installed the new version 39.23, and I reverted to a data file that was backed up on March 4, when I had installed 38.30. Before I reverted to the old data file, I took screenshots of all my recent transactions since March 4. So, fortunately, I was able to rebuild the new transactions without too much effort.
I would like to say, though, that this issue is somewhat concerning from a quality control standpoint. The data file should always be preserved, at all costs! We are lucky that we have access to the great support on this community. But what about all the users who don't have access or don't know about this community? I genuinely feel sorry for them.

davidmarketing

@Roger Miller I agree that this community is actually very good. I would not have known my data file was actually corrupted without all the feedback. I looked at my paychecks and thought they were fine but then I noticed the numbers were off when I went back a few days later.

I spent a lot of time to fix my file - I had a backup from last week so I took a screen shot of every account, then restored my last known working backup, then went through each account to make sure I had all the transactions. It just took a long time to make sure I did it correctly and found the latest working file and it was tedious, but now I am good.

I also agree - I thought a reconciled transaction was "locked" and wouldn't be able to be changed without the data file password, but now I know this is not true.