Slowdowns and Not Enough Memory to Proceed errors

12467

Comments

  • Joining the chorus of frustrated users experiencing the same issue! 11.18 it was being "investigated" and here it is almost a month later and no solution...
  • BDig
    BDig Member ✭✭
    Just wanted to provide a (delayed) update following my almost 2 hour phone call with Quicken Support after posting to the President's Office as @Samuel suggested previously. First of all, they responded very quickly to my post and within 24 hours had set up the call. And, the representative could not have been nicer or more patient in trying various fixes. So kudos where deserved.

    Unfortunately, after trying multiple tests, backups, validations, etc. the diagnosis is that my file is too big - even though we agreed it was well under the number of transactions, securities, accounts, etc. as defined by Quicken. So, the ultimate recommendation/resolution was to start a new file and re-establish all my accounts, losing 30 years of history in my existing file. I know, right? He said that even if I deleted closed accounts, securities, etc., the "space" in the file was taken by them and would not return or help the speed/reliability issue.

    He indicated that he could not send the problem up the chain to the developers, because they would reject it as a file size issue and not a software issue - even though we were able at times to get it to speed up occasionally, and some of the test files (smaller) would display the same slow-down problems to a lesser extent. Again, I think he tried everything he could to help but the fallback is the file size. I am not sure I am buying it since it was fine in early October and suddenly became problematic after a software update around that time. I keep hoping another update will magically fix the problem at some point as I am just not willing to start over...yet. So, I continue to struggle along with the lags, slowness and shutdowns for now.
  • Jerry Pederson
    Jerry Pederson Member ✭✭✭✭
    edited December 2022
    BDid,

    Your scenario is exactly what I have been encountering since early October.  It is not a "size of the file" problem, I have had, in general, the same size of files for years.

    The question, What is the number of transactions, securities, accounts, etc. as defined by Quicken?  Did the Quicken rep. share that info?

    Finally, it would be nice if we heard directly from those in charge at Quicken about the status and if there is a solution in the future.





  • mikeweberatl
    mikeweberatl Member ✭✭✭
    BDig said:
    the diagnosis is that my file is too big
    That’s a lame answer from Quicken.  Even if true, that doesn’t explain why a bunch of people are all starting to see the same issues. It’s clearly caused by some kind of recent software change.

    Though, if you thought that your file might have some corruption, then do a COPY to a new file (without deleting any history) and make the new file your main file.  Many people have used that trick to solve problems in the past.  I believe once you complete the copy, you’ll have to redo all your download connections in the new file.
  • BDig
    BDig Member ✭✭
    @Jerry Pederson This is from the Quicken website and is pretty much what he told me (I’m well under those limits):

    In a Quicken file you can have:

    Accounts - Up to 512 accounts of each Account Type (spending, credit, investment, etc.);
    Transactions, reports, and graphs - As many as allowed by the size of your hard drive;
    Categories, subcategories, and tags - Up to 32,768 of each; subcategories can be nested 16 levels deep;
    Trackable stocks - Up to 2,000 total;
    Split lines - approximately 250 total per transaction;
    Paycheck Line Items - 30 total line items per paycheck tracked;
    Dollar amount - A Quicken file cannot have an entry that is larger than 99,999,999.99. This includes number of positions (shares) as well as amount of dollars.
  • BDig
    BDig Member ✭✭
    @mikeweberatl I have done that, as well as restoring a backup and making it my primary and while it helps temporarily, the new file displays the same issues fairly quickly. That was one of the fixes the rep explored online with me that would show some improvements, for a time, but not permanently.
  • Jerry Pederson
    Jerry Pederson Member ✭✭✭✭
    BDig and others,

    The limits BDig has listed should be more than enough capacity for everyone's application to function properly and not the problems we are encountering.


  • dc0063
    dc0063 Member ✭✭✭
    @BDig
    I understand that a file size, while being under each of the individual limits, may be too large.  Especially given the age and the original tech limits Quicken was coded. I've created several overlapping decade length archive files over the years to keep file size manageable - it was more of a performance issue on earlier machines,
    So at what size do they consider a file too large to be stable?
  • BDig
    BDig Member ✭✭
    @dc0063 I dunno, there wasn’t a clear answer to that…someone else may have an idea.
  • tivolo
    tivolo Member ✭✭✭
    edited December 2022
    I think this thread is now discussing two serious, but distinct, issues:

    1) The User Object/GDI resource leak, which causes slowdowns, odd UI behaviors and crashes that get worse the longer the app runs (and/or each time you run OSU) and is temporarily resolved when the app is restarted, and
    2) An issue of persistent, poor performance while performing basic tasks, like entering data into a register, which is not resolved by restarting the app.

    The first issue is (almost) certainly not related to the size of the data file, and seems to be a bug that was introduced some time in the past few months. The latter issue, based on prior comments from @BDig, seems to pre-date this and may very well be, as the Quicken rep suggest, a consequence of data size (although it's unclear what specific threshold is being exceeded).

    I mainly wanted to distinguish since I don't think the advice the Quicken folks gave to @BDig about starting a new data file has any relevance for those of us suffering from the Resource Leak issue. I firmly believe the resource leak should be resolvable via a software patch.

    @BDig
    Depending on your appetite for giving Quicken a copy of your QDF, you might see if you can convince them to try to reproduce your problem. If they're able, they likely can give you a clearer root cause, e.g. "you have too many transactions for Account X." This could potentially allow you to choose an alternate solution path (e.g. fork an existing account into two accounts, one with legacy transactions and one with new ones) instead of starting a whole, new data file (which I'm sure would be a solution of last resort for most of us).
  • Marty
    Marty Member ✭✭✭
    @tivolo
    I'm so disappointed with with Quicken's response about this resource issue. Of all the software issues we all have dealt with over the years, this one is easy to see and easily replicable. You did a great job showing how to see it and work around it. In addition to all the people who have found this thread and now understand how to temporarily manage the issue, imagine all the people doing all kinds of crazy things to fix supposedly corrupt files on their own or at Quicken support's insistence who are wasting endless hours because of this ignored resource leak. For Quicken to pretend it's not happening demonstrates a serious mistake and disregard for its customers and common sense. You'd think they'd be grateful, not saying we won't address it. Wow!

    As a 25 year Quicken customer, I've seen a lot and dealt with many, many problems. And like others, I've seen a lot of slow down in how fast quicken responds. Opening and saving transactions in my brokerage accounts have slowed to a crawl over the years. But this resource problem is new and clearly separate.

    Quicken, please take your head out of the sand and help solve this problem. Acknowledging it would be a good start.
  • HJH Consult
    HJH Consult Member ✭✭✭
    Why doesn't a Quicken support rep acknowledge they have a problem and tell us how to provide them with some kind of data dump when our session gets sluggish so they can figure out what else their program is working on besides what it's supposed to be working on?
  • HJH Consult
    HJH Consult Member ✭✭✭
    Please have a Quicken support person tell us how to capture a machine state when this sluggish problem is happening and then tell us how to send it to your programmers so they can diagnose and fix this very annoying bug.
  • Jerry Pederson
    Jerry Pederson Member ✭✭✭✭
    This morning it took 23 minutes to complete OSU for my accounts.  A week ago it took at most 5 minutes to complete OSU.
  • Snowman
    Snowman Member ✭✭✭✭
    How much RAM do those of you having these memory issues have on your computers. If it is 16Gb or less there is your problem. Do you leave Quicken open overnight? Not recommended. I have a data file of 210Mb and I have never in my 19 years of using Quicken had this issue. This with Vista, 7 and now Windows 10. I have always had no less than 32Gb of RAM.

    Quicken support can be unreliable at times. I would bet some of the "support" team were not even born when Quicken started.
  • Jerry Pederson
    Jerry Pederson Member ✭✭✭✭

    My point is,  I did not have this problem of inordinately long (23 minutes) OSU and I have had the same RAM size for the last 4 years.

     This slow OSU tasking coupled with Quicken crashing regularly because of an apparent leak in the software programming has become a real problem for me.

     I welcome others to respond to my questions.  Is anybody still experiencing these same problems covered by this comment chain?

     






  • tivolo
    tivolo Member ✭✭✭
    @Jerry Pederson This morning, OSU took me 15+ minutes as well, with two accounts returning the familiar "failed to update due to an error on the Quicken server." Honestly, this is such a common occurrence (and has been for so many years) that I mostly shrug it off. My experience has generally been that if I just try the affected account(s) individually, they go thru fine. Or, I just wait a day or two and things get back to "normal" (which is still very slow, but all accounts sync in a few minutes). I find kicking off OSU and then going to make a cup of coffee best for my blood pressure. :)

    @Snowman I have 32 GB of RAM, but rarely see Quicken exceed 500 MB. The issue that prompted this thread isn't a memory issue, it's a resource issue; specifically a leak of User and GDI object resources. That said, the super-slow OSU that @Jerry Pederson mentions is more likely a server-side issue with Quicken's back end than anything in the desktop app.
  • Snowman
    Snowman Member ✭✭✭✭
    I have never had this "resource issue". Not knowing what computer (Dell, HP or other) you are using I would recommend that you update your video drivers, check to see if there is a firmware update for your video card and/or motherboard and any other drivers you particular computer might need.

    Something else you should look at is open task manager and look at the "Startup" tab". Everything should be "disabled" except for items that the computer needs from startup like the audio system driver, etc. Any other items will start when you open the specific program involved and are not needed to startup the computer.

    My OSU updates all 14 accounts (investment, bank, credit cards) in less than a minute. This used to be just over a minute and recent updates have improved that performance.  There might be a hiccup once in a while with one of the store credit cards but even then it is no longer than 2 minutes to complete and rerunning the card involved fixes the problem.

    I have never had ANY slowdown issues entering data in any of my registers. If you are somebody who leaves Quicken open for days at a time then that will introduce problems as well. Best practice says that you should back and close Quicken after each time you use it.
  • jld1945
    jld1945 Member
    Why is one step update so slow after the updates? This was not an issue before. Thanks
  • Snowman
    Snowman Member ✭✭✭✭
    What is slow? How long did it take before the update and after? What else is running on the computer in the background. Are all of your video, motherboard drivers up to date?
  • Chris_QPW
    Chris_QPW Member ✭✭✭✭
    Let get something straight ( @Snowman and others).  A "resource" problem isn't equivalent to the "lack of memory".  Windows has a lot of limited resources that have nothing to do with how much memory you have on your machine.  They are limited by the fact that Windows has some list or such hard coded to a certain size for each executable or the operating system.

    The resources that @tivolo has mentioned is a direct example.

    The talk about RAM is completely off base for what is happening.

    Also, this thread seems have attracted at least two different discussions on performance that most likely have nothing to do with each other.

    The thread was started for the problem where if you leave Quicken open it is consuming some limited resources and not freeing them (a resource leak).

    Others have jumped on here talking about One Setup Update performance.  So, unless you are talking about the performance going down over time because you have left Quicken open, you aren't talking about the main subject of this thread.

    And note especially for people that have recently changed over from Direct Connect to Express Web Connect + for some of their accounts.  No matter what Quicken Inc says, Express Web Connect + is at least 10 times slower.  From what I can see most of this has to do with the servers, not Quicken (the program itself) even though it does seem like especially when first switching over the processing of importing the transactions also seems slower to get to the point where they are presented to the user.
    And it has been noted that at times, the time it has taken to download transactions has been REALLY long, like it has got hung up somewhere.
    Signature:
    This is my website: http://www.quicknperlwiz.com/
  • Rocket J Squirrel
    Rocket J Squirrel SuperUser ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited December 2022
    Chris_QPW said:
    No matter what Quicken Inc says, Express Web Connect + is at least 10 times slower.  From what I can see most of this has to do with the servers, not Quicken (the program itself) even though it does seem like especially when first switching over the processing of importing the transactions also seems slower to get to the point where they are presented to the user.
    And it has been noted that at times, the time it has taken to download transactions has been REALLY long, like it has got hung up somewhere.
    Something is going on client-side. I observe Quicken using over 30% of CPU while it appears to be doing nothing during a long, slow EWC+ OSU.

    Quicken user since version 2 for DOS, now using QWin Biz & Personal Subscription (US) on Win10 Pro.

  • Jerry Pederson
    Jerry Pederson Member ✭✭✭✭

    Snowman and others;

    1)      The problems I am having were not problems 6 weeks ago.  Three days ago the OSU functioned reasonably fast (5 minutes).  Now it is more than 20 minutes.

    2)      I am using OSU for 18 accounts compared to the 16 that snowman is updating.  I do not think updating 2 more accounts than Snowman updates is the problem.

    3)      Quicken’s program response time does get longer and longer when I switch between registers and ultimately Quicken crashes and the User objects and GDI objects have maxed out at I believe 10,000 as noted in the Task Manager.  After rebooting from a crash both User and GDI are read less than 1000 only to increase with each switch between registers.  It is crash time once the User and GDI reach 10000.

    4)      I have not changed anything other than adding transactions to my various registers and updating to the current Quicken program.

    5)      For years I have let Quicken remain open for weeks at a time and I have never experienced what is being experienced now.   I back up the files at least 3 times a week or more frequently if a lot of addition or changes have been made.

     I am having a hard time understanding why I am having these problems. Everything functioned reasonably well six weeks ago.  I ask what has changed.  The answer lies with the powers at Quicken.

     I agree with Chris_QPW  there are two distinct issues.  In my humble opinion, they both need to be addressed by Quicken ASAP.


  • Jerry Pederson
    Jerry Pederson Member ✭✭✭✭
    The following is a communique I sent to the "Office of the President at Quicken"

      Office of the President,

      I am an 18-year dues-paying customer of Quicken.  Of late I have become very disenchanted and frustrated with Quicken's lack of urgency to resolve pressing problems that its customers are currently having.  Specifically, the problems have gotten a lot of coverage on Quicken’s Community website since the first part of November 2022.   The topic heading in the Quicken Community website is: Slowdowns and Not Enough Memory to Proceed errors. there have been over100 comments and suggestions and over 1,800 members have visited this chain as of this date and time.

      I as well as others have had Quicken tech specialists contact us regarding these problems.  We all have received, in general, the same response – “this problem will be escalated to others in the Quicken organization and they will let us know what is being done and that we will be kept abreast of the progress towards a resolution.  To date, I have not heard from anyone from Quicken who can speak affirmatively about the status and resolution of these problems.

      It is time your customers hear directly from an Executive Team member of the Office of the President, specifically Eric Dunn, CEO.  An open letter to the Quicken customers would be appropriate and long overdue.

      I do not want another call from a Tech representative.  I want, as do other Quicken customers, an update, a completion time frame, and definitive steps,  that are or will be taken to resolve these problem(s).

      I urge you to read each one of the comments, made in the dialog chain on the Quicken Community website entitled,  Slowdowns and Not Enough Memory to Proceed errors.

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

    Guess what Community, I received a call from an individual in Quicken's Guatemala office asking for the same information that I have previously provided including a screen-sharing session.  




  • dc0063
    dc0063 Member ✭✭✭
    I'm concerned that Q powers seem to want to conflate file size with the resource problem. 
    They are not the same. The resource drain is real, observable, and repeatable. 

    There should probably be new discussion begun regarding the slow problem.  It seems to be progressing and looks to have some relevance to the updates.

  • Chris_QPW
    Chris_QPW Member ✭✭✭✭
    edited December 2022
    dc0063 said:
    There should probably be new discussion begun regarding the slow problem.  It seems to be progressing and looks to have some relevance to the updates.

    I might start such a thread, but in will be a bit before I can pull that together in a "scientific" manner.
    I have lately found that the Quicken Cloud Sync log is reasonably readable these days and has time stamps in it.  Of course, it is only the Quicken (program) to Quicken Cloud dataset sync part, and only for Express Web Connect and Express Web Connect + (Direct Connect is in the OFX log), but at least a timeline can be put out.  The problem here is that "full aggregation" isn't run very often.  And as of now I have only done the One Step Update with all my accounts and would like to do them separately to see what is generating what in the log file.  The "non full aggregation" is basically useless.  It makes it look like it is fast, but basically does nothing.

    EDIT: note that Quicken Inc is aware of problems with the Aggregation being slow:
    https://community.quicken.com/discussion/7925832/new-12-19-22-quicken-performance-issue

    And I will throw this out.  For my 2 usernames, 1 checking, 2 credit cards, and 5 investment accounts at Chase and 1 credit card at Macy's, 1 savings account at Sychrony bank, it did 5 "full aggregations" taking 1 to two minutes each.
    Signature:
    This is my website: http://www.quicknperlwiz.com/
  • jdcq
    jdcq Member ✭✭
    edited December 2022
    I commented on the "Slow One Step Update after update" issue in another thread, but I'll repost here for visibility.

    Some notes from my experiments and that thread:
    - Turning off Cloud Sync seemed to help.
    - Turning on Cloud Sync and enabling all accounts resulted in slow OSU.
    - Turning on Cloud Sync and enabling accounts incrementally resulted in reasonable OSU.
    - The above may be a red herring — Maybe server load was lower at the time of success.
  • Chris_QPW
    Chris_QPW Member ✭✭✭✭
    Just so people know, I never use Sync to Mobile/Web.  All "syncing" to the Quicken Cloud dataset I refer to is because Express Web Connect and Express Web Connect + use the syncing with the Quicken Cloud dataset to download transactions.
    Signature:
    This is my website: http://www.quicknperlwiz.com/
This discussion has been closed.