GulPak Technical Troubleshooting

Expiring Financial Link® License Keys

Financial Link® License Keys expire every twelve months, and as many of you have experienced, you will receive an onscreen expiration warning during the last month of your license period. FIPCO generates a monthly report of banks that require a new license key. These new keys are emailed out, along with an instructional document, for customers to load. This takes approximately five minutes, and the new keys will last for another year.

It is not necessary to call FIPCO at the beginning of the month when you first see the license key warning screen. You should expect an email sent to your product update staff member within the first week of the month. If you do not receive this email, or have any questions regarding Financial Link® license keys, e-mail fipcosupport@fipco.com or call us at (800) 722-3498 option 4.

Financial Link® Printing – General Information

Financial Link® is a true Windows software application and as such, the printing process is handled differently in comparison to other FIPCO programs used in the past. Due to Financial Link®’s powerful user interface and its ability to allow for editing within the print preview window, print jobs can be very large. Large print jobs mean that more physical memory is required for printing, both on the computer or server, and in the printer. Print jobs will always print faster and with fewer problems when both the PC and printer have a sufficient amount of internal memory. Some Financial Link® print jobs can be a large as 20 MB, however most are between 3 and 7 MB.

The following is a list of general settings that can be implemented by all financial institutions to help maximize the document printing efficiency for the Financial Link® products:

Printers should have at least 30 MB of memory, and ≥ 96 MB of memory for best results.
Printers must have 1 letter tray, 1 legal tray (excluding manual feed tray), and a duplex unit.
All computers should use the HP 4Si MX printer driver when using any Hewlett Packard printer.
The “advanced printer features” on the Windows Printer Driver Advanced Tab should be disabled.

NOTE: Lexmark and Kyocera printer issues will be supported computer by computer.

As always, please call the FIPCO helpdesk to discuss any printing issues at 800/722-3798 ext. 261 and ask for FIPCO's Technical Support Specialist Jon Orum.

Q: When printing from Financial Link® to my printer (any model) I'm having one of the following problems: not duplexing, incorrect paper size, or the COPY overlay is solid black.

A: For all HP printers use the Windows HP driver: HP LaserJet.

Q: When printing from Financial Link®, some of my documents print incorrectly, do not print at all, or my printer reports a memory/buffer error.

A: Add this line to the end of your Financial Link®.ini file in the GPDep, GPLoans, or GPMort folder: SINGLEPRINTJOB=FALSE

Q: I have noticed that Financial Link® Print Jobs are very large, is there anything I can do about this?

A: If using Windows 2000/XP, YES. On the Advanced tab in your printer properties, uncheck the option for, "Enable advanced printing features." This may (drastically in some cases) reduce the size of your print jobs. Also, for all HP printers, using the Windows HP driver, HP LaserJet 4Si MX, can reduce print job sizes as well.

Q: What should I be backing up on a nightly basis? How should I go about backing up Financial Link®?

A: There are two parts to Financial Link® that should be backed up every night. These are the GPSuite folder where Financial Link® is stored, and the Database which Financial Link® uses. If you are using an Access Database, the Database is stored within the GPSuite folder, and so long as all users are out of Financial Link®, simply backing up the GPSuite folder to tape will complete your Financial Link® backup. However if you are using a SQL Database such as MSDE or SQL 2000, you must backup your Database separate from the GPSuite folder. Please Contact FIPCO Software Support for further assistance in backing up a SQL Database.

Q: What is the wkupdate.exe fie, and when/why do I need to run it?

A: On every computer/workstation that runs any Financial Link® Component (Loans/Deposits/Mortgage), there are approximately 20 "helper" files that are located in your Windows System folder. Some of these files need to be on the same version as the Financial Link® EXEs you are running. When you run an update on Financial Link®, some EXEs may be updated, so consequently some of those "helper" files on your computer need to also be updated to match the new EXEs. The wkupdate.exe accomplishes this task on your computer/workstation. The wkupdate.exe can be run at any time so long as Financial Link® is closed, and may be run automatically by Financial Link® if it detects the wkupdate.exe is needed.

Q: I have more than one location/branch/workstation that uses Financial Link®, do I need to run Financial Link® updates everywhere?

A: Maybe. The rule of thumb is to run your Financial Link® updates on each instance of the GPSuite folder. So for EACH GPSuite folder within your organization, copy the update EXE into that folder, and run the update. Always make sure that all users of Financial Link® have exited the program first. If you share you database (customers/transactions) between locations, all locations need to be out of Financial Link® when running updates.

Q: What is the difference between a Financial Link® Update Release and a Service Release?

A: When FIPCO sends out a Financial Link® Update Release, new program files (EXEs) and FIPCO forms & Admin changes are included. However within a Service Release, only FIPCO forms & Admin Changes are included. Since the EXEs are very large, Full Releases will always be well over 35 MB in size, where as Service Release may be less than 1 MB.

Q: Where can I check to see if I my software is up-to-date?

A: Within your GPSuite folder, there is a folder called ULogs. Open the ULogs folder, each file within this folder has a date in it's filename. Compare these dates, to the list of updates listed on your products (Loans, Deposits, or Mortgages) web page: http://www.fipco.com/updates/logon.php

Q: I notice that as more people (~10 or more) open Financial Link® it begins to slow down. Or, when more people open Financial Link®, my Access Databases become corrupt or damaged more often. Can this be corrected?

A: YES, if you are currently using Access Databases with Financial Link®, and encounter any of these problems, it might be time to convert to a SQL Database. Using an MSDE (free) or SQL 2000 (not free) Database engine may alleviate some or all of these performance problems. Please Contact FIPCO Software Support for more information regarding SQL Databases.