Decimal Fields Show Negative Zeroes

Question

Decimal Fields Show Negative Zeroes

ikorenbl

SSCommitted

Points: 1750
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April 19, 2005 at 10:33 am

#87292

I see some really weird data in my tables. Out of nowhere some decimal (9,2) fields got updated with -.00 (negative zeroes).
Some fields got updated with huge positive and negative numbers that could not be updated from any of existing processes.
Some even show -37581020.16 which is too big for decimal (9,2) field. I have no idea how it could get in there. Neither does my DBA team.
Is this data corruption? DBCC CHECKDB shows no signs of it.
Any help would be appreciated. Thanks

Viewing 8 posts - 1 through 7 (of 7 total)

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Frank Kalis SSC Guru Points: 111183 More actions · Answer 1

Very few things happen "out of nowhere". Any changes to app or db recently? Any entry in log files? Did you run DBCC CHECKALLOC, DBCC CHECKCATALOG or DBCC CHECKTABLE?

Which tool did you use to view the data?

--
Frank Kalis
Microsoft SQL Server MVP
Webmaster: http://www.insidesql.org/blogs
My blog: http://www.insidesql.org/blogs/frankkalis/[/url]

john-132685 SSCertifiable Points: 6084 More actions · Answer 2

Left field question: Are these numbers actually there or are they a floating point margin of error on the client side? (some numeric values may be interpreted/flipped by client side application using different data type before or for display.)

ikorenbl SSCommitted Points: 1750 More actions · Answer 3

I've used Enterprise Manager and Query Analyzer, both show the same thing.

DBCC CHECKTABLE didn't return anything.

Frank Kalis SSC Guru Points: 111183 More actions · Answer 4

And changes to the table or the app recently?

Stupid question, but you have verified that it is still DECIMAL(9,2) and nothing else?

--
Frank Kalis
Microsoft SQL Server MVP
Webmaster: http://www.insidesql.org/blogs
My blog: http://www.insidesql.org/blogs/frankkalis/[/url]

ikorenbl SSCommitted Points: 1750 More actions · Answer 5

These columns are new to the table (a week old), but this is the first time I'm seeing this. Nothing else has changed.

The columns are still decimal(9,2)

Frank Kalis SSC Guru Points: 111183 More actions · Answer 6

I would be lying if I say I have a clue what's going on here. I would carefully watch this issue, watch the whole server and in case it doesn't vanish, call PSS. Sorry, not the best advise, I know.

--
Frank Kalis
Microsoft SQL Server MVP
Webmaster: http://www.insidesql.org/blogs
My blog: http://www.insidesql.org/blogs/frankkalis/[/url]

Robbs SSC Veteran Points: 266 More actions · Answer 7

I have had bad data things like this happen but I can always track the error to the application or process that is interacting and populating/modifying the database. I would check the values of the variables before they go into the database. So many times in my experience the values are screwed up in the database due to a poorly written or flawed application or process.