Hi Stacy.

>problem: table will not accept new records
>
>fix: copy table to another location
> zap and pack the table
> append records from the copied table

This is a known problem with VFP. As Chris pointed out, the record count is the header is incorrect, so new records aren't properly appended to the end of the table (often, they overwrite the last record so while they're added initially, they're overwritten when you add the next record). TABLEUPDATE() returns .T. so you can't detect this error that way, unfortunately. The fix you outlined works, as does running SDT's Repair method or even Reindex with the pack parameter set to .T., because in essence the table header is rebuilt with a corrected record count.

Doug