App crash ntdll.dll on Windows Server 2008R2 sp1

Targets Windows
1

Hi there,

I have a Windows desktop app which crash immediately when starting.
The app gives an “exception of class NilObjectException”.
The UnhandledException event has no time to do anything, it normally writes to a log file.

App:

  • is installed on a Windows Server 2008r2 sp1, windows runtime dlls are installed
  • is developed using Xojo 2016r4.1
  • uses MBS complete, cubeSQL plugins, some Einhugur controls

This is not a new app, I just developed new features (couple of windows, module and classes), nothing funny.
The app previous version (Xojo 2016r3) is still running on the same server.
All plugins and controls were already used in the previous (working) version

The app is running fine on my Windows7 (tests platform) and OSX (development) systems.

I tried re-building with Xojo 2016r3 but have the same problem.

The app dump is here: dump

Windows event viewer (Application logs) gives first an Error:

Faulting application name: stdc.exe, version: 3.0.0.301, time stamp: 0x58499b34 Faulting module name: ntdll.dll, version: 6.1.7601.17725, time stamp: 0x4ec49b8f Exception code: 0xc00000fd Fault offset: 0x0003b7ae Faulting process id: 0x33fa8 Faulting application start time: 0x01d291eb9a2e17e6 Faulting application path: R:\\Install\\SDTC Build\\stdc.exe Faulting module path: C:\\Windows\\SysWOW64\ tdll.dll Report Id: e14b82e0-fdde-11e6-80c1-00155dfe770b

I’m accessing the 2008R2 server using remote desktop, I don’t have admin rights and won’t get them.
I don’t have access to the registry settings

Any clue ?

Thanks !

2

I’'m afraid you have to set up your own W 2008R2-sp1 server with all rights for ultimate testing.
I know from a customer being forced to upgrade from 2008R2 to 2012 server. Same situation with an updated application crashing on 2008. On 2008R2 you cannot expect much help from MS to fix anything.

3

Hi Joost,

Thanks for the info, even if it’s not a good one ;-(

I hope I’ll find something without setting up a windows server. Besides the license costs, it will be very hard to have the exact same configuration on both severs.
Migrating to 2012 is not an option, at least on a short term basis.

Solving the problem is one thing, debugging is another one as I’m working from a remote location and have to access the server using remote desktop, having no admin rights at all.
I have the dumps but they are useless to me, maybe not to others.

Thanks anyway.

4

[quote=318527:@Olivier Colard]I hope I’ll find something without setting up a windows server. Besides the license costs, it will be very hard to have the exact same configuration on both severs.
Migrating to 2012 is not an option, at least on a short term basis.[/quote]
FWIW, you should be able to download a 90-day trial ISO from Microsoft if you search for it on their site.

5

FWIW, I’ve seen situations where an exception in the App.Open event won’t get caught. I’d take a hard look at That code to see if you could be getting an exception in there.

You could just add some log lines throughout the open event to see how far it’s getting…

BTW is your app 32 or 64 bit?

6

Hi Greg,

The app is 32bits.

The app crashes when the login window is displayed, at the end of the app.open event.
The open event performs a few steps before displaying the window:

  • app single copy check
  • read ini file
  • open DB (cubeSQL)
  • open a window (usually login window) depending on configuration conditions
    The login window is not an implicit window.

Maybe I could try to open the window in another event (activate ?).

I tried 64 bits and it seems to work but …
I’d prefer to avoid 64 bits as long as the debugger is not available and the missing application icon could be a showstopper as well.

If I don’t find an easier way I could try installing Xojo IDE on the server to debug the app “locally” but it’s not that simple with my limited rights on the customer server.

Thanks anyway.

7

Have you thought about using the Remote Debugger?

8

Yes, but, as said before, I can only access the server using Remote Desktop, even when working at the customer premises. I don’t see how I could get sufficient access and firewall settings to use Remote Debugger with the server.

I finally found the problem, thanks to your remark Greg, as there was a NilObject exception, not in the app Open event itself but in one of the methods called by the Open event.

Now the app and the new features are working fine.

But I have another problem, less critical, I’m getting a BEX error every time I quit the application…
I’ll open another thread in the forum if I can’t fix it.