[closed] date encode error

[ww6dhamradio]

I'm running Mscan 3.19beta and Windows XP Pro SP3.  An interesting "crash" this morning.  The program locked up evidently trying to save the current WeFAX image to disk.  The error message was:  

Mscan Meteo
   Invalid argument to date encode

Since I'm running XP Pro, I was able to access the task manager, kill the process and restart Mscan with no problems.  I realize this version is a beta but wanted to report this issue.

[Mike]

Thank. Did it save later on (the same day)? Would there have been any problem with the PC clock?

[ww6dhamradio]

Hi Mike,

The previous map was saved but not the one when the "crash" occurred.  I then restarted Mscan ran the program for another 4 hours with no problems.

Doug

[Mike]

Thanks, I'll look into this.

[ww6dhamradio]

I just checked the error log for Friday.  An 'event' entry was posted:
------------------------------
Event Type:   Information
Event Source:   Application Popup
Event Category:   None
Event ID:   26
Date:      11/20/2009
Time:      10:53:10 AM
User:      N/A
Computer:  [my computer name which I don't want shown publicly]
Description:
Application popup: Windows - Virtual Memory Minimum Too Low : Your system is low on virtual memory. Windows is increasing the size of your virtual memory paging file. During this process, memory requests for some applications may be denied. For more information, see Help.

For more information, see Help and Support Center at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.
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I remember, after reading this log entry, that several 'popup' windows were on the screen, one on top of the other, all having the same error message as I originally reported at that time.  Maybe there was an 'infinite loop' in one of the libraries that handles the date encoding, and that started using up memory?
Thanks Mike for looking into this.

[ww6dhamradio]

Note sure if this is the "date encode error" but had another crash today with 3.19beta.  Note that the only application that was running (other than the operating system) was Mscan.  Here was the event log entry:
--------------------------------
Event Type:   Information
Event Source:   Save Dump
Event Category:   None
Event ID:   1001
Date:      12/1/2009
Time:      6:22:54 PM
User:      N/A
Computer:   [not for public viewing]
Description:
The computer has rebooted from a bugcheck.  The bugcheck was: 0x1000008e (0xc0000092, 0xf7140878, 0xed76e740, 0x00000000). A dump was saved in: C:\WINDOWS\Minidump\Mini120109-01.dmp.

For more information, see Help and Support Center at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.
---------------------

If you want me to email the DMP file, let me know.  I was unable to read the screen because it turns off after a period of inactivity, and because of  the crash, I was unable to view it. 

[Mike]

If you are having so many crashes this may be something else entirely. This beta has been in use by hundreds of users for many months, and if there was a bug this size I would have heard about it. What PC is this, and do you have power saving on (i.e. does it switch off things like the monitor after a certain time)? This may be the source of your crashes.

[ww6dhamradio]

Mike, I have a Dell Inspiron laptop model 4150 which is around 6 years old running Windows XP Service Pack 3.  It crashed again this morning -- the culprit was the sound card driver.  I have now turned off the power saving features (turn off monitor -> never, turn off disk drives -> never).  So, we'll see what happens.  Thank you for the reassurance that others have not seen this.  I had previously downloaded a newer sound card driver but will search for an even newer one.

Just so you know, I have more or less dedicated this laptop to Mscan.  It is the only application that is run daily on it.  It controls an FT-817 command set receiver (FT-897) and I use the timer feature to switch to the various services.  I power it up in the morning (around 1500 Z) and shut it down after receiving the last NAVTEX messages (after 0400 Z).