Exception Access violation

[Eftalan]

Hi there,

i've got a problem here. Started 2 Days ago (alt.binz 3.15).
I've updated the Alt.binz today but it is still there..

Log:
[30.05.2010 11:35:20] [Dec] Exception Access violation at address 00562CC6 in module 'altbinz.exe'. Write of address 00000000
Beginning directly after start of Alt.binz

So a few Minutes later Alt.binz is crashing.

Sry if this problem was already submitted but i couldn't find an answer to it.

Thanks for Help
Hope you understand my english

[davidq666]

try version 0.31.6 and report back if it keeps on happening...

[Eftalan]

yes it's still there.
[30.05.2010 21:16:22] [Dec] Exception Access violation at address 00562CC6 in module 'altbinz.exe'. Write of address 00000000
so nothing changed at all

[MrScotty]

Same problem over here.
Version 0.3.16 (and before 3.15 for sure maybe als 3.14 ore earlier)
It now and then happens but i don't know how to reproduce this.

[4-6-2010 16:25:29] [Dec] Exception Access violation at address 00562CC6 in module 'altbinz.exe'. Write of address 00000000
The memory usage is going up until it is al used. Then a 'Out of memory' message is shown.
Stopping alt.binz and restarting shows it is trying to decode a file over and over.

I think
- the problem is in decoding a file.
- It hits something strange and a variable isn't set (value still null) and is used causing an exception
- Exception is handled but some memory isn't released causing memory leak

I still have the temp directory holding the files (50 Mb)
If you can use them i can try to send them.
I'm not sure in which language the app is written, was it phyton? I have a lot of programming skils in C,C++,C#, Java and more (phyton should be new but has strong connection with C++?).
Maybe i can help you a little out with testing/debugging (i have only a limmited amount of time for it)

[kmcknight2001uk]

How odd, I've just started getting the same error... AltBinz has become unusable with the above errors. It does indeed hang on the decoding process. Odd thing is, all has been great before v0.3.16 of which I reverted back to v0.3.15 and now it behaves in the same way. I've deleted all my files within the temp folder which AltBinz generates and still the same error. Would a clean install with no config be required to solve the issue? Could it be some revision of C++ run time libraries that my machine has downloaded? Very odd, as it's been 100% stable for me until a few days ago.

Great app tho! :-D

[Rdl]

First try with clearing the queue file from misc dir, then if that doesn't help - config file

[kmcknight2001uk]

I've cleaned out all folders\files apart from the default v0.31.6 files and use the default settings and I still get the same errors. A simple test is to search for some binary files (more than 10 as an example) via binsearch. Then add to download files. Expand the file header and you'll see that AltBinz struggles to decode the files. On my setup it hangs after the 6th decode of which then struggles to download from the news group server itself via only one download thread. After 10 seconds an 'Invalid Pointer Operation' dialogue is repeatedly displayed. I'm using windows 7 64bit. This then snow balls into the errors above. All other software\games run fine...

Hmmm - This has got me this one. I gather it could be a setup issue with my machine, but it doesn't seem I'm the only one.

[Rdl]

Please do this:

Delete c:\Users\USERNAME\Appdata\Local\Alt.Binz folder if exists
Create c:\altbinz folder
Then create c:\altbinz\misc folder
Copy ONLY altbinz.exe from original archive into c:\altbinz folder
Run it AS ADMINISTRATOR
You should get donation form and info about download folder not existing and login form.
Enter your login data.
Exit altbinz.
Start altbinz. Run it AS ADMINISTRATOR
Go into setup and add ONLY server info
Then go to binsearch and add something
Shorten the collection name to "Test"
Press connect button. Files should end in c:\altbinzdownload\test
Post results.

[kmcknight2001uk]

Hi Rdl,

Thanks for the quick responses!
Well I did what you said and it worked like a gem (as usual) even on the files I was having issues with.

However, after further testing I noticed that you can replicate the error 100% of the time if you create a very long string (mixed characters) for the collection name. I can confirm that by shortening the collection name (even for the same files that were causing the errors) when added none of the errors were raised on the decode.

Not sure what dictates the actual length of characters in the collection name to trigger the decode process to hang tho (>256?), but I am 100% certain that the string length in the collection name is the culprit. Depending which folder structure where Altbinz decodes plus the additional long title added may push the path for the decode above the 256 limit?

I noticed that you try and break up the raw header string into meaningful sub strings in the drop down list box when adding files from a search engine and it just so happens that none of the them matched correctly; being lazy I selected the 1st option of the full\raw title which contained a shit load of chars... and hence the errors.

Anyway, thanks very much. Hope this helps others which have been caught out with this issue.

[Hecks]

Yes, a limitation of Windows is that the full filepath must be < 256 characters.  This is the most common error reported in the forum by far, but usually there's a log message that the path is too long, so not sure what happened in your case.

See: https://www.altbinz.net/forum/index.php?topic=3644.0

[kmcknight2001uk]

I fully understand, but it does seem there isn't a character length check (path+filename) when decoding and therefore it felt like an un-handled exception; hence the dialogue box and repeated error until the altbinz.exe process was killed. 

It's not the end of the world and I can understand that more of the errors reported on the forum are due to the 256 character length being exceeded. Just thought if there was a check before hand then most of the 'common errors' reported would simply disappear.

Either way, Altbinz is a great app and it does exactly what it says on the tin very well indeed!

Anyway, thanks for confirming my findings.

All good. 

[Rdl]

The main problem why this isn't fixed already is cause I don't know exactly what to do?

To force folder structure to max 240 chars(while editing collection name or setting download folder) and then to shorten filenames if needed (during decoding)?

[Hecks]

The main problem why this isn't fixed already is cause I don't know exactly what to do?

To force folder structure to max 240 chars(while editing collection name or setting download folder) and then to shorten filenames if needed (during decoding)?

Yes, a suggested shorter path when editing, but certainly when importing the queue item should be 'suspended' until its name has been changed if this can't be handled automatically - perhaps with warning message in Status column?  This may be a kludge but better I think than Alt.Binz crashing.