Crash upon opening Multicommander

[Susan G]

Hi-

I get a crash upon opening Multicommander. This started happening yesterday. As a result, I can't save changes to how much info the crash log saves, but if it's any help, Event Viewer reports:

Faulting application name: MultiCommander.exe, version: 6.1.0.2125, time stamp: 0x570a19e7
Faulting module name: MCAudioTools.dll, version: 1.2.0.0, time stamp: 0x570a1810
Exception code: 0xc0000409
Fault offset: 0x000000000002d978
Faulting process id: 0x2bc8
Faulting application start time: 0x01d1a30f4449da65
Faulting application path: C:\Program Files\MultiCommander (x64)\MultiCommander.exe
Faulting module path: C:\Program Files\MultiCommander (x64)\Extensions\MCAudioTools\MCAudioTools.dll
Report Id: c365656a-b4ce-464e-af34-f66bf88e1165
Faulting package full name:
Faulting package-relative application ID:

I rebooted my PC and tried again, but that didn't help. I have the latest update.

I'm running Windows 10 x64. Please let me know if I can provide any further info. The only thing I can think of that I changed was to save a new default column layout.

Thanks-

-Susan

[AlanJB]

Hi Susan.

Two suggestions:

1)  Install the Portable version temporarily (in, say, C:\Temp\), change NO configuration whatsoever & see what result you get.  If it does not crash (I see no reason why it should), then something that you have changed likely has caused the crash.  You can delete the temporary installation when you have finished testing or keep it for further testing; it will not trample on your full install.

or

2)  If you are confident about this (I'd try it!):  create a backup copy of the file "MultiCommander.xml" (probably in the MultiCommander folder in your windows profile - I can't check because I only use the Portable version).

Open "MultiCommander.xml" in your favourite text editor and identify the line that begins "<crashdumpformat value=", in my copy of this file it is on line 212.  Set the value to 4 so the line reads "<crashdumpformat value="4"/>".  This will set Crash dump format to "Crash dump with maximum information (20+ MB)".  Repeat your tests - at least you have a fighting chance of sending a Crash dump.

HTH

Alan

[Susan G]

Hi Alan-

Thanks so much for your detailed reply !

I was able to fix it once I knew where to look. I removed the "Default" columnset from the bottom of ColumnSets.xml in my text editor and everything seems to be normal.

I've had a few crashes before, but it only stopped working totally after I saved a columnset as "Default" from within the program.

BTW, my crashdumpformat value is "4", so apparently that change was saved before it crashed last time.

Thanks again!

-Susan

[Mathias (Author)]

The faulting module is MCAudioTools.dll

So maybe the updater failed to update that file ?

If you try AlanJB's suggestion of trying the portable version.. If that works try replace that file from the portable package.

(edit)
Did one of the new columns had anything to do with audio ?

[Susan G]

Did one of the new columns had anything to do with audio ?

Hi Mathias-

Yes. I use the "Length" column regularly and wanted to move it left.

Thanks-

-Susan

[AlanJB]

Hi Susan.

Glad that you got it sorted and that I was of some help 

I am technically a Newbie on this forum, although I have 45+ years programming under my belt.  Not C++, sadly, and I am very new to MC.  But loving it so far 

I totally get where Mathias is going with MC, and I am very impressed (BTW, I'm not easily impressed with most software I come across).  For a one-man, part-time effort this is OUTSTANDING work!

I think Mathias has got his config TOTALLY right and it makes end-user (i.e., amateur) debugging SO much easier when config data is saved in well-formatted .xml files with sensible tag names!  More developers should take a leaf out of his book, IMHO.

( Disclaimer:  I do not know, nor have I any financial or otherwise arrangement with Mathias: he is Swedish, I am English and I have never left the UK: I simply know good software when I see it  )

Alan

[Susan G]

Hi Susan.

Glad that you got it sorted and that I was of some help 

I am technically a Newbie on this forum, although I have 45+ years programming under my belt.  Not C++, sadly, and I am very new to MC.  But loving it so far 

I totally get where Mathias is going with MC, and I am very impressed (BTW, I'm not easily impressed with most software I come across).  For a one-man, part-time effort this is OUTSTANDING work!

I think Mathias has got his config TOTALLY right and it makes end-user (i.e., amateur) debugging SO much easier when config data is saved in well-formatted .xml files with sensible tag names!  More developers should take a leaf out of his book, IMHO.

( Disclaimer:  I do not know, nor have I any financial or otherwise arrangement with Mathias: he is Swedish, I am English and I have never left the UK: I simply know good software when I see it  )

Alan

Hi Alan-

I agree. It's a wonderful program and I felt lost without it for a couple of days!

Thanks again-

-Susan

[Susan G]

Hi-

I continue to get crashes with v6.2 build 2147 64 bit edition related to MCAudioTools.dll. My error reporting is set to Auto send crash report, Crash dump with maximum information (20+ MB). I do use the "Length Total" column.

Is there any other information I should provide? The last time it happened immediately upon saving a Word doc. The time before that I didn't actively do anything, but one of the apps I run might have been writing an autosave backup file at the time.

Thanks-

-Susan

[Mathias (Author)]

When MC send a crash report it give you a Crash ID.. you got that it ? So find what crash is yours..

[Susan G]

Is this what you need?

Report Id: 609e053d-1f95-46fe-bb10-b93e9bf7432a

Thanks-

-Susan

[Mathias (Author)]

No,

When MC sends a crash report a dialog is showing saying it sent a crash report
and there it shows a ID like "6-A123BC"

[Susan G]

I've never seen that. It just disappears off the desktop or maybe sometimes it says "Multi Commander has stopped responding..."but I've never seen the dialog you describe. Can I find the ID somewhere after the fact?

Thanks-

-Susan

[Mathias (Author)]

Than MC is not sending crash report.. You will see that if MC hang and Windows get no response, and by force clicking the app Windows will kill it.


Also make sure the setting for sending crash report are enabled it settings. It is on by default , But maybe you disabled it.

[Susan G]

It just happened again and this is the only dialog I get:



The setting to send crash reports is definitely enabled.

Thanks-

-Susan

[Mathias (Author)]

Then something is very strange.. I don't know why it does not send crash report.. maybe it crash before it is setup during start..

[Susan G]

I'll stop using the Length column and see if that helps.

-Susan

[AlanJB]

Hi Susan.

Did you ever resolve this (or at least come to any conclusions)?

Alan

[Susan G]

Hi Alan-

No, I didn't resolve it exactly, but I've stopped using an audio application (Image-Line's Edison) and coincidentally(?) IIRC, I haven't had the crash since.

Thanks!

-Susan

[Susan G]

I'm still getting the same crash, albeit not as frequently, it seems. It just happened again with build 2225 and again, there's just the same dialog box, with no opportunity to send a crash report. I've deleted the column set with the "Length" column altogether. We'll see if that helps.

-Susan

[Mathias (Author)]

The only think I can think of is that a specific files are make it crash.. Maybe a audio file that is corrupt or maybe it is not a audio file but the file extension say it is. so something goes bad. or
there is some special metadata in one of the files that make it crash.
So when it tries to get the length of that audio file it fails. and that file happen to be at located at of the locations that any of the tabs that are open at startup.

[AlanJB]

Hi Susan.

Does the crash only happen when you have a panel tab open that is listing audio files?

If so, what device are the files on (HDD, SSD, USB, Portable, etc.)?

Can you close all the tabs that do reference audio, close MC, restart MC (assuming you have it set to save open tabs on shutdown) and see if it crashes just looking at "non-audio" files?  I can't test this because I have no audio collections.

Alan

[Susan G]

The only think I can think of is that a specific files are make it crash.. Maybe a audio file that is corrupt or maybe it is not a audio file but the file extension say it is. so something goes bad. or
there is some special metadata in one of the files that make it crash.
So when it tries to get the length of that audio file it fails. and that file happen to be at located at of the locations that any of the tabs that are open at startup.

Hi Mathias-

These are always different audio files in different folders. I transcribe audio files and keep each project in a different folder, so MC isn't reading the same specific audio file when this happens and they are definitely audio files.

Thanks-

-Susan

[AlanJB]

Susan,
what format are these audio files: MP3? FLAC? Something else? A mix...?


Alan

[Susan G]

Hi Alan-

They could be basically any audio and/or video format. I never know what I'm going to get. My current assignment uses .wmv and .mp3. Video is less common, but .mp3 and .wav are the most common audio formats I get. If it's something really unusual that my audio program can't read directly, I convert it to .wav.

Thanks-

-Susan

[AlanJB]

OK - still playing sleuth here to give Mathias a break

What software do use to do the conversion (it's still possible that the converted files have something wrong with them)?

Are you confident that video files also cause the crash?

Alan