Kernel32.dll initialization failed

[sants]

I am running W-Nt server sp6a and Oracle with about 4Gb of RAM and keep getting this Dr Watson error. Changing the registry setting for desktop heap memory does not help. Any other hints?

 

[sants]

No suggestions or comments?

 

[Highland]

When exactly does the error occur....???? How is your Oracle set-up, is it a client install....???? Does the error occur when u launch the client.....????

 

[sants]

Ok...here is some more information. This server was setup some time back and there were about 300 (roughly) user connections to the 8.0.5 Oracle server. The connections are through an Engg design package that uses Oracle for data storage and management. The applications do not use Oracle client products but uses application specific data access components to connect to Oracle. Everything was running fine until recently when the number of user connections went up to 550 and above (roughly). The memory on the server was upgraded to 4GB and the errors did not occur for a few days, but started off again after a while but not as frequent as before. The memory utilisation at peak is about 70 to 80 %. The error occurs once in a while when the client application is running. There is no specific query or transaction that triggers it, because the commands are standard and they run quite OK on some days. Here is the exact error message.

Initialization of the dynamic link library
c:\winnt\system32\kernel32.dll failed. The
process is
terminating abnormally.

The version of Oracle is 8.0.5.2.1.
The initial response was to check the shared section registry setting for desk top memory heap. This did not help. The next possibilty could be Oracle memory leak with this version.
Wanted ot have comments from your side........

 

[Highland]

Yeah, thats a lot of connections to the server...!!!! Its weird that its the Kernel32.dll....???? We use the Oracle client with no problems but with about max. 40 connections per server (on Metaframe)....

Might be worth checking the following registry key which "controls" the ammount of connections to the server....

HKLM\system\currentcontrolset\services\lanmanserverparameters\MAXMPXCT

Its a reg_dword value in case you have to add it......

Also in the same key is another value.....

MAXWORKITEMS........(range for both keys is 1 - 65,535)

U could try increasing these values...???? We've had problems with these parameters in the past, but I'm not too sure if we were seeing the Kernel32 error...but again this could be caused by not enough server resourses being allocated for the client...?????

One other thought...!!! What permissions are set for kernel32.dll..???? Do all your "new" connections have sufficient permisssions to access it...????...or is it set for the Oracle client...????

Hope this helps............

 

[DevilDog]

That's a BUNCH of user connections! May I suggest something VERY basic; schedule the server to reboot automaticaly in the middle of the night and see if that gives you any relief. It sure would help to clean up a lot of hanging stuff (memory leaks, etc...) -- Devil Dog --

 

[sants]

Thanks guys for your responses. Apparently, this particular version (8.0.5.2.1) of Oracle has a bunch of memory leak bugs and is no longer supported by Oracle corp. Even though they did not confirm that this was due to any particluar bug, they recommended applying the patch 8.0.2.26.

Well, waiting for the results from the customer now......