PW5.EXE Error

[DMS500Tech]

Greetings, Has anyone been having problems with PW4 and or PW5 generating an error upon opening or making a connection from the connection directory on the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, etc... instance? On some days we can have open 8 instances without a problem. The next day you might have to try 5 or 6 times to get the second instance to open and connect. It seems to be completly random. You never know which day or which instance you are going to get the "PW5.exe has generated an error and will shut down". When it shuts down it closes all instances that are open.

I have opened up a tickets with Symantic in the past and they were no help.

If anyone knows of a fix please let me know. We use Procomm's extensively and this is happening on every computer that runs Procomm's

 

[knob]

Does this problem only happen if you have more than one Procomm session open at a time? How are you opening the other sessions (Window | New Window, a script, running Procomm again, etc.)? Are you making modem or telnet connections? I often have three or four telnet and FTP sessions open at a time and have not seen this problem.

Also, is the Connection Directory being accessed from a shared location by all of the machines, or does each machine have its own Connection Directory?

You might try downloading some of the updated executables for versions 4.6/4.7 and 4.8 and see if they clear up the problems. For 4.6/4.7, go to this page:

http://www.symantec.com/techsupp/files/procomm/procomm47-9598nt_files.html

and download the updated pwdll.dll and pw4.exe files. If you are using scripts, it wouldn't hurt to download this file:

http://www.aspectscripting.com/support/pw4/aspfix.exe

from my site (it is not listed on Symantec's site for some reason).

For 4.8, download the updated fapi32.dll file from this KB article:

http://service1.symantec.com/SUPPOR...750c085d7846f37f88256a4c006ef461?OpenDocument

If you are using telnet connections in version 4.8, you will also want to download this updated telnet module that I received from the developer of ASPECT:

http://www.aspectscripting.com/PWTELNET.DLC

aspect@aspectscripting.com

http://www.aspectscripting.com

 

[DMS500Tech]

Usually the error occurs on the 2nd + session.
This morning I tried to connect with my 2nd session and I received the error. After that I tried five times to open a 1st session and each time when the entry was picked in the connection directory it errored out. I rebooted my computer and was able to make 2 connections with no problem. I must note that when I came in this morning the first thing I did was reboot. So I actually started the same as I did after the second reboot.
We always double click on a shortcut icon on the desk top.
I will say this; I use the task manger to run multiple sessions during the night and have not ever had a problem.
99% of all sessions are telnet. We occationally FTP. We do use dial up with our on-call laptop but rarley open more than one instance (no one recalls it ever happening on the laptop).
Each machine has its own connection directory. We have gone so far as to wipe some computers clean and reinstall everything. Those computers would run 2-3 weeks without a problem and then they would start erroring out again.
I have checked the Symantics web site and it says there are no new downloads for 4.8. Note, this problem started with version 4.7 and Symantics informed us that 4.8 should take care of this issue.

I will install the 2 files you suggest and report back with the results.

 

[dd5087]

I am running 4.8 and have replaced the files as recommended. This appeared to fix the problem, as my scripts, running from W2000 Scheduled Tasks, ran fine for 4 days. Then I begin experiencing the same application error. It is not consistent as it is generated on different scripts and at different times. Once the error is encountered, all of the remaining scripts do not execute. I was wondering if DMS500Tech had any success with the file replacements?

This occurs on multiple PCs and I have reinstalled Procomm, generated a new PW5.dir file and nothing appears to work.

 

[DMS500Tech]

dd5087
Downloading the files did not help in our situation.

what we did on my machine was to wipe it clean and re-image it.
Since then I have have not put anything on my computer besides the basic programs I need to do my job.

It has now been about 4 weeks and I have not encountered an error (knock on wood). Only time will tell if this fixes the problem.

I am thinking that it was something in the windows enviroment or another program that was causing the problem.

If I start having problems again I will update this thread.

 

[Archsta]

I was having this problem for a long time with one particular entry in the connection directory sometimes up to 20 times a day. When I selected that entry the error would occur and shut all procomm windows down. I am now doing a "manual connect" to that IP and the trouble has not repeated. Been running clear for 6 months now. Hope this helps.

 

[DMS500Tech]

It is defintly worth a try Archsta.

I must have jenked myself on the 10th because on the 11th I got my first instance of a PW5.exe error since we wiped my computer and reloaded everything.
What I can't figure out is what changed?
Everything was working fine. There have been no changes to anything on my computer I was doing my routine daily work just like I had done for the last 4 weeks.

One connection that I have still not been able to link is the fact that in a year and half I have not had any of the scripts that are run thru the night error out and they all launch from the connection directory. These scripts have ran on the same computer that would error out time after time during the day.

 

[knob]

You might try browsing the Symantec knowledgebase here:

http://www.symantec.com/techsupp/procomm/procomm48_search_kb.html

and see if you can find any crashes that seem to match up with the modules or filenames reported by Windows.

http://www.aspectscripting.com

 

[hemi55]

I have seen this many times on different computers. Each computer seems to have it's own 'version' of the problem. One PC allowed me to have 5 procomm windows up but if I tried to open a 6th, it would fail. One PC would work with up to 20 procomm windows but if I tried to open a window with a specific connection directory entry, it would fail. The solution for this one was to delete the connection directory entry and re-enter it. I have seen computers that had no obvious rule, it will just occasionally get the error when you can least afford it. The computer I have now will give me the error when opening the first window. A second attempt usually works and I don't see it again.
Reloading Procomm has always fixed the problem for a short term (weeks) but it would always return. This single problem has caused many users to give up on Procomm and use other tools. I really wish Symantec would try to track this down.

 

[DMS500Tech]

Thanks for your responce hemi55.
I was begining to think it was something specific to our network. You descibed our senerio to the T. If you ever isolate the problem please let me know.

 

[dd5087]

I have continually had this problem when using the connection directory to initiate the script, however, after looking at some of the sample scripts at the aspectscripting web site, I decided to rewrite my script to do the connection within the script. Since that time, I have not experienced one failure. I connect and capture data from about 20 different remote locations every night and it's working great. I am no expert at Procomm scripting but the samples gave me the info I needed to do it.