Internet explorer causing LabVIEW to crash?

[Anti-Neutrino]

Does anyone have any experience of internet explorer / windows causing labVIEW to crash?

I came back to my workstation after being away for Xmas and had a "internet explorer has performed an illegal operation and needs to close" message. I also found that labVIEW had closed as well and I only had 22 hours of data instead of 2 weeks' worth. The IE session was only open on the google page or something similar, it shouldn't have been doing anything that might cause it to crash. This is a bit of a worry for me as my experiment is one that needs to be left potentially for several months at a time, I can ill afford periods of no data.

Is this likely to be a random Windows nuance (a one in a million thing that will never happen again) or is it something more sinister that I should be careful of in the future? Is it an established problem that anyone's heard of?

If it helps, I'm using Windows XP, pretty much fully updated. LabVIEW 8. Not sure what version of IE, but I can check if it's relevant.

I knew I should have switched to Firefox...

[LeeM]

Hello,

  I am sorry to hear that this has happened to you. I do not think that this will be a problem with running Internet Explorer with LabVIEW. As far as I can find there are no known issues that associate LabVIEW crashing as a result of Internet Explorer. As this has only happened once then it is difficult to tell whether this is simply a one off glitch or something more sinister that is to do with the install of LabVIEW or another program in use.

  Unfortunately, I would imagine that you may encounter some problems if you are trying to run code on a computer running Windows XP over a long period of time. The problem comes with Windows XP (and other operating systems for that matter) and the fact that it is not designed to run for long periods of time on end. For applications that require gathering data over long periods of time we would recommend the use of a real-time system such as a PC that can boot into a real time operating system or a PXI real time controller in a PXI chassis. With these real time operating systems you can use LabVIEW Real-Time and nothing else will interfere with your application. You can find information on LabVIEW Real Time on our website here.

I was also wondering if you have tried to run your application again and found something similar has happened?

LeeM

AE NIUK

[Steve.Briggs]

Switch to Mozilla

[Anti-Neutrino]

Hi thanks for your replies.

I have undertaken numerous runs of the code over the last 6 months, often lasting several weeks. I've never experienced a crash in this way before.

As I said before eventually we will need the code to run for many months, maybe even years as the thing we're measuring has a very slow event rate. I have often found windows XP to be a problem, for example when it tries to install new updates and wants to reboot when I'm in the middle of a run. This situation is made worse by the fact that it's a networked computer administrated by the university with delivered applications, so I don't have administrator access to change the settings.

Would operating on a Linux platform be more sensible?

Thanks

[Steve.Briggs]

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@Anti-Neutrino wrote:

As I said before eventually we will need the code to run for many months, maybe even years as the thing we're measuring has a very slow event rate. I have often found windows XP to be a problem, for example when it tries to install new updates and wants to reboot when I'm in the middle of a run. This situation is made worse by the fact that it's a networked computer administrated by the university with delivered applications, so I don't have administrator access to change the settings.

Thanks

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Hmm...

The fact that it is hooked to the network is where your problem is.  I also have a code running for a lengthily time (2 months so far) and we have it planned to run for another 10 months.  However, I stored the computer in a dark, undisturbed corner of our lab and posted many warning signs around the perimeter of my set up in order to avoid any disturbances.  I also unhooked it from the network and as a fail-safe I had our tech guys turn off any automatic windows or security updates on the computer.

I personally have no knowledge on Linux, perhaps someone can help you with that issue.

I would suggest asking for certain codes and administrative access in order to change some settings, if they know your intentions are only to ensure your programs run time longevity, then they should help you out.

Best of luck

[AnalogKid2DigitalMan]

If it is a low bandwidth signal(s) you need to capture over the long term, you may want to consider a stand-alone dedicated data logger unit that logs to disk. No PC/OS/User/crash issues to worry about. Much more robust.

[LeeM]

It is difficult to say whether a Linux operating system will prove better or not. It is generally accepted that Linux can prove quite stable but this tends to be if you know what you are doing with it. This is because Linux operating systems can be tinkered with to suit your own personal requirements. However, I still believe that you will find it inadequate to run your code for long periods of time. Real Time systems are designed to do exactly the type of data acquisition you are performing. Neither Linux or Windows can be guaranteed to perform what you are asking them to do.

LeeM
AE NIUK

[pallen]

It is possible to turn off such things as automatic updates and scheduled tasks to avoid interference with your LV code.  As a matter of course, each new PC I use in a project (typically a new Dell of some sort) ends up having all of the "Value Added" software removed, all automatic updates disabled, and many services switched to "manual" start or disabled.

Although msconfig.exe does not ship with XP, it is compatible and can be used to prevent programs from running on Windows start up.  Tweak UI is also a useful tool in getting XP to perform faster and with more stability.

As a Linux enthusiast for the past eight or so years, I have to give it it's due.  But I've found that developing in LabView on that platform is quite limited.  Depending on the "flavor" you choose, Linux on a desktop isn't entirely bombproof either.  To really get stability and speed from a Linux system, you either need exactly the right distribution or you need to customize and re-compile your own kernel.  Keep in mind that if you do switch to Linux, only certain versions are supported by LabView.  

Believe it or not, I've got Windows systems (mostly tweaked versions of 2000) that have not been rebooted in countless months.       

Years ago when I was always tweaking my Windows machines for gaming, I found a utility called 98Lite that was very useful.  I once had an old PII laptop just blazing.  http://www.litepc.com/ is the name of the of the software company I believe.  They now have versions for 2000 and XP, although admittedly I have yet to try them.

Good luck!

[AnalogKid2DigitalMan]

Hi pallen:

I have used msconfig on XP SP2 at home and work. Start/Run and type msconfig on the command line.

-AK2DM

[pallen]

Interesting.  I wonder if they added it back?    I know for sure that on at least one computer, I had to find the app on the web and download it.

Great app though.  Procexp.exe from Winternals is another nice little app.