LabVIEW

cancel
Showing results for 
Search instead for 
Did you mean: 

License Manager Crash

A funny thing happened on the way to SP1.  For some time now my Example Finder has been crashing with the follow error

 

error.PNG

 

No other side effects, and since I knew where to find the examples no big deal.  I figured that I'd be repairing or upgrading someday.  Well that day was today and when I try to launch the License Manager to activate SP1 it crashes as well.  I get the usual error report message.  Now I am stuck with a very expensive evaluation.  I do not believe in coincidences, so my guess is that there is some common place that the Example Finder and License Manager look to find a path and that it is corrupt (perhaps a registry key).   The ones I have checked so far seem ok.

 

Repair seems unlikely to help since the upgrade to SP1 didn't.  I only have ~60 licenses so I haven't tripped the magic number of 99, and I have admin privileges (Win XP SP3).  I have LV 6i, 7,8.2, 8.5,8.6, and 2009 installed and 8.2, 8.6 and 2009 suffer from the Example Finder problem (haven't checked the others).  Reinstalling everything from scratch would make me the grumpiest old man this forum has ever seen. 

Message 1 of 10
(5,037 Views)

Darin.K wrote:

A funny thing happened on the way to SP1.  For some time now my Example Finder has been crashing with the follow error

 

error.PNG

 

No other side effects, and since I knew where to find the examples no big deal.  I figured that I'd be repairing or upgrading someday.  Well that day was today and when I try to launch the License Manager to activate SP1 it crashes as well.  I get the usual error report message.  Now I am stuck with a very expensive evaluation.  I do not believe in coincidences, so my guess is that there is some common place that the Example Finder and License Manager look to find a path and that it is corrupt (perhaps a registry key).   The ones I have checked so far seem ok.

 

Repair seems unlikely to help since the upgrade to SP1 didn't.  I only have ~60 licenses so I haven't tripped the magic number of 99, and I have admin privileges (Win XP SP3).  I have LV 6i, 7,8.2, 8.5,8.6, and 2009 installed and 8.2, 8.6 and 2009 suffer from the Example Finder problem (haven't checked the others).  Reinstalling everything from scratch would make me the grumpiest old man this forum has ever seen. 


NotTOO sure,  but what changes in the NI"shared" folder were made?  the LabVIEW 6.1 install (as well any TestStand 2.x) leap to mind as possible trouble spots.

 

From my experience there was virtually "no" trouble with SP1 but, I incrementally installed f01, f02 & f03 for LabVIEW 2009.  Moreover, I only keep LabVIEW 7.1 and up installed.  (professional choice- LV7.1 was, IMHO, the first stable for VISA version)


"Should be" isn't "Is" -Jay
Message 2 of 10
(5,018 Views)

I just did a quick check on the VM I have SP1 installed on to see if the example finder still works there.  I realize it's little help to what you're seeing, but it is working there. 

 

Unfortunately I don't have any boxes with as many concurrent installs as you have, so I can't test it out here.  

 

I did scare myself earlier though when building and recompiling a project for a customer that is using LV2009.  My main dev box only has 8.6.1 at the moment, so I did the build and recompile in a virtual machine.  Unfortunately I'd forgotten that I upgraded that VM to SP1.  I don't think my customer has SP1.    

 

So, I rebooted into my Win7 partition which does have both 8.6.1 and LV 2009....that I hadn't updated yet....and my code still worked.   *phew*  

 

 

Hopefully you won't have to reinstall everything.  With everything you've got there, that would take many hours.  

 

It's this sort of thing exactly that's pushing me more and more to virtual machines.  Once I setup a machine the way I like, it's actually fairly portable.  And, if I break it....it's easy to restore.  

 

Looking at the error you received, I wonder if there's a "path" file somewhere that has now grown beyond a size limit and is no longer readable.  In the Environment Variables, the "path" variable is listed.  Mine is pretty huge now, and I've had software refuse to work properly in the past before because this setting had grown beyond the 128 or 255 character limit.  

 

http://www.computerhope.com/issues/ch000549.htm

 

I once just deleted some stuff out of there when some Allen Bradley software complained and wouldn't start.  I'd copy what's there before changing it of course.....and this is just a complete shot in the dark.  Hopefully you'll find a solution. 

 

 

---------------------
Patrick Allen: FunctionalityUnlimited.ca
Message 3 of 10
(5,004 Views)

Jeff, I would be a bit dubious of the older versions myself, but the installs were in chronological order and seemed to coexist.  My laptop seems to survive with the same (or similar) combination of versions.  I don't suspect SP1 is my problem, I was hoping it was the answer.

 

Patrick, Thanks for checking.  My path has also grown quite large through the years and my reliance on numerous command line programs.  I checked for any NI paths there, seemed reasonable.   A couple of environment variables, but nothing that should affect the Shared folder. 

 

Occam's razor tells me that there is one (hopefully simple) solution to both problems.   What common piece of information do both of these programs use?  And why don't they fail more gracefully?

 

30 days to figure it out....

0 Kudos
Message 4 of 10
(4,994 Views)

Darin.K wrote:  

 

Occam's razor tells me that there is one (hopefully simple) solution to both problems.   What common piece of information do both of these programs (LM and EX Finder) use?  And why don't they fail more gracefully?

 

30 days to figure it out....


You are correct.  A thin slice with Occam's razor makes me wonder...... (and Only because I've been here this week)... Are your versions licensed the same?  Some feature moving from "Installed in Base..." to "installed with Full..." or vice versa if you have any demoted licenses.  Could conceivablySmiley Surprised effect both Shared and Examples


"Should be" isn't "Is" -Jay
0 Kudos
Message 5 of 10
(4,990 Views)

Thanks in large part to some admirable efforts from John McIntosh in technical support I was able to track this down.  Here is the saga:

 

After about 80 minutes of phone conversation we were about to adjourn for some serious reinstall action.  John suggested moving all license files out of the license folder.  Doing that allowed the License Manager to start, phase 0 completed.  Moving the license files back methodically and relaunching the license manager pinned down the culprit to the CVI license files, phase 1 completed.  I dumped those license files and was able to activate SP1, thus completing phase 2.  I was happy at this point, except for a couple of things.  The example finder was still gronked, but more importantly, Occam's razor seemed to break down, a serious blow to my world view.

 

Today John sent me some fresh CVI license files, but they once again crashed my license manager.  At this point I did a repair of CVI and was able to start License manager and activate CVI.  phase 3 complete, nearing endgame.  With CVI working again, I tried the example finder.  It launched, but with an error regarding finding the service port.  Followed the advice here.

 

http://digital.ni.com/public.nsf/allkb/BB4F052E48D9476186256FFD0067A992

 

Problem solved.  Now I have fully activated SP1, a working Example Finder and renewed faith in my old friend Occam.

 

I am allergic to marking my own solution, so perhaps John can make a brief stop and I'll give him the credit he deserves.

Message 6 of 10
(4,941 Views)

Congrats Darin.

 

So the CVI licenses were grabbing the same TCP/IP port as the Example finder.  is this correct?


"Should be" isn't "Is" -Jay
0 Kudos
Message 7 of 10
(4,924 Views)

Quite the proceedure to go through.  But if you managed to get things working without having to reinstall....that smells like victory to me. 

 

Does anyone know why this happened though?  Obviously whatever situation caused this would be one to avoid if possible.  

---------------------
Patrick Allen: FunctionalityUnlimited.ca
0 Kudos
Message 8 of 10
(4,899 Views)

Jeff, Patrick.  Right now I am still taking a victory lap (and checking the example finder every now and then).   There was a lot of digging through various NI services and resource files.  I am hoping that knowing the cure gives the AEs a chance to better diagnose the cause.

 

The example finder was like that annoying sound you hear from your car's engine.  You either turn the radio up and drive until flames shoot out from under the hood, or you check things out early and try to avoid major problems down the road.  This time I went the former route, lesson learned.

0 Kudos
Message 9 of 10
(4,894 Views)

Darin.K wrote:

J


The example finder was like that annoying sound you hear from your car's engine.  


Smiley Very HappySmiley Very Happy  Lovely analogy


"Should be" isn't "Is" -Jay
0 Kudos
Message 10 of 10
(4,887 Views)