WinFBE keeps crashing on one laptop.

Robert Eaton · December 18, 2023, 10:20:50 PM

I'm assuming this is something silly or a noob error

. I have this older computer, an Acer 1830T (11.6") that I use to use a for programming. Unfortunately the hard drive died. After a year or so I decided to revive it so I put a new SSD in it and installed Windows 10 Pro. (It originally had Windows 7.)
I decided to try experimenting with FreeBasic and WinFBE. However WinFBE will not run on it. The program will start, but as soon as I try to do anything such as load a project, a file or create a new file, it just closes and goes away. No error messages. Works fine on my Windows 11 laptop or my work Windows 10 Enterprise laptop.

Firefly for PowerBasic runs fine on it.
Any thoughts folks?

Paul Squires · December 18, 2023, 11:24:41 PM

Hi Robert,

Does this happen with both the 32-bit and 64-bit versions of WinFBE on your older laptop?

Robert Eaton · December 19, 2023, 10:16:06 AM

Yes, both do the same thing.
Also tried putting the files in different folders (root vs a subfolder).

Paul Squires · December 19, 2023, 12:53:48 PM

hmmm.... that's very odd. Do you have any anti-virus running or other software like MalwareBytes?

Robert Eaton · December 19, 2023, 02:07:30 PM

Nope. Just the default antivirus built into Windows 10.

I just tried it on another Windows 10 Pro laptop and it works ok on that one too.
Windows defender gave me a the unknown program warning but after dismissing that it ran fine. (yes I have too many laptops kicking around :-).

Don't lose any sleep over this Paul. There must be something weird about this machine. It originally had Windows 7 but I doesn't seem that would be an issue.

Bumblebee · December 22, 2023, 10:44:37 AM

Have you tried running the executable as an administrator?

Another test you can try is to switch off Windows theme support.

Robert Eaton · December 27, 2023, 01:01:38 PM

Thanks for the suggestions.
I had already tried running it as an administrator with no luck.
Per your suggestion, I turned off the theme service. No change with that either.

Bumblebee · December 27, 2023, 01:21:29 PM

Have you had a look at the Event Viewer?
Some information might be revealed in the logs.

Control Panel > Administrative Tools > Event Viewer

Robert Eaton · December 27, 2023, 01:47:40 PM

Great suggestion.
it does show the error.
I don't know if it helps.

Bumblebee · December 28, 2023, 10:26:48 PM

Looks like a memory access violation. Not of any help, except for an OS engineer.
Have you run a system file check?

Robert Eaton · December 31, 2023, 12:38:24 PM

Ran SFC. It found and repaired errors.
Rebooted and ran it again and it then said everything was ok.
However, the problem persists.
Loading or trying to create a file causes an immediate crash.

Bumblebee · December 31, 2023, 12:48:36 PM

Quote from: Robert Eaton on December 31, 2023, 12:38:24 PMRan SFC. It found and repaired errors.
Rebooted and ran it again and it then said everything was ok.
However, the problem persists.
Loading or trying to create a file causes an immediate crash.

Are you able to see the Open File dialog box, or the Save File dialog box?

Robert Eaton · December 31, 2023, 01:48:11 PM

If I try to open a file or project, the select file dialog boxes appear. As soon as I select a file and click "ok" it crashes. If try to create a new file, it crashes immediately (File --> New).
If I try to create a new project, it lets me select a destination folder, but when I try to save the project it crashes.

Bumblebee · December 31, 2023, 03:44:42 PM

I was suspecting an OS issue is the culprit, but if File > New causes it to crash, that's not a bug I've seen reported. I'm running 2.2.0 with no issues, but I'll give the latest version a try and report back.

Edit: I'm not experiencing the issues you've reported.
Version 3.10 installed to root folder C:\WinFBE_Suite
Size: 344 MB (361,520,165 bytes)
Contains: 6,152 Files, 415 Folders

My OS
Edition   Windows 10 Home
Version   22H2
Installed on   ‎2020-‎08-‎08
OS build   19045.3803
Experience   Windows Feature Experience Pack 1000.19053.1000.0

Robert Eaton · January 01, 2024, 01:31:29 PM

Thanks again for all the suggestions.
The issue is only with this particular laptop.
As mentioned, I have tried it on other Windows 10 and 11 computers with no problem.
This is more a curiosity than a big problem since I can still use the program on a different computer.

One other difference for this laptop is that it is older and has the least amount of memory.
It has 4 gigs (1.6 gigs available). The other machines have 8, 16, and 32 gigs of memory.
However, no problems with any other software so far. That amount of memory was never been an issue in the past running programs that likely require more resources.
I ran a memory diagnostic and it came out ok.