[brantb]

Hello,

We have been using WinFax Pro 10.02 for years now, and it has served us quite well. Every now and then, we run into a glitch with it – but we’ve always been able to resolve the issue; in one case, with help from our friends here at GetFaxing [smile].

Well, we’ve encountered another glitch which has us stumped … so, we’re back here again [grin].

Some of the contracts that we have with certain suppliers (and even some customers) require that we keep paper records of certain types of faxes which we send (eg. Purchase Orders). Normally, after sending out a batch of faxes, we do a multi-select in the Send Log (i.e. highlight several items) and print the messages. This prints all of the items out for us at once. It’s great (er, uh … it was great, until is stopped working [grin]).

Now, when we try to do that, the first item prints … and when WinFax tries to send the 2nd item, we get a dialogue box indicating that FAXMNG32.EXE has caused errors and will be shut down. A Dr. Watson log is created.

We’ve tried sending the printouts to different printers, but the results are the same. Interestingly, if we just highlight one item at a time and run the (same) print jobs individually, we don’t encounter any errors/problems.

This just started to happen about a week ago … and it’s not like we can associated with any changes that were made to the workstation. We haven’t installed anything new (the last installation would have been OS security patches about 5 weeks ago).

By the way – the environment is a small fax-sharing workgroup (5 users/workstations + a central fax “server” which is unattended). The workstations are all running Win2000 SP4 (don’t laugh [grin] – they will be upgraded to XP soon … but we’ve been held back by “certification/support” regarding some vertical market applications etc. which we run [shrug]). The central WinFax server is on WinXP (SP2) – although, I really don’t think this issue has anything to do with the server or fax sharing.

The actual sending of faxes works just fine (we only use WinFax for outbound purposes) – it is only the batch printing of items from the Send Log which seems to now be causing us grief (and apparently, only from this one workstation).

Any suggestions you could give regarding troubleshooting steps would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers!

Brant

[JohnD]

Do you know the specific message that appears when you click on More Info when that error appears? usually it will say FaxMng32.exe and another module name.

[brantb]

Unfortunately, the only thing it points to is FAXMNG32.EXE. The exact wording of the message is as follows: “FAXMNG32.EXE has generated error and will be closed by Windows. You will need to restart the program”. It also indicates that an error log is being created.

In the event logs, there is a corresponding Dr. Watson event with the following details (I’ve snipped it part way down, because it started to reveal more information than I was comfortable with at this point [smile]. If you need the extra details, perhaps I could provide them to you via PM or email – something a little less “public”?)

Event Type: Information
Event Source: DrWatson
Event Category: None
Event ID: 4097
Date: 10/17/2009
Time: 3:28:16 PM
User: N/A
Computer: STATION62
Description:
The application, V:faxmng32.exe, generated an application error The error occurred on 10/17/2009 @ 15:28:16.865 The exception generated was c0000005 at address 78010AEA (memcpy)
Data:
0000: 0d 0a 0d 0a 41 70 70 6c ….Appl
0008: 69 63 61 74 69 6f 6e 20 ication
0010: 65 78 63 65 70 74 69 6f exceptio
0018: 6e 20 6f 63 63 75 72 72 n occurr
0020: 65 64 3a 0d 0a 20 20 20 ed:..
0028: 20 20 20 20 20 41 70 70 App
0030: 3a 20 56 3a 5c 66 61 78 : V:fax
0038: 6d 6e 67 33 32 2e 65 78 mng32.ex
0040: 65 20 28 70 69 64 3d 31 e (pid=1
0048: 30 36 38 29 0d 0a 20 20 068)..
0050: 20 20 20 20 20 20 57 68 Wh
0058: 65 6e 3a 20 31 30 2f 31 en: 10/1
0060: 37 2f 32 30 30 39 20 40 7/2009 @
0068: 20 31 35 3a 32 38 3a 31 15:28:1
0070: 36 2e 38 36 35 0d 0a 20 6.865..
0078: 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 45 E
0080: 78 63 65 70 74 69 6f 6e xception
0088: 20 6e 75 6d 62 65 72 3a number:
0090: 20 63 30 30 30 30 30 30 c000000
0098: 35 20 28 61 63 63 65 73 5 (acces
00a0: 73 20 76 69 6f 6c 61 74 s violat
00a8: 69 6f 6e 29 0d 0a 0d 0a ion)….
00b0: 2a 2d 2d 2d 2d 3e 20 53 *—-> S
00b8: 79 73 74 65 6d 20 49 6e ystem In
00c0: 66 6f 72 6d 61 74 69 6f formatio
00c8: 6e 20 3c 2d 2d 2d 2d 2a n <—-*
00d0: 0d 0a 20 20 20 20 20 20 ..
00d8: 20 20 43 6f 6d 70 75 74 Comput
00e0: 65 72 20 4e 61 6d 65 3a er Name:
00e8: 20 53 54 41 54 49 4f 4e STATION
00f0: 36 32 0d 0a 20 20 20 20 62..
00f8: 20 20 20 20 55 73 65 72 User
0100: 20 4e 61 6d 65 3a 20 62 Name: b
0108: 72 65 6e 64 61 74 0d 0a rendat..
0110: 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20
0118: 4e 75 6d 62 65 72 20 6f Number o
0120: 66 20 50 72 6f 63 65 73 f Proces
0128: 73 6f 72 73 3a 20 31 0d sors: 1.
0130: 0a 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 .
0138: 20 50 72 6f 63 65 73 73 Process
0140: 6f 72 20 54 79 70 65 3a or Type:
0148: 20 78 38 36 20 46 61 6d x86 Fam
0150: 69 6c 79 20 36 20 4d 6f ily 6 Mo
0158: 64 65 6c 20 36 20 53 74 del 6 St
0160: 65 70 70 69 6e 67 20 32 epping 2
0168: 0d 0a 20 20 20 20 20 20 ..
0170: 20 20 57 69 6e 64 6f 77 Window
0178: 73 20 32 30 30 30 20 56 s 2000 V
0180: 65 72 73 69 6f 6e 3a 20 ersion:
0188: 35 2e 30 0d 0a 20 20 20 5.0..
0190: 20 20 20 20 20 43 75 72 Cur
0198: 72 65 6e 74 20 42 75 69 rent Bui
01a0: 6c 64 3a 20 32 31 39 35 ld: 2195
01a8: 0d 0a 20 20 20 20 20 20 ..
01b0: 20 20 53 65 72 76 69 63 Servic
01b8: 65 20 50 61 63 6b 3a 20 e Pack:
01c0: 34 0d 0a 20 20 20 20 20 4..
01c8: 20 20 20 43 75 72 72 65 Curre
01d0: 6e 74 20 54 79 70 65 3a nt Type:
01d8: 20 55 6e 69 70 72 6f 63 Uniproc
01e0: 65 73 73 6f 72 20 46 72 essor Fr
01e8: 65 65 0d 0a 20 20 20 20 ee..

One thing I can tell you – the error code itself and the memory location appear to be very consistent – the only thing that seems to change from one even to the next, is the time stamp.

I hope that provides you with a bit more insight.

Brant

[JohnD]

Ok, prior to printing the faxes in the send log, when the print dialog box appears click Options and make sure NO “Confirmation Settings” are enabled and select “1 per page” option.

If that made no difference, Start WinFax Tools and End All WinFax Tasks. Make sure WinFax is closed.
go to the following key in the Windows Registry.
HKEY_CURRENT_USERSoftwareDelrinaWinFax7.0Print Event Info
Rename the “Print Event Info” registry key to “Print Event Info Old”
Now start WinFax. Try printing again.

Still not working? try Winfax Tools – the option under Install & Setup Tools, “Fix Start Up Errors” . Also click on “Set Default Fax View” option in WinFax Tools.

No good? Possible data problem with the logs, In WinFax Tools, Phonebooks & Logs, Rebuild Logs & Phonebooks, Click Yes to close WinFax, Select “Status.wfb” and click Open.) Note: I recommend making a backup of your WinFax data folder prior to doing this step.

If that did not help, check how many entries do you have in the send log. Perform a “Check Send/Receive limits” check and report the results. There is a limit to how many faxes you can store in the default send and receive log folders before WinFax will start to fail. That limit is 10,000 sent fax pages (total pages, not fax events)

If none of those options fix the problem, then its possible there is a bad entry (or a few bad entries) causing multiple fax print jobs to fail. Does it fail when you select a few entries, like 2 at a time?

[brantb]

WOW!! What an excellent and comprehensive reply.

Based on what may become involved in the progression of the tests, I think I will want to capture a backup image of the workstation exactly as it is now, before proceeding. That way, we can always come back to a known point (if something “worse” happens along the way [grin]). I’m in the middle of a priority project for another client for the next few days – I may not get a chance to capture the backup and run through these suggestions until the coming weekend.

I just wanted to let you know, so that if/when you don’t see any further activity in this thread for a few days, you don’t misinterpret it as disinterest … or that I have abandoned the thread (as forum posters do, way too often – although, perhaps less so here at GetFaxing).

Just a couple of FYI’s, though, that I can give you before I even run through the steps …

I haven’t tried printing just 2 items (that’s not a bad thought); the lowest number I happened to try was 4. Having said that, I did try several different batches/items … including items which have previously printed out just fine in batches. So, it could end up being bad entries or log corruption – but at a high level, the bookies would probably give long-ish odds on that one [grin].

The total number of entries in the Send Log is <3000 (well away from the ~10000 limit), so fortunately, I don't think we have to worry about that one.

It never hurts to try things, especially when chasing down unusual problems … so I will definitely follow through on all of the items/steps that you have suggested. Regardless of successes or failures, I’ll post the results back here as soon as I have them.

Cheers!

Brant

[JohnD]

10,000 pages is the absolute upper limit where you can’t send any more or receive faxes, but logs can fail well before you reach that limit. If you have about 2000 – 3000 entries, then you might be reaching the threshold where you will start to experience problems (slow processing etc.). Check Send/Rec Log Limits in WinFax Tools to confirm your send and receive log usage.

Here’s what Symantec (from WinFax Help) has to say about the default “Messages” message store that is used to store all incoming and outgoing faxes by default.

Messages in the Messages message store are uncompressed; the Messages message store is therefore more suitable for short-term message storage or for storing a smaller number of messages. If you want to keep your messages for long-term use or you receive large numbers of messages, you can set up your own message filing system with custom message stores and subfolders. For example, you might want to organize correspondence by customer and your sales reports by quarter.

In addition to this, Windows doesn’t handle large number of files in a single folder, so having 10,000+ files in a single folder isn’t a good idea. Its always a good idea to have message stores created in sub-folders located in another folder, or sub-folder of the WinFaxData folder. I find the easiest method is to store faxes by the YEAR they were send or received, if you send a lot of faxes, then you might want to use quarters , or monthly message stores.

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