F9 crash poll

[Cory]

As I have described before I have been living with the F9 bug now for some time and in the last couple of days I have been under deadline and bitten by it several times which has been a huge annoyance. The bug was reported long ago but never fixed and I assumed that it was because I was the only one with the problem and it might be due to some conflict with another application or configuration in my system. Also I had several versions of MEP installed including some test builds so I thought it likely related to them. But a couple weeks ago I had a controller driver BSOD and ended up doing a slick install of W7-64 and an new install of MEP 4.2. I have not had time to install many of my utilities like Snag-it, Clipmate, and others. IE it's pretty much a vanilla install of W7, Office, and MEP. But that begs the question how come no one else seems to have this problem. Yesterday it happened to me 4 times. So I was wondering how many of you experience this and what your setup is. Maybe I can find something common between those who are experiencing it.

 

Here's a description of the failure. You only need read this if you are unfamiliar. I'm editing a simple test macro with a couple of commands to test some logic or whatever. IE noting interacting with the UI or anything exotic. Just ‘internal’ commands manipulating variables and or logic. I’ve had it happen before with only two commands. I hit F9 and nothing seems to happen. A second later I get an hour glass when hovering the scripting editor. Then the title bar changes to include “Not Responding”. At this point none of the Windows components or Windows Explorer windows will function. This included the taskbar. They are simply dead. Interestingly all the rest of the applications, assuming one can reach them, continue to function normally. Do a CTRL+ALT+DEL to get the security menu and launch the task manager. TM loads but the middle portion is solid white and unresponsive. CTRL+ALT+DEL again but this time switch user to another Windows user profile. In this profile all is working including MEP. Using the task manager in here show processes from all users. Note that the MEP processes are zero CPU and that overall CPU use is low. Kill all MEP processes in the original user session. Log out and back into the original profile everything, except MEP of course, is operating normally. Launch MEP, open the same macro in the scripting editor and try F9 again. Note that although the macro and the Windows session is identical the macro now runs normally. I continue on my way editing macros. Also the frequency seems pretty regular as well. I try to avoid F9 now when I can. IE I save and run from explorer and use temporary dialog boxes instead of the F5 window. But even at that it happened 4 times to me yesterday. Oh, also of note it crashes before executing the first command.

 

 

[acantor]

Hi Cory,

 

I just tried using F9 with two long scripts, including one that has 200 lines, 40 if statements, and dozens of variable manipulations. I have not been able to reproduce the problem, but I will keep an eye out.

 

I am using a Windows 7 64-bit machine, with the most recent version of Macro Express.

[terrypin]

I haven't had any recent problems of that sort here under XP Pro, but I have been getting obscure intermittent crashes of my Windows session (which effectively freeze all operations) and ME Pro is on my short list as a possible cause.

 

I've been doing a lot of macro testing today, and guess I must have used F9 a hundred or two times. No crashes as a direct result though.

 

--

Terry, UK

[acantor]

Cory,

 

Have you assigned F9 as an activation for any macro?

 

Does the problem occur when you choose the "Test Run" command from the "Debug" menu?

[Cory]

F9 does not activate any macros. I never use the dubug command or button. Always F9.

 

 

[acantor]

F9 does not activate any macros. I never use the dubug command or button. Always F9.

 

Maybe we are grasping at straws, but consider creating a window or application-specific hotkey macro for Macro Express, triggered by, say, F10, that either clicks on the toolbar icon or chooses the command from the menu.

 

You could probably choose F9 as the activation, if you wanted.

[Cory]

Thanks for the suggestion but I don't think it's related to how I initiate the debug run. Please understand my intent here isn't to spitball possible work-around but rather to see if anyone else is having this problem. Obviously most do not and I'm trying to determine why I'm special.

 

 

[acantor]

I didn't suggest the hotkey macro as a workaround, but as a diagnostic tool. Perhaps activating the command via F9 is conflicting with something outside of MEP.

 

I would check properties for everything on the desktop. Perhaps one of the objects has been inadvertently assigned the F9 shortcut key, and that might be the source of the problem.

[Cory]

OK, I'll try to launch from some method besides F9 and see how that goes for awhile. But in all these cases the scripting editor is on top so if something else was using F9 why wouldn't it execute or do something normally?

 

 

[Cory]

I just had it crash by selecting Debug from the menu instead of F9. So how it's activated makes no difference.

 

I just find it odd that I'm the sole human being with this problem.

[terrypin]

I just had it crash by selecting Debug from the menu instead of F9. So how it's activated makes no difference.

 

I just find it odd that I'm the sole human being with this problem.

 

Is this repeatable or erratic? The same macro or various different macros? If the latter, any notable characteristics? Issue formally reported? Any response?

 

--

Terry, UK

[Cory]

Erratic-ish. It always happens the same way. IE any debug, first command, etc. But like I said I can be debugging the exact same macro and one time it will crash and the next it wont. The best example is I write a macro, save, F9, crash, recover, re-run same macro, and now it works fine. I've been working pretty feverishly on a project today and I have been trying to avoid F9 and instead use temporary dialogs and such so I can just run the macro normal but even at that I've had it crash 8 times today. But it does seems like it's periodic. IE it doesn't seem random. IE I don't think it's ever happened back to back. It seems like it needs to build up or something. Like if I've been an hour in the same session I start getting worried and am never surprised when it happens. But who knows really.

 

I've reported it a long time ago and again recently. But I appreciate that if I'm the only one complaining it's a low priority. I was hoping if I flew it up the flag pole more people would recognize the failure. You see I know the trick to recover it. Most user probably just assume their machine is completely frozen. The other odd thing is it happens on different machines for me. And at times it's happened with 2 line var mod macros. But if no one else is having a problem I must just be cursed. Somehow I offended the cybergods.

 

 

[paul]

But if no one else is having a problem I must just be cursed. Somehow I offended the cybergods.

How many times in the last 2 years or so must Terrypin have felt the same, I wonder? We were always telling him his problems were unique, so it must be his machine!

[terrypin]

If Paul hadn't mentioned it I'd never dreamed of using phrases like 'The tables are turned' or 'The boot's on the other foot'. And I won't, I won't!

 

It's rare that I go through a day without an erratic crash of some sort with ME Pro. And as I use it almost exclusively when testing, these have occasionally been immediately on keying F9. The problem of course is trying to isolate a cause. I've wasted an incredible amount of time on it. Well, not always wasted, because I occasionally do succeed in that detective work, sometimes after help here.

 

On my PC (XP Pro), I'd say that maybe half of such intermittent crashes are proven 'conflicts' with some other software. Even that begs various questions. Wouldn't it be reasonable to say that a well-written macro-player should be so insulated as to avoid 'conflicts'? My Stiletto ran from 1998 until last week, that's 12 years. And do you know how many programs I can recall it 'conflicting' with? One. Bonus points for guessing which program that was! I finally had to make a choice between the two. ME Pro won because of its ease of macro creation. On reliability and predictability it lost hands down. And IMO ME Pro has been far worse in that resepect than ME3.

 

Meanwhile, have you tried all the usual stuff? In particular, msconfig to get a fresh startup, run the macro repeatedly over an hour or whatever, add one of your normal progs - and repeat the loop.

 

Do you have Process Monitor (ProcMon) from SysInternals? (Various sources, such as http://live.sysinternals.com/ ) You could try starting that directly before the F9 and then examine it for clues. I'm not too optimistic though, as there will be thousands of lines. 99% of them are totally obscure to me, and even for a programmer or techie I reckon it's daunting. But occasionally an entry has jumped out at me.

 

One point I'm unclear about: if you run this macro normally (either from ME Pro Explorer with Run macro Now or activated) does it ever crash? Or only ever via F9?

 

As a longshot, I don't suppose your Ctrl key (or Alt or Shift) is 'sticky'? I have had problems conclusively down to that (I think I tend to hit the left edge of my Ctrl key instead of square on). You could occasionally be entering Ctrl+F9 (or Alt+F9 or Shift+F9), so it might be worth checking all your hotkeys (ME Pro, other apps, and the OS) to see if they are assigned.

 

BTW, if you can export an MEX of one of the simple test macros that crashes intermittently, I'll run it regularly here for a while. Even with Stilleto retired (where's the Cry smilie?), I have scores of utilities, services and apps loaded, so there's a good chance it will crash here too.

 

--

Terry, East Grinstead, UK

[Cory]

Sorry I didn’t see this post. Not sure how I missed it.

 

Thanks for the troubleshooting suggestion but I have run thru them all several times. At this point, and hence the point of my post, was to identify if anyone else was experiencing it.

 

The macro is not the problem. I have had it crash with a single line macro where upon recovery the macro ran fine as F9 or normally. And according to some empirical evidence it never even executes the first time of code. The only thing I’ve noticed so far is that it seems to occur only when I have the scripting editor open on the right screen.

 

 

[redwards]

Can you share your macro file? I'll give a test

 

 

[Cory]

It’s not a specific macro. It happens with any and every macro. I have had it happen with a test macro whose only command was a variable set from. And once I restart MEP the same macro it will run fine. So there is no reproducibility here.

 

What I’m looking for is people who use debug frequently and to see if they have ever experienced this problem. It’s my thinking that some might not recognize what the problem is and dismissed it as something else. So if you do use the debug and variables window frequently and have never experienced this then I have the input I was looking for. Thanks!

 

 

But out of curiosity what OS are you running and what screen do you edit on? I edit on my right (extended) screen and run W7-64.

 

 

[Cory]

How many times in the last 2 years or so must Terrypin have felt the same, I wonder? We were always telling him his problems were unique, so it must be his machine!

Oh I fully accept that it’s very likely my machine at this point. But then again I’m sure Kevin can attest that I have found dozens of bugs in MEP that one would think everyone else should be experiencing but apparently not. But then again as soon as I kill MacExp.exe the entire machine returns to normal. To me that sounds very much like a bug in MacExp.exe.

 

 

 

Also I’m wondering if it’s environmental. I wonder how many have the same setup where they’re using W7-64 and editing on the extended screen every day.