I agree with Rick. I've used VB since version 1, never saw any kind of error
even remotely resembling that. If a virus scan doesn't reveal any problem,
then I would say a DLL or OCX is getting corrupted somehow. If a virus
hasn't clobbered something, then there are only a few other possibilities,
and they all involve failing hardware: bad memory stick, failing DMA,
failing hard drive.
If a complete re-install of Windows and VB doesn't solve the problem, and a
virus scan shows nothing, it's time to do a thorough hardware check, or if
you've got replacement parts, try replacing things one at a time, starting
with the memory. Most systems today do not have parity checking on the
memory, so timing problems and bad bits don't get diagnosed. But if it's a
motherboard chipset failure, such as DMA timing, then this can be time
consuming to find and expensive to fix: a new motherboard is the only
answer.
Overclocking can also cause such problems, as can lack of heat dispersion
from the CPU.
You don't say how old the system is, but if you've got pets and the machine
is more than six months old, you may have a dust problem. If the CPU fan is
clogged with dust, or the heat sink is full of dust and cat hair and other
crud, the CPU may be overheating.
If you keep your system cover in place, does it feel excessively warm inside
when you remove the cover? If so, a fan may be clogged, stuck off, or vents
may be clogged. Check that the fan on the power supply is actually blowing
hot air out; if it feels weak, take a look at it and see if it's full of
crud.
Some heat sink and power supply fans get stuck; engineers call it
"sticktion". The fan will work if you give it a little nudge with your
finger, but there's not enough oomph at power on to get it moving; if you
have a fan like that, that might be your problem, but they are easily
replaced for under $10 typically.
I used to own a computer store, and found that some hardware errors can be
quite subtle. We used to use a program called CheckIt to do a thorough
analysis. I think these days most stores just swap components. We did find
that heat caused things to fail more rapidly. One of our tricks was to use a
hair dryer to warm up the system; this pushes marginal chips over the edge
and causes a hard fault, which can then be diagnosed.
But we had one system that resisted all our efforts, and still failed
occasionally. We finally stuck it in a freezer for an hour, then tried it,
and sure enough it failed. First time I ever found a "cold sensitive"
component.
"Rick Rothstein" <ri************@NOSPAMcomcast.net> wrote in message
news:iW********************@comcast.com...
I have a problem, it's not with any code I have because... there is no code. When I run a blank visual basic 6 form, it opens up just fine. When I
add a text box, a caption, and a button... it gives me an error from
microsoft's error report and asks me to send or not send the error, i chose and then
it quits. The error report won't let me copy the data, but i gather it's
pretty useless information unless you have the source code to visual basic. I
get this often when I install visual studio and often a reinstall of windows
and visual basic would fix it. I assume it's a pretty common problem, does
anyone know of a better way to fix it?
I don't have an answer to your specific question; I just wanted you to
know I have VB6(SP5) installed on my WinXP Pro system (via Visual Studio), that
I run it daily and that I **cannot** agree with you when you say that you
"assume it's a pretty common problem". I've had this new system since May,
so I have a few months of daily usage under my belt now, and it has
**never** crashed the way you described. I've had **old** (non-VB)
programs that I tried to install when I was first setting this computer up that
crashed the way you mentioned, but I assumed they were not XP-compatible.
(Some were fixable with downloaded updates, one required purchasing the
next version, and a couple just went in the garbage.) But VB itself has run
flawlessly since day one. So I think you'll have to look at your
computer's actual setup to see what's not right. Maybe you have picked up a virus or
worm?
Rick - MVP
