Can't understand why XYPlorer keeps crashing

[IanH]

Hi,
I have been using XYPlorer since hearing about it on the Windows Weekly podcast. I am currently using it as a trial version with the only thing getting in the way of me buying a lifetime license is that it keeps crashing on me. I would really like to get to the cause of why this is happening as I really like the program and keep finding new useful features everyday. I have tried numerous other file managers and have to say this one is definitely the best, if only I could stop the crashing.

I appreciate that trying to solve this problem is always difficult so I will try and provide as much info as I can.

I am using the program on both my home machine and work laptop and experience several crashes per day on both.

I cannot reproduce a crash on demand but at first I did think it had something to do with USB flash drives. I have a Sandisk 4GB U3 drive.

I have read through the "Random Crashes" thread (http://www.xyplorer.com/xyfc/viewtopic.php?t=1929) and tried all the suggestions without success.

I am currently using v6.50.0021.

The latest crash happened while I wasn't at the machine but XY was showing the contents of the flash drive. Crashes do happen though when the flash drive is not plugged in.

As the problem is occurring on two machines I have tried disabling programs which are common to both without success.

Any suggestions on how to solve this problem would be gratefully received.

Ian.

[j_c_hallgren]

Hi, and welcome to the world of XY!

As the one who submitted XY to Leo, I'm obviously quite interested in making you a happy user, given that I'm also just a user, but a very frequent contributor to these forums...

A couple of items that you didn't specify that would prove helpful, I believe, are: 1) What OS vers? 2) What do you get when it crashes? Any error code? Do you get a DrWatson dump? 3) Is there any detectable pattern at all as to when it occurs? Or is just totally random?

I know Don tries his best to fix bugs like this, but since he's only a one-man operation, he doesn't have access to as many combinations as we users have, so at times, he'll work one-on-one with you to attempt to resolve the issue...

If I can be of any help, let me know, ok?

[admin]

Hi...

Hi Ian, as jc hallgren said already: I obviously need a pattern to start looking.

For now I can only repeat what I already said in the other thread: when XY crashes "by itself" (not triggered by any user action), then it must have to do with Auto-Refresh (which is triggered by the OS). XY does not do anything by itself, if you don't do anything it just sits there and sleeps. Why should it crash while sleeping?

If you turn OFF Auto-Refresh and it still crashes, let me know: I'll happily revise my theory and start dealing with a miracle...

[IanH]

Hi...

Hi Ian, as jc hallgren said already: I obviously need a pattern to start looking.

For now I can only repeat what I already said in the other thread: when XY crashes "by itself" (not triggered by any user action), then it must have to do with Auto-Refresh (which is triggered by the OS). XY does not do anything by itself, if you don't do anything it just sits there and sleeps. Why should it crash while sleeping?

If you turn OFF Auto-Refresh and it still crashes, let me know: I'll happily revise my theory and start dealing with a miracle...

I totally appreciate that trying to fix problems like this is a complete nightmare! Thanks to all for helping though.

At home I am running XP Home SP2 and on the work laptop I have XP Pro SP2. When a crash occurs I just get the normal XP sorry an application has closed message and no Dr Watson. So far I have not been able to reproduce the crash on demand and haven't been able to determine any sort of pattern.

This morning, on the work laptop, I have put the v6.50.0021 beta in a new folder so I have a clean version without any changes to the ini file etc. I have added a few folders to the catalog including one on a network drive to see what happens. So far no crashes though I haven't done much with it and I did see it go for several hours in the past prior to crashing. Fingers crossed.

Thinking about it I originally "installed" XY on my home PC then copied the folder to my work machine so if something funny happened at home that may be why I am seeing the same sort of behaviour on the laptop.

I'll let you know how this clean "install" version progresses.

Thanks again.

Ian.

[IanH]

Hi...

I totally appreciate that trying to fix problems like this is a complete nightmare! Thanks to all for helping though.

Hi,
I have just had a crash. As you will see from the screen shots link at the time of the crash I was using the find function and had selected some files and selected copy on the right-click menu. I had previously done this without any problems. FYI the diagonal lines through some of the frames, e.g. location bar, were visible and are not a result of the print screen. During normal operation the frames do not have these diagonal lines.

At the time of the crash auto update was enabled. I have now disabled it to see if it crashes again.

http://www.flickr.com/gp/29138046@N00/T0Uu39

Any ideas?

Ian.

[admin]

Hi...

I totally appreciate that trying to fix problems like this is a complete nightmare! Thanks to all for helping though.

Hi,
I have just had a crash. As you will see from the screen shots link at the time of the crash I was using the find function and had selected some files and selected copy on the right-click menu. I had previously done this without any problems. FYI the diagonal lines through some of the frames, e.g. location bar, were visible and are not a result of the print screen. During normal operation the frames do not have these diagonal lines.

At the time of the crash auto update was enabled. I have now disabled it to see if it crashes again.

http://www.flickr.com/gp/29138046@N00/T0Uu39

Any ideas?

Ian.

Do you have any custom shell extensions installed in your context menu? These are often the culprit...

[IanH]

Hi...

I totally appreciate that trying to fix problems like this is a complete nightmare! Thanks to all for helping though.

Hi,
I have just had a crash. As you will see from the screen shots link at the time of the crash I was using the find function and had selected some files and selected copy on the right-click menu. I had previously done this without any problems. FYI the diagonal lines through some of the frames, e.g. location bar, were visible and are not a result of the print screen. During normal operation the frames do not have these diagonal lines.

At the time of the crash auto update was enabled. I have now disabled it to see if it crashes again.

http://www.flickr.com/gp/29138046@N00/T0Uu39

Any ideas?

Ian.

Do you have any custom shell extensions installed in your context menu? These are often the culprit...

Mmm, yes I do. I have added a screen shot of my right-click menu to Flickr - same link as previous post. I'll disable these extensions and see how I get on. I have some of the same extensions at home so that might be it.

Thanks for your help.

Ian.

[admin]

"Select Left Side to compare" ??? That one looks suspicious to me... what is it?

WinRar is okay, I have it myself.

[IanH]

"Select Left Side to compare" ??? That one looks suspicious to me... what is it?

WinRar is okay, I have it myself.

Beyond Compare

http://www.scootersoftware.com/

I have removed it from the context menu so let's see if that is the one.

Ian.

[IanH]

"Select Left Side to compare" ??? That one looks suspicious to me... what is it?

WinRar is okay, I have it myself.

Beyond Compare

http://www.scootersoftware.com/

I have removed it from the context menu so let's see if that is the one.

Ian.

Removed the custom shell extensions installed in my context menu and XY has been solid as a rock all afternoon so it looks like the crashing problem is solved. As XY is able to perform the tasks the shell extensions were for I don't think I will miss them much.

Thanks for the help, off now to buy a lifetime license.

Ian.

[j_c_hallgren]

So...seems that XY was being crashed by outside influences! I didn't think it was XY that was causing it, but then I'm kinda biased...

Glad to see that problem was resolved, and I presume you now see why we get SO attached to this product! Don rarely admits defeat, and responds exceptionally promptly to bugs like this, as you've seen.

[mwb1100]

My question is - was it the "Beyond Compare" extension? I have that and have not noticed a problem.

[admin]

My question is - was it the "Beyond Compare" extension? I have that and have not noticed a problem.

There goes my theory... ... well, it might have been a necessary but not sufficient condition. Also, of course, nothing should be able to crash XY in an ideal world. But as Zen masters we are not blinded by illusions...

So, IanH, thanks for buying!

[IanH]

My question is - was it the "Beyond Compare" extension? I have that and have not noticed a problem.

There goes my theory... ... well, it might have been a necessary but not sufficient condition. Also, of course, nothing should be able to crash XY in an ideal world. But as Zen masters we are not blinded by illusions...

So, IanH, thanks for buying!

Along with the Beyond Compare context menu items I removed as many of the others as I could and it has definitely made a difference. I had a couple of crashes this morning and then realised that I was using a different version than the one I was using yesterday. Now switched back to that version and upgraded to v6.60 using the same ini and other files and so far so good.

I'll report back if the problem comes back.

I really like the program and happy to contribute to its future.

Ian.

[Sakis]

@IanH

What version of BeyondCompare are you using?
A few months ago, I had similar issues with BC shell extension (BCShellEx.dll) when using it from withing some third party applications. After reported that issue to ScooterSoft forums, they sent me an updated BCShellEx.dll that fixed all problems.
As far as I know, they implemented those fixes in BC recent updates.