vs window crashes SE

[jorick]

A window labelled "vs" started appearing a couple days ago.  It's completely blank except for a status bar at the bottom with "REC" in one of the boxes (all other boxes are blank).  Closing the box causes SE to crash with an "Unhandled exception at 0x000000013fcb4c30 in vs.exe: 0xC000041D: An unhandled exception was encountered during a user callback."

The following is the code that caused the exception:

000000013FCB4C1B  je          000000013FCB4C39 
000000013FCB4C1D  call        000000013FCB7D60 
000000013FCB4C22  mov         rcx,rdi 
000000013FCB4C25  call        000000013FCB9A70 
000000013FCB4C2A  xor         r9d,r9d 
000000013FCB4C2D  xor         r8d,r8d 
000000013FCB4C30  mov         ecx,dword ptr [rax]  <-- Instruction that caused the exception
000000013FCB4C32  mov         edx,ebx 
000000013FCB4C34  call        000000013FCD0B8A 
000000013FCB4C39  mov         rbx,qword ptr [rsp+30h] 
000000013FCB4C3E  add         rsp,20h 
000000013FCB4C42  pop         rdi 
000000013FCB4C43  ret 

The following are the registers:

RAX = 0000000000000000 RBX = 00000000002E9800 RCX = 000000013FD82770 RDX = 0000000000000000 RSI = 0000000077306598 RDI = 00000000002E9CF0 R8  = 0000000000000000 R9  = 0000000000000000 R10 = 00000000002E9AD0 R11 = 00000000002E9A90 R12 = 00000000063CFE30 R13 = 0000000006562700 R14 = 00000000002EA550 R15 = 00000000063CFE30 RIP = 000000013FCB4C30 RSP = 00000000002E9F00 RBP = 00000000002EA030 EFL = 00010244

SlickEdit 2013 (v18.0.1.2 64-bit)

Serial number: Redacted
Licensed number of users: Single user
License file: C:\ProgramData\slickedit\18\slickedit.lic

Build Date: August 12, 2013
Emulation: Brief

OS: Windows 7 x64
OS Version: 6.01.7601  Service Pack 1
Memory: 49% Load, 8114MB/16264MB Physical, 8726MB/32528MB Page File, 204MB/8388607MB Virtual
Shell Info: C:\Windows\system32\cmd.exe /q
Screen Size: 1680 x 1050, 1680 x 1050, 1680 x 1050, 1680 x 1050

Project Type: No project open
Language: .h (C/C++)

Installation Directory: C:\Program Files\SlickEditV18.0.1 x64\ (non-removable drive,NTFS,168577MB free)
Configuration Directory: C:\Users\rbennet\Documents\My SlickEdit Config\18.0.1\ (non-removable drive,NTFS,168577MB free)

[chrisant]

"started appearing" -- Have you been able to identify anything that might lead up to it?  Can you describe a couple of the contexts where it suddenly appeared?

[jorick]

Nothing stands out.  I have a number of project sandboxes that I switch between by renaming the sandbox C:\Projects.  During the rename I have to close SE or else I get an error message saying that a file is open.  It was during one of these renames that it occurred.

The vs window seems benign.  I have it minimized and SE seems to work fine.

[Matthew]

Please take a look in Task Manager to make sure you don't have a "phantom instance" of vs.exe running.

There are a few things you can try as "first aid" for mysterious windows appearing.
1) Locate and delete/rename/move the vrestore.slk file, located in your configuration directory. Sometimes this file can be corrupted and cause UI strangeness.
2) Reset all your toolbars and tool window using the tbResetAll command on the SE command line.
2) If that doesn't do the trick, temporarily rename your 18.0.1 config (say 18.0.1-save), then re-run the editor. It'll migrate your previous version's config to make the new 18.0.1 config directory.

[jorick]

There are no other instances of vs.exe running.

1. I don't have a vrestore.slk file.
2. I can't find a menu item to get me to the SE command line.
3. I don't know the name of the config file to rename.  I don't see any files named 18.0.1.*

[Matthew]

Your config directory is C:\Users\rbennet\Documents\My SlickEdit Config\18.0.1\. That's where vrestore.slk will live. It's also the directory that you'd temporarily rename so that a new 18.0.1 can be created. (And SE has to be closed before you attempt that rename).
You get to the SlickEdit command line by clicking on the left side of the status bar area at the bottom of the main window.

[jorick]

Removing vrestore.slk fixed it.  Thanks!

[jorick]

Now for some reason I have two vs windows open, each capable of crashing SE.  Isn't there some other way to fix this besides blowing away my configuration every time it happens?

[Matthew]

Can you please take a screen shot of these "extra" windows? Do they appear at start-up when you restart the editor?

[jorick]

Attached.

[Dennis]

How about creating a mini-dump of the crash when it happens.  Or, even better, send a full dump file into support.  It might also be helpful to see your vrestore.slk

[jorick]

I don't know how to create a minidump or dump when it crashes.  Only when I load Microsoft Visual Studio after the crash.  So I'm not sure if this is the type of dump you want (minidump with heap) but I've uploaded it to http://www.jorick.us/vs.dmp (187 MB) and attached vrestore.slk.

Let me know when you have the dump file so I can delete it from my server.

[Dennis]

I put in a workaround for the next release. A better fix will be in the works.

In the meantime, you can work around the crash bug by dragging an open document tab from the main window into the empty VS window.  Then you should be able to close the floating window without the editor crashing.  Do this for all the instances of empty floating windows and you can get your editor back into business.

If you discover what you did to create the empty window, that would be very useful.  I was able to reproduce the problem using your vrestore.slk, but I don't know how it got into that state.

Thanks for posting the dump file, it really helped get directly to the bottom of the problem.

[jorick]

SE won't allow me to drag a tab into the window.  It just creates a new window for the tab.  The windows aren't really bothering me much anymore.  I can minimize them and they stay minimized.  They just get in the way of the status bar sometimes.

I don't know what I did to create the empty windows.  I opened SE one day and the two windows showed up. 

They're like the relatives that showed up for a visit one day and decided to stay forever, and the only way to get rid of them is to sell the house.  Try to push them out the front door and they set your house on fire...

I've deleted the dump file from my server.  Irritating the relatives is bad enough, don't want to irritate the landlord too...

[Dennis]

To drag a document tab into one of those windows, you do have to be very precise and use the guidelines and hit the center spot.  But, it does work, because I was able to do it using my 18.0.1 install on Windows.