SharpCap Forums

Hi Robin

Setup:
* Version of SharpCap: Pro 4.1.11251
* Camera and other hardware being used: ASI174 and others (but crash occured also if no camera is attached)
* Operating system version: Windows 11 Pro, 23H2 (Build 22631.2506)
* Machine: Lenovo ThinkPad T480S, Intel i5-8350U CPU @ 1.70GHz, 1896 MHz, 16 GB Ram
* Contents of the SharpCap log after the problem has occurred.: Nothing reported in the log and no error window

Recently I upgraded to the latest 64-bit version of SharpCap (see above) and since a while I cannot start SC anymore. The program is starting, but as soon as it is "up and running" it crashes and is closed again without any error message. Sometimes it stays open for a few seconds (usually after a complete reboot of the machine) so that something in the menu can be selected, but just a few seconds later it is crashing again - even if no camera is attached at all. I tried already to run it with [Ctrl] pressed (to deactivate the automatic selection of a camera) or running it with admin rights: no change. Also I have uninstalled and reinstalled SharpCap and I still get the same result even with a fresh installation.

The only thing which helped so far was to install the 32-bit Version of SC, which I am using now (stable and no crashes anymore). However I have a 64bit system and therefore the 64-bit version of SC should basically work.

Do you know of any issue with the 64bit version?

Regards,
Stefan

Hi Stefan,

sorry to hear you are having issues. I can't think of anything obvious in 4.1.11251 that would cause issues straight after startup, but can give you some general pointers that might help us work out what is going on...

1) There's a newer version now - 4.1.11294 that has to be worth a try, just in case

2) If it gets as far as showing the main window then a log file will be created - information on how to locate it can be found here and maybe there is something in the log that indicates what is going on : https://docs.sharpcap.co.uk/4.1/#The%20SharpCap%20Log

3) If it's crashing without any warning or bug report notification, it may be crashing in code that SharpCap uses, but isn't core SharpCap code - for instance the code that comes from one or other of the camera manufacturers that SharpCap supports. This could cause the program to fail so rapidly that nothing ends up in the log, but in that case there is often a record in the Windows Event Viewer (look in Windows Logs->Application for 'Application Errors'

4) Antivirus software is always something to consider when 'weird stuff' happens that doesn't make any sense. Some antivirus can be quite intrusive and cause issues.

5) Just possibly a saved setting could be causing the crash after startup, but then I would expect it to fail on the 32-bit version too. You could use the 32-bit version to reset the SharpCap settings just to see if that helps - see https://docs.sharpcap.co.uk/4.1/#Saving ... 20Settings

Finally, if all of the above gets us nowhere, it's possible to use some tools to try to capture a crash dump of the program as it fails - if you can do that and get the crash dump to me then I can (hopefully) have a decent chance of working out what is going wrong.

cheers,

Robin

Hi Robin

Thanks for the reply. I just went through your list. Here the results:

1) Installed version 4.1.11294 (64-bit). Same issue again, when starting SC.

2) I could locate the SharpCap logfile created from such a start with crash. It shows a lot of messages over 146 lines for the 8 seconds duration until it ends. The file *.log is attached to this post.

3) I see indeed such an "Application Error' in the Event Viewer (log time is just about 0.3 s after the last entry in the SharpCap logfile). However the text does not tell me very much Here is how that looks like:

3.1 General tab: (I am using a German operating system)

Name der fehlerhaften Anwendung: SharpCap.exe, Version: 4.1.11294.0, Zeitstempel: 0x653067fb
Name des fehlerhaften Moduls: ntdll.dll, Version: 10.0.22621.2506, Zeitstempel: 0xbced4b82
Ausnahmecode: 0xc0000374
Fehleroffset: 0x000000000010c7a9
ID des fehlerhaften Prozesses: 0x0x4788
Startzeit der fehlerhaften Anwendung: 0x0x1DA1744072052E4
Pfad der fehlerhaften Anwendung: C:\Program Files\SharpCap 4.1 (64 bit)\SharpCap.exe
Pfad des fehlerhaften Moduls: C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\ntdll.dll
Berichtskennung: 1901ca9a-cb88-4b0c-9348-c7d13eb5085e
Vollständiger Name des fehlerhaften Pakets:
Anwendungs-ID, die relativ zum fehlerhaften Paket ist:

3.2 And the Details tab (in XML-View):

- <Event xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/win/2004/08/events/event">
- <System>
<Provider Name="Application Error" Guid="{a0e9b465-b939-57d7-b27d-95d8e925ff57}" />
<EventID>1000</EventID>
<Version>0</Version>
<Level>2</Level>
<Task>100</Task>
<Opcode>0</Opcode>
<Keywords>0x8000000000000000</Keywords>
<TimeCreated SystemTime="2023-11-14T21:46:42.3636583Z" />
<EventRecordID>28940</EventRecordID>
<Correlation />
<Execution ProcessID="22540" ThreadID="18316" />
<Channel>Application</Channel>
<Computer>LAPTOP-2M6Q4CHA</Computer>
<Security UserID="S-1-5-21-194898580-2180149322-2571135329-1001" />
</System>
- <EventData>
<Data Name="AppName">SharpCap.exe</Data>
<Data Name="AppVersion">4.1.11294.0</Data>
<Data Name="AppTimeStamp">653067fb</Data>
<Data Name="ModuleName">ntdll.dll</Data>
<Data Name="ModuleVersion">10.0.22621.2506</Data>
<Data Name="ModuleTimeStamp">bced4b82</Data>
<Data Name="ExceptionCode">c0000374</Data>
<Data Name="FaultingOffset">000000000010c7a9</Data>
<Data Name="ProcessId">0x4788</Data>
<Data Name="ProcessCreationTime">0x1da1744072052e4</Data>
<Data Name="AppPath">C:\Program Files\SharpCap 4.1 (64 bit)\SharpCap.exe</Data>
<Data Name="ModulePath">C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\ntdll.dll</Data>
<Data Name="IntegratorReportId">1901ca9a-cb88-4b0c-9348-c7d13eb5085e</Data>
<Data Name="PackageFullName" />
<Data Name="PackageRelativeAppId" />
</EventData>
</Event>

Does this help already to narrow down the problem?

Regards,
Stefan

Hi Stefan,

thanks for continuing the investigation - from the SharpCap log, it looks likely that the crash is happening somewhere during the check for installed cameras. I suspect that something is going wrong in one of the camera software DLLs provided by the camera manufacturers. The error message from the Windows event viewer points towards corrupted memory being detected, which is worrying, since it means that maybe camera A software corrupted the memory, but the problem might not be found until camera B is being detected.

What brand of camera are you intending to use, and have you installed any software yet relating to that camera brand? Have you installed any software relating to other brands of camera that SharpCap might support? (https://docs.sharpcap.co.uk/4.1/#Supported%20Cameras)

cheers,

Robin

Hi Robin

Thanks. Actually that is strange, since the problem is occuring also when no camera is attached and only in the 64-bit version of SharpCap.
Currently I am using mainly three different cameras with SC and all are from ZWO:

- ASI174MM
- ASI678MC
- ASI1600MM Pro

From the manufacturer ZWO I have also installed ASIStudio/ASICap, which comes together with the cameras. Also I have to mention, that previously I had no issue using these cameras with the 64-bit version of SC. However it could be several months ago, since I used them the last time together with SC and I cannot remember which version of SC that was at that time. I hope this helps.

Regards,
Stefan

Stefan

- ASI174MM
- ASI678MC
- ASI1600MM Pro

From the manufacturer ZWO I have also installed ASIStudio/ASICap, which comes together with the cameras. Also I have to mention, that previously I had no issue using these cameras with the 64-bit version of SC.

I have also installed ASIStudio/ASICap

previously I had no issue using these cameras with the 64-bit version of SC

Personally, to try to debug this, I would perform a System Restore to a date prior to ASI software install.

Dave

Hi Dave

Unfortunately this would be quite complicated, because I have installed ASIStudio several years ago and just done regular updates whenever there was a new release. Also we are not sure, if the program from ZWO is really the root cause for this issue.

Regards,
Stefan

Hi Stefan,

time to get out the serious debugging tools...

Please download and unzip 'Procdump' from this Microsoft page : https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/sysin ... s/procdump

Once unzipped, start a command prompt in the folder where you unzipped Procdump.exe and run
Procdump will sit there waiting for SharpCap to start, so run SharpCap 4.1. Procdump should notice it starting and also notice it crashing. When it does crash, Procdump should create a dump file in the same folder as Procdump.exe - named something like SharpCap.exe_231116_142837.dmp

Although it's called a minidump, the dump file can be quite large - please can you send the dump file to me (may be best to upload the file to Google Drive/DropBox/etc and then send me a download link). You can send me the file download link by email using the 'Contact Us' link at the bottom of the page here on the forums.

thanks,

Robin

Hi Robin
Thanks. Just done and you should have a personal message now with the link to the dump files.

Regards,
Stefan

Hi Stefan,

thanks for the dump files - I have looked at them and they confirm that something is causing memory corruption, which then leads to the application crashing. Because the memory corruption has occurred before the crash, the crash dumps do not help us find out what causes the corruption

I suspect it is either one of the camera driver DLLs causing the issue or some sort of antivirus/security software on your PC. The easiest way to test the camera driver DLLs is to delete them from the SharpCap install folder then run SharpCap.exe (run it from the folder - running the desktop Shortcut can trigger a repair of the installation which puts the DLLs you have deleted back).

The DLLs you can delete include

FlyCapture2_v140.dll
AltairCam.dll
qhyccd.dll
SVBCameraSDK.dll
TIS_UDSHL11_x64.dll
ASICamera.dll
Basler.Pylon.dll
PlayerOneCamera.dll
ASTPANCamera.dll
gxUSB.dll
FlyCapture2Managed_v140.dll
AOCamera.dll

If you delete them one at a time and try running SharpCap, hopefully it will start working after removing one of them, pinning down the cause. SharpCap *should* survive these being missing (but will report errors in the log when trying to detect cameras of the brands where the DLL has gone).

cheers,

Robin