NB 6.31 keeps crashing

[Isaacj22]

First, a few details about the environment I'm running NB in. I'm using version 6.31 build 1858. I just upgraded to that version several days ago after first noticing these same issues with build 1853, but upgrading didn't help. It's a 64 bit install on a 64 bit Windows 7 machine. I have 8 gigs of RAM and the problem seems to be a recent one, only going back a couple weeks or something like that. I use Eset's NOD32 antivirus and Comodo's Firewall. I have added NB and its files to NOD32's exception list, and given it free reign in Comodo. At one point while trying to figure out the problem, I tried running NB in Safe Mode (with networking support) so NOD32 and Comodo wouldn't even load to take them out of the picture. I'm still experiencing identical issues in Safe Mode, unfortunately.

In a nutshell, Newsbin started crashing -- as in, "this program has stopped responding and must be shut down" -- whenever I downloaded headers. I usually download them all at once, highlighting everything and telling NB to just retrieve them all at once with no problems. This never caused a crash before, but now it does.

I tried upgrading to the latest build, 1858. No change. Then I uninstalled Newsbin and reinstalled fresh. No change. I tried setting up the new install to run as administrator, which I never bothered to do before, but no change.

Sometimes, NB only reports an internal crash, then crashes/freezes up completely a minute or so later. (Sometimes it reports an internal crash but doesn't crash completely for a while.) So sometimes, I'm able to get the status log copied and pasted. Then I started searching for other examples of the error messages on the web and found the post at viewtopic.php?f=43&t=29551. Nothing here or anywhere else seems to have helped.

I have known for some time that NB reports dropped connections with the server here and there. This wasn't a problem before, but I do wonder if it's contributing to it in some way now. The last time I had a problem with NB (maybe a year or so ago?) I tried a trial with Giganews to see if it would help. I don't even remember what the problem was. It wasn't the server back then, but I don't know if I can get another trial with Giganews or not to test it. I am using Newsgroupdirect and have been happy with it. Still, I am willing to try another server that someone else is using to see what happens if they offer a free trial.

Here are some of the logs I was able to save. Notice that some of the first log looks like gibberish:

[05:47:08] HIGH - Par2Repair - Single-core 1.0
[05:47:08] HIGH - High Speed File Creation Mode: Enabled
[05:47:08] HIGH - Aggressive Assembly mode: Enabled
[05:47:08] HIGH - PAR Management: Disabled
[05:47:17] HIGH InterSocket - SSL Zlib Compression Added
[05:47:17] HIGH InterSocket - SSL Zlib Compression Added
[05:47:17] HIGH InterSocket - SSL Zlib Compression Added
[05:47:17] HIGH InterSocket - SSL Zlib Compression Added
[05:47:17] HIGH InterSocket - SSL Zlib Compression Added
[05:47:19] ERROR - Unable to Create NZB:^·_O
[05:47:19] ERROR NNTPSocket - Socket HandleError - Server: news-ssl.newsgroupdirect.com SendCommand - Server returned an unexpected response: 'íÚc-«ÎºSFœMUj
af:BÛ´è~?fíy¿ßï#Ïû}ÏûiS¢±`é`
©«V¶Ú @ˆ!Tú°¦µTœ$JHiÓZ}¸÷={ïµî·×Ù÷šÌ矹û÷[ë[ëûÖ÷+ežLBÒ­ÞÛEX®¶ÅVaò¥P¶„®ßHèR@è0 tFè’Ñ„nÔ 9CÅDiÉLb­«„{ôÜS„·•3¡a´±-¸,×ÿ¥àú¿Ëx~ì}Ÿ02ž‰Þ=²•,æC.>ò3œ»Ë¥Rsâ´¼µy³Sra8a×Ýçør.Ú`sn›3À6G¼ñÂZsÔµFÜ ¦ŽP¾>E½‰ÁPêî7*ÑÎÊ HàÔÅ°Œx@ûK_íIt—9ùMt=›*¶äˆÖë®RRñ
[05:47:19] ERROR - Unable to Create NZB:¥·_O
[05:47:19] ERROR - Unable to Create NZB:Æ·_O
[05:47:19] HIGH - DG - Connect Flood Delay Active: news-ssl.newsgroupdirect.com 24 secs Remaining before Reconnect
[05:47:19] ERROR - Unable to Create NZB:¸·_O
[05:47:19] ERROR - Unable to Create NZB:à¶_O
[05:47:19] ERROR - Unable to Create NZB: alt.binaries.dvd-r:190768321
[05:47:19] ERROR - Unable to Create NZB:]·_O
[05:47:19] ERROR - Unable to Create NZB:?µ_O
[05:47:19] ERROR - Unable to Create NZB:œ·_O
[05:47:19] ERROR - Unable to Create NZB:¾P894
[05:47:21] HIGH - DG - Connect Flood Delay Active: news-ssl.newsgroupdirect.com 22 secs Remaining before Reconnect
[05:47:23] HIGH - DG - Connect Flood Delay Active: news-ssl.newsgroupdirect.com 20 secs Remaining before Reconnect
[05:47:25] HIGH - DG - Connect Flood Delay Active: news-ssl.newsgroupdirect.com 18 secs Remaining before Reconnect
[05:47:27] HIGH - DG - Connect Flood Delay Active: news-ssl.newsgroupdirect.com 16 secs Remaining before Reconnect
[05:47:29] HIGH - DG - Connect Flood Delay Active: news-ssl.newsgroupdirect.com 14 secs Remaining before Reconnect
[05:47:31] HIGH - DG - Connect Flood Delay Active: news-ssl.newsgroupdirect.com 12 secs Remaining before Reconnect
[05:47:33] HIGH - DG - Connect Flood Delay Active: news-ssl.newsgroupdirect.com 10 secs Remaining before Reconnect
[05:47:35] HIGH - DG - Connect Flood Delay Active: news-ssl.newsgroupdirect.com 8 secs Remaining before Reconnect
[05:47:37] HIGH - DG - Connect Flood Delay Active: news-ssl.newsgroupdirect.com 6 secs Remaining before Reconnect
[05:47:39] HIGH - DG - Connect Flood Delay Active: news-ssl.newsgroupdirect.com 4 secs Remaining before Reconnect
[05:47:41] HIGH - DG - Connect Flood Delay Active: news-ssl.newsgroupdirect.com 2 secs Remaining before Reconnect
[05:47:43] HIGH - DG - Connect Flood Delay Active: news-ssl.newsgroupdirect.com 0 secs Remaining before Reconnect
[05:47:45] HIGH InterSocket - SSL Zlib Compression Added
[05:47:45] ERROR NNTPSocket - NS_Connect - news-ssl.newsgroupdirect.com-Error talking to Server:\¡Ñ<>™èÛf¶z
pfV—úS .RÌ›3ÓŸ_œÞQ<ÛŽî,cÁNL®+‘_Ë»§¨f
ÕÚ˜ÃɳšÆ<au‚ž´iX AE¨EJ–-ËýÀðÀðUL8>÷6=¨$˜WQ3¼lv[­‰ÜŒôE—«]¬eˆ¦ãÁgÜ2h„
[05:47:46] HIGH InterSocket - SSL Zlib Compression Added

I wondered if all the "unable to create NZB" lines indicated that NB was having trouble writing files. That's when I tried granting full administrative permissions and running it in Safe Mode in case my AV was screwing with it for some reason. I haven't had any major updates to NOD32 in a while, but you never know. As I recall, NB crashed this session, but I was able to get this much of the log before it did. Is it possible that the server might be doing something that causes NB to crash? That was some weird stuff NB was reporting there.

Here's an example of the log during an internal crash so you can see the actual error message. I got it before NB froze up and crashed completely.

[06:10:28] HIGH - Par2Repair - Single-core 1.0
[06:10:28] HIGH - High Speed File Creation Mode: Enabled
[06:10:28] HIGH - Aggressive Assembly mode: Enabled
[06:10:28] HIGH - PAR Management: Disabled
[06:10:42] HIGH InterSocket - SSL Zlib Compression Added
[06:10:42] HIGH InterSocket - SSL Zlib Compression Added
[06:10:42] HIGH InterSocket - SSL Zlib Compression Added
[06:10:42] HIGH InterSocket - SSL Zlib Compression Added
[06:10:42] HIGH InterSocket - SSL Zlib Compression Added
[06:10:42] HIGH InterSocket - SSL Zlib Compression Added
[06:10:42] HIGH InterSocket - SSL Zlib Compression Added
[06:10:42] HIGH InterSocket - SSL Zlib Compression Added
[06:10:43] ERROR - CNNTPServerWorker - internal crash

NB died seconds later.

One thing I noticed at the time was that, during the last few crashes, NB was in the process of downloading from 2 specific newsgroups. Never had a problem retrieving headers from them before, but now it does. If I download just from either of those groups, NB crashes. I don't know if its the groups or it's something about the number of headers, maybe? I have other really large groups that do not cause the crash. I would be happy to send Quade or someone else the names of the groups if they want to test them.

I tried downloading fewer groups at once, always leaving the two that had (maybe) caused the crash out of the mix. This seemed to work (no crash) so I tried downloading from all of them one by one. Sometimes they crash NB, sometimes they don't. Note that downloading the actual binaries has not -- so far -- caused a crash. Just downloading headers.

After this, I tried changing NB's settings to give more detailed logs. They contain the names of the groups, which I see we're advised not to post in other boards. They are also very, very long. But I did see a lot of this:

[06:52:25] ERROR NNTPSocket - SendCommand Worker - Server:news-ssl.newsgroupdirect.comSendCommand - failed to send command to server: Unspecified Network Error

And this

[07:12:47] DEBUG NNTPServerWorker - XOVER: alt.binaries.xxxxxxxxxxxxx

But it didn't crash NB.

Then the unable to create NZB error started to reappear.

[07:33:39] DEBUG - Update Worker Started
[07:33:40] DEBUG - Update Worker Command
[07:33:40] HIGH - Par2Repair - Single-core 1.0
[07:33:40] DEBUG - Update Worker Command
[07:33:40] HIGH - High Speed File Creation Mode: Enabled
[07:33:40] HIGH - Aggressive Assembly mode: Enabled
[07:33:40] HIGH - PAR Management: Disabled
[07:33:40] DEBUG - Update Worker Command
[07:33:41] ERROR - Unable to Create NZB: alt.binaries.[name deleted]:293771300
[07:33:41] ERROR - Unable to Create NZB:¦?sO
[07:33:41] ERROR - Unable to Create NZB:>sO
[07:33:41] ERROR - Unable to Create NZB:ºÒ—
[07:33:41] ERROR - Unable to Create NZB:91
[07:33:41] ERROR - Unable to Create NZB:.com>
[07:33:41] ERROR - Unable to Create NZB:96013
[07:33:41] ERROR - Unable to Create NZB:7
[07:33:41] ERROR - Unable to Create NZB:2
7
6
[07:33:41] ERROR - Unable to Create NZB:58
[07:33:41] ERROR - Unable to Create NZB:?sO
[07:33:41] ERROR - Unable to Create NZB:—LsO
[07:33:41] ERROR - Unable to Create NZB: alt.binaries.[name deleted]:293770200
[07:33:41] ERROR - Unable to Create NZB:Xref: Hurricane ï?sO
[07:33:41] ERROR - Unable to Create NZB:
NsO
[07:33:41] ERROR - Unable to Create NZB:@s alt.binaries.[name deleted]:293768488
[07:33:41] ERROR - Unable to Create NZB:csO
[07:33:41] ERROR - Unable to Create NZB:P>sO
[07:33:41] ERROR - Unable to Create NZB:m1UT6@poweß#%ë2
[07:33:41] ERROR - Unable to Create NZB:Xref: Hurricane èLsO
[07:33:41] ERROR - Unable to Create NZB:XcsO
[07:33:41] ERROR - Unable to Create NZB:Xref: Hurricane æ?sO
[07:33:41] ERROR - Unable to Create NZB:Xref: Hurricane [?sO
[07:33:41] ERROR - Unable to Create NZB:Xref: Hurricane Á?sO
[07:33:41] ERROR - Unable to Create NZB:Xref: Hurricane MsO
[07:33:41] ERROR - Unable to Create NZB:³oO
[07:33:41] ERROR - Unable to Create NZB:Xref: Hurricane NsO
[07:33:41] ERROR - Unable to Create NZB:M alt.binaries.[name deleted]:293764558
[07:33:41] ERROR - Unable to Create NZB:5059
[07:33:41] ERROR - Unable to Create NZB:>>sO
[07:33:41] ERROR - Unable to Create NZB:Ò—
[07:33:41] ERROR - Unable to Create NZB:>sO
[07:33:41] ERROR - Unable to Create NZB:04
[07:33:41] ERROR - Unable to Create NZB:823306
[07:33:41] ERROR - Unable to Create NZB:Xref: Hurricane MsO
[07:33:41] ERROR - Unable to Create NZB:Xref: Hurricane ÔMsO
[07:33:41] ERROR - Unable to Create NZB:Xref: Hurricane §MsO
[07:33:41] ERROR - Unable to Create NZB:Xref: Hurricane MsO
[07:33:41] ERROR - Unable to Create NZB:ý?sO
[07:33:41] ERROR - Unable to Create NZB:8
[07:33:41] ERROR - Unable to Create NZB:Ô?sO
[07:33:41] ERROR - Unable to Create NZB:N?sO alt.binaries.[name deleted]:293765084
[07:33:41] ERROR - Unable to Create NZB:96652
[07:33:41] ERROR - Unable to Create NZB: Hurricane
[07:33:41] ERROR - Unable to Create NZB:4399
[07:33:41] ERROR - Unable to Create NZB:w;QºÒ—
[07:33:41] ERROR - Unable to Create NZB:G?s alt.binaries.[name deleted]:293764937
[07:33:41] ERROR - Unable to Create NZB:Xref: Hurricane MsO
[07:33:41] ERROR - Unable to Create NZB:258561
[07:33:42] ERROR - Unable to Create NZB:ì?sO
[07:33:42] ERROR - Unable to Create NZB:794193
[07:33:42] ERROR - Unable to Create NZB:raweb.com>>
[07:33:42] ERROR - Unable to Create NZB:$>sO
[07:33:42] ERROR - Unable to Create NZB:Xref: Hurricane þLsO
[07:33:42] ERROR - Unable to Create NZB:g?sO
[07:33:42] ERROR - Unable to Create NZB:58480
[07:33:42] DEBUG - Checking Autodownload: alt.binaries.[name deleted]
[07:33:42] DEBUG - DbWorker: Db Updated:alt.binaries.[name deleted]:news-ssl.newsgroupdirect.com-77095.RV4
[07:33:43] DEBUG - Checking Autodownload: alt.binaries.[name deleted]
[07:33:43] DEBUG - DbWorker: Db Updated:alt.binaries.[name deleted]:news-ssl.newsgroupdirect.com-72556.RV4
[07:33:43] DEBUG - Checking Autodownload: alt.binaries.[name deleted]
[07:33:43] DEBUG - DbWorker: Db Updated:alt.binaries.[name deleted]:news-ssl.newsgroupdirect.com-72322.RV4
[07:33:44] DEBUG - Checking Autodownload: alt.binaries.[name deleted]
[07:33:44] DEBUG - DbWorker: Db Updated:alt.binaries.[name deleted]:news-ssl.newsgroupdirect.com-72556.RV4

That last log is from a session tried during Safe Mode.

Over the years, I have had moments where something would go majorly wrong with NB and, usually, I ended up wiping everything and reinstalling Windows to solve it. I accept that as the cost of using a program that works so hard for me. Image link not allowed for unregistered users That will be my final solution here. But before I go through all of that, any thoughts? I will be happy to report any results here. I was thinking about trying Grabbit and seeing if it yields similar problems or not. I'd also be willing to test another news group (free trial anyone?) to see if that helps. I just haven't gotten around to it yet.

Thanks for Newsbin and all your help.

[Quade]

1 - In the server options, try checking "Disable XFeatures" then try again. I think it all comes down to corruption in the data of the header download.

2 - Just for grins, you might sign up with supernews for a month, then try header downloads from them and see if it works properly. I know supernews implements XFeatures properly.

I'm not suggesting a permanent server change. Just an experiment to see if it's server dependent. Giganews has a free trial you can try too.

[Isaacj22]

I tried disabling XFeatures. First results are very encouraging. I still see errors about not being able to create certain NZB files and getting corrupt data in the log, but the first thing I did was try the groups that consistently caused crashes and NB got all of the posts! Then I tried just selecting all the groups at once, as I used to do, and it still pulled down all the headers with no crash.

I'll leave it this way and if I have any other problems, I'll let you know. Otherwise, that might be it.

BTW, what do the XFeatures do? Will it affect how NB works other than to stop the crashing?

Thanks, Quade.

[alexander038]

BTW, what do the XFeatures do?

XFeatures enabled is for newsservers that supports downloading compressed headers.

[Quade]

I can get 700 Mbps header download speeds over my 100 Mbps connection because of XFeatures to a working server. It compresses the header data up to 10:1. Reduces the bandwidth used and speeds downloads.