How can I automatically flush out GDI objects?

What version of ACT!?
Full build from Help | About

.Net 3.5 SP1 did not help.  The ACT consultant says the issue is with Windows XP on SP3. Updating to .Net 3.5 SP1 will not help and it has not.

It is ACT9

What build of ACT!9 - from Help | About?

BTW" You didn't post the screen shot from your original post

ACT! by Sage Premium 2009 (11.0) Version 11.1.183.0, Hotfix 1

What screenshot?

"Here is a screen capture of the GDI objects from your machine when ACT gives that error. "

here you go.  Just shows task manager with GDI column.

ACT Consultant says Act crashes when GID objects reach 10k

Interesting.... I can't get mine above 2000, but I'm on Vista.

I'll try an install with XP sp3 and see if I can replicate it.

BTW: Which consultant have you been talking to?

Power of three po3inc.com

I've dug a bit more deeply.

This is the patch you re referring to - http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=319740
I'd be interested in hearing what MS might say if asked about that patch for SP3?

It also only seems to be a problem on some databases and some times... it seems quite inconsistent from the testing I've done and reports I've seen

There is also a default per-process limit of GDI handles. To change this  limit, set the following registry  value:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows  NT\CurrentVersion\Windows\GDIProcessHandleQuota

I think the default is 0x2704 (Hex), which is 9,988 in decimal that you see in the task manager. You might want to click the "Decimal" box when making a change to increase it

This value can be set  to a number between 256 and 65,536 (Decimal)

This won't  solve the problem it just kinda hides it...

Have a look at http://kb.sagesoftwareonline.com/cgi-bin/sagesoftwareonline.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=17414

Good stuff GLComputing.  I will do a test on one of my problem users and crank up the GDI handles to 30k and see if that "hides" the problem well enough.  A couple users on XP SP3 are crashing ACT several times a day and very frustrated.  Stay tuned!

Hopefully it will delay the issue long enough for a day's work

If you speak to Stacey, tell her Hi from Mike Lazarus :-)

Changing the GLI Handles to 30k did not help.  I tried to contact Microsoft concerning this but am having trouble submitting a business trouble ticket as I am only a registered parter not yet certified.  Funny I never had this problem when contacting MS on a server problem. Anyway I have this nice summary of the problem I was ready to submit to Microsoft.  

Any other help would be appreciated.

Here is my summary of the problem:

My client is running Windows XP Professional SP3 and is having trouble with  ACT! by Sage Premium 2009 (11.0) Version 11.1.183.0, Hotfix 1 working with Office 2003.

ACT! Randomly crashes several times per day with the following error, it also crashes when trying to use the ACT! feature Attaching Emails to Contacts in ACT! 2009 where if you click on an email contact in ACT! It will open a email composer in Outlook and add the content of the email to the ACT! Customer record. The issue is only present on computers running XP SP3. Older computers on XP SP2 are not having this issue.

Error: Act! Has encountered an error. Please shut down the program.

The ACT! Consultant has indicated that there is a bug in .NET 2.0 which is causing a problem and there is a Microsoft hot fix to address the issue, however the hotfix only works on XP SP2.  Not XP SP3.  Here is the consultants explanation;

I wanted to send you an email with an explanation of the root cause of all of the error messages you have been seeing.  Even though you see them in ACT, they are not really because of ACT.  Ill try to avoid all of the techno mumbo-jumbo in this explanation&

There is a bug in Microsofts .NET 2.0 program which causes a memory leak (specifically of the GDI objects).  When you google the bufferindex error, you can get to sites that talk about it.  ACT uses .NET 2.0 to run, which is why you see these errors in ACT.  If you had any other program that also uses .NET 2.0, you would see these same errors in that program over time.  Here is a screen capture of the GDI objects from your machine when ACT gives that error.  Once the GDI objects get to almost 10,000, it crashes:

 

The memory leak is specific around the graphical interface  in other words, the more you move around and do stuff in ACT, the more graphical images are stored and then, at some point, it maxes out and you see the errors.  Linda, you could watch this happen by keeping your task manager open as you navigate around ACT and watch the GDI number climb.  When the GDI number gets close to 10,000, ACT will crash.

Microsoft developed a hotfix to correct this issue.

Microsoft also included that hotfix in their SP3 (Service Pack 3) release.  You are on Service Pack 3.  The bad news is that the hotfix doesnt work in the SP3 release.  We tried to apply the hotfix separately but that wasnt possible as the hotfix first looked at your system and said, nope, dont need to install the hotfix as you already have it as part of SP3.


I have tried the following to resolve the issue.  

Task: upgraded Lindas computer to use  .NET 3.3 SP1.

Errors persist

 Increased the GDI Objects.  Using Linda as test I increased the GDI objects from 10000 to 30000.  I also un-installed the .net 3.5 sp1 reverting back to .net 2.0.

Error: An error occurred while attempting to connect to home text/html. Please try again.

Error: ACT! By Sage has encountered a problem and needs to close. We are sorry for the inconvenience.

The ACT! Consultant gives the following as options.  I am seeking assistance from Microsoft on this issues to find a better solution that reverting back to XP SP2.

The options are:
-          Continue as you have been and when ACT creates the error, close it (which frees up the GDI objects) and then re-open it.
-          Do a complete reinstall of Windows XP up to SP2.  Then apply the hotfix rather than SP3.

I've run it for ages with SP3, so it's not completely SP3.

Also, if sending the abover to Microsoft, you should include the link to their KB telling them about the Hotfix (I posted that above).

The other thing I'd try is to uninstall ACT!, uninstall SQL, uninstall and clean out .Net (all versions). Then reinstall .Net, re-boot, and finally reinstall ACT! again and any patches/hotfix.

This will fix a lot of .Net related issues

Microsoft's answer was to roll back to XP SP2.  I am giving that a try.  Then I will try what you suguest above.

BTW: When you bumped up the GDI, did it still crash at 10,000 or did it last longer?

I am going to try what you recomended.   Should I apply SP3 or just patch XP SP2 less SP3?


"The other thing I'd try is to uninstall ACT!, uninstall SQL, uninstall and clean out .Net (all versions). Then reinstall .Net, re-boot, and finally reinstall ACT! again and any patches/hotfix.

This will fix a lot of .Net related issues"

I've found SP3 fine, but there are quite a few who seem to find it less stable than sp2... so, it's up to you if you want to try it after getting it working with sp2

Update: Unable to find a fix for this.  Rolling back SP3 to SP2 helps some.

Okay, I will revisit the issue with this new information.  Thank you

I've founf the .Net cleanup tool can help with a lot of systems with "strange" issues.

Please post back when you've had the chance to try it