Fail Fast Exception

iwannabswiss

New member
With the latest update to 1.8.8-6, every time I close PI, whether I've used it or not, the following alert pops up:

PixInsight: PixInsight.exe - Fail Fast Exception
A fail fast exception occurred. Exception handlers will not be invoked and the process will be terminated immediately.

It happens each and every time, whether I click the X, Ctrl-q, or File > Quit PixInsight.
 
This cannot be reproduced on any of our working and testing Windows 10 machines. This problem has not been reported before.

This is a machine-specific issue. Check your computer for malware, registry data corruption, corrupted system components, or conflicting third-party applications. Consider performing a clean system reinstall.
 
FYI: I am experiencing the same alert as the original post upon exiting PI. Win10/64 bit. This occurred following update from 1.8.8.5. I have removed 1.8.8-6, and then reinstalled it but the alert remains. Aside from the minor annoyance from the alert message, it all seems to work as expected.
 
This cannot be reproduced on any of our working and testing Windows 10 machines. This problem has not been reported before.

This is a machine-specific issue. Check your computer for malware, registry data corruption, corrupted system components, or conflicting third-party applications. Consider performing a clean system reinstall.

I did a registry check by running the command "sfc /scannow" which found and fixed a couple of issues. I started and then closed PI, but the issue still persisted. I had already attempted to repair 1.8.8-6, so this time I deleted PI 1.8.8-6 and redownloaded and installed 1.8.8-5 and the issue went away. I then uninstalled .8-5 and reinstalled .8-6 and the issue came back. I didn't want to have to reset my computer, but I eventually went under Windows settings and selected Reset this PC, this kept all of my files and reinstalled Windows. After it finished reinstalling Windows and redownloading 1.8.8-6, I can confirm the error is now gone. However, now that another person is having this issue there may be something more.
 
However, now that another person is having this issue there may be something more.

There is nothing more here besides a Windows-specific problem, probably being caused by registry corruption and/or damaged system components. The fact that it has been resolved by reinstalling Windows shows that the problem is not being caused by PixInsight.
 
I am experiencing exactly the same issue under Windows 10 following my recent upgrade to PixInsight 1.8.8-6 (from 1.8.8-5).
 
Definitely this is a machine-specific, Windows-specific problem that cannot be reproduced under normal working conditions. I am sorry but these issues are completely out of our control. My only recommendation is performing a clean reinstall of your operating system.
 
Sorry, but re-installing Windows is no option. This would be a couple of weeks effort to get it on the same level again. Due to complexity this is only done when complete system is replaced every 4 years in parallel operation.
 
re-installing Windows is no option
I guess that means you will have to try and repair your existing Windows installation. A thorough registry check / purge / repair is usually a good start.
I repeat for the record, I have not had any problem with PixInsight 1.8.8-5, 1.8.8-6 or 1.8.8-7 updates on my Windows 10 Pro 64 bit PC.
 
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Yes, I will do more checks, though I did already most common things. But I doubt that it is related to a corrupt registry or file, since this is a failing PI function call so it probably not a failure in the system, but an incompatibility with some library.
I will probably live with that error and if it leads to functional problems (e.g. data corruption) I will look for an alternative for PI.
 
A common source of system-specific windows exceptions (not just with PI) is from display driver issues. It would be worth checking that your display drivers are up-to-date.
 
I did some search now and found this error is not limited to PI.
There are some hints, that it might be an issue between QT and and the video driver.
I just updated the AMD drivers them but the error persists. For other application it helped when a newer QT framework was used.
Actually the error message is harmless and only annoying.
 
Problem SOLVED:

You have to turn on "Windows Error Reporting Service" only once, start and close PI, and then you can deactivate the service again.
From that point on the error is gone.
 
Update: The solution works only until next reboot. Then you have to repeat the procedure.

According to some posts, this issue has to be tackled within the application itself, since it is a kind of debug function call when closing the application. It is not a client topic.
 
I doubt if the Pixinsight application is raising a "Fail Fast" exception (I couldn't find one I the repository code, but Juan could correct me). It is most likely to be raised by one of the 3rd party device drivers (often the display driver) or middleware (e.g. QT), in response to a system-specific hardware issue (which is why most users do not have this issue).
 
Yes, you are right. This was too imprecise from my side. It looks like QT together with the video drivers.
So far what I have found, most software products tackled the issue by updating QT.
 
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Short update: If the "Windows Error Reporting Service" is stopped and set to manual start, then it gets started, when PI is terminated. If the service is disabled the error message is thrown.
This is quite strange that an application starts and non-related service automatically. This is a very irritating behavior.
 
I'm quite sure that no PI-specific code is doing anything to the "Windows Error Reporting Service (WERS)" (PI does its very best to be completely OS-agnostic; it relies almost entirely on the Qt platform for all OS-specific features). It is also very unlikely that Qt, or any of the underlying Windows device drivers would attempt to configure WERS; they would probably not have permission if they tried. One possible explanation may be that WERS can be enabled / disabled either on a system-wide or individual user basis. If you disabled WERS for a single user, but run PI in admin or all-user mode, then WERS may still be active. So make sure it is system disabled.
 
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