Setup Error - Failed to load resources from resource file.

Question

I am getting following error at random places in my application.

"Setup error - Failed to load resources from resource file. Please check your Setup"

Application closes if I click on OK button on the message box. Also, it does not happen on development machine, it only happens on client PCs. The client PCs has .NET Framework 1.1

Please help me. If you have a solution or recommendation then please reply.

Regards,
bmgohil

Answer 1

A lot of people seem to have had this problem in different contexts, and the most frequently diagnosed cause seems to be stack overflow (although mostly it seems people never find a solution). I've had this problem on my server and finally isolated it to be an infinite recursion which caused stack overflow. The way the production server and test server responded was different. Sometimes, the production server would close down its application pool, sometimes not.

Answer 2

I'm facing this exact same problem on a client PC. I am wondering why Microsoft hasn't released a fix for that. 

My understanding is that the cryptic message is caused by an error raised inside the .NET framework while trying to handle an error in the application. If it's the case, why not at least raise a meaningful exception that could be catched in a global handler?

I haven't found any article in the Microsoft KB related to this problem. Is there is one I haven't seen?

David Beaumier
MCAD
PG Mensys
[e-mail]

Answer 3

Same problem here... this occurs in production and in our QA environments.

I have double checked all the code for the possibility of overflow .. but nothing.

This is a very lame needle in the haystack error.

I've seen posts out there with solutions ranging from:

null objects being accessed (in a try catch block)

Unloading of AppDomains with a locked thread.
What to do now....go though the entire application line by line...that could take weeks.
err. what was that about managed code?

Answer 4

We've been using our tool for months, and now suddenly one of my users is seeing this.

I believe I've tracked it down to a specific line in the code which is (suddenly, out of nowhere) causing a stack overflow on a debug-enabled PC (when working with the specific dataset that this user has created, and not with any other).

Random gen = new Random();

Now, how that's causing the stack to overflow is a complete mystery to me.  At this point I'm assuming there's something different happening, in terms of an infinite loop in the code that calls the method where this randomization happens ...

But it's extremely frustrating that A) this seems to have suddenly come out of nowhere, and B) the user's error message is completely useless and completely different from anything I can reproduce on a machine with a debugger on it.

Answer 5

Does anybody who has this problem have a System.Timers.Timer, where AutoReset is set to false, but in which the TimerElapsed handler starts the timer again?

We have that in an app where we occasionally get this error, and I'm trying to prove a theory that the handler starting itself from within the timer thread (that's where the handler is executing, right?), can cause a stack overflow after a while.

Answer 6

In my case the problem was caused by DotNetWindows VAT (Vulnerability Assessment Test)  from nVision Software Technologies  

See my blog http://geekswithblogs.net/mnf/archive/2005/12/16/63280.aspx

Answer 7

if AutoReset is set to true, and repeat timer.stop() so many times, can cause this error?

 

Answer 8

I am getting the same error from Outlook 2003.

Outlook worked finde since about 2-3 weeks. Since then - I can't recall if I have made an update there to the system or not - the error occurs. Usually when I leave the PC for some time unattended. So far it did not happen whenever I was working on the PC.

I am running Win XP with Office 2003 with Business Contact Manager installed.

The only point I recognized in my case, is that on the DLL's there is one file - Outlook.srs, located in my \Application Data\Microsoft\Outlook  Directory - which is referenced twice in the list of DLL's (as displayed by Process Explorer).

Even I have generated automatic reports to MS, I have not found any info in the KB.

Any suggestion appreciated.

Regards.

 

Answer 9

I'm having the same problem in Outlook 2003 with a thrid party application.  I haven't had an opportunity to test it as a fix but, someone recommended that I re-install the .NET Framework and that it may be corrupted. 

 :-) :laughs out loud and then dies of heart attack:

I also noticed that the client was using external Java handler by Sun instead of the embedded Microsoft version.  (Le coffee cup en Le System Tray)

I'm sure that's never happened before.

:Sneezes and shakes with same hand:

Good Luck!

Answer 10

I am also experiencing the "Failed to Load Resources From Resource File" error.  In my situation, it's MediaCenter that appears to be causing the problem.   It happens with MediaCenter MyTV running on one of my monitors (multiple monitor setup).   I run the TV all day and usually get the error message once or twic a day.   There is a single button presented with the error message:  OK.   The outcome of clicking OK can vary.  Sometimes it closes down MediaCenter.  Sometimes nothing happens.   Every now and then,   I don't even get an error message ... but assume the same error is happening .... my MediaCenter simply closes down without warning.   I  don't have to reboot my system to recover from the error.     And the error does not appear to impact any other of the multiple applications I am running.

I am not a techie, so I'm not into poking around in my system to try to determine what's wrong.  But I have spent several hours on the net researching this issue and this is about the only forum where I've found others experiencing this issue.

If anyone has a fix that a non-techie could implement ... please help.

Answer 11

Are you sure that there isn't a thrid party application or viewer involved?  Other forums appeared to have cornered it as a code execution error that is for the most part occurring with third party software and/or one's own applications' code resulting in conflicts with .NET framework's handling of errors originating from within the third party code and being seen as a resource error and subsequently the process and the second party application are shut down.

I uninstalled the thrid party software after having found a more robust replacement for the same price and have had no further issues. Re-installation of .NET didn't work nor did the application of new patches and updates.  Which, was the recommendation of their support staff. I have seen a number of these issues on the web but again it appears to be primarily a thrid party application error.  Be that as it may, are you certain that it's not the software loaded with your video card that is causing the issue?       

Some other forums have been much more specific.  Try entering the exact error message into the Yahoo search engine.  Also,look for applications that are running in conjunction with your media center display such as; video card software, third party media player add-ins or video acceleration drivers...  Also look at the running processes.  If you don't know what they are, look at them in Yahoo search to find their origin.  If they aren't enterprise level manufactruers, hold them suspect.  It definitely can't hurt to learn more. 

Answer 12

It's taken me a long time ... but I was finally able to identify the problem .... it was a bad memory module.   Through trial and error in swapping out memory modules ... I determined that 1 of 4 memory modules was bad.  It caused random applications to close without warning,  at random times.  Sometimes there was no error message,  sometimes with the error message ..... "The instruction at xxxxxxxxxx referenced memory at xxxxxxxxxx.  The memory could not be read."

Answer 13

I'm getting the same error and my application has a Timer. I don't know what it could be

Answer 14

Same problem here. We are not using any third-party application software, its our own application which is causing the error (ok, we are third-party then... ;)).

The application in written in non-managed c++ and loads a pair of dlls written in managed (.net) c++. We are not using windows-forms, our application is written using MFC's, we just use managed code for acces databases (dao).

We are not able to determine if the error raises from the dll or not, as it seems totally random.

The error appears maybe once a week, with the application running 24hours a day, without any visible memory leak or error, and only in some machines. I will try to test memory modules (due to the previous post... :) ) but by now we are totally lost.

Answer 15

I also ran into these recently. However, it was due to some of my code being infinitely recursive (two events which caused each other to be raised) which eventually caused a stack overflow.

Try running your application in debug mode as this will break at the original error location as opposed to showing an unhelpful error dialog.

Answer 16

I am doing exactly this - a System.Timers.Timer class w/ AutoReset to false and calling Start() inside of its own Elapsed event. Did you ever find a workaround or solution to this?

Answer 17

This error is caused by a simple recursion error:

private float midpoint = 0f;
public float Midpoint { set {Midpoint = value;} }

change into into:
public float Midpoint { set { this.midpoint = value;} }

Best wishes,
Michael

Answer 18

We get this error in a .NET 1.1 application that we are developing.

The application works correctly UNTIL we obfuscate the code using the 'Xenocode Postbuild 2007 Professional' product. When we obfuscate the code with the 'Suppress ILDASM and other external reflection tools' option selected then we get the error when the application runs.

If we turn this option off, the the application runs successfully after obfuscation.

This observation probably won't be relevant to the majority of people in this thread, but I thought it might be interesting to add to the thread.

Chris

 

Answer 19

We have ten different workstations running our application. One particular user started getting this error out of the blue, and it couldn't be traced to any particular event or place in code. The error would appear in completely random contexts, including simply dragging the window around the screen. We were finally able to determine that it was being caused by a conflict with a third party application that had been installed only on this particular workstation. 

Answer 20

Try installing the Microsoft .NET Framework 1.1 SP1

URL: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=8ec6fb8a-29eb-49cf-9dbc-1a0dc2273ff9&displaylang=en

 

I had the same error and when I installed the SP1, it worked!!!

 

Chow...

Answer 21

 

For some how the problem seems to be when your application tries to connect on an sql server database..

I had the same problem..

I installed SP4 for SQL SERVER 2000 and the problem solved.

Answer 22

i went into .net 1.1 wizard and fix application.  Then selected the application to run in safe mode.  fixed my problem I had with STSADM.exe (Sharepoint 2003)

Answer 23

I have a compilied application. I did not make any changes to the application. It was working fine. And then I run it the 2nd time I get the 'setup error'. I run it the third time and I do not get the error.

StackOverFlow due to infinite recurssion does not seam to be a reason.

Conflict with the third Party tools could be the reason because I am using some of them. How could we determine what could be the conflict?

Answer 24

Hello everybody, I think I've found the solution.

 

I have a "special form" encapsulated on a DLL that I use from Five different .NET projects. Four of these projects have almost the same kind of code (copy-pasted with some modifications) and the first one has just one line of code!!!

 

Four projects code:

Code Snippet

public static void Main(string[] args){

//lot of code...

Application.Run(new ExternalDLL.SpecialForm() );

//lot of code...
}

 

 

 

Single line project code:

Code Snippet

[STAThread]

static void Main() {

Application.Run(new ExternalDLL.SpecialForm() );

}

 

 

The "setup error" happens inside SpecialForm but surprisingly, it only happens with "single line" project !!!!

 

Why a simpler application fails while the other four complex applications run fine on the same computer???

 

As you can see there are only two fundamental differences between the two codes above:

- "Four projects" have Main as a public method while "Single project" does not (private if not specified).

- "Single project" has [STAThread] attribute while "Four projects" don't.

 

I think second option is the cause. [STAThread] must be causing this problem. Don't know why, but it's supposed to change the behavior of the .NET application regarding threading, so I think this is the winner. Unfortunately I don't have access to my customer's computer right now to try the solution, but I'll implement it anyway and wait to have the oportunity to make a test.

 

Hope this helps any of you.

 

Best regards.