System Error. Code: 8. Not enough storage is available to process this command
Actually this is a problem with ATOM table. I reported this issue to Embarcadero (saved in Wayback Machine) as it is causing me a lot of grieves.
If you monitor global atom table you will see that Delphi apps are leaking atoms, leaving the id of your app without dropping it off from memory:
You will see loads of following items:
**Delphi000003B4*
*Controlofs0040000000009C0**
Basically, since you can't register more than 0xFFFF different windows messages ID as soon as you ask for another one, the system will return "System Error. Code: 8. Not enough storage is available to process this command". Then you will not be able to start any app that creates a window.
Another issue (saved in Wayback Machine) was reported in Embarcadero QC Central.
This issue presents itself under Windows 7 / Windows Server 2008. The fact that on Windows Server 2003 and before it used to run is because of a wrong implementation, which recycles ATOMs once their index wrapped around the maximum of 16384 units.
Feel free to use my Global Atom Monitor to check whether your Delphi apps are leaking atoms or not.
To fix this you'll need a patch from Embarcadero, or download ControlsAtomFix1.7z from www.idefixpack.de/blog/downloads.
If your program uses a lot of windows resources it could be a Resource Heap shortage.
There is a registry entry that can be increased to raise the heap size for XP. For Vista Microsoft already sets the default value higher. I recommend changing the default 3072 to at least 8192.
This information is documented in the MS Knowledge Base (or search for "Out of Memory"). Additional details concerning the parameter values may be found in article KB184802.
I suggest you read the knowledgebase article but the basic info on the change is:
Run Registry Editor (REGEDT32.EXE).
From the HKEY_ LOCAL_MACHINE subtree, go to the following key:
\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\SubSystemOn the right hand side of the screen double-click on the key:
windowsOn the pop-up window you will see a very long field selected. Move the cursor near the beginning of the string looking for this (values may vary):
SharedSection=1024,3072,512SharedSection specifies the System and desktop heaps using the following format:
SharedSection=xxxx,yyyy,zzzwherexxxxdefines the maximum size of the system-wide heap (in kilobytes),yyyydefines the size of the per desktop heap, andzzzdefines the size of the desktop heap for a "non-interactive" window station.Change ONLY the
yyyyvalue to 8192 (or larger) and press OK.Exit the Registry Editor and reboot the PC for the change to take effect.
Good luck.
You can use Desktop Heap Monitor from Microsoft to view heap statistics (use % etc.) and is available at:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=5cfc9b74-97aa-4510-b4b9-b2dc98c8ed8b&displaylang=en
I have been searching for 2 year and thanks to Jordi Corbilla answer I have finally got it!
In a few words: Delphi source has bugs that is causing you this problem!
Let's understand what is going on:
Windows has a memory area called "Atom table", wich serves to applications communicate each other (see more).
Also, Windows has another "memory area", called "Window Message System", wich serves to the same purpose (see more).
Both these memory areas have "16k slots" each. In the first one, it is possible to REMOVE an atom, by using the following Windows API:
GlobalDeleteAtom // for removing an atom added by "GlobalAddAtom"
In the second "area", we just CAN'T REMOVE anything!
The RegisterWindowMessage function is typically used to register messages for communicating between two cooperating applications. If two different applications register the same message string, the applications return the same message value. The message remains registered until the session ends.
Delphi compiled applications (by D7 at least) will put a record in "Messaging Area" and some others records in "Atom Table" EVERY TIME THEY ARE STARTED. The application tries to remove them when app is closing, but I have find many (and many) "atom leaks", even after app is closed.
At this point you can see that if you have a server that starts thousands of app a day, you probably should reach the 16k limit soon, and the problem begins! The solution at this point? Nothing but a single reboot.
So, what can we do? Well my friend, I'm sorry to tell you, but we need to FIX Delphi source code and recompile all applications.
First, open the unit Controls.pas and replace the following line:
RM_GetObjectInstance := RegisterWindowMessage(PChar(ControlAtomString));
for:
RM_GetObjectInstance := RegisterWindowMessage('RM_GetObjectInstance');
and then recompile Delphi packages and your applications.
As I have found atom leaks even after app is closed, I created an app that garbage collects any atom left behind. It just runs the following code every hour:
procedure GarbageCollectAtoms;
var i, len : integer;
cstrAtomName: array [0 .. 1024] of char;
AtomName, Value, procName: string;
ProcID,lastError : cardinal;
countDelphiProcs, countActiveProcs, countRemovedProcs, countCantRemoveProcs, countUnknownProcs : integer;
// gets program's name from process' handle
function getProcessFileName(Handle: THandle): string;
begin
Result := '';
{ not used anymore
try
SetLength(Result, MAX_PATH);
if GetModuleFileNameEx(Handle, 0, PChar(Result), MAX_PATH) > 0 then
SetLength(Result, StrLen(PChar(Result)))
else
Result := '';
except
end;
}
end;
// gets the last 8 digits from the given atomname and try to convert them to and integer
function getProcessIdFromAtomName(name:string):cardinal;
var l : integer;
begin
result := 0;
l := Length(name);
if (l > 8) then
begin
try
result := StrToInt64('$' + copy(name,l-7,8));
except
// Ops! That should be an integer, but it's not!
// So this was no created by a 'delphi' application and we must return 0, indicating that we could not obtain the process id from atom name.
result := 0;
end;
end;
end;
// checks if the given procID is running
// results: -1: we could not get information about the process, so we can't determine if is active or not
// 0: the process is not active
// 1: the process is active
function isProcessIdActive(id: cardinal; var processName: string):integer;
var Handle_ID: THandle;
begin
result := -1;
try
Handle_ID := OpenProcess(PROCESS_QUERY_INFORMATION or PROCESS_VM_READ, false, id);
if (Handle_ID = 0) then
begin
result := 0;
end
else
begin
result := 1;
// get program's name
processName := getProcessFileName(Handle_ID);
CloseHandle(Handle_ID);
end;
except
result := -1;
end;
end;
procedure Log(msg:string);
begin
// Memo1.Lines.Add(msg);
end;
begin
// initialize the counters
countDelphiProcs := 0;
countActiveProcs := 0;
countRemovedProcs := 0;
countUnknownProcs := 0;
// register some log
Log('');
Log('');
Log('Searching Global Atom Table...');
for i := $C000 to $FFFF do
begin
len := GlobalGetAtomName(i, cstrAtomName, 1024);
if len > 0 then
begin
AtomName := StrPas(cstrAtomName);
SetLength(AtomName, len);
Value := AtomName;
// if the atom was created by a 'delphi application', it should start with some of strings below
if (pos('Delphi',Value) = 1) or
(pos('ControlOfs',Value) = 1) or
(pos('WndProcPtr',Value) = 1) or
(pos('DlgInstancePtr',Value) = 1) then
begin
// extract the process id that created the atom (the ProcID are the last 8 digits from atomname)
ProcID := getProcessIdFromAtomName(value);
if (ProcId > 0) then
begin
// that's a delphi process
inc(countDelphiProcs);
// register some log
Log('');
Log('AtomName: ' + value + ' - ProcID: ' + inttostr(ProcId) + ' - Atom Nº: ' + inttostr(i));
case (isProcessIdActive(ProcID, procName)) of
0: // process is not active
begin
// remove atom from atom table
SetLastError(ERROR_SUCCESS);
GlobalDeleteAtom(i);
lastError := GetLastError();
if lastError = ERROR_SUCCESS then
begin
// ok, the atom was removed with sucess
inc(countRemovedProcs);
// register some log
Log('- LEAK! Atom was removed from Global Atom Table because ProcID is not active anymore!');
end
else
begin
// ops, the atom could not be removed
inc(countCantRemoveProcs);
// register some log
Log('- Atom was not removed from Global Atom Table because function "GlobalDeleteAtom" has failed! Reason: ' + SysErrorMessage(lastError));
end;
end;
1: // process is active
begin
inc(countActiveProcs);
// register some log
Log('- Process is active! Program: ' + procName);
end;
-1: // could not get information about process
begin
inc(countUnknownProcs);
// register some log
Log('- Could not get information about the process and the Atom will not be removed!');
end;
end;
end;
end;
end;
end;
Log('');
Log('Scan complete:');
Log('- Delphi Processes: ' + IntTostr(countDelphiProcs) );
Log(' - Active: ' + IntTostr(countActiveProcs) );
Log(' - Removed: ' + IntTostr(countRemovedProcs) );
Log(' - Not Removed: ' + IntTostr(countCantRemoveProcs) );
Log(' - Unknown: ' + IntTostr(countUnknownProcs) );
TotalAtomsRemovidos := TotalAtomsRemovidos + countRemovedProcs;
end;
(This code above was based on this code)
After that, I have never got this f** error again!
Late Update:
Also, that is the source of this error: Application error: fault address 0x00012afb