VB6 reset debugging

Question

I have a VB6 application that runs on thousands of machines. In very small quantities, I get the error message "This application has stopped working." I saw this on Vista, Windows 7 (x32 and x64) and Windows 8.1.

I narrowed it down until somewhere between the first form_resize event and the actual painting of the form during the first redraw of the main window. This happens somewhere from my VB6 code somewhere, since I cannot catch the error, and all the entries that I put in are useless. For example, if the application starts with the main window, it crashes. If it starts with a minimum minimum, it starts until you activate the window, and then it will work. Today I managed to get a crash from the client computer (because, of course, we can never destroy it on our dev machines). This is what WinDBG tells me. I would appreciate (ANY) help as I have been trying to figure this out since 2012 (!!!!!!).

FOLLOWUP_IP: msvbvm60!Zombie_Release+1233b 72960d94 8901 mov dword ptr [ecx],eax APP: timeclockmts.exe ANALYSIS_VERSION: 6.3.9600.16384 (debuggers(dbg).130821-1623) x86fre PRIMARY_PROBLEM_CLASS: WRONG_SYMBOLS BUGCHECK_STR: APPLICATION_FAULT_WRONG_SYMBOLS LAST_CONTROL_TRANSFER: from 72a09a7b to 72960d94 STACK_TEXT: WARNING: Stack unwind information not available. Following frames may be wrong. 00097504 72a09a7b 01396b8c 4fb934ec 60030053 msvbvm60!Zombie_Release+0x1233b 00097544 72a09c2c 01396b8c 00000009 00000000 msvbvm60!BASIC_DISPINTERFACE_GetTypeInfo+0x2aa 00097574 758c370d 01396b8c 00000009 75870630 msvbvm60!EVENT_SINK_Invoke+0x50 000975cc 7589c30e 00000000 000273c9 0b0dcb40 oleaut32!VarMonthName+0x11350 000975e0 758c41e5 00000001 00000002 00000000 oleaut32!VarDecNeg+0x5d45 000975f4 729932c4 0b0dcb40 000273c9 00000000 oleaut32!VarMonthName+0x11e28 00097628 72973db1 0523c0dc 00000012 4180923a msvbvm60!IID_IVbaHost+0x24c84 0009767c 729c1e19 0000000d 4180923a 0523bebc msvbvm60!IID_IVbaHost+0x5771 000976b8 729acdb0 0000000d 4180923a 05221380 msvbvm60!IID_IVbaHost+0x537d9 000976f4 729ad0a1 0523c0dc 0000000d 4180923a msvbvm60!IID_IVbaHost+0x3e770 00097728 72980eed 034a0904 0000000d 00000001 msvbvm60!IID_IVbaHost+0x3ea61 00097988 4fbadfdb 01396a70 000979fc 000979f4 msvbvm60!IID_IVbaHost+0x128ad 00097a20 4fbaa41a 01396a70 0009834c 00098478 ciaXPLabel30!DllCanUnloadNow+0x10efd 00097a5c 75873e75 01396a70 0b0ee654 00000000 ciaXPLabel30!DllCanUnloadNow+0xd33c 00097a78 72a16ef5 01396b8c 0000001c 00000004 oleaut32!DispCallFunc+0xa6 000983d4 72a09a7b 01396b8c 4fb934ec 60030053 msvbvm60!_vbaAptOffset+0x68b 00098414 72a09c2c 01396b8c 00000009 00000000 msvbvm60!BASIC_DISPINTERFACE_GetTypeInfo+0x2aa 00098444 758c370d 01396b8c 00000009 75870630 msvbvm60!EVENT_SINK_Invoke+0x50 0009849c 7589c30e 00000000 000273c9 0b0dcb40 oleaut32!VarMonthName+0x11350 000984b0 758c41e5 00000001 00000002 00000000 oleaut32!VarDecNeg+0x5d45 000984c4 729932c4 0b0dcb40 000273c9 00000000 oleaut32!VarMonthName+0x11e28 000984f8 72973db1 0523c0dc 00000012 4180923a msvbvm60!IID_IVbaHost+0x24c84 

Answer 1

Thanks to the blob that taught me how to correct my characters and repeat the analysis, the reason for my collapse became apparent. Unfortunately, I already worked on this trial and error method (deleting controls from one form at a time until the crash ended). Here are the crash dump lines that told me what was going on:

 00097a20 4fbaa41a 01396a70 0009834c 00098478 ciaXPLabel30!DllCanUnloadNow+0x10efd 00097a5c 75873e75 01396a70 0b0ee654 00000000 ciaXPLabel30!DllCanUnloadNow+0xd33c 

A complete log looks like an endless loop of this control that is trying to get rid of itself. I have thrown off control and now everything is working fine.