BUG: App Studio GP Faults in RCDLL.DLL When Opening a .RC file

WINDOWS   | WINDOWS NT

The information in this article applies to:

• The App Studio included with:

      - Microsoft Visual C++ for Windows, versions 1.0 and 1.5
      - Microsoft Visual C++ 32-bit Edition, version 1.0 and 2.0
  

SYMPTOMS

Using App Studio to open a .RC file that has been modified and saved causes App Studio to generate a General Protection fault in module RCDLL.DLL. However, App Studio can successfully open .RC files that have not been modified and saved. Under Visual C++ 2.0, 32-bit Edition, the integrated environment will GP-fault upon startup.

CAUSE

This problem can be caused by having the system date and time set to a value which is greater than January 19, 2038, 7:14:07 P.M.

RESOLUTION

Set the system date and time to the correct values.

STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed this to be a problem in the Microsoft products listed above. We are researching this problem, and will post new information in the Knowledge Base as it becomes available.

MORE INFORMATION

The problem has to do with the fact that the C run-time time related functions use a type of time_t to represent time values. Currently time_t is defined to be a signed long. The maximum number of seconds that can be stored in a signed long is 2,147,483,647. Since the time related functions use 00:00:00 (midnight), January 1, 1970 as their base, the maximum time and date that can be represented with a time_t type is January 19, 2038, 3:14:07 A.M.

Only .RC files which have been modified and saved on a system that is currently using the incorrect time and date will show the problem. For example, .RC files which are included with the samples provided with the compiler can be successfully loaded into App Studio. This is because their last modification time was set when they were initially created. However, once a .RC file has been modified and saved on the system with the invalid time and date, it can no longer be loaded into App Studio.