0x8000FFFF "Catastrophic failure" Message with SQL Server ODBC Driver

• Microsoft Data Access Components version 2.1 SP2
• Microsoft ODBC Driver for SQL Server, version 3.7

SYMPTOMS

The following error may be generated by the Microsoft SQL Server ODBC driver, especially when you are using the ODBC driver in connection-pooled environments such as Internet Information Server (IIS):

Error 0x8000FFFF Catastrophic failure

CAUSE

The Microsoft SQL Server ODBC driver is loading the Winmm.dll file for timing functions. While Winmm.dll is primarily a multimedia DLL, it contains some timing functions that resolve down to the millisecond level, and the Microsoft SQL Server ODBC driver is using these functions for internal timing issues.

In the 3.70.0690 build of the Microsoft SQL Server ODBC driver, Winmm.dll is being unloaded prematurely, and the function pointers are not being zeroed out. Therefore, the function pointer appears to refer to a valid address but the location it points to in memory is no longer valid.

This access violation (AV) is being caught by the exception handling in the OLE DB Service Components, and an 0x08000FFFF "Catastrophic failure" message is then returned to the client.

WORKAROUND

Two ways to work around this are:


• Revert back to an earlier build of the SQL Server ODBC driver, such as the 3.70.0623 build.
  
  -or-



• Use the SQL Server native provider (Sqloledb.dll) instead.

RESOLUTION

A supported fix that corrects this problem is now available from Microsoft, but it has not been fully regression tested and should be applied only to systems experiencing this specific problem. If you are not severely affected by this specific problem, Microsoft recommends that you wait for the next Microsoft Data Access Components service pack that contains this fix.

To resolve this problem immediately, contact Microsoft Product Support Services to obtain the fix. For a complete list of Microsoft Product Support Services phone numbers and information on support costs, please go to the following address on the World Wide Web:

http://www.microsoft.com/support/supportnet/overview/overview.asp

   Date      Time    Version      Size    File name     Platform
   -------------------------------------------------------------

   10/4/99           3.70.0737    25KB    odbcbcp.dll
   10/4/99           3.70.0737   505KB    sqlsrv32.dll
 

STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed this to be a problem in the Microsoft products listed at the beginning of this article.

MORE INFORMATION

If there is some doubt as to whether or not this bug is the cause of an AV you may be encountering, a utility such as TList.exe (from the Windows NT Resource Kit) or ListDLLs.exe (from sysinternals.com) can be helpful in determining whether Winmm.dll was initially loaded in the process but is unloaded at the time of the failure.

Manual Installation

1. Close or stop any applications or services that are using the Sqlsrv32.dll file. This may include Internet Information Server (IIS), Microsoft Transaction Server (MTS), and any ActiveX Data Objects (ADO) or ODBC applications.



2. Download the hotfix (CatastrophicFailure.exe) into a temporary directory and run it to extract the following files:
   
   

   Odbcbcp.dll Sqlsrv32.dll




3. Locate and rename the current version of these files, which should be in the \Winnt\System32 folder for Windows NT computers, and in the \Windows\System folder for Windows 9x computers.



4. Copy the hotfix version of the files into the same location, and restart your services and applications.

Additional query words: catastrophic failure 8000ffff sqlsrv32.dll sql server odbc driver iis winmm.dll

Keywords : kbODBC210fix kbGrpMDAC kbMDAC210SP2fix kbGrpODBC
Version : WINDOWS:2.1 SP2,3.7
Platform : WINDOWS
Issue type : kbbug