Having problems with Fences? Help us by submitting your diagnostics info
Available in v0.96 beta, updated 1/25/09
Sunday, January 25, 2009 by JMB1984 | Discussion: Fences
Having problems with explorer crashing? The Fences settings dialog crashing? Context menus not showing up properly? They're rare & far inbetween, but if this is you, please take the time to send in your diagnostics information.
In the latest build up on Impulse I've added some debug information catching / crash logging.
First: Update your copy of Fences to the v0.96 beta. Make sure you have "Show pre-release versions" checked in Impulse, and install it / reboot. From there, reproduce the problem you were having
Next: head to the Fences settings dialog. On the about page, there's now a button "Debug Info" ; give it a click. If you can't get the dialog open at all, go there directly by heading to "%appdata%\Stardock\Fences\TroubleshootingLog\". Email the file shown at that location ("fences_debug_info.txt"), along with a description of your problem and something along the lines of "Fences Debug Info" in the subject, to "fencesbeta" (at stardock).
Thanks, and happy testing!
Reply #2 Sunday, January 25, 2009 7:41 PM
If you can, please find the debug-information file as described above and mail it to us... it could be valuable in finding out what's going wrong. Let me know if you need more help and I'll email you with more information. Thanks...
Reply #3 Sunday, January 25, 2009 8:34 PM
Could not keep Windows 7 Explorer running long enough to get the logs. Tried to uninstall but could not even get the uninstaller to work. Had to reformat my drive. Will try to get log again after I get Windows 7 32-bit installed and get Impulse on and download the Fences again.
Reply #4 Monday, January 26, 2009 12:57 AM
Have you tried rebooting in to safe mode? For information on booting into safemode, see here http://windowshelp.microsoft.com/Windows/en-us/help/323ef48f-7b93-4079-a48a-5c58eec904a11033.mspx
Reply #5 Monday, January 26, 2009 2:46 PM
I possted this elsewhere - sorry it should be here
I have just had to uninstall Fences on my desktop and laptop. I installed the latest update for fences and when the machines rebooted they both get errors "windows explorer has stopped working" and the only way to stop that was to uninstall fences by loading in safe mode and running impulse. I couldn't uninstall from control panel>programs as it said i had to wait until it had finished (what i dont know but from task manager i could see that impulse was starting and stopping in an endless loop). I uninstalled from Impulse, rebooted and both machines are fine, i just re installed fences on the notebook and it worked, recovered all the settings yet when i rebooted (just to see if it would do the same thing again) it did, so it has been uninstalled and i will wait for the next version.
Reply #6 Monday, January 26, 2009 3:16 PM
I'm experiencing the same Explorer crashes on both Windows Vista SP1 (32 bits) & Windows 7 (64 bits)... I had to uninstall Fences just to make my OS functional again. I will try to install it again and capture the log file (since I came to this post after uninstalling fences).
Reply #7 Monday, January 26, 2009 3:40 PM
even uninstalled i still found the log there - search by filename for "fences_debug_info.txt" - oh you have to allow to see hidden and system files.
Reply #8 Monday, January 26, 2009 4:31 PM
Windows 7 beta same thing. Cannot keep fences running long enough to do anything as explorer keeps crashing recycling over and over......would love to help but have to wait this one out
Reply #9 Monday, January 26, 2009 5:32 PM
Hi everyone... good news, I feel confident that we've fixed the cyclic-crashing problem. Was a mistake with the Win7 support fix that should be all taken care of with the new build on Impulse, v0.96[b].016. Thanks
Reply #10 Monday, January 26, 2009 10:26 PM
Yes it did.....thank you.....I love this program......
Reply #11 Tuesday, January 27, 2009 4:42 AM
Hi Jeff,
it seems your new release fixed my problem. Fences is now stable again - no more explorer crashes. Go on working like that. I dont know any other company to send me an email after reporting a bug. What a response... Thank you so much - i like fences.l
Reply #13 Tuesday, January 27, 2009 6:49 AM
So far so good! Contextual Menus are working. I'll let you know if it crashes, which I hope it doesn't. YES!!
Reply #14 Tuesday, January 27, 2009 1:40 PM
Latest update of Fences (b16?) caused Fences to disappear all icons etc. completely. The crashing of the settings program continues as before for me (V64U, 8gb ram, quad intel cpu, dual nvidia 8 series GPUs), so I had to uninstall Fences entirely (as I can't seem to find the "revert" option in Impulse that I had with SDC.
Once it came back up, I was able to get the icons back by selecting RMB/View/Show Desktop Icons. Interestingly, it was Checked when I went to it. I then selected it and the icons came back. I went back and found it was "still" checked. As if something in Vista was misreporting the checked/unchecked status for this setting. Very strange.
I'll try a fresh Fences install when the next beta comes out unless you guys have some suggestions on what went wrong with this update.
Reply #15 Sunday, February 1, 2009 2:46 PM
The following is intended to be a well-documented history of a .net crash relating to Fences. The current version does not seem to have this issue, but I wanted to document what I know so far, in case it crops up again.
--------------
After (belatedly) reporting an issue where Fences failed to run (first cropped on 7 Jan, reported on 22 Jan), I had uninstalled Fences and reinstalled today (prompted by an email received from Stardock). The original issue I had with Fences not able to run, and the corresponding eventvwr log, was posted as a response to someone else's issue posted here:
This current version of Fences (v0.96.1505) installed successfully, and I completed configuration using one of the preset layouts. Both installation and configuration completed without error or any issues reported in eventvwr. The original issue therefore appears to be resolved.
In trying to track information that might be relevant to the original issue, I've found the following updates to my system between 7 Jan and today:
| Windows XP | Cumulative Security Update for ActiveX Killbits for Windows XP (KB956391) | ![]() |
Saturday, January 31, 2009 | Automatic Updates |
| Windows Internet Explorer 8 Dynamic Installer | Update for Internet Explorer 8 Dynamic Installer Compatibility View List for Windows XP (KB961813) | ![]() |
Friday, January 30, 2009 | Other Source |
| Windows XP | Internet Explorer 8 Release Candidate 1 for Windows XP | ![]() |
Friday, January 30, 2009 | Automatic Updates |
| Windows XP | Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool - January 2009 (KB890830) | ![]() |
Tuesday, January 13, 2009 | Microsoft Update |
| Windows XP | Security Update for Windows XP (KB958687) | ![]() |
Tuesday, January 13, 2009 | Microsoft Update |
| Windows XP | Security Update for Microsoft XML Core Services 4.0 Service Pack 2 (KB954430) | ![]() |
Wednesday, January 07, 2009 | Automatic Updates |
In addition, within that same period, I'd updated to the current nVidia WHQL release for my 7950GT card available at nvidia.com (181.22 XP 32-bit US English).
Reply #16 Sunday, February 1, 2009 5:05 PM
Good stuff! If you do see it again, be sure to snag Fence's diagnostics log and email it to us by going to the "About" area of the config dialog and clicking the "Debug Info" button.
Thanks for the detailed report!
Reply #17 Monday, February 2, 2009 5:17 PM
Have updated to latest beta on Impulse (0.96.037)
Fiddled around with some of the new color settings.
Exited the config. Doubleclicked desktop to hide Fences, and got this:

Haven't been able to reproduce it though.
(Vista Ultimate)
Reply #18 Tuesday, February 3, 2009 1:28 AM
Hey, just tried the latest beta and Fences is BACK on my machine. Most interestingly, the debug feature works. Before, when I tried to Edit Settings, the window would appear, then crash and go away. Now, the window appears, a crash/debug window arrives, and as long as I don't hit OK in the debug window, I can finally edit/change my Fences settings. So, that helps me workaround the fact that couldn't edit settings before. ![]()
Here's the latest debug message text from the logfile. I emailed you the previous logfile per your request.
Version: 0.96.1505
Timestamp: 2/1/2009 6:17:32 PM
Exception: Value of '303' is not valid for 'ImageSize.Width'. 'ImageSize.Width' should be between 1 and 256.
Parameter name: ImageSize
Stack Trace:
at System.Windows.Forms.Control.MarshaledInvoke(Control caller, Delegate method, Object[] args, Boolean synchronous)
at System.Windows.Forms.Control.Invoke(Delegate method, Object[] args)
at DesktopDockUI.Dialogs.Panes.ToolsPaneA.RefreshSnapshots()
at System.Threading.ExecutionContext.Run(ExecutionContext executionContext, ContextCallback callback, Object state)
at System.Threading.ThreadHelper.ThreadStart()
------------------------------------------------------
Reply #19 Tuesday, February 3, 2009 1:59 AM
hullo, iam using fences beta..just got update. so far, ive nothing major or minor to report.
cheers fences development team
Reply #20 Tuesday, February 3, 2009 10:29 AM
=-o it needs to be between 1 & 256 eh?? no kiddin. well that makes sense. i'll fix that up. you have an xtra xtra wide screen or something? thanks for the report.
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Reply #1 Sunday, January 25, 2009 6:58 PM
Actually yes. After 4 hours of putzing around I uninstalled Fences. Ever since the update it is doing exactly what it was designed to stop. Explorer crashes incessantly, After ininstalling Fences, which by th way was no small feat in itself. U sing built in uninstaller, via Impulse left all kunds of Registry value. Am I to understand that if I do as satated above it will work?
I am runnning Vista SP2 and had no problems at all before the update, skyzyk