Shareaza Stopped Working

[calisun]

I have been using Shareaza for several years without any problems, updating it also was without any issues.
Just last week I got a problem, when I start shareaza, within 10 seconds I get a message: "Shareaza Ultimate File Sharing has stopped working" and it closes. I have tried uninstalling shareaza and re-installing it, but I still get that message.
Is anybody experiencing same thing? Does anybody know how to fix this?


Details
Shareaza: 2.4.0.0
Windows Vista home premium, SP2

[zigozag]

[calisun]

I did a clean install and afterwords the shareaza was running fine.
I left shareaza running overnight downloading few files. In the morning I saw the same message again: "Shareaza Ultimate File Sharing has stopped working" and now I get the message right away every time I start shareaza.

Strange that I used shareaza for several years without any problems and now all of sudden this.

Call me paranoid, but is there a security issue with shareaza that allows someone to inject code that causes shareaza to crash?

[calisun]

OK, this is interesting.
I have downloaded Shareaza_2.4.0.4_Win32_Debug_r8128_2009-08-12.exe to see if it will run any better.
While trying to install it, the installation told me that it found malware pxwma.dll
So I have deleted the pxwma.dll file and I will report back on how shareaza performs.

Strange that shareaza found the file but Avast did not. Avast is up to date and I did full system scan yesterday, and it did not found anything, scary.

[calisun]

I removed the malaware file, uninstalled shareaza, reboot the computer, re-install shareaza. And it seemed to work fine, so I left it over night downloading files. In the morning I got the same message again. And now I get this message right away after starting shareaza.

If I can't get shareaza working soon, I guess I will have to look for another software.

[kevogod]

[cyko_01]

pxwma.dll is a BHO (browser helper object) that is installed by shareazav4 and is used by the Intenet Explorer toolbar "mediabar". This toolbar definately contains malware, and most-likely also contains spyware.

other software programs such as some CD/DVD burning programs also use a file by the same name, so it could also be that. if you did not previously install shareazav4/5/6 then it is probably harmless

[ocexyz]

I think this is not Shareaza fault but something what has infected you system, whatever it is either thi file you have pointed or any other, which is aimed to disturb you in using Shareaza and perhaps all P2P soft. I have never seen such a message, and I am just wonder if even there is such a message in Shareaza code? We have discussed this many times that as Discordia's Fakeaza V5,6,7...etc. is intended to disturb P2P users it can leave after deinstalation in hidden "a sleeping malware" that can try to damage or make using true Shareaza impossible (like you have) or dificult. I think you can report this suspected file as malware to your antivir soft. Also I think Avast is so-so, try F-secure or Kaspersky and your system will be better prottected I think.
If this effect has disappeared then Shareaza can work on your system properly, for me that is obvious. If it has returned that something, and not Shareaza IMHO, is guilty for this. Check if when you deleted this file will it appear there back again?

[calisun]

OK, I tried again.
I tried complete uninstall, than I downloaded latest build Shareaza_2.4.0.4_Win32_Debug_r8136_2009-08-18.exe
Right after install, a window popped up "Updating Bittorrent Downloads" While I see this window working, the Shareaza program itself is unusable, when I click anywhere on the program, it turns white and I get a message "not responding"
But since I see the "Updating Bittorrent Downloads" window working, I will let it work and see what happens. I hope it does not take to long, it has been over an hour working on it.

[calisun]

OK, it died again after about an hour of operation. And now it dies only after just few seconds of operation.
One good thing about the daily builds, they have a BugTrap build in, so it collects information on what happened and submits it to developers. So hopefully this will help developers figure out what went wrong.

[cyko_01]

[calisun]

No, BugTrap submits it. After crush, bug trap opens up and shows you all the details of what went wrong. I can't figure it out myself, it is all in a way that only a programmer could understand. And there is a "submit bug" button and bug information is send to developers.

[ocexyz]

I have never seen such a window "updateing BitTorrent downloads", and I use BT day by day. Does Shareaza even has such a window? Could you make a screenshoot? For me that is strange. I would not allow "it" to work if that would appear at my screen. For what would be this update?
Question: what antyvir you have? what firewall? do you use PeerGuardian2 or similar soft? have you closed unneeded ports? Have you installed/used before Fakeaza V4 or 5 or 6?

[old_death]

I'd like to suggest do uninstall it, remove the registry keys (Start>>run>>regedit.exe>>OK>>HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Shareaza>>Delete), delete your program files directory and move your incomplete files to an other folder and then install the latest build again (debug build from http://shareaza.sourceforge.net/?id=debug ). You will loose the fiels you're downloading right now and you will have to set it up again, but afterwards, it shouldn't crash again. You might want to try using my install guide to do the installation and configuration as it contains many tips and tricks...

[calisun]

Guys, relax.
As I have explained before, I did clean uninstall. And I have avast antivirus installed and I also use ad-aware and spybot.
And as I have also explained, I have installed latest release 2.4.0.4 after clean uninstall, and it also crashed. That is why I was talking about BugTrap, that is only in debug release.

And updating torrents happens when you install version 2.4.0.4 since they changed the way it handles torrents from official release 2.4.0.0 The way it handles torrents now it supposed to be much more efficient.

[ocexyz]

I don't know what is wrong, but I use 2.4.0.4 on everday basis and I've never seen this. I also intentiionally use pretty weak machine so it could appear, but hasen't. So I suppose something is not OK but I got no idea what. We just are trying to support you, who said a bit of panic can't help?
@dev: is there in Shareaza any such "a window updating torrents"? If yes when it can appear and what means? If not what this can be?

[calisun]

If you just do install itself, you will not see that window.
What I did, I moved all my downloads and incomplete folders to a different location before uninstall.
After install, I pointed the shareaza to a new location of downloaded and incomplete folders. Once I did that and rebooted shareaza, first thing it did was it started "updating torrents". As soon as it was done with "updating torrents" than it started hashing shared files.

It only did "updating torrents" when I first installed 2.4.0.4 and I pointed to incomplete and downloaded folders that came from 2.4.0.0
But if I un-installed and re-installed 2.4.0.4 than it did not do "updating torrents".
It only did it on the move from 2.4.0.0 -> 2.4.0.4

[calisun]

I was also asked if I installed fakeShareaza. No I have not, but I did have Limewire installed. But I have not used Limewire in a while, almost 7 months.

[ocexyz]

Where is that new location? Is it on different partition or separate drive? How much free HDD space do you have?

[calisun]

Yes, it is on a separate drive D: and that drive has 300GIG capacity with 210GIG free space.
And the C: drive (where shareaza is installed) is a 250GIG drive with 90GIG free space.

[calisun]

OK, I think I found the reason for shareaza crashing.
Today I sat there and watched the hashing process and I found out that the shareaza crashed as it hashed the same file every time. As soon as I removed the file from download folder, shareaza completed hashing without any further crashes.

Strange thing is that the file is a PDF file (and I have many other PDF files in my download folder), it is not password protected, I scanned it for viruses and nothing came up.
I am attaching it for developers to take a look and see if they can figure out what went wrong.

*** OK, I tried uploading the file, I even changed the extension and also removed the extension all together, but every time sourceforge said that the file is not allowed.

So if developers are interested to see the file, private message me with the email address and I will email that file.

[calisun]

Ugh.. shareaza crashed again. After my last post, shareaza was working fine for about an hour, than it crashed again

I have submitted a bug report through BugTrap, I hope developers will be able to figure out what is going on.

[ocexyz]

[calisun]

I did "check disk for errors" on both drives and I included extra option "Scan for and attempt to recover bad sectors"
check said "no errors found"
I also did defragmentation. The system said "this disk does not need to be defragmented" but I did "continue any way"

After defragment and reboot, shareaza crashed any way.

[old_death]

[calisun]

Good news, I downloaded the latest version this Friday, on the day it came out: Shareaza_2.4.0.4_Win32_Debug_r8151_2009-08-28.exe and I have it running for two days now without any crushes.

I did not do anything different than I did in the previous versions of 2.4.0.4. I did clean uninstall of previous version before installing new version, but they all would crush in short period of time after clean install.

But this version: Shareaza_2.4.0.4_Win32_Debug_r8151_2009-08-28.exe I have it running over the weekend non-stop and no crushes so far.

Thank you shareaza developers for a wonderful product.

.

[old_death]

[ocexyz]

[calisun]

no..not again..
I have shareaza running non stop for almost a week without any problems, but this morning it crushed again.
I have submitted a report through BugTrap and I will also try to submit it also manually.

But just in case anybody is interested, here is a fragment of the report:
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Shareaza.exe caused ACCESS_VIOLATION in module "C:\Program Files\Shareaza\Shareaza.exe" at 001B:007CA378, CDownloadTransfer::SetState()+328 byte(s) in "c:\documents and settings\administrator\my documents\visual studio 2008\projects\shareaza\trunk\shareaza\downloadtransfer.cpp", line 252+37 byte(s)
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