NINA 174 hard crash with memory access error

Have not tried to reproduce since I do not yet have a use case for synchronized imaging, the possible culprit. This occurred in ~~#174~~. Since updated to ~~#176~~ and removed the suspected (Synchronization) plugin.

First, what was observed:

Imaging had run for several hours. Sequencer successfully switched targets. Some time later Windows event log shows NINA crashed with the following:

<Event xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/win/2004/08/events/event">
<System>
<Provider Name="Application Popup" Guid="{47bfa2b7-bd54-4fac-b70b-29021084ca8f}" />
<EventID>26</EventID>
<Version>0</Version>
<Level>4</Level>
<Task>0</Task>
<Opcode>0</Opcode>
<Keywords>0x8000000000000000</Keywords>
<TimeCreated SystemTime="2021-10-31T06:24:28.4355662Z" />
<EventRecordID>6865</EventRecordID>
<Correlation />
<Execution ProcessID="2148" ThreadID="5144" />
<Channel>System</Channel>
<Computer>GEM45G</Computer>
<Security UserID="S-1-5-18" />
</System>
<EventData>
<Data Name="Caption">.NET-BroadcastEventWindow.4.0.0.0.797c81.0: NINA.exe - Application Error</Data>
<Data Name="Message">The exception unknown software exception (0xc0020001) occurred in the application at location 0x00007FF990E94F99. Click on OK to terminate the program</Data>
</EventData>
</Event>

This caused a hard crash of NINA with no dump file, which was odd. I have the PC set to reboot on failure and it booted a few seconds later.

(Three seconds later, NINA crashes.)

This is below is curious and may be noise, but including anyway:

Earlier in the log:
2021-10-31T01:08:33.7692|INFO|MeridianFlipTrigger.cs|ShouldTrigger|287|Meridian Flip - (Side of Pier usage is disabled) There is still time remaining. Max remaining time 03:24:33.9470000, next instruction time 300.
2021-10-31T01:08:33.7692|INFO|SequenceItem.cs|Run|195|Starting Category: Camera, Item: TakeExposure, ExposureTime 300, Gain -1, Offset -1, ImageType LIGHT, Binning 1x1
2021-10-31T01:08:33.8549|INFO|CameraVM.cs|Capture|709|Starting Exposure - Exposure Time: 300s; Filter: ; Gain: 101; Offset 10; Binning: 1x1;
2021-10-31T01:08:44.7648|INFO|StarDetection.cs|Detect|221|Average HFR: 3.97144701191334, HFR σ: 1.70611121611765, Detected Stars 496
2021-10-31T01:08:45.0440|INFO|BaseImageData.cs|FinalizeSave|136|Saving image at C:\Astro\Capture\Spaghetti Nebula\Redcat51\ZWO ASI094MC Pro\2021-10-30\LIGHT\Altair Quad\2021-10-31_01-03-31_Altair Quad_300.00s_-6.30_G101_O10_0012.fits
2021-10-31T01:08:45.1956|ERROR|SynchronizationPlugin.cs|StartServerHeartbeat|107|An error occurred while pinging the server
Grpc.Core.RpcException: Status(StatusCode="DeadlineExceeded", Detail="")
at GrpcDotNetNamedPipes.Internal.MessageReader1.<MoveNext>d__5.MoveNext() --- End of stack trace from previous location where exception was thrown --- at System.Runtime.ExceptionServices.ExceptionDispatchInfo.Throw() at System.Runtime.CompilerServices.TaskAwaiter.HandleNonSuccessAndDebuggerNotification(Task task) at GrpcDotNetNamedPipes.Internal.MessageReader1.<>c__DisplayClass9_0.<<ReadNextMessage>b__0>d.MoveNext()
--- End of stack trace from previous location where exception was thrown ---
at System.Runtime.ExceptionServices.ExceptionDispatchInfo.Throw()
at System.Runtime.CompilerServices.TaskAwaiter.HandleNonSuccessAndDebuggerNotification(Task task)
at Synchronization.Service.DitherServiceClient.<Ping>d__15.MoveNext()
--- End of stack trace from previous location where exception was thrown ---
at System.Runtime.ExceptionServices.ExceptionDispatchInfo.Throw()
at Synchronization.SynchronizationPlugin.<<StartServerHeartbeat>b__8_0>d.MoveNext()
2021-10-31T01:08:45.2056|ERROR|SynchronizationPlugin.cs|StartHeartbeat|126|An error occurred while pinging the server
Grpc.Core.RpcException: Status(StatusCode="DeadlineExceeded", Detail="")
at GrpcDotNetNamedPipes.Internal.MessageReader1.<MoveNext>d__5.MoveNext() --- End of stack trace from previous location where exception was thrown --- at System.Runtime.ExceptionServices.ExceptionDispatchInfo.Throw() at System.Runtime.CompilerServices.TaskAwaiter.HandleNonSuccessAndDebuggerNotification(Task task) at GrpcDotNetNamedPipes.Internal.MessageReader1.<>c__DisplayClass9_0.<<ReadNextMessage>b__0>d.MoveNext()
--- End of stack trace from previous location where exception was thrown ---
at System.Runtime.ExceptionServices.ExceptionDispatchInfo.Throw()
at System.Runtime.CompilerServices.TaskAwaiter.HandleNonSuccessAndDebuggerNotification(Task task)
at Synchronization.Service.DitherServiceClient.<Ping>d__15.MoveNext()
--- End of stack trace from previous location where exception was thrown ---
at System.Runtime.ExceptionServices.ExceptionDispatchInfo.Throw()
at Synchronization.SynchronizationPlugin.<<StartHeartbeat>b__9_0>d.MoveNext()

‌

From past life, 0xc0020001 can occur when mixing memory access between managed and unmanaged code in the Microsoft world. There may be other reasons.

Also, while the Synchronization plugin was installed, it was not part of a sequence and had never been invoked (by me purposefully) other than perhaps by NINA to enumerate the list of available instructions in the sequencer.

Curious why it is trying to connect to the synch service when it has not been instructed to do so by a sequence.

I have uninstalled the Synchronization plugin as a precaution just in case it was the culprit that caused the memory access violation.

Hope that helps. Maybe non-issue in latest code.

Now need to look at how to automate imaging recovery after hard failure of NINA. Lost ~5 hrs of imaging opportunity on one of those super dim targets where every photon seems to be needed.. That’ll teach me to try and get sleep! Good thing is, odds are decent the target will still be there next clear night.

Thanks.

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