RPC Program Fails When Server Run Down Occurs (149846)

SYMPTOMS

When you run a multithreaded program that uses the RPC (Remote Procedure Call) API, or multiple RPC programs concurrently, one of the following error messages may occur:

- Invalid Handle

- RPC Failure

When these error messages occur, the connection to the RPC server is lost.

CAUSE

These errors may occur when all the following conditions exist:

The RPC server is a DCE (Distributed Computing Environment) server running a non-Microsoft operating system such as OS/2 or UNIX.
There are multiple RPC sockets (threads) being opened, either by a multithreaded RPC client program, or by multiple RPC client programs.
At least one of the RPC threads has been idle long enough for the RPC server to time out and automatically terminate (run down) the thread.

Under these conditions, the Windows 95 RPC run-time libraries do not properly shut down the RPC connection when the server times out and calls its rundown procedures. Subsequent attempts to create a new RPC connection or access an existing connection fail, generating one of the error messages listed above.

STATUS

This problem no longer occurs in Windows 98. To resolve this problem, install the current version of Windows. For information about the current version of Windows, visit http://www.microsoft.com/windows.

MORE INFORMATION

Note that this symptom does not occur if Microsoft Windows NT is used as the RPC server, because Windows NT does not time out and call rundown procedures on the RPC connection as described above.

A similar update for this issue also exists for Windows NT RPC clients. For additional information, please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: