FIX: DBCC TEXTALLOC May Cause SQL Server to Stop Responding (248764)

SYMPTOMS

Under memory constrained conditions, running DBCC TEXTALLOC against a table containing large text values may cause SQL Server to stop processing queries and logon requests. SQL Server may also write indefinite bufwait messages or write an access violation stack dump to the errorlog in some cases.

1999/08/30 01:31:16.11 spid20 bufwait: timeout, BUF_IO, bp 0x4cbcc40, pg 0xee1c1, stat 0x801004/0x6, obj 0x269ab60b, bpss 0x48aaf98

SQL Server may not seem to be responding and will not allow processing until the service is stopped and restarted.

STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed this to be a problem in SQL Server version 6.5. This problem has been corrected in the Post Service Pack 5a Update for Microsoft SQL Server version 6.5. To install the Post Service Pack 5a Update, you must have either SQL Server 6.5 SP5 or SP5a installed.

For information about how to download and install the SQL Server 6.5 Service Pack 5a, refer to the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

197177 INF: How to Obtain SQL Server 6.5 Service Pack 5a

If you already have SQL Server 6.5 SP5 or SP5a installed, you can download the Post SP5a Update from the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

274036 INF: How to Obtain SQL Server 6.5 Post Service Pack 5a Update

For more information, contact your primary support provider.

MORE INFORMATION

The following error may be written to the errorlog, which may cause a concern for reconfiguring sp_configure settings:

1999/08/30 23:36:10.35 spid24 WARNING: no read ahead slots available. Use sp_configure to increase the number of slots ('RA worker threads' or 'RA slots per thread').