Out Of Memory softlock

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wood.22mark
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Out Of Memory softlock

Post by wood.22mark »

Ver. 4.2.1.1; since installing the latest version of AWP, I occasionally get an error box popup, “Out of memory.” It locks the program. I lose any work not saved or autosaved. Rebooting the computer removes the problem but it recurs, seemingly at random. Today it happened when I only had 3 files open. On a related note how do I adjust the program to flush autosaves more often? I found the toggles that determine how often AWP autosaves. Is it there? Is there a way to make autosave ignore any open doc not altered since the the last autosave?

I usually run AWP along with Recoll, Encyclopedia Britannica/Merriam Webster, and one or more browsers. I use Sophos and Windows Defender. As I write, I update other files, indexing. I sometimes have 12 or more files open.
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Re: Out Of Memory softlock

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Atlantis does not have the autosave feature. I mean, Atlantis does not automatically save your documents. But Atlantis can automatically create safe copies and backup copies for modified document files. Both features can be adjusted on the “Load/Save” tab of the “Tools | Options...” dialog.

Regarding the error. If it is not linked to one of your documents, please launch a test copy of Atlantis with factory settings (“Tools | Factory Settings... > Launch a test copy of Atlantis with factory settings”). Do you get this error under the factory settings?
wood.22mark
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Re: Out Of Memory softlock

Post by wood.22mark »

Hi. Did that. Still getting the softlock sometimes with the error message sometimes not. Can I download a previous version of AWP to see if the trouble is with my computer or with this version? Can I load a debug version?
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Re: Out Of Memory softlock

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OK, I will soon have some suggestions.
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Re: Out Of Memory softlock

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Please download & run this setup file of Atlantis. Then run Atlantis. This build of Atlantis displays the current amount of allocated memory in the title bar of the main window:

Image

On average, Atlantis uses 20-30 MB of RAM. What does Atlantis report on your system? Does this number change gradually as you work on your document? Or you can notice a sharp change after performing a certain operation?
wood.22mark
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Re: Out Of Memory softlock

Post by wood.22mark »

I loaded the program. It showed 14 Mb when it softlocked and showed the error message, Out of Memory. Highlighting text to manipulate it (in this case to bold the text but it happens with cut-and-paste also) seems to be a high-risk activity. It doesn't usually result in softlock but I've noticed that it often is the last thing I did before a softlock. Mmn, second-to-last thing. The last thing I did was to hit control-b. I use control-c to copy and control-x to cut and control-v to paste.

Does this help?
wood.22mark
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Re: Out Of Memory softlock

Post by wood.22mark »

Update. I tried life without the Ctrl key, thinking that it might be a hardware problem or a bug associated with using that key.

No. Got the error message and lock again; this time with 1526 Mb listed as the allocated memory. I used mouse commands to cut and paste or to bold/unbold and used the Control key once, to shift from all caps to all smallcase.

Still investigating.
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Re: Out Of Memory softlock

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Atlantis is not supposed to consume that much memory if you are not working on a gigantic document of tens of thousands of pages of text and images. Something is definitely wrong.

I have another suggestion. Please close Atlantis, then use the file manager to temporarily rename the “user files” folder of Atlantis (by default, the “Atlantis” folder under “My documents” folder) to, let’s say, “_Atlantis”. In this way, all your Atlantis files and settings would become unavailable to Atlantis. Then run the debug version of Atlantis. Atlantis would automatically recreate the Atlantis folder which you could later delete with the file manager. Do you still get errors with the “Atlantis” folder unavailable?
wood.22mark
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Re: Out Of Memory softlock

Post by wood.22mark »

Update. I did the things suggested here. Status:

1. I ruled out the idea that the bug is associated with the Ctrl key. It happens more quickly when I use those shortcuts but it eventually happens even when I use my mouse exclusively and avoid keyboard shortcuts. The bug seems to be associated with altering highlighted text. It sometimes, but not always, is associated with excess memory use as shown in the debug version you had me work with.

2. Even the latest release of AWP has this bug on my computer (ver 4.2.2.3).

3. I have not yet experienced a softlock since changing the Atlantis folder name to _Atlantis. If that changes I will post an update.

Thank you for your support!
wood.22mark
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Re: Out Of Memory softlock

Post by wood.22mark »

It happened again. I'm not certain that I did as you said because when I went to rename my Atlantis folder (to regain use of the spell-checker, for example), I found another Atlantis folder. I thought I'd changed the folder name after the update but apparently not. The new Atlantis folder has 3 folders, Backup, Spellcheck, and Templates; also one configuration file. Will try again.

Update, sort of. I transferred files from the updated Atlantis to the folder named _Atlantis. When I started the program from the Desktop icon, it established a new Atlantis folder with two folders inside; Backup and Templates. Is that expected? Does it help?
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Re: Out Of Memory softlock

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I'm not certain that I did as you said because when I went to rename my Atlantis folder (to regain use of the spell-checker, for example), I found another Atlantis folder.
Atlantis automatically recreates the “user files” folder with the minimal set of files if this folder is missing. You can safely delete this automatically created folder because it does not contain your personal files.

I suggested to rename the “My documents\Atlantis” folder before running Atlantis because it is the best way to run Atlantis with 100% factory settings. If the problem is reproducible under the factory settings, it is not linked to your recent settings. In this case, the problem might be specific to one of your documents. Maybe performing certain actions on a specific document is how the error can be reproduced.
The bug seems to be associated with altering highlighted text.
There are myriads of possible ways to alter a selected text fragment. It is important to be as specific as possible.
wood.22mark
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Re: Out Of Memory softlock

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1. Yes, there are many ways to work with highlighted text. Many of these seem to be related to the softlocks I experience with AWP. If I change text from ALL CAPS to lowercase using keyboard shortcuts (I think it is Ctrl-Shift-F3? My fingers know the shortcut better than my brain), I get the softlock. If I find an error in spelling or punctuation and highlight the text, then retype the text that is highlighted, I get the softlock. If I use Find/Replace, I get the softlock. I don’t always get a softlock when altering highlighted text, but, by avoiding these practices, I avoid softlocks … mostly. When I return to old habits, I get the softlock, consistently. For example if I highlight a word or phrase and then click to the middle of the highlighted text and try to retype, it softlocks. If I use Insert and type over text, highlighted or not, I don't seem to get softlocks.

2. The bug doesn’t seem to be related to any one document or class of documents – with two exceptions. If I get the softlock and shut down my computer, reboot and restart AWP, I often get a message along the lines of ‘We found some documents, would you like to see them?’ Autosave or something similar. If I post those docs, I WILL get a softlock early and consistently with any of those documents. However, if I save each autosaved document manually, then I don’t get the softlock again for a while. Also, any time I leave AWP running for days and days, especially if I am working with the same 5 or 6 documents, then I seem to get softlocks. That happened again today, as explained below. So, my new work habit will be to close AWP every day. I think that will prevent the symptoms I see.

3. Today I got a softlock with a different error code and slightly different symptoms. AWP had been running for a few days with the same 5 docs open. I save assiduously (after almost every alteration; it slows my workflow but I don’t lose data when the program glitches) so I only had one doc of the five that had been modified. When I tried to open a sixth document, I got the screen that shows the last folder I saved to. When I clicked on the icon to go to a higher-level folder, nothing happened. I clicked again. Nothing. I tried opening a folder inside this folder. Nothing. I tried to open a random document in that folder. Nothing. However, when I clicked on the red X to close the Open screen, it worked! Yay. I saved the file I had modified. It saved! That is a new symptom. Normally, when the program softlocks, I lose data and cannot save. I tried opening a doc again. Same symptoms. I shut down AWP. It shut down but displayed an error code: “Access violation at 0044F69E in awp.exe” . Clicking on that error box would not clear it (it reappeared every time I clicked on its red X). I rebooted the computer and restarted AWP. No troubles.

4. I am using the default settings on AWP with one exception. I have deleted a few items from the autocorrect library, such as changing i to I.

5. I am using version 4.2.2.3 but also experienced softlocks with ver 4.2.2.2. Please provide a copy of version 4.2.2.1 or earlier. I would like to see if the bug is associated with my hardware or supporting software or if it is related to the newest two versions of Atlantis Word Processor. Thank you for your time and attention.
wood.22mark
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Re: Out Of Memory softlock

Post by wood.22mark »

wood.22mark wrote: Sun Feb 26, 2023 12:11 am 1. Yes, there are many ways to work with highlighted text. Many of these seem to be related to the softlocks I experience with AWP. If I change text from ALL CAPS to lowercase using keyboard shortcuts (I think it is Ctrl-Shift-F3? My fingers know the shortcut better than my brain), I get the softlock. If I find an error in spelling or punctuation and highlight the text, then retype the text that is highlighted, I get the softlock. If I use Find/Replace, I get the softlock. I don’t always get a softlock when altering highlighted text, but, by avoiding these practices, I avoid softlocks … mostly. When I return to old habits, I get the softlock, consistently. For example if I highlight a word or phrase and then click to the middle of the highlighted text and try to retype, it softlocks. If I use Insert and type over text, highlighted or not, I don't seem to get softlocks. If I cut and paste, replacing a paragraph or a sentence, or even two letters, I get the softlock. But not every time. The only consistent thing is that I can avoid the softlock (mostly) if I avoid altering highlighted text and (added with edit) if I restart AWP every few days.

2. The bug doesn’t seem to be related to any one document or class of documents – with two exceptions. If I get the softlock and shut down my computer, reboot and restart AWP, I often get a message along the lines of ‘We found some documents, would you like to see them?’ Autosave or something similar. If I post those docs, I WILL get a softlock early and consistently with any of those documents. However, if I save each autosaved document manually, then I don’t get the softlock again for a while. Also, any time I leave AWP running for days and days, especially if I am working with the same 5 or 6 documents, then I seem to get softlocks. That happened again today, as explained below. So, my new work habit will be to close AWP every day. I think that will prevent the symptoms I see.

3. Today I got a softlock with a different error code and slightly different symptoms. AWP had been running for a few days with the same 5 docs open. I save assiduously (after almost every alteration; it slows my workflow but I don’t lose data when the program glitches) so I only had one doc of the five that had been modified. When I tried to open a sixth document, I got the screen that shows the last folder I saved to. When I clicked on the icon to go to a higher-level folder, nothing happened. I clicked again. Nothing. I tried opening a folder inside this folder. Nothing. I tried to open a random document in that folder. Nothing. However, when I clicked on the red X to close the Open screen, it worked! Yay. I saved the file I had modified. It saved! That is a new symptom. Normally, when the program softlocks, I lose data and cannot save. I tried opening a doc again. Same symptoms. I shut down AWP. It shut down but displayed an error code: “Access violation at 0044F69E in awp.exe” . Clicking on that error box would not clear it (it reappeared every time I clicked on its red X). I rebooted the computer and restarted AWP. No troubles.

4. I am using the default settings on AWP with one exception. I have deleted a few items from the autocorrect library, such as changing i to I.

5. I am using version 4.2.2.3 but also experienced softlocks with ver 4.2.2.2. Please provide a copy of version 4.2.2.1 or earlier. I would like to see if the bug is associated with my hardware or supporting software or if it is related to the newest two versions of Atlantis Word Processor. Thank you for your time and attention.
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Re: Out Of Memory softlock

Post by admin »

Thanks for the info.

Version 4.3 is currently under development. It will be another major engine update. Much more advanced debug versions of Atlantis will be also available. They will be able to detect problems which do not always lead to an error message box. In case of problems/errors, they would display a much more detailed debug report.

So if the upcoming engine update does not fix your softlock problem (possibly it will), we could proceed with much more effective debug versions.
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Re: Out Of Memory softlock

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4.2.2.5 has a fix to a bug that led to the "out of memory" situation. You might wish to update, and try it.
wood.22mark
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Re: Out Of Memory softlock

Post by wood.22mark »

Update: I am using ver. 4.3. I think I got an early release of it. Anyway. The softlock doesn't happen as often, but it has happened twice. One time was 'normal' for me, the softlock happened after my fingers returned to old habits; I highlighted text and pressed the delete button. I know better but sometimes I get busy and forget. I was working with a document for a few days ... out of memory.

The second time, though. I don't know what triggered it. I happened while I was typing. I was watching the screen, not watching my fingers. I didn't see any highlighted text. I wasn't using cut and paste. I was adding text. Unusual. It was a new document. None of the usual suspects.

Overall, better. AWP 4.3 is not as buggy as 4.2.x. I suspect there is still a bug or two to kill, though. Unless, of course, it ends up being a problem with my hardware or my supporting software (Windows). I thought I ruled that out but they still could be trouble.
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Re: Out Of Memory softlock

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Sticking with an early beta is not a good idea. You can click "Help | Check for Updates..." to replace your build with the final (public) build of 4.3, or with the post-4.3 beta.
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