Microsoft KB Archive/167133

= BUG: Local COM connections time out after six minutes =

PSS ID Number: 167133

Article Last Modified on 4/21/2005

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The information in this article applies to:


 * Microsoft OLE Libraries, when used with:
 * Microsoft Windows NT 4.0

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This article was previously published under Q167133



SYMPTOMS
COM objects created locally are subject to the same "pinging" that remote objects are (see "Distributed Component Object Model Protocol -- DCOM/1.0" internet-draft, section 2.5 and 2.5.1 for a specification of this "pinging" mechanism in COM). This pinging currently includes three pings at two- minute intervals for a total of six minutes of waiting before an unresponsive client causes COM to release dead references on the server.

There is also a problem that manifests itself in the same timeout behavior, but it is apparently unjustified. In this problem scenario, the server and client are both active and responsive. However, the connection is terminated after six minutes for no apparent reason.



CAUSE
The problem resides in the COM subsystem and is triggered by the lack of networking software installed on the Windows platform.



RESOLUTION
To work around the problem, install and activate a networking protocol via the Control Panel's Network applet. Once this is done, the timeout should not occur unless the client has actually died.



STATUS
Microsoft has confirmed this to be a bug in Microsoft COM Libraries. The problem is fixed in Service Pack 2 of Windows NT 4.0.

