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Q102640: The "Segment Load Failure" Error Message

Article: Q102640
Product(s): Microsoft Windows Software Development Kit
Version(s): WINDOWS:3.1
Operating System(s): 
Keyword(s): kb16bitonly
Last Modified: 06-NOV-1999

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The information in this article applies to:

- Microsoft Windows Software Development Kit (SDK) 3.1 
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SUMMARY
=======

Running an application in the Microsoft Windows operating environment may
produce a system modal dialog box containing the following error message:

  Segment Load Failure

The error occurs inconsistently due to the cached file handle mechanism of
Windows version 3.1.

MORE INFORMATION
================

During the life of a Windows-based application, Windows may need to load
discarded code or resource segments or LOADONCALL segments for the first time.
To load the segment, Windows uses file I/O functions to read the information
from the .EXE file. If Windows has any errors opening the .EXE file, it will
produce the error message:

  Segment Load Failure

The following are possible reasons opening the .EXE file fails, but this list is
not exhaustive:

- The filename was changed, deleted, or otherwise corrupted since the
  application was first started.

- The .EXE file resides on a shared drive and is opened exclusively or in
  compatibility mode by another workstation running the application.

- The .EXE file resides on a shared drive and is opened exclusively or in
  compatibility mode by another application for some purpose other than running
  the .EXE.

- The system has run out of available file handles.

The error message may occur inconsistently or not at all due to the mechanism
used by Windows for caching file handles. The .EXE file is referred to by a file
handle. By default, Windows caches 12 file handles for the most recently used
files. If Windows subsequently opens more files than what the cache can hold,
the cache closes the least recently used file handles. The error does not occur
if Windows uses a cached file handle to refer to the file, but will occur if the
file handle is no longer in the cache.

The file handle cache is a system-wide mechanism and not a per-application
mechanism. The number of cached file handles can be changed by the
CachedFileHandles switch in the [boot] section of the SYSTEM.INI file. For more
information regarding CachedFileHandles, see the SYSINI.WRI file in the
Microsoft Windows Resource Kit.


Additional query words: no32bit 3.10

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Keywords          : kb16bitonly 
Technology        : kbAudDeveloper kbWin3xSearch kbSDKSearch kbWinSDKSearch kbWinSDK310
Version           : WINDOWS:3.1

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