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Bug Report "File creation failed" and the analysis result included

zjlywjh001

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Feb 15, 2019
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Recently I encountered the problem of gpu-z that it always shows a "file creation failed" Error on version later than 2.8.0.
err1.PNG

Though this kind of error does not affect the running of the gpu-z 2.16.0 and later, but if this error occored the software will offer a error computing support information in the software:
err2.PNG

The last line, the four ticks will be randomly disappeared when the above error occurs. For example, If the "File creation failed" window occurs twice ,the four ticks will randomly remains only two.
I searched all the webs, but nobody konws why this error occurs.
And Most important for me, when I run the latest version of 3dmark, because of the error of gpu-z the test will stuck on the "collecting system information" stage.


So I do some reverse engineering on the software.
First unpack the upx, and use IDA to disassemble the software and see how this error occurs.

After some analysis , I found that it seemed that after the version 2.9.0, the program will always create a file with the same name called "GPUQuery_External.exe" for different compute tests.
So the program will delete the file after every test.
But the problem comming.. emmmmm..

The previous WaitForSingleObject function only wait for 2.71 seconds.
In some condition the new process can't quit normally, It seemed that the process just remains on the background.
So when try next stage, The delete operation will failed, It will also cause the "Open" and "Write" operation to throw an exception.

In the end, this error occurs..

err3.PNG


I hope this bug will be fixed soon, It has exists thorough 2.9-2.16.
I'll be glad if my 3dmark runs good...
 
Last edited:
Excellent investigation. The problem is that I haven't found a way to reproduce that error.

When does it happen on your system? During high load? or at startup?
 
Excellent investigation. The problem is that I haven't found a way to reproduce that error.

When does it happen on your system? During high load? or at startup?

At first GPU-Z works fine on my system for a long time.
But from same day (Maybe Microsoft pushed some update to me) , I can hardly start gpu-z normally without this error.
From that moment on, I have very low probability to execute gpu-z without this error, seems 1 in 20 times to be normal.
My windows version is 1809.
 
Antivirus blocking extra file? What antivirus do you use?
 
Don't close. Just tell us which one it is!
You may need to add a file or folder exception to the antivirus rules/settings.
 
Don't close. Just tell us which one it is!
You may need to add a file or folder exception to the antivirus rules/settings.
I have done some test with W1zzard. This error is some timing issues, so it is hard to reproduce. I think W1zzard will solve this soon. :)
 
I have done some test with W1zzard. This error is some timing issues, so it is hard to reproduce. I think W1zzard will solve this soon. :)
Thanks a lot! Your testing was very helpful.

This is indeed a timing issue. GPU-Z renames the Query_External EXE after it has started it (so other GPU-Z instances can run at the same time). The problem was that CreateProcess() didn't fully start the process and the rename immediately after it could fail. I added some delay now, which fixes it.
 
Sorry to revive this, but I'm getting the same error, first time was a day or so ago, and the error exists when launching GPU-Z 2.22.0 (and 2.21.0).

I did not do the bug testing/dissection as the OP did, but the error is exactly the same as they described.
 
and it worked before? Does the directory exist where it's trying to put the file? Or disk full maybe?
 
Thanks for your response!

It's running directly from the folder it was downloaded to, which is where it's been running from for a year now. Nothing new here. The file GPUQuery_External (.exe?) exists in the appdata/temp folder and is 0 bytes in size, and is read-only.
 

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Aha! Try removing the readonly flag. If that doesn't work, delete the file
 
Deleted the file, that eliminated the error when loading GPU-Z. Odd! Thanks for your help.
 
Yeah no idea why it would get marked as readonly, GPU-Z certainly didn't do that
 
Anddddd...its back again. The GPUQuery_External file exists and is 0 in size, same as my original posted image. If I delete the file, gpuz continues on with no further errors.
 
and it's read-only again?
 
Just throwing in my 2c but I know some AV and some protection mechanisms in windows 10 will prevent execution from temp to help stop malware.

I haven’t looked into this, but maybe it does this by marking them readonly?
 
Just throwing in my 2c but I know some AV and some protection mechanisms in windows 10 will prevent execution from temp to help stop malware.

I haven’t looked into this, but maybe it does this by marking them readonly?
Read only can be executed just fine
 
"Remove readonly attribute from temporary files before trying to delete " from new version 2.23 release notes, AHA! Will try this now and report back.

YES! 2.33 Fixed it!
 
Just reporting back, I still have this bug when I try to install it on my secondary drive. I have a windows SSD and a HDD, if I install gpuz from secondary HDD I have this error message
 
Just reporting back, I still have this bug when I try to install it on my secondary drive. I have a windows SSD and a HDD, if I install gpuz from secondary HDD I have this error message
just to clarify, you are using the installer? and depending on where it is installed to (from?) you get that error?

The path reported in the error message should always be the same though?
 
Downloading fgrom here US-1:

Installing in D: return me the C: location as error.

If I install on C:, I get no errors...

C: is and ssd and D: hdd
 
Soooo. I start the file from custom C:\Tools\ folder with win defender exclussion. I get ONLY CreateProcess failed window with no further info. I get it 9 times before starting it. (9x hit OK).

The programs works fine except for - I am unable to tick an y of the computing ticks in the bottom, neither of the following is tickable:

OpenCL, CUDA, DirectCopmute, DirectML Vulkan, Ray Tracing, PhysX, OpenGL,

Please note that none of them is grayed out!

GPU-Z: 2.30.0 ( but this going on for quite a few versions now)
My rig: i7-6700K @ 4.2 GHz (4 cores/8 threads) | 64 GB DDR4 @ 3200 MHz | GTX 1080Ti - 11GB GDDR5 352 bit | XPG SX8200 Pro PCIe Gen3x4 M.2 2280 SSD 2x512GB | Mushkin SSD 1TB | Win 10x64 (build 1909 - 10.0.18363.720)

PLS advice.
 

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Soooo. I start the file from custom C:\Tools\ folder with win defender exclussion. I get ONLY CreateProcess failed window with no further info. I get it 9 times before starting it. (9x hit OK).

The programs works fine except for - I am unable to tick an y of the computing ticks in the bottom, neither of the following is tickable:

OpenCL, CUDA, DirectCopmute, DirectML Vulkan, Ray Tracing, PhysX, OpenGL,

Please note that none of them is grayed out!

GPU-Z: 2.30.0 ( but this going on for quite a few versions now)
My rig: i7-6700K @ 4.2 GHz (4 cores/8 threads) | 64 GB DDR4 @ 3200 MHz | GTX 1080Ti - 11GB GDDR5 352 bit | XPG SX8200 Pro PCIe Gen3x4 M.2 2280 SSD 2x512GB | Mushkin SSD 1TB | Win 10x64 (build 1909 - 10.0.18363.720)

PLS advice.
I think your issue is a different one than discussed in this thread.

Do you see anything useful in Windows Event Viewer?
 
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