View source for BDE Conflicts

Created: 16 March 2009. Last Reviewed: 16 March 2009


Enabler uses a technology from Borland known as the Borland Database Engine, or BDE, to access its database files. The BDE is a common, shared program component which may be utilitised by other applications.

It is possible for the BDE to enter a temporary, unstable state. This may occur if one Enabler application terminates (or is terminated) abnormally, preventing it from properly disconnecting from the BDE. We have also observed upon rare occasions that third party applications that use the BDE may prevent Enabler from accessing the BDE. This has been observed in relation to a service known as “Insight Manager” which is part of a server monitoring toolset from HP.

=== Symptoms: ===
# Enabler applications already running may freeze and become totally unresponsive. Typically the application is consuming no CPU resource when viewed in Task Manager.
# Enabler applications may fail to load. Upon attempting to start an Enabler application, nothing appears to happen. In Task Manager the EXE can be seen in the process list. The application user interface is never displayed.
# In these cases, the BDE Administration Utility (BDEADMIN.EXE) is generally also unable to be loaded.

=== To Resolve This Issue: ===
# Forcibly close any Enabler applications from Task Manager process list:
## Press Shift+Ctrl+ESC to invoke Task Manager, or use Ctrl+ALT+DELETE and choose Start Task Manager.
## Locate NIBBLE.EXE, WINPOS.EXE and INFOCTRL.EXE. ''Hint: Click image name at the top of the list to sort alphabetically. ''
## For each the above processes found, click the image name in the process list then click End Process (and confirm when prompted).
## Double-check to ensure all the above processes have been removed from the process list.
## If any other processes are known to use the BDE, close those programs or forcibly terminate through Task Manager (forcibly terminate third party applications at your own risk!).
## Try starting Enabler applications as normal.
# If the problem is not resolved or if you have reason to suspect that some other application may be using the BDE:
## Obtain Process Explorer (PROCEXP.EXE) from Sys Internals [https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/downloads/ https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/downloads/]. 
## Run procexp.exe
## From the Find menu, choose “Find File Handle or DLL”
## At the “Handle or dll substring” prompt enter IDAPI32.DLL and click Search.
## If any process is using the BDE, it will be listed in the search results. The search may take a minute or two to complete.
## If any processes are shown, identify the application that owns the process and try to stop the application. Note – the BDE can also be used by Windows services. Note – the process that directly accesses the BDE might be a child process of the offending application. Check if the listed process(es) has a parent process.
## If necessary, you might have to forcibly terminate such processes. Do this at your own risk!
## Retry the Enabler applications.
## When third party applications are found to conflict with Enabler, you may need to contact Magenta to discuss your options.

= See Also: =
[http://theoracle.magentaretail.com.au/wiki/index.php/BDE_Versions BDE Versions].