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"Failed to Start (retrying" Workflow error - Performance Counter

Asked By: Mindy Bishop Date: Dec 21, 2009 Category: MOSS Views: 1191

Environment: MOSS 2007
SP1: No SP1 for MOSS installed
DB: SQL 2005
Installation: Farm Installation
Off late I have run into a problem where a workflow associated with a List
doesnt start. Instead i see an error something like: "Failed to start
(retrying". I do not understand why this happens. Sometime back all of the
workflows started and completed as expected with the logic in them. So, i tried
to look into the issue by googling it. I got some references which talk about
some Performance Counters not being referenced correctly. But, these basically
refer to those workflows which are developed using Visual Studio. In our farm,
we do not have any workflows written in VS. But, i found one article which talks
about using: LodCtr to make the performance counters to reload from
PerfCounters.ini file.

I ran the following options: LodCtr ..\windows\..\PerfCounters.ini and got
the message that the counters are already installed. Then ran: LodCtr
/R:..\PerfCounters.ini command. This time i dint get any message which means
that the file has been accepted. All of these i did and experimented was on a
test MOSS 2007 installation. But looks like the situation got worse. Almost all
of the workflows now seem to not work.
And yes, here are some eventvwr error messages that i see when the workflows
are run:
Event Type: Error
Event Source: Perflib
Event Category: None
Event ID: 1008
Date: 6/4/2008
Time: 10:53:32 AM
User: N/A
Computer: PORTAL
Description:
The Open Procedure for service "FSCController" in DLL
"C:\WINDOWS\system32\FSCPerfMonitor.dll" failed. Performance data for this
service will not be available. The Status code returned is the first DWORD in
the attached data.
For more information, see Help and Support Center at
http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp." target="_blank" rel="nofollow">http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp." target="_blank" rel="nofollow">http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp." target="_blank" rel="nofollow">http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.
Data:
0000: 05 40 00 80 .@.

Event Type: Error
Event Source: IISInfoCtrs
Event Category: None
Event ID: 1001
Date: 6/4/2008
Time: 10:53:32 AM
User: N/A
Computer: PORTAL
Description:
Unable to read the first counter index value from the registry. The error code
returned by the registry is data DWORD 0.
For more information, see Help and Support Center at
http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp." target="_blank" rel="nofollow">http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp." target="_blank" rel="nofollow">http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp." target="_blank" rel="nofollow">http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.
Data:
0000: 02 00 00 00 ....

Event Type: Error
Event Source: Perflib
Event Category: None
Event ID: 1008
Date: 6/4/2008
Time: 10:53:32 AM
User: N/A
Computer: PORTAL
Description:
The Open Procedure for service "InetInfo" in DLL
"C:\WINDOWS\system32\infoctrs.dll" failed. Performance data for this service
will not be available. The Status code returned is the first DWORD in the
attached data.
For more information, see Help and Support Center at
http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp." target="_blank" rel="nofollow">http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp." target="_blank" rel="nofollow">http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp." target="_blank" rel="nofollow">http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.
Data:
0000: 02 00 00 00 ....

Does anyone know what this error is all about? I am really stumped. When i
think everything is working fine, i see such things eat up my head and efforts.

Tagged:failed to start retrying workflow error performance counter

9 Answers Found

Answer #1 Answered By: Anthony Rutledge Answered On: Dec 21, 2009

I posted this question sometime back to find out if there is a solution.
I am totally off-beat with this issue. None of my sites are useful if the
workflows fail. We extensively use WOrkflows built in SPD for our lists in
sites.
Could someone please point me to a right reference atleast to get started to see
what the issue is all about?

Answer #2 Answered By: Heena Nagori Answered On: Dec 21, 2009

Try opening the workflow in SPD and then click the Finish button.

Answer #3 Answered By: Aishwarya Karmarkar Answered On: Dec 21, 2009

I did this and it did not matter for the workflow engine. It failed the same way
again and again.
Any other inputs?

Answer #4 Answered By: Janell Camacho Answered On: Dec 21, 2009

Do any of your workflows work? If so, I'd recreate the workflow entirely from
scratch. The Failed to Start message means that the Workflow Engine cannot find
the assembly referenced in the association. So, if clicking finish doesn't reset
that reference correctly, I think that your only option is to recreate.

Answer #5 Answered By: Julia Washington Answered On: Dec 21, 2009

I did not create any customized workflows in VS. they were plain SPD developed
workflows.
Yes, all of my workflows fail to work. I deleted/recreated workflows but its the
same error all the time: Failed to Start(retrying).
Looks like I need to debug all over again :(. I have been working on this since
1 week to no avail.

Answer #6 Answered By: Shashwat Takle Answered On: Dec 21, 2009

I understand that you are using SPD only workflows. But it sounds to me like
your entire SharePoint environment is not servicing workflows as it should. Are
SPD workflows working on any list in any Site Collection or is this the only
Site Collection that the workflows aren't working on? If only this Site
Collection, perhaps it can be backed up and restored. If the entire farm, sounds
like it may be time for a call to Customer Support Services (CSS).

Answer #7 Answered By: Aastha Acharya Answered On: Dec 21, 2009

I can't explain why it happens, but I have seen it at least once before. In
that case running the following command fixed the problem.

Try running this command:
"c:\program files\common files\microsoft shared\web server
extensions\12\bin\Psconfig.exe" -cmd secureresources

I can only assume that security on some necessary registry key got corrupted and
caused the problem. This resets the security on the registry entries etc. back
to the SharePoint defaults.

Answer #8 Answered By: Glenda Roth Answered On: Dec 21, 2009

I finally figured it out after spending 7 days of working. The error is caused
because of PerfCounters not set to correct references.
I blogged it at: http://failedonstart.blogspot.com
Atleast for me, the steps that i followed resolved the issues on both of my Test
& Production environments.
So, people who might have faced this issue can follow the steps that i blogged.
Let me know if this resolved the issue.
Many thanks for once again for each and everyone of you.

Answer #9 Answered By: Jada Clemons Answered On: Dec 21, 2009

Performance Counter bug, who would have guessed. Thanks for posting the
solution.

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