dll memory access error

Code:

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        int _stdcall writeppm(BSTR filename, BSTR filepath, int framerate){               
                int iCount;
                long lItemNum;
                BYTE *pnOutBuf=new BYTE;
                WORD OutPicWidth, OutPicHeight;
                FILE *pfFile=new FILE;

                int start;
                char *name=new char[255];
                char *name1=new char[255];

                for(int i=0;i<=1800;i++){
                        start = i * 60 + framerate;

                        //set the filename
                        if(start<10){
                                strcpy(name,"f000000");
                        } else if(start<1000){
                                strcpy(name,"f00000");
                        } else if(start<10000){
                                strcpy(name,"f0000");
                        } else if(start<100000){
                                strcpy(name,"f000");
                        } else if(start<1000000){
                                strcpy(name,"f00");
                        } else {
                                strcpy(name,"f0");
                        }

                        //set the name
                        char *buffer=new char[11];
                                strcpy(name1,(LPCSTR)filepath);
                                strcat(name1,(LPCSTR)filename);
                                strcat(name1,name);
                                strcat(name1,itoa(start,buffer,10));
                                strcat(name1,".ppm");
               
                        for (iCount=0;iCount<=1800;iCount++) {
                                if (deco.GetCurFrameNum(&lResult)!=MDC_SUCCESS)
                                        return -2; //failed

                                if (deco.DecodePicture()<0)
                                        return -3; //failed

                               
                                lItemNum=deco.GetCurFrame(pnOutBuf,&OutPicWidth,&OutPicHeight,PPM);
                                if (lItemNum>0) {               
                                        MessageBox(NULL,"fopen","openfile",MB_OK); //debug
                                        if((pfFile = fopen(name1,"w+")) == NULL)
                                                return -4; //open file failed

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it crashes on the fopen statement, first it says it cant write to the memory, then read. im calling the dll from VB, the calling etc works fine, and other functions work fine. it just crashes the vb ide and the program, with the error. ive narrowed it down to that line

ive tried different things for the file, like

FILE *pfFile = new FILE;
FILE *pfFile = NULL;
FILE *pfFile;

etc, any ideas?

oh yeah, i also did a MessageBox output for name1, that is fine.

It should be FILE *pfFile = NULL;
but I don't know what your error is, sorry

Are you sure you call fclose for every fopen? The loop you have executes a full 1800² (= 3 240 000) times - are you sure this is necessary?

You don't call delete on "buffer", for example. After 1800 iterations it may well be that new fails, returns NULL and itoa creates an access violation.
It's better to declare buffer at the beginning of the function as
char buffer[11];

Does it crash on the first iteration?