OPENING VISUAL BASIC 6.0 ERROR, DAO350.DLL, "Unexpected error; quitting"

Hi,

I could really use some help. I am not the most knowledgable and would appreciate any guidance... I did a web search already at some sites including Microsoft, but I have not found a soultion yet.

Problem: CANNOT OPEN VISUAL BASIC 6.0; Says "Unexpected error; quitting"
Machine/Software:
OS: XP Media Center (although system info says XP Professional 5.1.2600 Service Pack2 Build 2600)
PC: Acer AspireE36
SW:Microsoft Visual Studio 6.0 Enterprise Edition

History:
1. Could not open visual basic 6.0. I got the an error that the DAO350.DLL could not be found.

2. So following some suggestions from the web:
a) Renamed old DAO350.DLL as DAO350.DLLOLD
b) I took this file from Visual Studio Disk 1 and copied it into the
C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\DAO
c) Regsvr32 "C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\DAO\DAO350.DLL"
d) Then I got a successful message that it registered
e) It did not work. When I tried to open the visual basic 6.0 now I get:
"Unexpected error; quitting" message.

WHAT DO I DO PLEASE?

I even loaded the component checker 2.0 as suggest via microsoft website to look up the Microsoft Data Access Components (MDAC).
(see Article ID: 304230 and 301202 on http://support.microsoft.com/kb/304230 and htpp://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?kbid=301202))

It says MDAC 2.8 SP1 ON WINDOWS XP SP2. I am not sure what this MDAC does for me, but I looked at it anyways.

Try to repair your VB6 installation using a VB6 CD or re - install it after uninstalling+restarting. I'm not sure what is the problem, you may be able to get rid of it.

I have seen an error message "Unexpected error; quitting"

my cause was the DCOM Server Process Launcher service was disabled.
EDIT:the VB IDE window would display then promptly throw the error and die:eek:

Does this happen across the board or only with one, specific, project?

@zfvbwire, do you have

Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\DAO\Dao350.dll ?

or do you have Dao360.dll. If you are using a database made with Access 2000 then you will need to use Dao360.dll. If you have the latter you can use that.

You can download MDAC I think MDAC 2.6 holds Dao350.dll. MDAC 2.8 holds Dao360.dll. ;)

If the link doesn't show on your computer just goto Microsoft and do a search for MDAC Download

Hello,

Thank you all for replying .. this site has great response (this was my fist post ever)
.. To answer all the questions posed by people helping me up to this point:

1. I am not using Access 2000
2. This problem happens when I want to start the visual basic 6.0. So I cannot even get to any projects to begin with.
3. TO KEITHUK: If I have MDAC 2.8 does that mean my DAO350.DLL gets affected somehow? Is that what you mean? Should I go back to a older form of MDAC?
4. I could not mysteriously find the visual studio 6.0 in the ADD/REMOVE Programs section. So I tried to re-install over it. It would not. Perhaps I should just delete the program, but then I know there are other places this program stores files into.
5. TO KEWAKL: "my cause was the DCOM Server Process Launcher service was disabled." What should I do here please? How did you find this problem out? How do I see if this is a problem? (thank you)
6. My DAO file has both DAO350.DLL and DAO360.DLL. Can this be causing me the problem? Do I need to have only one for vb to work?

I will send more replies ... Still in trouble mode ... And now apparently my RS232 is being problematic. Not sure if this is related...

IS THERE A CONNECTION BETWEEN DAO350.DLL AND RS232?

Quote:

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5. TO KEWAKL: "my cause was the DCOM Server Process Launcher service was disabled." What should I do here please? <SNIP> How do I see if this is a problem?

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StartButton.Settings.Control Panel.Administrative Tools.Services
you may have to scroll down slightly to see it, but look for

DCOM Server Process Launcher
(Part of the name may be covered by the next column, so just look for DCOM.)

Status should be Started
Startup Type should be Automatic

EDIT:
If this service Startup Type is not automatic,
Double-Click the DCOM entry.
look for Startup type: combobox
select Automatic
click the OK button.
I think that you'll have to reboot.
I tried to Start the service, but it errored out - saying that it failed to respond.

Quote:

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How did you find this problem out? (thank you)

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I was trying to kill unnecessary services, and then found VB would not start, so I undid my actions until I found that vb *requires* this service.

EDIT: Do not pay attention to the tooltip in my attached image!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by zfvbwire

1. I am not using Access 2000
2. This problem happens when I want to start the visual basic 6.0. So I cannot even get to any projects to begin with.
3. TO KEITHUK: If I have MDAC 2.8 does that mean my DAO350.DLL gets affected somehow? Is that what you mean? Should I go back to a older form of MDAC?
6. My DAO file has both DAO350.DLL and DAO360.DLL. Can this be causing me the problem? Do I need to have only one for vb to work?

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I understand your problem a bit more now. VB6 doesn't startup because of this error.

So which Access are you using 97?
If your using 2003 then you will definitely need DAO360.DLL.

So what files do you have in Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\DAO\ ?

You can't have DAO350.DLL and DAO360.DLL in the same project. Try and add them and see what it says.

If you want DAO350.DLL then download one of the earlier versions. There are a lot more files in the download rather than just DAO350.DLL. ;)

Quote:

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I could not mysteriously find the visual studio 6.0 in the ADD/REMOVE Programs section. So I tried to re-install over it. It would not. Perhaps I should just delete the program, but then I know there are other places this program stores files into.

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I don't think deleting the program will help you. Did you clean your registry using a registry cleaner. I think your VB6 installation is corrupted or not properly installed. Otherwise it should be displayed at Add\Remove Programs. Better if you can contact a technical person and clean & reset your OS before re installing VB6. I suggest u to try with a different VB6 installation disk.

try registering the new dll you copied from your vb disk.Try searching in google like regsvr32