GSX Error - Cyclic Redundancy Check

[freddiel]

Any help is appreciated before I move forward with what I fear is overdue - a complete reinstall of P3D (this is not the only error I get nowadays and it's been two almost two years).  It's the most recent version of P3Dv4.5.  It's hard to find a Google result relevant to what I can do in this situation.

On Friday, I started a flight as I normally would, only to find that GSX was unavailable.

Before the next flight, I ran the Live Updater (as admin, with antivirus off), and the updater got stuck on Step 1 of 36 - GSX (https://imgur.com/a/odhooir)

The error log shows up.  Text is as follows:
See the end of this message for details on invoking
just-in-time (JIT) debugging instead of this dialog box.

************** Exception Text **************
System.IO.IOException: Data error (cyclic redundancy check).

   at System.IO.__Error.WinIOError(Int32 errorCode, String maybeFullPath)
   at System.IO.FileStream.ReadCore(Byte[] buffer, Int32 offset, Int32 count)
   at System.IO.FileStream.Read(Byte[] array, Int32 offset, Int32 count)
   at System.IO.BufferedStream.Read(Byte[] array, Int32 offset, Int32 count)
   at System.Security.Cryptography.HashAlgorithm.ComputeHash(Stream inputStream)
   at Couatl_Updater2.Program.GetMD5OfFile(String filename)
   at Couatl_Updater2.Program.matchByMd5(String localFile, String[] cache_md5)
   at Couatl_Updater2.Program.DownloadTask(String taskName, String remoteFolder, String localFolder, String relativeFolder, String cacheFileName, String backupFile, Boolean removeLocalNotOnRemote, Boolean recursive, Boolean bIgnoreModelCFG, Boolean bReloadCache, String fileToSign)
   at Couatl_Updater2.FSXProduct_GSX.DoUpdate()
   at Couatl_Updater2.Product.Update(Boolean forceUpdate)
   at Couatl_Updater2.Program.DoAllUpdates()
   at Couatl_Updater2.FrmMain.UpdateAllProducts()
   at Couatl_Updater2.FrmMain.FrmMain_Shown(Object sender, EventArgs e)
   at System.Windows.Forms.Form.OnShown(EventArgs e)
   at System.Windows.Forms.Form.CallShownEvent()
   at System.Windows.Forms.Control.InvokeMarshaledCallbackDo(ThreadMethodEntry tme)
   at System.Windows.Forms.Control.InvokeMarshaledCallbackHelper(Object obj)
   at System.Threading.ExecutionContext.RunInternal(ExecutionContext executionContext, ContextCallback callback, Object state, Boolean preserveSyncCtx)
   at System.Threading.ExecutionContext.Run(ExecutionContext executionContext, ContextCallback callback, Object state, Boolean preserveSyncCtx)
   at System.Threading.ExecutionContext.Run(ExecutionContext executionContext, ContextCallback callback, Object state)
   at System.Windows.Forms.Control.InvokeMarshaledCallback(ThreadMethodEntry tme)
   at System.Windows.Forms.Control.InvokeMarshaledCallbacks()

[virtuali]

Your error shows something basically impossible: the program cannot verify the MD5 checksum of a file on your local disk, and it's not even happening in our code, it's happening in a standard Windows library function that opens files:

at System.IO.__Error.WinIOError(Int32 errorCode, String maybeFullPath)

Is as if something was blocking access to it and, while you said you have the antivirus off, that really seems only possible with an antivirus interfering. As explained so many times on this forum, we NEVER suggested to "turn the antivirus off", that almost invariably doesn't work, because you really cannot turn the antivirus off, unless you stop all low-level services, which might not even be possible.

That's why we never say to turn off the antivirus but, instead, configure it to add the whole Addon Manager folder to the antivirus EXCLUSIONS. That's the one and only sure way to be sure the antivirus won't interfere.

After you configured the antivirus correctly, run the FSDT Live Update again.

[freddiel]

Hello - thanks for the response.  I just got around to adding the Addon Manager folder to the exclusions in my antivirus to no avail.  Even tried uninstalling and reinstalling a few times.  Still getting the exact same error after having run GSX with little to no issue for five years or so.

By "something basically impossible" do you mean it's impossible that it's happening or impossible to fix?

[virtuali]

By "something basically impossible" do you mean it's impossible that it's happening or impossible to fix?

Both. Well, more precisely, I cannot explain exactly why it happens but, if you read my explanation, it's NOT something that happens inside our code so, in this case, it's impossible to fix for us, because the crash happens in a standard .NET library so:

- Either you have a problem with .NET libraries missing/corrupted/outdated, etc. which we cannot fix.

OR

- Something in your system is blocking access to that file, in a way so invasive we (not "we", the standard checksum .NET routine) is not even allow to verify its checksum, and that can only be the antivirus so, again, it's nothing we can fix.

[LukeK]

Given that it's a CRC error reading from a file, I'm also curious if it might be a bad sector on the drive.

Cheers!

Luke

[virtuali]

Given that it's a CRC error reading from a file, I'm also curious if it might be a bad sector on the drive.

It's possible.

[freddiel]

Having my tech guy look into it.  I ran a CHKDSK on my C drive to no avail.  I'll give an update after that.  It's just very strange as I've had GSX running nearly perfectly since 2015 and this error only came up now.  I do understand that this error is out of the scope of your tech support.