VS2008 Out of memory exception

Question

every couple hours or so, when compiling my solution (fairly big one), i'm keep getting the following exception:

C:\WINNT\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v3.5\Microsoft.Common.targets(1353,9): error MSB4018: The "ResolveAssemblyReference" task failed unexpectedly. C:\WINNT\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v3.5\Microsoft.Common.targets(1353,9): error MSB4018: System.OutOfMemoryException: Exception of type 'System.OutOfMemoryException' was thrown. C:\WINNT\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v3.5\Microsoft.Common.targets(1353,9): error MSB4018: at System.Reflection.AssemblyName.nGetFileInformation(String s) C:\WINNT\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v3.5\Microsoft.Common.targets(1353,9): error MSB4018: at System.Reflection.AssemblyName.GetAssemblyName(String assemblyFile) C:\WINNT\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v3.5\Microsoft.Common.targets(1353,9): error MSB4018: at Microsoft.Build.Shared.AssemblyNameExtension.GetAssemblyNameEx(String path) C:\WINNT\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v3.5\Microsoft.Common.targets(1353,9): error MSB4018: at Microsoft.Build.Tasks.SystemState.GetAssemblyName(String path) C:\WINNT\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v3.5\Microsoft.Common.targets(1353,9): error MSB4018: at Microsoft.Build.Tasks.ReferenceTable.NameAssemblyFileReference(Reference reference, String assemblyFileName) C:\WINNT\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v3.5\Microsoft.Common.targets(1353,9): error MSB4018: at Microsoft.Build.Tasks.ReferenceTable.SetPrimaryFileItem(ITaskItem referenceAssemblyFile) C:\WINNT\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v3.5\Microsoft.Common.targets(1353,9): error MSB4018: at Microsoft.Build.Tasks.ReferenceTable.SetPrimaryItems(ITaskItem[] referenceAssemblyFiles, ITaskItem[] referenceAssemblyNames, ArrayList exceptions) C:\WINNT\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v3.5\Microsoft.Common.targets(1353,9): error MSB4018: at Microsoft.Build.Tasks.ReferenceTable.ComputeClosure(DependentAssembly[] remappedAssembliesValue, ITaskItem[] referenceAssemblyFiles, ITaskItem[] referenceAssemblyNames, ArrayList exceptions) C:\WINNT\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v3.5\Microsoft.Common.targets(1353,9): error MSB4018: at Microsoft.Build.Tasks.ResolveAssemblyReference.Execute(FileExists fileExists, DirectoryExists directoryExists, GetDirectories getDirectories, GetAssemblyName getAssemblyName, GetAssemblyMetadata getAssemblyMetadata, GetRegistrySubKeyNames getRegistrySubKeyNames, GetRegistrySubKeyDefaultValue getRegistrySubKeyDefaultValue, GetLastWriteTime getLastWriteTime) C:\WINNT\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v3.5\Microsoft.Common.targets(1353,9): error MSB4018: at Microsoft.Build.Tasks.ResolveAssemblyReference.Execute() C:\WINNT\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v3.5\Microsoft.Common.targets(1353,9): error MSB4018: at Microsoft.Build.BuildEngine.TaskEngine.ExecuteInstantiatedTask(EngineProxy engineProxy, ItemBucket bucket, TaskExecutionMode howToExecuteTask, ITask task, Boolean& taskResult) Done building project "Point.App.csproj" -- FAILED.

Does anyone has any idea how to fix this?

Thanks

Answer 1

The errors that it seems to be giving you though are out of memory exceptions. Memory exceptions don't just come from not having enough memory. You can blow the stack or even have memory that is corrupt or incompatible with the mother board and run into things like this.

Now I am not saying that this is your issue, just something to look at.

How are your projects, DLLs, and other files related? Debug your code. This means getting rid of all Errors and Warnings. Un-link files one-by-one until you get to the bottom of the mess. Start with your DLLs, then the Projects, and finally your other files.