The DynamicPDF Converter service failed to start

Hello,

We are currently using PDF Converter in out web applications, and after our team installed Windows Updates last night the PDF Converter service failed to start upon reboot. Here is the full message:

The DynamicPDF Converter service failed to start due to the following error:
The service did not respond to the start or control request in a timely fashion.

We run our apps in a 2 node load balanced environment, and the service failed to start on both nodes. The server configurations are identical. They are VMWare virtual servers running 2012 Server with the latest security patches as of this morning.

My concern is more that this will be a recurring issue going forward. Our application correctly logged the conversion failure, but we hadn't planned a recovery mechanism for this particular functionality (email generated with attachment using the converter), so if this is potentially an ongoing problem, we'll want to address it before we move to production in the coming weeks. Please advise.

Thank you,
Mike

Hello,

We have not seen this kind of issue before. Can you please email the following information to support@cete.com so we can look into this further?

1. Server details – Windows 2012 or Windows 2012 R2?
2. Version and build of DynamicPDF Converter installed.
3. Converter would log an error in the OS event log if it ran into some issue while starting. Please check the Event Viewer Application logs for any entries (around the time the server rebooted) related to DynamicPDF Converter, errors or otherwise. If you locate any, save those event log entries and email them over.

Thanks,
ceTe Software Support Team.

Hello,

The most likely reason for this kind of service startup error could be that the OS is subject to heavy load during start up (esp. after windows updates are installed) and enough resources were not made available to the windows service to start up within the default 30 second timeframe.  Here are a few things you could do to try and reduce the chances of this kind of startup error from happening:

1. Increase the service timeout period as suggested in the following Microsoft TechNet article.   

2. In the properties (Recovery tab) of the Converter service, set the service to attempt a restart twice and set the “Restart service after” to an appropriate timeframe of your choosing.
 
Thanks,
ceTe Software Support Team.