FAXCOMEXLib Fatal Error when sending fax

Question

I have written a C# console application that uses FAXCOMEXLib.

The application reads in a text file and submits it to the fax queue.

(1) The fax queue is running on Windows 2003 SBS (and is working fine)

(2) I've developed my application using Visual Studio 2013 Express C# console app.

(3) Running the console app on my Windows 8 Ent development machine works fine, and submits the document and sends successfully

(4) If I deploy the console app to a Windows 2008 server the following happens;

• I had to install the fax service on the local machine, even though the fax is being sent via another fax server, otherwise I get the error Retrieving the COM class factory for component with CLSID {CDA8ACB0-8CF5-4F6C-9BA2-5931D40C8CAE} failed due to the following error: 80040154 Class not registered (Exception from HRESULT: 0x80040154 (REGDB_E_CLASSNOTREG)).
• The app runs fine, once the fax service is installed
• The fax is submitted to the fax queue successfully
• I can see the fax status in the queue as Pending, followed by Dialing and then Transmitting.
• However after a while, I get a error Fatal error, and the fax doesn't go.

So the issue isn't with the modem. The log entry on the Windows server is;

The event log entry is

Event Type: Warning
Event Source: Microsoft Fax
Event Category: Outbound
Event ID: 32028
Date: 14/01/2014
Time: 15:43:42
User: N/A
Computer: FAXSERVER
Description:
An error was encountered while sending a fax. The service will attempt to resend the fax. If further transmissions fail, please verify that the phone line, fax sending device, and fax receiving device are working properly. Sender: . Billing code: . Sender company: . Sender dept: . Device name: U.S. Robotics 56K FAX EXT. Job ID: 0x0201cf113f2ab5e7. User name: FAXSERVER\Administrator.

Please check the activity log for further details of this event.

So basically the fax leaves the Windows 2008 server from the C# app. and appears in the queue on the Windows 2003 SBS fax server, but it isn't being sent.

The fax number is fine, and can send a fax using the traditional File-Print (send to fax method in notepad as a example, on the Windows 2008 server), as well as receiving faxes.

How can I over come this issue ?

Answer 1

It could be a problem with the file you are attaching as content. I would try adding a file that you have created manually outside of the console app and see if that sends without a problem. If that works then you have at least narrowed the problem down a lot and can concentrate on how the file is created.

Answer 2

So the issue isn't with the modem.

Troubleshooting problems get to be difficult when you eliminate the one source of the problem. Of course it is a modem issue, you've verified that everything, up to the modem, works properly. But yes, it gets to be difficult once it arrives at the modem okay, the fax protocol just doesn't have great ways to provide diagnostics. Something as simple as the receiver thinking that you are sending it a spam fax with way too many pages cannot be diagnosed. It unceremoniously hangs up the phone and that's the end of it.

Following the troubleshooting guidelines in the Technet article. Especially take the next step, the one that the event log message recommends you take but you appear not to have taken. I'll quote it from the article:

To access the fax activity log:

• To open Windows Explorer, right-click Start, and then click Explore.
  
• In the left pane, click the disk that contains the operating system.
  
• On the toolbar, click Organize, click Folder and Search Options, click the View tab, and then click Show Hidden Files and Folders. Close the dialog box.
• In Windows Explorer, navigate to %systemdrive%\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows NT\MSFax\ActivityLog.
• View the file InboxLog.txt. Each row in InboxLog.txt is an incoming fax job. In the row for a given failed incoming fax transmission, review the Status and Extended Status fields for information about the failure.

If still necessary, ask more questions about this at the StackExchange site for server admins, the one site where you can expect to find people that have dealt with fax problems before.