Task fails at runtime with error: Task ‘‘ initialisation failure, error code 0x80040300

Symptom

When a task contains many connection steps an initialisation failure can occur. The following system error is recorded to the event log:

Error code: 0x80040300
Description: Task initialisation failure

This can occur when the following types of connection steps are in use:

  • Web Service Connector
  • Database Query (ODBC or OLEDB)
  • External Memory (ODBC or OLEDB)

Cause

The number of connections steps in the task is set by a unique number called a ContextHandle. The default ContextHandle limit is 10. When this number is exceeded, the fault mode occurs.

Applies To

TaskCentre v4.1 (Build 300) to 4.5 SR4I (Build 2015)

Resolution

Increase the allowable number of connections steps, by increasing the ContextHandle limit. The recommended value is 100.

  1. Navigate to the TaskCentre registry key
    On 32 bit systems:
    HKLM\SOFTWARE\Orbis Software\TaskCentre
    On64 bit systems:
    HKLM\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Orbis Software\TaskCentre
  2. Add a new DWORD value  called ContextHandleAllocation and set its data to 100. The TaskCentre Server service will need to be restarted to pick up the change.