Initial Portal load Catastrophic failure
When connecting to the ITSM Portal as first user after a while, a Catastrophic failure message is shown instead of the ITSM Portal. The issue resloves itself by reloading the portal.
Catastrophic failure Exception from HRESULT: 0x8000FFFF (E_UNEXPECTED)
This is a known issue of ASP websites which call a .NET-managed component. The issue was fixed by Microsoft but you need to enable the fix on all your Servers that host the ITSM Portal website.
Below you’ll find a step-by-step guide on how to apply the fix on your servers. The guide was sourced from the following Microsoft Support Article, but slightly altered to work with the ITSM Portal:
Note This hotfix is already included in Internet Explorer 8 and in Internet Explorer 9. However, registry key FEATURE_IGNORE_ZONES_INITIALIZATION_FAILURE_KB945701 still has to be enabled to enable the changes that this hotfix makes.
Click Start, click Run, type regedit, and then click OK.
Locate and then click one of the following registry subkeys, depending on the version of Windows that is running on your computer. If your computer is running a 32-bit version of Windows, click the following registry subkey:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\MAIN\FeatureControl\FEATURE_IGNORE_ZONES_INITIALIZATION_FAILURE_KB945701
Programs that are 32-bit and run on a 64-bit version of Windows operate in WOW64 mode. These programs access registry keys and values that are stored in a different registry subkey. If you are running 32-bit programs on a 64-bit version of Windows, click the following registry subkey:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\MAIN\FeatureControl\FEATURE_IGNORE_ZONES_INITIALIZATION_FAILURE_KB945701
Note If the FEATURE_IGNORE_ZONES_INITIALIZATION_FAILURE_KB945701 subkey does not exist, you must manually create it.
Right-click FEATURE_IGNORE_ZONES_INITIALIZATION_FAILURE_KB945701, point to New, and then click DWORD Value.
Type ITSMPortal.v3.exe to name the new registry entry, and then press ENTER.
Right-click ITSMPortal.v3.exe, and then click Modify.
In the Value data box, type 1, and then click OK.
Exit Registry Editor.
Note You must apply this hotfix on the web server that is running Internet Information Services (IIS).
The hotfix that is described in this article is included in security update 950759 (MS08-031).
Note The general distribution release (GDR) update version does not resolve this problem.