Dell SupportAssist 2.2.3.2 may hang under certain condition.

Just want to share a root cause analysis with the group; hopefully it will assist someone in the future, or perhaps Dell will even take it into consideration for future improvements. Granted, there are multiple possible reasons why Dell SupportAssist may hang or become unresponsive. This post is focusing on one example, and may not be applicable to your situation. When in doubt, collect hang-mode memory dumps of unresponsive application instance and analyze it for clues.

Steps to recreate the issue:
Format HDD & install clean Windows 7 x64 image (target machine is somewhat irrelevant, but I’m using Dell Precision M2800).
Reboot.
Install service pack 1 for Windows 7. Note: at this point, the latest & greatest installed version of Internet Explorer is version 8.
Reboot.
Install network driver, which will allow you to connect to Dell’s website.
Reboot.
Install Dell SupportAssist 2.2.3.2.
Reboot.
Launch Dell SupportAssist and it will hang. ~30 seconds later or so it will terminate.

Attaching debugger and inspecting call stacks indicates that script error occurred, and modal error dialog is displayed.

Managed call stack:

OS Thread Id: 0x378 (0)
Child SP       IP Call Site
003dedc4 756278d7 [InlinedCallFrame: 003dedc4] 
003dedc0 728d8428 DomainBoundILStubClass.IL_STUB_PInvoke(System.Windows.Interop.MSG ByRef)
003dedc4 728bf551 [InlinedCallFrame: 003dedc4] MS.Win32.UnsafeNativeMethods.DispatchMessage(System.Windows.Interop.MSG ByRef)
003dedf8 728bf551 System.Windows.Threading.Dispatcher.PushFrameImpl(System.Windows.Threading.DispatcherFrame)
003dee44 728bf24a System.Windows.Threading.Dispatcher.PushFrame(System.Windows.Threading.DispatcherFrame)
003dee50 6afecc0a System.Windows.Application.RunDispatcher(System.Object)
003dee60 6afec87c System.Windows.Application.RunInternal(System.Windows.Window)
003dee80 6afec623 System.Windows.Application.Run(System.Windows.Window)
003dee90 00250499 Dell.Services.SupportAssist.SupportAssistUI.App.Main()
003df010 6eefea96 [GCFrame: 003df010] 

Native call stack:

 # ChildEBP RetAddr  Args to Child              
00 003dcbb4 7562790d 003dcbf8 00000000 00000000 user32!NtUserGetMessage+0x15
01 003dcbd0 673bb048 003dcbf8 00000000 00000000 user32!GetMessageW+0x33
02 003dcc30 673bb18c 00000000 00000000 003dddb8 mshtml!InternalShowModalDialog+0x1bc
03 003dccbc 65868e3a 000b01bc 08228a60 003dcce0 mshtml!ShowModalDialog+0x6e
04 003ddd48 6586c7cb 003ddda8 003dddb8 00000000 ieframe!CDocHostUIHandler::ShowErrorDialog+0xb1
05 003ddd60 672bb082 0a0c06b8 671afac4 00000028 ieframe!CDocHostUIHandler::Exec+0x6e
06 003dddd0 671b7315 0a0c06b8 003ddf08 003de180 mshtml!CWindow::ShowErrorDialog+0xd0
07 003ddef4 671b71e6 0818c1c0 08126ed4 0a0c05ac mshtml!COmWindowProxy::Fire_onerror+0xc8
08 003de14c 671b75aa 003de180 86664004 070db044 mshtml!CMarkup::ReportScriptError+0x170
09 003de1bc 69194d79 0a085c58 0a40ee58 69194f9c mshtml!CScriptHolder::OnScriptError+0xc2
0a 003de1c8 69194f9c 005abd70 003de374 0a40ee58 jscript!COleScript::OnScriptError+0x2b
0b 003de1dc 69194f30 13cee161 00000001 070e8768 jscript!CSession::ReportError+0xaa
0c 003de35c 69185d7d 003de374 00000000 070e8768 jscript!CScriptRuntime::Run+0x3a91
0d 003de444 69185cdb 00000000 00000001 070dc1d8 jscript!ScrFncObj::CallWithFrameOnStack+0xce
0e 003de48c 69185870 00000000 00000001 070dc1d8 jscript!ScrFncObj::Call+0x8d
0f 003de510 69184f84 070e8768 070dadb0 00000001 jscript!NameTbl::InvokeInternal+0x2b4
10 003de540 6918e4c7 070dadb0 00000000 00000001 jscript!VAR::InvokeByDispID+0x17f
11 003de6dc 69185d7d 003de6f4 003de838 0a4259f0 jscript!CScriptRuntime::Run+0x2b80
12 003de7c4 69185cdb 003de838 00000000 00000000 jscript!ScrFncObj::CallWithFrameOnStack+0xce
13 003de80c 69185ef1 003de838 00000000 00000000 jscript!ScrFncObj::Call+0x8d
14 003de888 6918620a 0a4259f0 003dea48 00000000 jscript!CSession::Execute+0x15f
15 003de8d4 6918c3b9 070dab88 003dea48 003dea58 jscript!COleScript::ExecutePendingScripts+0x1bd
16 003de938 6918c1d1 070dab88 08190d24 671df7b0 jscript!COleScript::ParseScriptTextCore+0x2a4
17 003de960 671df774 070dab8c 0a0c2fe8 08190d24 jscript!COleScript::ParseScriptText+0x30
18 003de9b8 671df58c 0a085c58 00000000 0818bde8 mshtml!CScriptCollection::ParseScriptText+0x218
19 003dea7c 671df34f 00000000 00000000 00000000 mshtml!CScriptElement::CommitCode+0x3c2
1a 003deab0 671c2d52 7581110c 08190f58 08190f58 mshtml!CScriptElement::Execute+0xc6
1b 003deafc 671bc36a 08191040 7581110c 08190f58 mshtml!CHtmParse::Execute+0x4a
1c 003deb14 671bceba 671bcedb 0015be5c 08190f58 mshtml!CHtmPost::Broadcast+0xf
1d 003debd4 671be945 0015be5c 00000000 08190f58 mshtml!CHtmPost::Exec+0x5f7
1e 003debec 671be8a9 0015be5c 00000000 08190f58 mshtml!CHtmPost::Run+0x15
1f 003dec0c 671be80e 08189ac8 0015be5c 08190f58 mshtml!PostManExecute+0x1fb
20 003dec2c 671c2d3e 00000001 00000012 003dec4c mshtml!PostManResume+0xf7
21 003dec3c 671bbf0e 08190fc0 08190f58 003dec80 mshtml!CHtmPost::OnDwnChanCallback+0x10
22 003dec4c 672193c2 08190fc0 00000000 08189ac8 mshtml!CDwnChan::OnMethodCall+0x19
23 003dec80 6720e012 00000000 671f6853 00000000 mshtml!GlobalWndOnMethodCall+0xff
24 003deca0 756262fa 0009034c 00000014 00000000 mshtml!GlobalWndProc+0x10c
25 003deccc 75626d3a 671f6853 0009034c 00008002 user32!InternalCallWinProc+0x23
26 003ded44 756277c4 00000000 671f6853 0009034c user32!UserCallWinProcCheckWow+0x109
27 003deda4 7562788a 671f6853 00000000 003dedf0 user32!DispatchMessageWorker+0x3bc
28 003dedb4 728d8428 003dee00 12cfbef2 6eeffa28 user32!DispatchMessageW+0xf
29 003dedf0 728bf551 00000000 0273ba1c 0009034c WindowsBase_ni!DomainBoundILStubClass.IL_STUB_PInvoke(System.Windows.Interop.MSG ByRef)$##6000000+0x3c
2a 003dee3c 728bf24a 028bde80 003dee58 6afecc0a WindowsBase_ni!System.Windows.Threading.Dispatcher.PushFrameImpl(System.Windows.Threading.DispatcherFrame)$##6000F85+0xb1
2b 003dee48 6afecc0a 026e2aec 00000000 003dee78 WindowsBase_ni!System.Windows.Threading.Dispatcher.PushFrame(System.Windows.Threading.DispatcherFrame)$##6000F40+0x4a
2c 003dee58 6afec87c 6adcd8c0 00000000 026e6d10 PresentationFramework_ni!System.Windows.Application.RunDispatcher(System.Object)$##6000305+0x5a
2d 003dee78 6afec623 026e6d10 026e6d90 003dee98 PresentationFramework_ni!System.Windows.Application.RunInternal(System.Windows.Window)$##60002D5+0x74
2e 003dee88 00250499 00000000 003deeb0 003deea4 PresentationFramework_ni!System.Windows.Application.Run(System.Windows.Window)$##6000286+0x2b
WARNING: Frame IP not in any known module. Following frames may be wrong.
2f 003dee98 6eefea96 00490040 003deef8 6ef1944f 0x250499
30 003deea4 6ef1944f 003def3c 003deee8 6f0a2510 clr!CallDescrWorkerInternal+0x34
31 003deef8 6ef196d3 003def50 00000000 00000000 clr!CallDescrWorkerWithHandler+0x6b
32 003def68 6f05b4f4 003df05c 12e7fbef 000c93e4 clr!MethodDescCallSite::CallTargetWorker+0x16a
33 003df094 6f05b438 003df0b8 00000000 12e7fbd3 clr!RunMain+0x1ad
34 003df308 6f05bae0 00000000 12e7f863 00ff0000 clr!Assembly::ExecuteMainMethod+0x124
35 003df808 6f05bc99 12e7f31b 00000000 00000000 clr!SystemDomain::ExecuteMainMethod+0x656
36 003df860 6f05bbdf 12e7f3db 00000000 6f031e30 clr!ExecuteEXE+0x4c
37 003df8a0 6f031e4c 12e7f3a7 00000000 6f031e30 clr!_CorExeMainInternal+0xdc
38 003df8dc 718ae55b 12e02f86 00000000 75811222 clr!_CorExeMain+0x4d
39 003df91c 71927f16 00000000 718a0000 003df940 mscoreei!_CorExeMain+0x10e
3a 003df92c 71924de3 00000000 758133ca fffde000 mscoree!ShellShim__CorExeMain+0x99
3b 003df934 758133ca fffde000 003df980 77559ed2 mscoree!_CorExeMain_Exported+0x8
3c 003df940 77559ed2 fffde000 774a6924 00000000 kernel32!BaseThreadInitThunk+0xe
3d 003df980 77559ea5 71924ddb fffde000 00000000 ntdll!__RtlUserThreadStart+0x70
3e 003df998 00000000 71924ddb fffde000 00000000 ntdll!_RtlUserThreadStart+0x1b

Error message box title: script error.
Error: ‘Node.prototype’ is null or not an object
URL: 127.0.0.1:5700/App/Scripts/angular/angular.min.js

Root cause: apparently the script in question is failing when rendered with IE 8.0 components.

Solution/workaround:
Download & install Internet Explorer 11.0.
Reboot.
Launch IE 11.0 and complete its initialization wizard.
Launch Dell SupportAssist and it should work.

I hope it helps.