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Asked: 2026-05-25T12:39:26+00:00

I’m using the .NET Framework 4.0, C#, and SQL Server 2008 R2 on Windows

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I’m using the .NET Framework 4.0, C#, and SQL Server 2008 R2 on Windows Server 2008 R2. My LINQ to SQL data context is in a seperate library and the code in question is running in a Windows service.

I have a well-tested, mission-critical stored procedure which takes some 19 parameters (I know I know), performs some simple “if” logic and builds a few variables, and inserts data into 3 tables. It doesn’t use cursors or temporary tables. I’ve described what the SP does as I’m not at liberty to post the sql code.

I’m seeing lots of posts across the internet about SqlException due to command timeout, and the responses rarely go beyond “increase the command timeout”. Example

I was getting the above-mentioned exception so tried increasing the command timeout when creating the data context to 10 minutes. I still get the exception after it’s sat there waiting for those 10 minutes. I then added some debug logging to capture the output from LINQ to SQL and ran the SP in SQL Server Management studio with the same parameter values. It completed successfully in a fraction of a second.

Here’s the LINQ to SQL Log output (with timeouts back at default) mixed in with some other log output, I’ve obfuscated the SP name in this post:

16:01:37 15269 Irrelevant log line, deleted for StackOverflow
EXEC @RETURN_VALUE = [dbo].[NAMEHIDDENONSTACKOVERFLOW] @Eastings = @p0, @Northings = @p1, @Speed = @p2, @UpdateDate = @p3, @UserId = @p4, @Postion = @p5, @Direction = @p6, @VehicleId = @p7, @Status = @p8, @Confidence = @p9, @Latitude = @p10, @Longitude = @p11, @PosLatitude = @p12, @PosLongitude = @p13, @WatchBoxId = @p14, @LastWatchBoxId = @p15, @WatchBoxIdAlert = @p16, @ImbolizationState = @p17, @TowAwayAlertState = @p18
-- @p0: Input Int (Size = -1; Prec = 0; Scale = 0) [560120]
-- @p1: Input Int (Size = -1; Prec = 0; Scale = 0) [5754714]
-- @p2: Input Int (Size = -1; Prec = 0; Scale = 0) [0]
-- @p3: Input DateTime (Size = -1; Prec = 0; Scale = 0) [02/08/2011 20:45:08]
-- @p4: Input Int (Size = -1; Prec = 0; Scale = 0) [11]
-- @p5: Input NVarChar (Size = 4000; Prec = 0; Scale = 0) [Swindon United Kingdom]
-- @p6: Input NVarChar (Size = 4000; Prec = 0; Scale = 0) [5]
-- @p7: Input Int (Size = -1; Prec = 0; Scale = 0) [15269]
-- @p8: Input Int (Size = -1; Prec = 0; Scale = 0) [901]
-- @p9: Input Int (Size = -1; Prec = 0; Scale = 0) [0]
-- @p10: Input Float (Size = -1; Prec = 0; Scale = 0) [51.939899]
-- @p11: Input Float (Size = -1; Prec = 0; Scale = 0) [-2.125414]
-- @p12: Input Float (Size = -1; Prec = 0; Scale = 0) [51.9333333]
-- @p13: Input Float (Size = -1; Prec = 0; Scale = 0) [-2.1]
-- @p14: Input Int (Size = -1; Prec = 0; Scale = 0) [-1]
-- @p15: Input Int (Size = -1; Prec = 0; Scale = 0) [-1]
-- @p16: Input Int (Size = -1; Prec = 0; Scale = 0) [0]
-- @p17: Input Int (Size = -1; Prec = 0; Scale = 0) [0]
-- @p18: Input Int (Size = -1; Prec = 0; Scale = 0) [0]
-- @RETURN_VALUE: Output Int (Size = -1; Prec = 0; Scale = 0) [Null]
-- Context: SqlProvider(Sql2008) Model: AttributedMetaModel Build: 4.0.30319.1

16:02:23 0 Error in DoPoll 1 Timeout expired.  The timeout period elapsed prior to completion of the operation or the server is not responding.

The only clue I’m getting from searching Stack Overflow is that there may be an issue with something called “parameter sniffing”, but I’m still reading up on that to work out what it’s about.

This is really critical stuff and I’ll get a lot of hassle if it fails in production, so I’m tempted to roll back the LINQ and return to vanilla ADO. My question is: Is there anything wrong with my approach (put another way: am I being an idiot?) or is there some issue or bug in LINQ to SQL that can be causing this problem? Is there anything I can do to troubleshoot this or would it better to revert to vanilla ADO?

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1 Answer

  1. Editorial Team

    I reverted to vanila ADO and was getting the same exception so the answer has to be “no it’s not a LINQ to SQL bug”. I also refactored the SP per the parameter sniffing articles and it didn’t help. As the code has started working again I can only imagine that this was a temporary system issue or database glitch. For the benefit of others who have similar issues and find this question by search later I’ll update further if I find anything more, as a colleague will be testing the code on another system shortly.

    EDIT: It was a system issue; specifically, my VMWare disk needed defragmenting.

    (Per advice on meta, I should post my own answer rather than update the question).

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