I've been receiving this error now and then on some of the really really really large projects that I work on in VB.NET (Visual Studio.NET 2003 Enterprise Architect)... when I open the solution, it will get all the way to the end of opening, but as soon as a background compile tries to go, it gives me this:
Visual Basic .NET compiler is unable to recover from the following error:
System Error &Hc0000005& (Visual Basic internal compiler error)
Save your work and restart Visual Studio .NET.
After many many many hours of searching on Google and Google Groups, I finally think I have found an answer to what my question is.
FIX: Phantom error messages in Visual Studio .NET 2003.
This KB article describes the problem as:
In Microsoft Visual Studio .NET 2003, if your solution contains more than one hundred thousand lines of code, you receive phantom error messages in the Task Pane when you compile the solution. Phantom error messages are error messages that you receive when no error has occurred.
If you close the Visual Studio .NET IDE and then open the IDE, you can compile the solution without receiving any error messages. However, if you make any changes to the code and then try to recompile the solution, you receive phantom error messages again.
More specific to me, though, when I open my solution and it tries to background compile for the first time, that's when I get the error message that I mentioned above. The major problem with this solution is that I have to call Microsoft Support, directly, in order to get the solution. Oh well... guess i'll have some fun talking to an MS support person for a while.
Additionally, I've also found some other possible options for solving this problem, although none of them applied to my scenario:
BUG: "Visual Basic Internal Compiler Error" Error Message Occurs When the ADDHANDLER Statement or the REMOVEHANDLER Statement Is Used
BUG: The Visual Basic .NET Compiler May Stop Responding When You Try to Build a Project in Visual Studio .NET