Sitecore logging exception - iis-7.5

Question

I recently began working with Sitecore on a fresh system. I installed IIS, configured it, and was able to get the project to build and load on IIS just fine. While trying to figure out why the startup time was so slow, it began to give me this error.
Value cannot be null.
Parameter name: message
Description: An unhandled exception occurred during the execution of the current web request. Please review the stack trace for more information about the error and where it originated in the code.
Exception Details: System.ArgumentNullException: Value cannot be null.
Parameter name: message
Source Error:
An unhandled exception was generated during the execution of the current web request. Information regarding the origin and location of the exception can be identified using the exception stack trace below.
Stack Trace:
[ArgumentNullException: Value cannot be null.
Parameter name: message]
Sitecore.Diagnostics.Log.Info(String message, Object owner) +309
Sitecore.Nexus.Web.HttpModule.Init(HttpApplication app) +557
System.Web.HttpApplication.RegisterEventSubscriptionsWithIIS(IntPtr appContext, HttpContext context, MethodInfo[] handlers) +530
System.Web.HttpApplication.InitSpecial(HttpApplicationState state, MethodInfo[] handlers, IntPtr appContext, HttpContext context) +304
System.Web.HttpApplicationFactory.GetSpecialApplicationInstance(IntPtr appContext, HttpContext context) +404
System.Web.Hosting.PipelineRuntime.InitializeApplication(IntPtr appContext) +475
[HttpException (0x80004005): Value cannot be null.
Parameter name: message]
System.Web.HttpRuntime.FirstRequestInit(HttpContext context) [phone]
System.Web.HttpRuntime.EnsureFirstRequestInit(HttpContext context) +159
System.Web.HttpRuntime.ProcessRequestNotificationPrivate(IIS7WorkerRequest wr, HttpContext context) [phone]
I have tried the following:
Doing a full get (overriding all) for TFS and re-building
Pulling down an exact copy of the files that are on the dev environment (which works)
Disabling logging in Sitecore
Deleting the project from my local system and pulling it down again from TFS, rebuilding
Deleting the inetpub www folder IIS was pointing to and re-building
Removing and re-adding the IIS site and app pool
Uninstalling IIS and reinstalling it
Deleting temporary ASP.NET files from the .NET framework folders
Clearing out IIS config files (along with a reinstall)
Clearing out .NET machine.config files and repairing .NET
Re-registering .NET with IIS
Changing the app pool user
Granting very liberal permissions to the inetpub folder, .NET framework folders (C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET...)
Adding the app pool user to Performance Log Users, Performance Monitor Users
Removing all config files from /App_Config/Include/
I'm not sure what else to try at this point.
Any ideas?

Answer 1

One of the first things that Sitecore does is to start writing out a message that says "HttpModule is being initialized". Before you get the exception, do you see this message in the logs? The exception you have seems to indicate that initial loadup is trying to extract details for the message to log but is not receiving any.
If you examine your log file, you should hopefully be able to see how far the logging can get before it is getting a 'null' message and blowing up. From there, it will be easier to identify what the next typical information line would be and track down what is happening.
For example, here is a typical 6.6 INFO block from the start of a log file:
10024 10:26:13 INFO HttpModule is being initialized
10024 10:26:13 INFO
10024 10:26:13 INFO **********************************************************************
10024 10:26:13 INFO **********************************************************************
10024 10:26:13 INFO Sitecore started
10024 10:26:13 INFO Sitecore.NET 6.6.0 (rev. 130529)
10024 10:26:13 INFO
10024 10:26:13 INFO C:\Src\TFS\Path\Website\bin\Sitecore.Client.dll (Sitecore CMS, Sitecore Client Application, 6.6.0 rev. 130529)
10024 10:26:13 INFO C:\Src\TFS\Path\Website\bin\Sitecore.Kernel.dll (Sitecore CMS, Sitecore CMS Kernel Library, 6.6.0 rev. 130529)
10024 10:26:13 INFO C:\Src\TFS\Path\Website\bin\Sitecore.Nexus.dll (Sitecore.Nexus)
10024 10:26:13 INFO
10024 10:26:13 INFO Operating system Microsoft Windows NT 6.1.7601 Service Pack 1
10024 10:26:13 INFO
10024 10:26:13 INFO Microsoft.NET version 4.0.30319.18444
10024 10:26:13 INFO
10024 10:26:13 INFO Process id: 12132
10024 10:26:13 INFO Windows identity used by the process: IIS APPPOOL\MyAppPoolUser. Impersonation: True
10024 10:26:13 INFO Managed pipeline mode: Integrated
10024 10:26:13 INFO
10024 10:26:13 INFO EventQueues enabled: False
10024 10:26:13 INFO Instance Name:MyInstanceName
10024 10:26:13 INFO
10024 10:26:13 INFO Threshold settings
10024 10:26:13 INFO Show threshold warnings: False
10024 10:26:13 INFO
10024 10:26:13 INFO Databases
10024 10:26:13 INFO core
10024 10:26:13 INFO master
10024 10:26:13 INFO web
10024 10:26:13 INFO filesystem
10024 10:26:13 INFO
10024 10:26:13 INFO Domains
10024 10:26:13 INFO Heartbeat - Initializing
10024 10:26:13 INFO Heartbeat - Interval set to: 00:00:02
10024 10:26:13 INFO Heartbeat - Worker thread started
10024 10:26:13 INFO Trying to load XML configuration /App_Config/Security/Domains.config
10024 10:26:13 INFO sitecore
10024 10:26:13 INFO extranet
10024 10:26:13 INFO default
10024 10:26:13 INFO **********************************************************************
10024 10:26:13 INFO **********************************************************************
10024 10:26:13 INFO Attempting to get ASP.NET process history
10024 10:26:13 WARN No process history available