Are you writting in MFC and calling AfxInitRichEdit () ?
(does not look like MFC )
Have called InitCommonControls ()
Obviuosly you have included richedit.h
Put 'chCntrlName' into a messagebox before you use it to create the control and ensure it contains the correct string.
Check the hwnd and hInstance.
Try creating an edit (instead of the richedit) and see if that can be created. That is find if the create is OK.