BSOD, Crashes and Debugging section

[Ian]

TorrentG has come up with an interesting suggestion to create a sub-forum dedicated to helping diagnose and solve BSOD problems, via the posting of minidump debugging information.

I was wondering if there are any thoughts or comments on this idea, as it is easy enough to implement a section like this if there is enough demand.

Also, are there any other users that have debugging or crash analysis experience?

 

[clifford_cooley]

I think it would be a good idea as we have a huge thread already from BSOD's.

Each person would need their own thread of course for debugging.

I'm not experienced but would be willing to learn. Perhaps TorrentG would be willing to guide as a tutor on the topic.

 

[TorrentG]

Right, yeah. As I explained to Ian in PM, reading the crash dumps is not very difficult. Sometimes the user is lucky and it is immediately apparent what has caused the stop error. Sometimes, you just have to know what is the most likely cause for a particular type of error. Only experience and maybe a little Googling on the specific error code, helps.

To debug, all one needs is to have their version of Windbg installed for x86 or x64, depending on which OS it will be running on. Each version can debug the other flavor's dumps without issue.

In the debugger, you have to set symbols so it knows what to do with drivers, etc...
As you open a crash dump, it will connect to Microsoft and download what it needs. It then stores the symbols (drivers) on your local HDD as a cache. Mine now is about 230 mb in total.

Here is a link to Debugging Tools For Windows -

http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/DevTools/Debugging/default.mspx

When it is running, inside the program, you can do ctrl+s. Then set the symbol path as follows:

SRV*C:\SymCache*http://msdl.microsoft.com/download/symbols

Hit ok.

When you close the program after debugging, it will ask you if you want to save. You should answer yes to this always.

To see which drivers are on the system, along with their respective dates, you can enter the command:

lm n t

 

[TorrentG]

Hey guys. Curious if you'd like to start with the bsod section of the forum. Once it got going, I'm sure I can get others here to analyze and I think it would be great for the site.

I have lots of free time and would actually enjoy doing it.

 

[Ian]

Hey guys. Curious if you'd like to start with the bsod section of the forum. Once it got going, I'm sure I can get others here to analyze and I think it would be great for the site.

I have lots of free time and would actually enjoy doing it.

Sure would I'll add this section to the site now and we can see how it goes. Once it's up (a few mins), would you be able to make a thread on the sort of information you'd need from people to get started and I'll make it a sticky at the top of the new section.

Good to see you around again

 

[Ian]

Here we go, the section is up now:

https://www.w7forums.com/crashes-bsods-and-debugging-f31.html

 

[TorrentG]

Wow! Very cool. And yeah, I've been alright and hope the same has been for you guys.



Would it be possible to change my account name to my real name instead of TorrentG?
If so, please make it ChrisPierman. And I will get right on that section now! heh heh

Glad to be around again for sure.

 

[Veedaz]

I think its a great idea ! and lead the way TorrentG I'm sure we can all learn from you :top:

 

[TorrentG]

Yeah, of course. If I learned about how to debug, I think almost anyone can. It just takes a little time and effort in getting to know the ins and outs.

For instance, when you see sptd.sys in the drivers, it must be uninstalled because it is notorious as us analysts say. Daemon Tools and Alcohol 120 rely on it to work. I always recommend PowerIso as a replacement for disc emulation as it is perfectly stable under Win7.