Crash Report mini-dump

[DerbyBorn]

Can anyone suggest where I could send a mini-dump report for a diagnosis?


My Dell N5010 Inspiron has taken to giving me a BSOD on some occasions when
I start up. After a couple of attempts it will start but nothing will open.
Next it will start properly. The repair option offered does not find a
solution.

 

[Philip Herlihy]

Can anyone suggest where I could send a mini-dump report for a diagnosis?


My Dell N5010 Inspiron has taken to giving me a BSOD on some occasions when
I start up. After a couple of attempts it will start but nothing will open.
Next it will start properly. The repair option offered does not find a
solution.

Try this, from the excellent nirsoft.net:

http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/blue_screen_view.html

If that doesn't do the trick, you might like to set your machine to
store a kernel dump instead of the mini-dump, and download the debugging
tools for Windows from Microsoft. Not for the faint-hearted, but if you
persist, it's possible to make sense of it all.

 

[Wolf K]

Try this, from the excellent nirsoft.net:

http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/blue_screen_view.html

If that doesn't do the trick, you might like to set your machine to
store a kernel dump instead of the mini-dump, and download the debugging
tools for Windows from Microsoft. Not for the faint-hearted, but if you
persist, it's possible to make sense of it all.

I did an online search for reviews of your model, and see that it dates
from mid- to late 2010. Considering that it's now over 2 years old, that
is out of warranty, it's possible that you have a hardware fault. Low
probability, I know, but still worth checking IMO.

Good luck.

 

[GreyCloud]

Can anyone suggest where I could send a mini-dump report for a diagnosis?


My Dell N5010 Inspiron has taken to giving me a BSOD on some occasions when
I start up. After a couple of attempts it will start but nothing will open.
Next it will start properly. The repair option offered does not find a
solution.

Sounds like bad ram to me. BSODs are similar to unix kernel panics, and
on Apples OS X, getting a kernel panic and then replacing the ram has
always done the trick.

 

[Ken Blake]

I did an online search for reviews of your model, and see that it dates
from mid- to late 2010. Considering that it's now over 2 years old, that
is out of warranty, it's possible that you have a hardware fault. Low
probability, I know, but still worth checking IMO.

I don't think it's a low probability at all. In fact, I think that's
the most likely reason for the problem.

 

[philo]

...which is wasted money if the OP does so and the RAM *isn't* the problem.
While it *probably* is some sort of hardware malfunction, just blindly
replacing one thing isn't the way to fix it. Probably.

Simple as running a RAM test such as memtest

If *any* errors are reported the test may be terminated
as the RAM is bad

 

[GreyCloud]

...which is wasted money if the OP does so and the RAM *isn't* the problem.
While it *probably* is some sort of hardware malfunction, just blindly
replacing one thing isn't the way to fix it. Probably.

RAMs are the most suspect in my experience. I've rarely ever seen a cpu
go bad. To get a BSOD for instance, the cpu must be running. Also, the
graphics card is obviously working to show the BSOD. The supporting
logic is also running, and to get all of the programs necessary to run
to get a BSOD implies that the hard drives and associated logic is
running. So that pretty much leaves the ram at a certain location that
can cause this. The only item left would be also the address logic, but
If I recall, the cpu handles that.

 

[Char Jackson]

RAMs are the most suspect in my experience. I've rarely ever seen a cpu
go bad. To get a BSOD for instance, the cpu must be running. Also, the
graphics card is obviously working to show the BSOD. The supporting
logic is also running, and to get all of the programs necessary to run
to get a BSOD implies that the hard drives and associated logic is
running. So that pretty much leaves the ram at a certain location that
can cause this. The only item left would be also the address logic, but
If I recall, the cpu handles that.

Your advice didn't rule out testing the RAM before rushing to replace it. A
session with memtest86+ might be time well spent.

 

[GreyCloud]

Your advice didn't rule out testing the RAM before rushing to replace it. A
session with memtest86+ might be time well spent.

It would be the most logical step to test ram. Of course with all the
PC field repair people that I know for todays PCs and experience from
the past on os crashes, it has been about 99% of time faulty ram.
I've seen it so many times on larger unix systems and VMS systems.
I wasn't allowed to replace any hardware at the time, so field service
did the work and it has always been ram. On the 1980s vintage vax we
had, the os did crash, but the system was also brand new and in this
case due to the design of the machine, it was the interconnecting
harnesses between ram and processor.
It would be a rare instance if any traces on the mobo were snapped,
which do happen.