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A Simple Guide To Debugging System Crashes

  • Thread starter Lanarkshire IT Services
  • Start date
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Lanarkshire IT Services

New Member
A Guide To Debugging System Crashes / Blue Screens Of Death (BSOD)

We have all seen the scenario. You are sitting in front of your system and suddenly it restarts or displays a blue screen with white text which means absolutely nothing to us.

So what do we do? Where do we start? Do we run an anti-virus / spyware scan? Do we test the memory or hard disk? Is it a driver? If so which one? Could it be the last piece of software I installed? Where do we go from here?

Thankfully Microsoft have provided FREE tools that anyone can download to help debug their system and identify the crashing culprit.

Using this method WILL save you hours of time identifying system crash causes and technician fees

OK so lets get started.

First we have to set your system up so that it "records" what crashed. To do this in:

XP - Right click on My Computer and Select Properties then click Advanced then navigate down to Startup and Recovery and select Settings and look down at the System Failure part. First of all we want to Disable Automatic Restart and in Write debugging information choose Small memory dump (64k) as shown:

setup%20debugging.jpg



In Vista the step is pretty much the same except right click on My Computer, select properties then Advanced System Settings then Startup and Recovery Settings.

Once done click OK. Your system is now setup to record small memory dumps which can be used to identify system crash culprits.

Now we have to download the debugging tools from Microsoft

On this page there is a wealth of further information on debugging but for the purpose of this guide and for those new to debuging stop errors or crashes, we will keep it as simple as possible.

Now choose the version for your system and click the link. For this example we will choose the 32 bit debugging tool which is what most people will want unless you are using a 64 bit system. On the next page choose the latest / current release and save your download. Once downloaded double click to install. Click Next and accept the license agreement then select Complete then Install. Once done click Finish.

Now navigate to All Programs and select Debugging tools for Windows X86 and select WinDbg. You will now be presented with the following screen:

windbg.jpg



The go to File and select Symbol File Path. You will now be presented with an empty box. Type the following text EXACTLY as you see it:

symbol%20file%20path.jpg


This is telling the WinDbg program to look in C:\Websymbols for the appropriate symbols package required to debug your operating system version and if they aren't found then to download them to: C:\Websymbols .Once you have entered this click OK.

Go to File again and select Save Workspace

Go to File again and select Open A Crash Dump

The mini dump files should be located at C:\Windows\Minidump and have the extension .dmp

Select the most recent .dmp file (they are named by date).

If prompted to save again choose No

Windows debugger will now check for the appropriate symbols for your system and if they aren't present, will download them to C:\websymbols. Once it has downloaded these it will then process the crash dump file.

Once it has processed the mini dump, scroll down and you are looking for the item in Image Name:

IMAGE_NAME: memory_management

That is what is crashing your system. In this example: memory_management - it was a faulty RAM stick which we replaced and the system now works without crashing

Close WinDbg and save your workspace for future debugging.

And that's it.
 
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