Or so you have a BSOD and you don’t know why
To determine what happened first you will need to ensure that the computer did make a physical memory dump file.
Go to “C:\WINNT\” or “C:\WINDOWS” and look for a folder called MINIDUMP or a file called MEMORY.DMP
The files you will need to analyze will be one of those
To actually analyze the file you will need to use a toolkit. And no I’m not talking about a sledgehammer and crowbar. I am referring to the Debugging Tools for Windows Available here http://www.microsoft...installx86.mspx
After you have downloaded and installed the toolkit you will be ready to get into the nuts and bolts about figuring out what the hell is going on.
Click Start>Programs>Debugging Tools for Windows>WinDbg
You will be presented with a program that looks kind of like notepad.
Next we need to set a variable to fully decode the memory dump file.
Click on File, Symbol File Path and paste this string in the box
SRV*c:\symbols*http://msdl.microsoft.com/download/symbols
Click ok and then save the workspace (so you don’t have to enter that string every time once again it would be nice for Microsoft to actually be proactive.
To open the memory dump and look at it you will need to click on File > Open Crash Dump. And browse to the path where you found your memory dump earlier.
Double click on the dump file you want to analyze and go get a cup of Coffee, as this will take a few minutes.
You will get a dump file that resembles the below when you get back
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Microsoft ® Windows Debugger Version 6.6.0007.5
Copyright © Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
Loading Dump File [C:\WINDOWS\Minidump\Mini073106-01.dmp]
Mini Kernel Dump File: Only registers and stack trace are available
Symbol search path is: SRV*c:\symbols*http://msdl.microsoft.com/download/symbols
Executable search path is:
Windows XP Kernel Version 2600 (Service Pack 2) MP (2 procs) Free x86 compatible
Product: WinNt, suite: TerminalServer SingleUserTS
Built by: 2600.xpsp.050301-1521
Kernel base = 0x804d7000 PsLoadedModuleList = 0x805624a0
Debug session time: Mon Jul 31 15:36:14.473 2006 (GMT-5)
System Uptime: 12 days 6:16:42.797
Loading Kernel Symbols
.............................................................................................................................................
Loading User Symbols
Loading unloaded module list
..................................................
*******************************************************************************
* *
* Bugcheck Analysis *
* *
*******************************************************************************
Use !analyze -v to get detailed debugging information.
BugCheck 1000008E, {c0000005, bf87b02d, f709d8a0, 0}
Probably caused by : win32k.sys ( win32k!RawInputRequestedForMouse+1c )
Followup: MachineOwner
---------
Copyright © Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
Loading Dump File [C:\WINDOWS\Minidump\Mini073106-01.dmp]
Mini Kernel Dump File: Only registers and stack trace are available
Symbol search path is: SRV*c:\symbols*http://msdl.microsoft.com/download/symbols
Executable search path is:
Windows XP Kernel Version 2600 (Service Pack 2) MP (2 procs) Free x86 compatible
Product: WinNt, suite: TerminalServer SingleUserTS
Built by: 2600.xpsp.050301-1521
Kernel base = 0x804d7000 PsLoadedModuleList = 0x805624a0
Debug session time: Mon Jul 31 15:36:14.473 2006 (GMT-5)
System Uptime: 12 days 6:16:42.797
Loading Kernel Symbols
.............................................................................................................................................
Loading User Symbols
Loading unloaded module list
..................................................
*******************************************************************************
* *
* Bugcheck Analysis *
* *
*******************************************************************************
Use !analyze -v to get detailed debugging information.
BugCheck 1000008E, {c0000005, bf87b02d, f709d8a0, 0}
Probably caused by : win32k.sys ( win32k!RawInputRequestedForMouse+1c )
Followup: MachineOwner
---------
Now to decipher the dump report
Under the Bug Check {} those are the stop codes googling those particular codes will give you information that may or may not be benificial to your troubleshooting
And looking up the Probably Caused By: will give you an ides on where to start troubleshooting
Luckily for me when my PC did this it was right after I just installed a mouse and was able to get a patch to fix the mouse driver that was crashing my kernel (testing a USB laser mouse instead of my PS2 Optical)
I hope you have found this little write up enlightening as it was for me to write it.
Carl





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