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Re: Kernel dumps no-go to non-C pagefiles in Vista?
Yes, the dump data is saved only on the drive that contains %systemroot%,
which is c: on Vista. There are certain technical reasons for this.
Don't remember where this requirement is documented - anyway it is
not new, in fact, it existed in all NT versions.
Regards,
--PA
"a.k.a." <aka@xxxxxx> wrote in message
news:8205A927-D4C4-424A-B545-0450984F470F@xxxxxx Quote:
> I'm getting BSODs, but at the moment, I'm not asking for troubleshooting
> tips
> with the BSODs, just with the kernel dump files.
>
> What I need to know is: Am I running into an undocumented pagefile /
> kernel
> debugging constraint in Vista?
>
> My pagefile is on the primary HDD, but not on the C partition -- instead
> it's on a pagefile-only partition (D). The logic was that it wouldn't eat
> precious space in the OS partition. I then disabled the C volume pagefile
> so
> that I wouldn't run into any messy situations that might flummox Vista.
>
> ... So I thought.
>
> I checked for a kernel dump file, and couldn't find one in the C:\Windows\
> folder. Nor could I find one on the pagefile partition (D).
>
> When I double-checked that my kernel dump settings were correct, Vista
> gave
> me that annoying prompt:
>
> "If you disable the paging file or set the initial size to less than 200
> megabytes and a system error occurs, Windows might not record details that
> could help identify the problem. Do you want to continue?"
>
> So, what gives? Do you HAVE to have your pagefile on C if you want to be
> sure to get a kernel dump? That's so wrong!
>
> Also, Autocheck / Chkdsk did not run on restart after the BSOD. Don't know
> if that's linked to the pagefile, or whether it's linked to the kind of
> error
> I got, which was a KERNEL_DATA_INPAGE_ERROR / NTFS.sys / 0x0000007A BSOD
> this
> time around.
>
> I'm going to run Chkdsk, but I want to report this pagefile glitch, in
> case
> anyone has seen this or can offer advice.
>
> * * *
>
> In case you want the gory details of the BSODs, here is the issue:
>
> I've gotten 3-4 KERNEL_DATA_INPAGE_ERROR / NTFS.sys / 0x0000007A BSODs in
> the past month, including two in the past two days, and am trying to
> figure
> out whether its a corrupt pagefile, an MBR virus, bad memory, bad laptop
> power distribution, or a bad HDD.
>
> I have not yet run Chkdsk, as I said, but will next.
>
>
> POWER & MEMORY: My power supply seems OK -- the power has never just
> randomly died. And the Disk I/O light was lit-up during the entire
> duration
> of the feeze (until hard power off) so I imagine there's enough juice
> coming
> through.
>
> I tried installing some new RAM lately and had to do a bunch of
> troubleshooting on it (before RMAing it), so despite taking the
> appropriate
> anti-static precautions, there's a chance I've fried something.
>
> Memtest currently shows no errors.
>
>
> HDDs: This is the fishy part.
>
> My ThinkPad laptop has a swappable 2nd PATA HDD bay (with a SATA adapter).
>
> The occasional freezes have begun when I have had a new 2nd SATA HDD (WD
> Scorpio Blue 500GB) in the swappable bay alongside the primary HDD
> (Samsung
> HM250JI 250GB). It's never happened when I had my old 2ndary HDD (Hitachi)
> in.
>
> I should also note that the 2ndary HDD was one I joined some partitions
> on,
> so it's now a 'dynamic disk' -- the first time I've formatted one this
> way.
> (Is a dynamic disk sufficiently stable?)
>
> However, the latest freeze happened when I was saving a file to the
> primary
> HDD, not to the 2ndary HDD. (Again, the I/O light was frozen in the lit
> state.) Indeed, I don't recall a freeze when saving to the 2ndary HDD.
>
> SMART diagnostics show no bad sectors on either drive. Today, I'm seeing
> one
> "raw read error" for the primary HDD. (Can't be sure that's new, but I
> think
> it is, and I am now tracking things more carefully.)
>
>
> PAGEFILE: The latest freezes are occurring when I happened to have a
> million
> tabs open in IE. That was the case yesterday. Today it happened when I
> resumed from sleep with a million tabs open and was in the middle of
> saving a
> very small file to the primary HDD. Both times the HDD I/O light was lit
> up
> for the duration of the freeze until I hard powered down.
>
> My pagefile is on the primary HDD, but not on the C partition -- instead
> it's on the same HDD, just a different partition. (The logic was that it
> wouldn't eat precious space in the OS partition.)
>
>
> MBR MALWARE: I did a very thorough clean-out (spyware, trojans, viruses,
> rootkits) in the wake of the first freeze, but absolutely nothing turned
> up
> that was of concern. Of course, there could be something completely
> invisible
> hiding in the MBR, but it's not a highly likely scenario. I haven't
> noticed
> random network activity.
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