Windows Vista Forums

How to read mini-dump files?
  1. #1


    bigjoec Guest

    How to read mini-dump files?

    Hi,
    I've been getting fairly regular BSOD on my Vista machine (both before
    and after installing SP1). I'm trying to view the mini-dump files, as
    it appears others have gotten mileage out of that in looking for
    drivers to update.

    "DebugDiag failed to locate the PEB (Process Environment Block) in
    Mini042108-01.dmp, and as a result, debug analysis for this dump may
    be incomplete or inaccurate."

    I've tried with 2 files, and get the same response on both. [That's
    with the Crash/Hang analyzers; the Memory Pressure analyzers seem to
    work, giving me a list of what appears to be processes running and
    memory allocated to each.]

    So does the dump file just not have the info I'm expecting (given the
    failure mode*, I'd expect that "Crash/Hang" analyzers would be the
    thing to look at, not that I really understand what they are)? Or am I
    doing something wrong?


    *FWIW, mainly the way this goes is that my (wireless) internet
    connection starts to give me problems, so I try to troubleshoot by
    clicking on the "Currently connected to" icon in the system tray, but
    oddly that doesn't work; clicking on it does nothing and hovering over
    the icon doesn't even pop up the connection name and status.
    So I decide to shut down and the machine clearly hangs in the process
    (says "Shutting Down" for over 15 minutes!). Eventually I leave it to
    its thing and come back a while later and it's re-booted, and I get
    the "Windows Has Recovered from an Unexpected Shutdown" message with
    problem event name BlueScreen, etc.

    Oh, and this is Vista Home Premium SP1 32-bit.



    Thanks!
    Joe Candelora



      My System SpecsSystem Spec

  2. #2


    AJR Guest

    Re: How to read mini-dump files?

    bigjoe -- "dump" files are the basis for crash analysis - however the debug
    and symbol files necessary to perform the analysis are not availalbe
    "locally" requiring the dump file to be sent to Microsoft's crash analysis
    site.

    Microsoft does provide a "Crash Analysis" utility via Software Assurance to
    Enterprise customers.

    <bigjoec@xxxxxx> wrote in message
    news:e3630cec-1526-448c-8f01-937c0306b0bd@xxxxxx

    > Hi,
    > I've been getting fairly regular BSOD on my Vista machine (both before
    > and after installing SP1). I'm trying to view the mini-dump files, as
    > it appears others have gotten mileage out of that in looking for
    > drivers to update.
    >
    > "DebugDiag failed to locate the PEB (Process Environment Block) in
    > Mini042108-01.dmp, and as a result, debug analysis for this dump may
    > be incomplete or inaccurate."
    >
    > I've tried with 2 files, and get the same response on both. [That's
    > with the Crash/Hang analyzers; the Memory Pressure analyzers seem to
    > work, giving me a list of what appears to be processes running and
    > memory allocated to each.]
    >
    > So does the dump file just not have the info I'm expecting (given the
    > failure mode*, I'd expect that "Crash/Hang" analyzers would be the
    > thing to look at, not that I really understand what they are)? Or am I
    > doing something wrong?
    >
    >
    > *FWIW, mainly the way this goes is that my (wireless) internet
    > connection starts to give me problems, so I try to troubleshoot by
    > clicking on the "Currently connected to" icon in the system tray, but
    > oddly that doesn't work; clicking on it does nothing and hovering over
    > the icon doesn't even pop up the connection name and status.
    > So I decide to shut down and the machine clearly hangs in the process
    > (says "Shutting Down" for over 15 minutes!). Eventually I leave it to
    > its thing and come back a while later and it's re-booted, and I get
    > the "Windows Has Recovered from an Unexpected Shutdown" message with
    > problem event name BlueScreen, etc.
    >
    > Oh, and this is Vista Home Premium SP1 32-bit.
    >
    > Thanks!
    > Joe Candelora
    >
    >


      My System SpecsSystem Spec

  3. #3


    Mark H Guest

    Re: How to read mini-dump files?

    Minidump reader

    See the third post in the thread.

    <bigjoec@xxxxxx> wrote in message
    news:e3630cec-1526-448c-8f01-937c0306b0bd@xxxxxx

    > Hi,
    > I've been getting fairly regular BSOD on my Vista machine (both before
    > and after installing SP1). I'm trying to view the mini-dump files, as
    > it appears others have gotten mileage out of that in looking for
    > drivers to update.
    >
    > "DebugDiag failed to locate the PEB (Process Environment Block) in
    > Mini042108-01.dmp, and as a result, debug analysis for this dump may
    > be incomplete or inaccurate."
    >
    > I've tried with 2 files, and get the same response on both. [That's
    > with the Crash/Hang analyzers; the Memory Pressure analyzers seem to
    > work, giving me a list of what appears to be processes running and
    > memory allocated to each.]
    >
    > So does the dump file just not have the info I'm expecting (given the
    > failure mode*, I'd expect that "Crash/Hang" analyzers would be the
    > thing to look at, not that I really understand what they are)? Or am I
    > doing something wrong?
    >
    >
    > *FWIW, mainly the way this goes is that my (wireless) internet
    > connection starts to give me problems, so I try to troubleshoot by
    > clicking on the "Currently connected to" icon in the system tray, but
    > oddly that doesn't work; clicking on it does nothing and hovering over
    > the icon doesn't even pop up the connection name and status.
    > So I decide to shut down and the machine clearly hangs in the process
    > (says "Shutting Down" for over 15 minutes!). Eventually I leave it to
    > its thing and come back a while later and it's re-booted, and I get
    > the "Windows Has Recovered from an Unexpected Shutdown" message with
    > problem event name BlueScreen, etc.
    >
    > Oh, and this is Vista Home Premium SP1 32-bit.
    >
    > Thanks!
    > Joe Candelora
    >
    >


      My System SpecsSystem Spec

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