How can I retrieve my Minidump / crash files?

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Soul Hacker

Soul Hacker

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Oct 17, 2015
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I've tried looking this issue up and haven't found the instructions or information I saw to be helpful. So if someone could offer me some personalized help, maybe I can find them.

I have a brand new computer, it's been in use for less than a week total and it just BSOD'd me and it says "Kernal_InPage" error, which the majority are saying means a bad hard-drive but I just can't believe that. The 2TB is brand new, if it's bad, that'd make it the second bad one in a row. The main boot-drive, the Corsair SSD, has been working fine and is also brand new.

So anyway, that aside. I want to retrieve the crash logs and hope perhaps someone here, or elsewhere can help analyze them and confirm where my problem actually lays.

But I can't find how to retrieve them. Would anyone be willing to help me out here? Someone said "C:/Windows/Minidump" but that folder doesn't exist, or if it does, it's hidden.

Is that the correct location, or are they elsewhere? If they are hidden, can someone explain to me how to reveal the file and obtain these logs for analysis?

Edited for clarity: Win7 Home Premium 64-bit 6.1, Build 7601.
 
Solution
M
Maybe it's not making any? it may be disabled, to enable on win 7:
Go to Start and type in "sysdm.cpl" (without the quotes) and press Enter
Click on the Advanced tab
Click on the Startup and Recovery Settings button
Ensure that "Automatically restart" is unchecked
Under the Write Debugging Information header select "Small memory dump (64 kB)" in the dropdown box
Ensure that the Small Dump Directory is listed as "%systemroot%\Minidump" (without the quotes)
Click OK twice to exit the dialogs, then reboot for the changes to take effect.
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Mark_1970

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What operating system?
 
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Mark_1970

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Maybe it's not making any? it may be disabled, to enable on win 7:
Go to Start and type in "sysdm.cpl" (without the quotes) and press Enter
Click on the Advanced tab
Click on the Startup and Recovery Settings button
Ensure that "Automatically restart" is unchecked
Under the Write Debugging Information header select "Small memory dump (64 kB)" in the dropdown box
Ensure that the Small Dump Directory is listed as "%systemroot%\Minidump" (without the quotes)
Click OK twice to exit the dialogs, then reboot for the changes to take effect.
 
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Solution
Soul Hacker

Soul Hacker

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I unchecked automatically restart.
But this blue screen hard-froze, it said it was starting the process or something, I was hoping it had finished it but of course, if the PC totally jammed, then it probably failed to do so.

Yes the directory is: %SystemRoot%\MEMORY.DMP

I had to change it to "Small Memory Dump" too.

So would there be any logs at this time, or not? Assuming it had a chance to write any before it froze?

I'm just really stressed out. This PC is brand new, I've barely used it and it had a bad HDD right off the bat, and I replaced it. And now according to everyone, this error is a bad/failing hard-drive and I just want to be absolutely sure.

I was pretty unhappy when my former PC died, it was like losing a family member or something (my former PC served me faithfully for 7 years), and now my replacement/new PC is doing this to me. *sigh*
 
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Soul Hacker

Soul Hacker

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OK, I disabled
Automatically Manage Page Filing For All Drives.
Custom Size:
Initial Size: 8493 MB
Max Size: 12139 MB

It has 12139 recommended, so I set the max at that.

Is that okay?
 
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Mark_1970

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well done, initial should be same as max also 12139
 
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Soul Hacker

Soul Hacker

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OK, I had left the window open, I'll change that now.

Set.

So, with all this set up. Am I to assume there were no crash logs generated?

I appreciate the help, as angry/stressed as I am right now. But I did ask -where- I could find these. I remember reading they are in a hidden folder, and hidden folders had to be enabled. Is that correct?
And if so, is it C:Windows/Minidump?

I'm assuming since I just changed it to Small Memory Dumps, it hasn't created any yet?
 
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Mark_1970

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This was all to make sure future dumps are created and the C:Windows/Minidump files is created as yours should be there but it's not
 
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Soul Hacker

Soul Hacker

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So basically at this stage, sit back and wait for that crash again and then hopefully get a log on it to have it analyzed?

Is the MiniDumps Folder a hidden one, or will be visible normally when I look for it?
 
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Mark_1970

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Mine is always there on installs, i can only conclude that yours was disabled or these bsod's are hardware related that prevents these minidumps to be written
 
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Soul Hacker

Soul Hacker

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Apparently so, but as I asked, will the minidump folder be visible normally?

EDIT: I'll just hope it is. I'll mark this as solved, since it essentially is. Thank you for the assistance.
 
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