Archived from groups: microsoft.public.win98.gen_discussion (More info?)
Would someone please verify the following understanding I
have about Dr. Watson use within Win98SE, and suggest a way
to troubleshoot the problem described:
1) Dr. Watson CAN collect stack/frame (minidumps) of a
program fault.
A program fault, as I understand the use of Dr. Watson, is
where an application program causes a (minidump) to be
captured, and the system stays up and the Dr. Watson log of
the event can be collected. From what I have read at the
Microsoft site, this is what happens when Dr. Watson is
able to collect a log of a program fault event.
2) Dr. Watson CANNOT collect stack/frame (dumps of anykind)
of a total system crash.
A total system crash would be experienced, for example, if
an event like a mouse click causes the system (Win98SE PC)
to go directly into a complete power off mode state, and
start to reboot - and thus there would be no difference
between a Dr. Watson log collected after bootup and one
collected prior to duplicating a problem, i.e. unless Dr.
Watson could collect a log of the event, which in my case,
it appears that Dr. Watson cannot, because the system
crashed, and Dr. Watson was not sufficiently in control to
the task.
When I try to look at my AV firewall logs during connection
to the Internet (via mouse click), I get a total system
crash. Any suggestions which lead to being able to capture
the stack/frame dump of this event will be much appreciated!
In the total system crash scenario - relative to Win98SE,
since Dr. Watson is classified as a 'postmortem debugger',
are there any product quality system level debuggers/tools
that can capture a total system crash stack/frame dump,
etc. and return control to the desktop without experiencing
the total system crash? For example, is there a SDK with a
suitable system crash tolerant debugger that I can download
for use in troubleshooting this problem?
Tia,
-- Tom
Would someone please verify the following understanding I
have about Dr. Watson use within Win98SE, and suggest a way
to troubleshoot the problem described:
1) Dr. Watson CAN collect stack/frame (minidumps) of a
program fault.
A program fault, as I understand the use of Dr. Watson, is
where an application program causes a (minidump) to be
captured, and the system stays up and the Dr. Watson log of
the event can be collected. From what I have read at the
Microsoft site, this is what happens when Dr. Watson is
able to collect a log of a program fault event.
2) Dr. Watson CANNOT collect stack/frame (dumps of anykind)
of a total system crash.
A total system crash would be experienced, for example, if
an event like a mouse click causes the system (Win98SE PC)
to go directly into a complete power off mode state, and
start to reboot - and thus there would be no difference
between a Dr. Watson log collected after bootup and one
collected prior to duplicating a problem, i.e. unless Dr.
Watson could collect a log of the event, which in my case,
it appears that Dr. Watson cannot, because the system
crashed, and Dr. Watson was not sufficiently in control to
the task.
When I try to look at my AV firewall logs during connection
to the Internet (via mouse click), I get a total system
crash. Any suggestions which lead to being able to capture
the stack/frame dump of this event will be much appreciated!
In the total system crash scenario - relative to Win98SE,
since Dr. Watson is classified as a 'postmortem debugger',
are there any product quality system level debuggers/tools
that can capture a total system crash stack/frame dump,
etc. and return control to the desktop without experiencing
the total system crash? For example, is there a SDK with a
suitable system crash tolerant debugger that I can download
for use in troubleshooting this problem?
Tia,
-- Tom