Memory Dump file not created?

[Ricky]

Hi,I'm experiencing BSOD crashes after installing a certain software.These crashes always occur during the first boot following the installation. The tech support people have asked for a copy of my .dmp file but here's the problem.
XP/SP1 isn't recording the crash. Usually the last few lines in a Bluescreen will read "creating memory dump, memory dump complete", but this doesn't happen. In startup and recovery under "write debugging information" I have set XP to save the small memory dump file of 64KB in C:\windows\minidump the file should look something like this (Mini051003-01.dmp), but XP fails to create and save it. Neither is it logged or recorded in the Dr. Watson user.dmp file.
Finally, I enabled the feature outlined in the MS Knowledge Base article # 244139 which allows you to simulate a Bluescreen and create a memory dump test file, this worked perfectly, the .dmp file was created and saved to the correct directory.
Apologies as I've already posted this problem in XP Basics, which is probably the wrong board and I didn't explain mysef very well there to get the correct answer to this problem. Any advice greatly appreciated.

 

[Ron Martell]

Hi,I'm experiencing BSOD crashes after installing a certain software.These crashes always occur during the first boot following the installation. The tech support people have asked for a copy of my .dmp file but here's the problem.
XP/SP1 isn't recording the crash. Usually the last few lines in a Bluescreen will read "creating memory dump, memory dump complete", but this doesn't happen. In startup and recovery under "write debugging information" I have set XP to save the small memory dump file of 64KB in C:\windows\minidump the file should look something like this (Mini051003-01.dmp), but XP fails to create and save it. Neither is it logged or recorded in the Dr. Watson user.dmp file.
Finally, I enabled the feature outlined in the MS Knowledge Base article # 244139 which allows you to simulate a Bluescreen and create a memory dump test file, this worked perfectly, the .dmp file was created and saved to the correct directory.
Apologies as I've already posted this problem in XP Basics, which is probably the wrong board and I didn't explain mysef very well there to get the correct answer to this problem. Any advice greatly appreciated.

Have you moved the paging file to another drive or partition?

Windows uses the paging file to receive the memory dump and then
renames it. This is much faster than creating a new file, and time is
of the essence when these errors happen. A new paging file is then
created automatically on the next startup.

However in order for this to be done the paging file must exist on the
boot drive. If it has been moved elsewhere then the dump will not be
saved.

Also note that Windows XPsupports multiple paging files on different
physical drives. So if your paging file is on a another drive then
create a second one on the boot drive and specify it with a minimum
size of 10 mb and a maximum size of 50 mb.

That will give Windows a place to park the memory dumps. It is highly
unlikely that this paging file would ever be used for anything else.

Good luck


Ron Martell Duncan B.C. Canada
--
Microsoft MVP
On-Line Help Computer Service
http://onlinehelp.bc.ca

"The reason computer chips are so small is computers don't eat much."