Cormac,
Unfortunately, there are not enough details provided to indicate a cause for
failure. Provided the failure is not caused by Intel USB or NEC USB drivers
(WHQL recommends the Microsoft USB driver stack), you should be able to
debug Device Path Exerciser failures. Here are some WHQL recommendations:
For Device Path Exerciser test or Driver Verifier test issues, you can do a
couple of things to troubleshoot driver bugchecks:
1) For the most detailed instructions and step by step troubleshooting,
please refer to the HCT Help Docs section for the Device Path Exerciser test
titled "Device Path Exerciser Test: Troubleshooting Information"
2) These tests will detect all unsigned drivers on the test system. WHQL
recommends that you run device tests on a test system with a fully signed
build of the operating system. Furthermore, all extraneous devices should
be removed from the system or should have signed drivers installed. The
only unsigned driver(s) that should exist on the test system should be the
driver(s) for the device under test.
3) Please ensure that your test system is configured to issue a 'Complete
Memory Dump' when it encounters a bugcheck.
a) Right click My-Computer, select Properties.
b) Click the Advanced tab. Under 'Startup and Recovery' select Settings.
c) Under the 'Write debugging information' select 'Complete Memory Dump'
from the list.
d) Configure the 'Dump file' directory and 'Overwrite any existing file' to
suite your needs.
After your test system bugchecks during the test and reboots, find the
memory dump in the directory you configured and review it. This will
provide you with additional information regarding which driver bugchecked
and why. You can also elect to disable the 'Automatically restart' feature.
This will allow you to view the 'blue screen' error and disable the
automatic reboots.
4) Run the test with a debugger attached to the test system. You can find
information regarding Windows Debuggers here:
http://www.microsoft.com/ddk/debugging/default.asp. After you determine
which driver bugchecks, you can use a 'checked build' of the driver and the
symbol files for the driver to obtain additional information. For
assistance with the Windows DDK or the Windows Debugging tools, please
contact DDK Developer Support:
http://support.microsoft.com/directory/overview.asp.
5) Device Path Exerciser - there is a way you can run DPE against just your
driver service, for troubleshooting purposes only. You will need to have a
clean test system and submit test logs from the HCT test manager shell for a
Self-Test submission. For a Full-Test submission, you are not required to
submit logs as we will run a Full-Test pass here in our labs. The command
line syntax would be something like this: 'DC2.exe [switches] [/dr {driver
service name}]' without the quotes of course. Use DC2.exe /? for more
details. You should also enable Driver Verifier before running DC2.exe by
using the following instructions:
a) Click Run -> type 'verifier'
b) Choose Create custom settings (for code developers), Next
c) Choose Select individual settings from a full list, Next
d) Enable Special pool, Pool Tracking, Force IRQL checking, I/O
Verification, Enhanced I/O verification, Deadlock detection, DMA checking.
Next.
e) Choose Select driver name from a list, Next.
f) Check the box next to each and every one of your drivers to add them to
the list.
g) Reboot the system.
h) Run the DC2.exe syntax.
Regards,
Gene Ziegler
