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Who Crashed?
I don't wish for it for anyone, but even in Vista times there still is the blue screen of death (BOD) hitting on us once in a while. I myself had this happen recently a few times, no wonder since I am frequently installing and testing new apps.
But what to do with the blue screen? At the bottom of the screen you will read that some kind of dump was created. But where is it? How do I read it? What does it tell me?
At www.resplendence.com they are offering a nice free utility called "WhoCrashed". It is a very simple tool. It will look in the default dump folder (that's where Windows writes the dump files in, usually \Windows\Minidump), opens each dump file, extracts the important information and displays the information to you. WhoCrashed will make a suggestion what probably caused the crash. It is a very good start to troubleshoot the issue. A really nice little helper in these troubled times...
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Here's a nice portable tool to see what applications have crashed in Vista and Win7 and view them via html -
http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/app_crash_view.html
From NirSoft-
http://www.nirsoft.net/
I found this utility quite useful. I'd recently been getting BSODs for no apparent reason. It turned out to be problematic RAM. I hadn't thought that the OS would do very well with bad RAM (which is why it took me a bit longer to troubleshoot since the RAM was passing POST and a diagnostic utility's tests), but I have to say that Vista managed surprisingly well, for the most part. I'd get maybe one crash a day...
Anyway, WhoCrashed was useful in that the interface is simple; a single click gives you a list of all BSODs (read minidumps) on your computer, with the date, time and module that caused the crash.
Here's an excerpt of its crash dump analysis:-
On Thu 20-05-2010 17:50:14 your computer crashed
This was likely caused by the following module: ntoskrnl.exe
Bugcheck code: 0x50 (0xACAC80BC, 0x0, 0x826142E5, 0x0)
Error: PAGE_FAULT_IN_NONPAGED_AREA
Dump file: C:\Windows\Minidump\Mini052010-03.dmp
file path: C:\Windows\system32\ntoskrnl.exe
product: Microsoft® Windows® Operating System
company: Microsoft Corporation
description: NT Kernel & System
The crash took place in a standard Microsoft module. Your system configuration may be incorrect, possibly the culprit is in another driver on your system which cannot be identified at this time.
On Thu 20-05-2010 17:43:53 your computer crashed
This was likely caused by the following module: usbport.sys
Bugcheck code: 0xFE (0x6, 0x85EAB0E0, 0x85EAB028, 0x0)
Error: BUGCODE_USB_DRIVER
Dump file: C:\Windows\Minidump\Mini052010-02.dmp
file path: C:\Windows\system32\drivers\usbport.sys
product: Microsoft® Windows® Operating System
company: Microsoft Corporation
description: USB 1.1 & 2.0 Port Driver
The crash took place in a standard Microsoft module. Your system configuration may be incorrect, possibly the culprit is in another driver on your system which cannot be identified at this time.
On Thu 20-05-2010 17:12:19 your computer crashed
This was likely caused by the following module: ntoskrnl.exe
Bugcheck code: 0xD1 (0x3, 0x4, 0x0, 0x3)
Error: DRIVER_IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL
Dump file: C:\Windows\Minidump\Mini052010-01.dmp
file path: C:\Windows\system32\ntoskrnl.exe
product: Microsoft® Windows® Operating System
company: Microsoft Corporation
description: NT Kernel & System
The crash took place in a standard Microsoft module. Your system configuration may be incorrect, possibly the culprit is in another driver on your system which cannot be identified at this time.
I just had way too many different modules involved with the BSODs for it to have been anything other than the RAM... oddly, the RAM even passed Microsoft's Windows Memory Diagnostic Tool. I finally nailed the problem with a utility called MemTest (http://hcidesign.com/memtest), but would have been trying to figure what the problem was for a while longer if it wasn't for WhoCrashed.
If this would capture Firefox crashes it would have a lot to tell me but as it is when I click Analyze it comes back with nothing; I haven't had any system crash problems, but I've been using Resplendence Registrar Registry Manager for years; it is one of the best and perhaps the best registry editor available. I can vouch for Resplendence software as being safe. I'm quite sure Gizmo and crew would not post something dangerous. Resplendence software and site are safe.
I have no problems with this site...as Peter points out it is rated green by WOT and I can add that it is rated yellow by LinkExtend and given the all clear by LinkScanner.
'WhoCrashed' sounds like a pretty useful little app to me and could easily turn out to be an invaluable one.....thanks George.
JIM
Yes, this site also provides top pick registry editor, Registrar Lite:
http://www.techsupportalert.com/best-free-registry-editor.htm
And the full version (not free) is one of Gizmo's Desert Island Utilities:
http://www.techsupportalert.com/desert_island_utilities.htm
the site is not recommended by site advisor (RED) , take care using it...
Also remember to take a look at the report. The overall warning can mean many things. The SiteAdvisor rating is based on a link to a site (I won't mention it by name because them we could get hammered for it too).
But on the McAfee report it mentions 7 positive user reviews that all give it a safe rating: http://www.siteadvisor.com/sites/resplendence.com.
Does this mean SiteAdvisor would give us a bad rating for linking to Resplendence?
Of course, by the time they rate us again, they might have changed Resplendence to a positive rating.
We use WOT (Web of Trust) to evaluate site safety, and it's green. But everybody needs to be aware that all these systems are sortof popularity contests, really, & have severe limitations. Can you honestly find anything objectionable on the site George recommends?
Looks good thanks - one to add to the tool box.
My system never crashed as of yet so cannot test - lol :)
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