Dumpchk Source and Documentation?

[jclarkw]

In an effort to lay away some recovery tools for a rainy day, my interest here is in 'Dumpchk.exe' for exposing the conditions of (if not the reasons for) a BSOD. According to MS documents (e.g., Article ID 315271 and its references), one can install Windows debugging tools that will work under XP either from the Windows SDK (specifically "GRMSDK_EN_DVD.iso") or from the XP SP3 insallation disk. In neither case have I had success. Nowhere in SDK can I find Dumpchk. And the version of that executable that I do get from my XP SP3 installation disk offers no self-documentation (using the /? option) and does not behave at all as described in the abovementioned article. In fact it seems to completely ignore the command-line options that I enter. Can anyone shed light on this issue? Best Regards. -- jcalrkw

[allen2]

Dumpchk.exe is stored in the support tools .CAB and most of the time it won't help.

c:\>dumpchk.exe /?
Usage: DumpCheck [y <sympath>] <Dumpfile>

You should download the debugging tools.

Edited December 2, 2011 by allen2

[jclarkw]

You should download the debugging tools.

Thanks for your suggestion. What I actually downloaded was the ISO version of Windows SDK for x86, "GRMSDK_EN_DVD.iso," which appears identical in function to the Web installer. I installed only the debugging tools; but I didn't find an up-to-date version of dumpchk in there, so I gave up. (The installer complained that I had only the client version of .NET 4 so that some features would not be available. I also noticed that and the SDK command prompt started up with a lot of warnings, perhaps becuase I limited too severely the features installed, Note that I'm not an IT person, just an experienced Windows user. Is there some minimum install for the debugging tools to operate properly?) Is there another tool that's useful to determine the cause of a BSOD? -- jclarkw

[allen2]

All you need to download is this (on the linked page):

Previous Release version 6.11.1.404 - March 27, 2009
Install 32-bit version 6.11.1.404 [16.9 MB]

Then configure the symbols path and next learn how to debug crash dump.

But as you're not an it person and seems to lack the required basics, you should go with something different like Nirsoft bluescreen viewer.

Edited December 2, 2011 by allen2

[jclarkw]

But as you're not an it person and seems to lack the required basics, you should go with something different like Nirsoft bluescreen viewer.

ZoneAlarm tells me that the Nirsoft site is "known to distribute spyware." I guess I'll try your other suggestion... Thanks -- jclarkw

[allen2]

That's pretty amusing from ZoneAlarm (the worst firewall ever made) and you are not alone in this case but anyway do what you think is the right choice and not what i tell you or what tell you ZoneAlarm.

[jclarkw]

...ZoneAlarm (the worst firewall ever made)...

Funny you should mentione that. I've been getting more and more fed up with ZA Extreme Security since CheckPoint took over. (I liked their original free firewall pretty well, after considerable tweaking, if only out of ignorance.) Now it's an inscrutable monster program whose most potentially valuable feature, browser virtualization, no longer works for me in the current version but crashes every time IE 8. (yYs, I'm probably benighted in the browser department as well, but I've only so much energy to devote to computer maintenance.) Anyhow, thanks for your previous comments, and perhaps you can suggest other firewall/AV/Web-security vendors that I might consider...

[allen2]

I won't help on this as i don't use any windows firewall or web filter (i'm using a linux router with firewall). As for the antivirus, i would recommend Kaspersky or McAfee (both offer a good protection without too much bother in some of their products) but find false positives a lot of time.

Most of the time, you need to know how to manually protect your computer without any tools. The problem with any computer protection is will/can you trust it to the end ? The answer is a big NO. In my experience, any protection will fail in both ways (not finding real positives and finding false positives) sooner or later. Even Virustotal (which is a great idea) might help sometimes but not always.

Edited December 5, 2011 by allen2

[jclarkw]

All you need to download is this (on the linked page):

Previous Release version 6.11.1.404 - March 27, 2009
Install 32-bit version 6.11.1.404 [16.9 MB]

Then configure the symbols path and next learn how to debug crash dump.

But as you're not an it person and seems to lack the required basics, you should go with something different like Nirsoft bluescreen viewer.

Right on the money. Thanks a lot!

BlueScreenView works like a champ and has the added benefit of no "install." It found both of my suspect drivers right away (after the fact, or course, since I had already gotten help with my immediate problem). Next time I think I can do it on my own with this tiny tool.

Next I tried the home-use version of WhoCrashed from Resplendence (referenced in one of the BlueScreenView reviews that I read), which requires the Windows Debugging Tools to which you pointed me, but which gives even more specific results. Having also installed those tools, I now see Dumpchk.exe in the Debugging Tools root directory. Dumpchk output even shows up now in BlueScreenView.

I even figured out how to incorporate Win XP SP3 symbols, although not those for the 3rd-party drivers, into the Debugging Tools (and into Dumpchk) by downloading them from "http://msdl.microsoft.com/download/symbols/packages/windowsxp/WindowsXP-KB936929-SP3-x86-symbols-full-ENU.exe."

Both free progarms seem to be winners, although WhoCrashed takes a lot more overhead. Thanks again for putting me on the right track! - jclarkw

Edited December 7, 2011 by jclarkw