Re: Lockup debugging

From: Pete Johnston (anonymous_at_discussions.microsoft.com)
Date: 12/09/04 

Date: Fri, 10 Dec 2004 08:29:36 +1300

I can crash the machine when it's running with ScrollLock, and I can break
in with a debugger. Yesterday I had WinDbg/1394 attached. The machine locks
up after being restarted from hibernation, when I insert DVD+RW into
DVD-ROM. Inserting DVD+RW into DVD writers is ok. The machine did lock up in
other circumstances, but the DVD+RW case is 100% reproducible. Neither
ScrollLock nor Ctrl+Break, SysRq, Alt+SysReq, Ctrl+C, F12 work on both
machines. The debugger cannot break in. I tried several times with no
success, with Verifier and without.

The machine seems to be spinning since the CPU temperature is going up.

Can the debugger break in when the target is spinning at DISPATCH_LEVEL? Can
Verifier detect deadlocks at higher levels, such as ISR?

What is the highest priority interrupt handler that is periodically called
on Win2k3, if any? The system clock? Maybe I can hack the handler to call
KeBugCheck if, for instance, a global variable has not been updated for
awhile?

Any other suggestions?

Thanks!
Pete 

-- 
"Doron Holan [MS]" <doronh@nospam.microsoft.com> wrote in message 
news:uoPK40g3EHA.1152@TK2MSFTNGP14.phx.gbl...
> if crash on control + scroll lock doesn't work, either you have not set 
> the setting properly (have you verified this crashes the machine when it 
> is running?), or the keyboard interrupt isn't running when the machine 
> locks up (which means spinning at high irql or a hw lockup).  in these 
> cases, getting the debugger to break in can sometimes be impossible.
>
> d
>
> -- 
> Please do not send e-mail directly to this alias. this alias is for 
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> This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no 
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>
>
> "Pete Johnston" <anonymous@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message 
> news:ujPg8zY3EHA.2540@TK2MSFTNGP09.phx.gbl...
>> I've got a dual Xeon W2k3 box that locks up intermittently. I'd like to 
>> debug
>> or crash it when it stops responding. Ctrl + double ScrollLock doesn't 
>> work.
>> It's not convenient to have a debugger attached all the time. I wonder if
>> the following will work.
>>
>> - I set /debug /debugport=1394 in boot.ini and boot the box
>> - Once the box has locked up, I connect a 1394 cable to a laptop with 
>> WinDbg
>> - I use WinDbg to debug or crash the box
>>
>> What are my chances to have WinDbg connected to the target machine when 
>> the latter is stuck - ie spinning at a high IRQL?
>>
>> Can anyone suggest hardware-based solutions to crash a PC with memory 
>> dump? Like a cheap PCI card, NIC or whatever, with two wires and a red 
>> button soldered to it? Though I am afraid the problem is in video 
>> drivers, so even if I managed to crash the computer, I won't get the 
>> memory dump anyway.
>>
>> Thanks
>> Pete
>>
>> -- 
>>
>>
>>
>>
>
>