Debugging Tools

Microsoft Debugging Tools can be used for tracking down the cause of a Blue Screen of Death (BSOD). Windows NT treats installed drivers as trusted code, so if having installed a poorly written driver, then it might cause Windows NT to crash with a BSOD. When Windows NT crashes it also attempts to create a memory dump, which can be used for tracking down the cause of the BSOD.

  1. Start WinDbg and in the File-menu select “Open Crash Dump…”
  2. Point it to the memory dump created during the BSOD and press Ok
  3. It will open a Command window and begin to read the memory dump
  4. When it is done look for the following line, and you will find the filename of the driver:

    Probably caused by : ….

  5. Use your favorite search engine to find out what device uses the driver, or do a file search on your computer for the filename and view the file properties.

More Info MS KB307973
More Info MS KB315263