Windows NT Does Not Save Memory Dump File After a Crash

ID: Q130536

The information in this article applies to:
You can configure Windows NT to dump system memory to a file called Memory.dmp when a severe error (called a STOP error or fatal system error) occurs. This log file can be valuable for debugging the cause of the STOP error.

NOTE: Before troubleshooting the problem, ensure that the computer is properly configured to save a crash dump file. For more information, see Chapter 5 of your Windows NT Workstation or Windows NT Server "System Guide."

The following are several reasons why the Memory.dmp file is not being created when your computer encounters a STOP message:
  1. The Memory.dmp file already exists and the option Overwrite Any Existing File (found in Control Panel System) is not selected. It is a good idea to leave this box checked and to move or copy the current Memory.dmp file.


  2. The paging file on the system drive is not large enough. To use the Write Debugging Information To feature, the paging file on the system drive must be large enough to hold all of physical RAM plus 1 megabyte.


  3. The paging file is not on the system root partition. When the STOP error occurs, the system crash dump is written out to the pagefile on the root of the system drive (the drive of the %SYSTEMROOT% directory).


  4. There is not room for the Memory.dmp file in the path specified in Control Panel for writing the memory dump.


  5. It is possible that the SCSI controller is bad or the system crash is caused by a bad SCSI controller board.


  6. Certain computers and SCSI controllers do not permit the crash dump information to be created. To determine if more information is available, query on the following words in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
    <your computer model> and Memory.dmp




NOTE: The administrator can configure the computer to generate system event log and to send alerts to specific computers or users upon a system crash. This is a very useful feature of Windows NT for monitoring systems for system crashes when away from computers and when system configured for automatic reboot.

Additional query words: debug trap page file 


Keywords          : ntstop nthowto 
Version           : WinNT:3.5,4.0
Platform          : WINDOWS 
Issue type        : kbhowto

Last Reviewed: February 26, 1999