Steps to take in the event of a system crash

Solution: When a computer crash happens, it is sometimes difficult for the technical support team to reproduce the problem.  Here are a few steps you can take when a system crash occurs which will help Tekscan to assess the issue.  The main objective is to provide Tekscan with a memory (kernel) dump file, which is produced by Microsoft Windows when a system crash occurs.  This dump file contains valuable information that can assist technical support to locate and resolve the problem.

Please follow the procedure below if your system should crash and you receive a “blue screen.”  This procedure assumes you are running a Windows XP machine.

Right-click on the Start menu.  Select “Explore.”  On the left panel, locate the My Computer icon, right-click and select “Properties.”

Note: the My Computer icon is also located on your desktop.

Under the “General” tab, make a note of the Size of your RAM, as this is required in subsequent steps.

Click the “Advanced” tab.

In the “Startup and Recovery” section, click the Settings button.

Under the “Write debugging information” section, click the drop-down arrow and select “Complete memory dump.”  Also make sure the “Overwrite any existing files” checkbox is selected.  This ensures you do not waste any hard drive space on your computer.

Note: The memory (kernel) dump file will require the same amount of space on your hard drive as the amount of RAM that is available on your machine (plus 1 MB.).  Be sure you have enough free space on your hard drive.  For example, in Step 3 above, there is 1 GB of RAM on the computer, so the dump file will require 1001 MB of space (1 GB = 1000 MB + 1 MB = 1001 MB).

Click OK to close the “Startup and Recovery” dialog.

Click OK to close the “System Properties” dialog.

Reboot the computer and attempt to reproduce the system crash (blue screen).  When the crash occurs, restart your system.  The dump file is located on your hard drive in the following location: C:WINDOWSMEMORY.DMP.

Copy the file to a CD or DVD.  If the file is smaller than 650 or 700 MB, you can copy the file to a CD.  If the file is larger, you can copy the file to a DVD, which can hold up to 4,500 MB (4.5 GB).

Send this file to "Tekscan customer support" <support@tekscan.com> so that the technical support team can review the file.