Troubleshooting eComStation - A Guide to the Troubled

No one likes exceptions, but they do happen. The kernel defines two types of exception reports

• Process Exception Reports
• Kernel IPE Exception Reports

Some applications define private exception handlers which replace the default Process Exception report with application specific reports

• eWorkPlace Exception Log
• Innotek Font Library Exception Logs
• GCC LIBC Exception Logs

Process exceptions are reported as

01-> 02-25-1999  10:58:35  SYS3175  PID 00b2  TID 0001  Slot 0068
02-> E:\CLASSES\LABS\LAB26\BEDBUG.EXE
03-> c0000005
04-> 1bf94e24
05-> P1=00000001  P2=00000000  P3=XXXXXXXX  P4=XXXXXXXX
06-> EAX=00000000  EBX=00060210  ECX=0002881c  EDX=00060210
07-> ESI=00000001  EDI=00000002
08-> DS=0053  DSACC=d0f3  DSLIM=1fffffff
09-> ES=0053  ESACC=d0f3  ESLIM=1fffffff
10-> FS=150b  FSACC=00f3  FSLIM=00000030
11-> GS=0000  GSACC=****  GSLIM=********
12-> CS:EIP=005b:1bf94e24  CSACC=d0df  CSLIM=1fffffff
13-> SS:ESP=0053:000287ec  SSACC=d0f3  SSLIM=1fffffff
14-> EBP=000287f8  FLG=00012206

15-> DOSCALL1.DLL 0002:00004e24

Kernel IPE exceptions are reported as

1-> <IPE specific Message>

2->  THE SYSTEM DETECTED AN INTERNAL PROCESSING
     ERROR AT LOCATION ##xxxx:yyyyyyyy - aaaa:bbbb

3->  lllll , ffff
4->  038600d1
5-> INTERNAL REVISION 6 . 307  DATE: 92/03/01

1->  TRAP 0002        ERRCD= 0000  ERACC= ****  ERLIM= ********
      EAX= 7d240a58  EBX= ff202fdc  ECX= 00064423  EDX= 00003624
      ESI= fff3272c  EDI= 7d240004  EBP= 00004a44  FLG= 00003202
2->   CS:EIP= 0160 : fff702a6  CSACC= c09d  CSLIM= ffffffff
      SS:ESP= 0030 : 00004a38  SSACC= 1097  SSLIM= 00003fff
3->   DS= 0158  DSACC= c0f3  DSLIM= ffffffff  CR0= fffffffb
4->   ES= 0158  ESACC= c0f3  ESLIM= ffffffff  CR2= 1a060014
      FS= 0000  FSACC= ****  FSLIM= ********
      GS= 0000  GSACC= ****  GSLIM= ********
     THE SYSTEM DETECTED AN INTERNAL PROCESSING
     ERROR AT LOCATION ##0160:fff6453f - 000d:a53f

     60000 , 9084
     038600d1
     INTERNAL REVISION 6 . 307  DATE: 92/03/01

• Records exceptions to xwplog.log.
• Based on exceptq exception handler code.
• File is written to root of boot drive.

• Records exceptions to ft2excpt.log.
• File is written to root of boot drive.
• Usually requires reboot to restore normal operation.

• OS/2 Trace Facility
• OS2TRACE
• PMSPY

• Provides API level tracing.
• Ships with eCS/OS2.
• Implemented by TRACE.EXE and TRACEFMT.EXE.
• Limited output formatting
• Some documented trace points appear to no long operate.
• Two trace points are known to trap the kernel.
• Trace Setup Reference is a cookbook setup guide.
• Trace Control Tool provides a convenient wrapper around the trace command syntax. Uses configuration files to provide repeatable trace setups.

• Provides API level tracing.
• Somewhat instrusive because it patches the binaries.
• Excellent output formatting.
• Has a GUI setup wrapper.
• Available from Hobbes

• Provide PM window message tracing
• Has good filtering options.
• Output typically requires a programmer to interpret.
• Download from OS/2 Site

• System Error Log
• Mozilla Log Facility
• Innotek Font Library Log Facility

• Log entries are essentially a mini-process dumps with application specific data.
• Limited usefulness because captured data is not well documented.
• Logging is implemented by kernel APIs.
• Formatting is implemented by SYSLOGPM.

• Comprehensive and configurable.
• Generally requires programmer assistance to setup and interpret
• The documentation at Mozilla Logging provides a good overview.

• Records detail activity to log.
• Log files named ft2lib_x.log, where x is the library instance.
• Written to root of boot drive.
• Controlled by HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\InnoTek\InnoTek Font Engine\Logging registry key.
• Recommended for finding broken font files.

• Configured by DUMPPROCESS statment or PDUMPUSR command.
• Dump files written to named directory.
• Dump files formatted by Process Dump Formatter (pmdf).
• The Process Dump Facility is documented in x:\OS2\SYSTEM\RAS\PROCDUMP.DOC.
• Process Dump Reference is a somewhat dated cookbook setup guide.
• Process Dump Control implements a convenient wrapper to setup and capture process dumps.

• Configured by TRAPDUMP statment or PDUMPSYS command.
• Dump files written to named volume.
• The dump destroys any existing content.
• Dump files are formatted by the Process Dump Formatter (pmdf).
• The Trap Dump Facility is documented in x:\OS2\SYSTEM\RAS\PROCDUMP.DOC
• Trap Dump Reference is a somewhat dated cookbook setup guide.
• Dump Trap Screen extracts the popuplog data from a dump file. Designed for systems that do not have atrap dump volume, but that do have a diskette drive.

• Formats both process and system dumps.
• Needs to be configured match specific system.
• pmdfvers.lst cross-references configuration directories to specific kernels
• Kernel Debugger Reference is a cheatsheet reference to the kernel debugger and the Process Dump Formatter.

• Theseus implements comprehensive tools for memory and process analysis.
• pstat implmenents a simple listing of loaded processes and DLLs.
• psfiles lists all open files.
• pssem lists all semaphores.
• top displays process status in various formats.
• cadh includes a process process status listing amoung its features.

• Kernel debugger
• OpenWatcom debuggers (wdw and wd).
• VAC debuggers (icsdebug and idebug).
• ICAT debugger

• ida
• Theseus
• pmdf

• Everyone should be aware of the existance of "The OS/2 Debugging Handbook, #0.7a (sg244640.inf)." It's included in the OS/2 Warp Toolkit on your eCS CD.
• OS/2 Diagnostic Tools is the home for many of the tools and documents discussed here.