Log in

View Full Version : Symbol Retriever/Loader and Softice startup


roocoon
March 12th, 2006, 12:33
Hi all.

I was about to ask why on earth Softice hangs up the system when I start it up (been through all the messages, fixes, etc, I could think of).
System is XP SP2 (latest updates) with Driverstudio 3.2 running a NVidia GeForce4 with its dreaded drivers (latest version).
Exact same problem with Win2K SP4 (also with latest updates and same NVidia drivers).

Running in full VGA mode without Universal Video Driver checked, gives me a corrupted screen but Ctrl-D gets me back.
With the Universal Video Driver checked, the system just freezes in place.

Well, I got it to work so here it is in case it helps somebody else.

Softice set to start in Manual mode.

In Display Properties/Settings/Advanced/Troubleshoot lower the hardware acceleration (I set it two notches to the left but it could be one notch is sufficient).
Start up Softice. Its screen should come up. Ctrl-D back to the desktop.
Raise up the hardware acceleration back to full. Softice should still respond fine.
It seems to have a problem with diirectdraw only during its inirialization.

Now about the Symbol Retriever.

People here have pointed out that we should use the symsrv.dll from the latest MS Debugging Tools and they are right.
Nevertheless, browsing the free tools at compuware, I came across a release of Symbol Retriever that works as is. It's the same loader but with a different included symsrv.dll.
Grab it here: _http://frontline.compuware.com/products/nsh/fixes/12568.asp

A question about it:
Why does it never create nms files for me even though I ask it to?
Also, it creates DBG files for only a few of the PDBs it downloads (that's in XP SP2 only -- in Win2K SP4 DBGs are created just fine).

And a question about the Symbol Loader:
In its options, I set up as symbol search path g:\symserver (which is where Retriever puts the PDBs).
In Win2K the Loader finds the symbols. In XP, it refuses to scan the subdirectories in that folder and works only if I specify the specific DLL's subdirectory.
What's different in XP that suppresses the subdirectory scan?

Thanks for any comments.

HAVOK
March 12th, 2006, 14:16
Hi,

I dont know if this matches exactly your case, but check this thread: h**p://forum.exetools.com/showthread.php?t=8984

Quote:
As some of you know, 3DMark06 was released yesterday. Since I wanted to get the best possible score my PC can get, I downloaded and installed the latest NVIDIA drivers and run the benchmark.

Today I tried to run SoftICE, but as soon as I started it, my computer locked up. I first guessed that some copy protection was using a new trick, but I soon figured out that the new NVIDIA drivers are the problem.

No matter if I selected "manual", "automatic" or "system" for SoftICE startup, my PC always became locked. When I selected "boot" as start method, SoftICE started like normal, but as soon as I tried to open the SoftICE window in Windows, my PC was frozen again.


There is a long discussion about nvidia drivers which may help you.

Regards,

babar0ga
March 12th, 2006, 14:32
Quote:
[Originally Posted by roocoon]
Also, it creates DBG files for only a few of the PDBs it downloads (that's in XP SP2 only -- in Win2K SP4 DBGs are created just fine).

DBG files are superseded by PDB files so that makes them obsolete.

If you have PDB's, you are fine...

roocoon
March 12th, 2006, 17:18
I've seen the exetools thread.
More of the same I'd say. Everybody, after eliminating the possible culprits, shoots in the dark.
Even my way might not work after a new version of the driver or DirectX but since it eliminates the more advanced video features at the beginning, it might get luckier.
Really, that's a Softice problem and they should have looked into it. It isn't as if it's a brand new problem.