Microstation Connect Edition 10.0.0 is not generating Exception logs or minidumps, how can I resolve that?

RE: Microstation Connect Edition 10.0.0 is not generating Exception logs or minidumps, how can I resolve that?

Mark Schmidt — Wed, 03 Jun 2020 13:29:27 GMT

yup.. I've used WinDbg in the past for reading Windows dumps. I mean yeah it's not typically helpful since 90% of teh time a Windows dump is caused by NToskernel but occasionally there's some other file responsible.

RE: Microstation Connect Edition 10.0.0 is not generating Exception logs or minidumps, how can I resolve that?

Jan Šlegr — Wed, 03 Jun 2020 13:12:02 GMT

[quote userid="319187" url="~/products/administration/f/product-administration-forum/198194/microstation-connect-edition-10-0-0-is-not-generating-exception-logs-or-minidumps-how-can-i-resolve-that/590681"]I assume the typical log location is in the users AppData yes?[/quote]

Yes.

The most simple way how to find the location is to use $ % explorer $(MS_TMP) key-in in MicroStation. It opens Windows Explorer in the that folder (temp).

[quote userid="319187" url="~/products/administration/f/product-administration-forum/198194/microstation-connect-edition-10-0-0-is-not-generating-exception-logs-or-minidumps-how-can-i-resolve-that/590681"]as resource hungry as MS can be I would not surprise me if that's what happened.[/quote]

MicroStation is not so hungry application (when compared with its functionality). For 2D and average 3D files, e.g. memory consumption is less than e.g. Chrome or Firefox ;-)

[quote userid="319187" url="~/products/administration/f/product-administration-forum/198194/microstation-connect-edition-10-0-0-is-not-generating-exception-logs-or-minidumps-how-can-i-resolve-that/590681"]I have seen applications lock the host OS up before[/quote]

It should be very rare situation. I have not seen it for years (and when, it was about HW or driver problem). Halted / locked application yes, but whole Windows? But of course, it can happen.

[quote userid="319187" url="~/products/administration/f/product-administration-forum/198194/microstation-connect-edition-10-0-0-is-not-generating-exception-logs-or-minidumps-how-can-i-resolve-that/590681"]I've never even tried the Create Dump File to see what happens[/quote]

Well, memory dump is useful for the application developer, but for nobody else ;-)

Its usefulness is also based on what caused the crash and what type of dump (from minidump to full dump) is created. Sometimes the problem is seen easily, sometimes it requires detail analysis.

There are not many application that are able to handle memory dump, probably the best is WinDbg available from Microsoft Store. Even when it's named as Preview, it's better and more user friendly than standard tools available e.g. in Windows SDK.

Regards,

Jan

RE: Microstation Connect Edition 10.0.0 is not generating Exception logs or minidumps, how can I resolve that?

Mark Schmidt — Wed, 03 Jun 2020 12:18:57 GMT

Does the user really use version 10.0.0? MicroStation users 4 digits numbering system, so I guess it's 10.00.00.25 (can be shortened to 10.0.0.25).

When this version is really used, it's seriously old version, not recommended to use today. It was the first CONNECT Edition version, released nearly 5 years ago! As you can imagine, the first version are not very good usually and MicroStation was not different. Today CE Update 14 (build 10.14.01.109) is much better (in fact, it's probably the first version fast and stable enough to be used in more complex projects).

No sorry, the full version for this user is 10.08.00.37. The highest we have in use is 10.12.00.40 update 12. Apparently I'm told the last time they tried the latest version (back in 2018) that it broke TopoDOT so they downgraded just a smidge. I will see about getting someone to test 10.14.

No, MicroStation is configured to produce logs by default. But when more detail logging is required, the variables mentioned by Bob Rayner can be used.

I assume the typical log location is in the users AppData yes?

I guess exception log and minidumps will not help too much in this case, because it sounds more like Windows issue than MicroStation problem. Especially when machine hard reset was necessary and not simple "kill MicroStation".

Did you check Windows logs, whether anything was reported by operating system?

I'd normally agree but I have seen applications lock the host OS up before.. as resource hungry as MS can be I would not surprise me if that's what happened. But I only have what the user says happened to go on since they are WFH right now. The event viewer was useless.. had nothing related to what happened.

When MicroStation hangs (the process still exists) but Windows still lives, in addition to procedure described in wiki (in Andrew Bell) you can create minidump from Task Manager:

Start Task Manager (Ctrl+Shift+Esc, Ctrl+Alt+Del and choose Task Manager, or start taskmgr.exe).
Find MicroStation in the list of processes.
In mouse context menu (right click on MicroStation process), choose Create Dump file.

You know all these years and I've never even tried the Create Dump File to see what happens lol. I'll definitely give that a go next time!

RE: Microstation Connect Edition 10.0.0 is not generating Exception logs or minidumps, how can I resolve that?

Mark Schmidt — Wed, 03 Jun 2020 11:37:51 GMT

Thanks Andrew, I assumed that was the case here as I've seen applications affect Windows to such a degree that a hard reset is in order many times in the past. As I mentioned I am no expert when it comes to Microstation, in fact I've only been here a year and this is the first company that I've worked for that's used it.

This particular user is on version 10.08.00.37, I have other users on 10.12.00.40

RE: Microstation Connect Edition 10.0.0 is not generating Exception logs or minidumps, how can I resolve that?

Mark Schmidt — Wed, 03 Jun 2020 11:12:46 GMT

Thanks!

RE: Microstation Connect Edition 10.0.0 is not generating Exception logs or minidumps, how can I resolve that?

Jan Šlegr — Wed, 03 Jun 2020 03:59:06 GMT

Hi Mark,

[quote userid="319187" url="~/products/administration/f/product-administration-forum/198194/microstation-connect-edition-10-0-0-is-not-generating-exception-logs-or-minidumps-how-can-i-resolve-that"]Microstation Connect Edition 10.0.0 is not generating[/quote]

Does the user really use version 10.0.0? MicroStation users 4 digits numbering system, so I guess it's 10.00.00.25 (can be shortened to 10.0.0.25).

[quote userid="319187" url="~/products/administration/f/product-administration-forum/198194/microstation-connect-edition-10-0-0-is-not-generating-exception-logs-or-minidumps-how-can-i-resolve-that"]I see that MS can generate both minidumps and exception logs[/quote]

Yes, MicroStation creates these two files when (A) anything goes wrong and (B) MicroStation is still in a condition to create the logs.

[quote userid="319187" url="~/products/administration/f/product-administration-forum/198194/microstation-connect-edition-10-0-0-is-not-generating-exception-logs-or-minidumps-how-can-i-resolve-that"]Does MS need to be configured to create those logs/files and if so how do you do it?[/quote]

No, MicroStation is configured to produce logs by default. But when more detail logging is required, the variables mentioned by Bob Rayner can be used.

[quote userid="319187" url="~/products/administration/f/product-administration-forum/198194/microstation-connect-edition-10-0-0-is-not-generating-exception-logs-or-minidumps-how-can-i-resolve-that"]when it came back up the file she had been working on was gone[/quote]

Did you check Windows logs, whether anything was reported by operating system?

When crash is serious (MicroStation is too corrupted to create logs or the crash is caused by Windows), the log and minidump are not created. It's quite rare situation, but can happen.

When MicroStation hangs (the process still exists) but Windows still lives, in addition to procedure described in wiki (in Andrew Bell) you can create minidump from Task Manager:

Start Task Manager (Ctrl+Shift+Esc, Ctrl+Alt+Del and choose Task Manager, or start taskmgr.exe).
Find MicroStation in the list of processes.
In mouse context menu (right click on MicroStation process), choose Create Dump file.

With regards,

Jan

RE: Microstation Connect Edition 10.0.0 is not generating Exception logs or minidumps, how can I resolve that?

Andrew Bell — Tue, 02 Jun 2020 23:35:32 GMT

There are times when these exception and minidump log files are not created and when the software locks up or hangs you can record exactly what has occurred on this users system by configuring their system to produce a hang dump. It is also good to know what was being performed at this time when the hang occurs and whether it is specific to a particular file. The exact version of MicroStation is also useful so we can advise if a newer release may help to resolve your issue.

https://communities.bentley.com/products/microstation/w/microstation__wiki/39836/generate-a-hang-dump-with-procdump

https://communities.bentley.com/products/microstation/w/microstation__wiki/17030/how-to-find-which-version-of-microstation-i-am-running

RE: Microstation Connect Edition 10.0.0 is not generating Exception logs or minidumps, how can I resolve that?

Bob Rayner — Tue, 02 Jun 2020 21:30:40 GMT