Debugging Guide

Things to check before opening a ticket if you have problems

• Make sure you are using the latest version of a supported driver. Official supported drivers are built by David Azarewicz and are available either on the main wiki page, or from the eCS BetaZone. Any other builds from other sources are not supported.
• Make sure you are using an official supported IBM kernel. Only the official IBM 14.104a debug, 14.105 and 14.106 kernels are supported.
• Make sure you are using an official supported IBM loader that goes with the official IBM kernel you are using.
• If you have a PSD installed, make sure it is the latest version and that you are not using any unnecessary switches.

If you open a ticket, please attach a testlog log file when you open your ticket. A formatted trace file is usually not necessary and is useless unless captured correctly at the correct time. Only attach a formatted trace file if the developer asks for it.

If you cannot create a testlog log, at a minimum you must include the bldlevel output for the driver you are using. Also, include the PCI Vendor ID and Device ID of your hardware in the ticket (ie. the section from PCI.EXE that relates to your NIC). If the driver traps, please, include the trap screen.

This page contains instructions for creating a testlog log file and a formatted trace file.

Capturing A testlog log file

If you don't already have the current version of testlog.cmd, you can download it here: ​Get testlog.cmd

Open a command window and execute the testlog command for your particular driver. For example:

testlog r8169

Or

testlog e1000e

Attach the created log file to your ticket. Do not ZIP the log file.

Installing the Trace Version of the Driver

To install the trace version, run the Warpin installation and select both packages.

To re-install the normal version, run the Warpin installation and uninstall the trace package and reinstall the retail package.

To enable tracing, add these two lines to your CONFIG.SYS:

  TRACEBUF=512 /M=NOWRAP,QUEUED,NODTI /D=ALL
  TRACE=ON 248

You must reboot to make the new driver active and enable tracing. This assumes that you have already setup this driver using mpts.exe. You do not need to setup the driver using mpts.exe more than once, even if you install new versions of the driver. You just need to reboot to start using the new version.

Capturing the Trace

To capture the trace dump, open a command window and type:

TRACEFMT

From the file menu choose Save Formatted... and save the trace to a file of your choice.