ID Number: Q51503
3.00
WINDOWS
Summary:
This article describes Microsoft's preferred format for submitting
problem reports on Windows. Using this format will help us to
understand the precise context of your problem report, enabling us to
provide better answers to you and more helpful problem reports to our
development staff.
More Information:
Your problem report should be structured as follows:
SEVERITY:
ENVIRONMENT:
DESCRIPTION:
CONFIGURATION:
Hardware:
Drivers:
Software:
DEBUG INFORMATION:
Each of these sections is described below:
SEVERITY: 1, 2, 3, or 4. Use the following guidelines for severity:
1 Critical -- Software does not work at all (crashes) or causes
loss/corruption of data. Any situation where the system hangs or
requires a cold or warm boot.
2 Major -- A feature/function does not operate as designed. Any
command or function that produces incorrect results or renders a
portion of the product unusable.
3 Minor -- Problems are generally minor in nature and do not
prevent program from running (spelling errors, screen display
errors, and so forth), or the results are misleading and/or
difficult for the user to understand.
4 Enhancement -- Problem is a design or feature fault that can be
addressed in a future release.
ENVIRONMENT:
WINDOWS REAL or 286 PROTECT or 386 PROTECT release Version x.xx
(Include debug info line from the bottom right of screen, if
applicable)
DESCRIPTION:
Below is a description of the "ideal" problem report. The best problem
reports are clear, complete, and concise. These are some points that
will make it easier to track problem reports and enter them in our
problem database.
The report should state the steps necessary to reproduce the problem,
the results, and (if available) a summary of the debug output. Try to
include enough information that we can reproduce the problem here, but
also try to keep the reports concise.
The configuration should be at the end of the problem report so that
people reading the report can get the gist of the problem without
having to wade through information that may not be relevant (but the
information is there in case it is relevant).
CONFIGURATION:
Hardware: CPU/Memory/Monitor/keyboard/printer/modem/etc.
Drivers: Installed device drivers
Software: TSRs/Network drivers/etc.
DEBUG INFORMATION:
The following is a sample of debug output that can be helpful in
locating a problem:
GENERAL PROTECTION VIOLATION
CS=0EED SS=0F35 DS=0F35 ES=OOOO FS=0000 GS=0000
-- NV UP EI PL NZ NA PE NC
0EED:00000387 MOV AL,BYTE PTR AL,BYTE PTR [BX]
DS:23D0=INV:0003
ln
No symbols found
.dg cs
004D: 0063p CODE NOTEPAD (0EEE) 1065,103D
103D: 01FFp CODE USER (05BE) 104D,102D
1165: 0061p CODE GDI (03AE) 101D,100D
115D: 001Bp FREE 009D,0075
07B5: 000Bp CODE KEYBOARD (018E) 035D,0FE5