Dr. Watson and Windows 3.1

• Microsoft Windows operating system versions 3.1, 3.11

SUMMARY

Dr. Watson (DRWATSON.EXE) is a diagnostic utility that detects system and application failures (for example, general protection [GP] faults) and stores Windows internal data in a file called DRWATSON.LOG. Certain areas of this file may be useful when troubleshooting problems that may exist.

NOTE: Dr. Watson is included in Windows versions 3.1 and 3.11 and Windows for Workgroups version 3.1. It is not included with Windows 3.0 or Windows for Workgroups 3.11.

MORE INFORMATION

A Dr. Watson icon is not automatically loaded during Windows Setup. If you are experiencing a problem in Windows, it is recommended that you create an icon and install it in the Startup group. If an error occurs while Dr. Watson is running, specific internal data from Windows is captured and written to the DRWATSON.LOG file.

How to Read a Dr. Watson Log

The Dr. Watson log is divided into sections, with each section being separated by a blank line.

The Start (and Stop) line records the time and date that Dr. Watson was started. A series of start lines indicates Windows with no application errors. A start line immediately followed by a Stop line indicates the same thing.

The Failure Report line records the time and date when the error occurred. It also tells which version of Dr. Watson was running at the time.

The next two lines are related. The line "<APPLICATION NAME> had a <fault description> fault at <module name> <cs:ip register>" is a descriptive way of stating the next line (the $tag$ line). The $tag$ line divides the error into fields separated by "$". The first field indicates what application you were in when the error occurred. The second field indicates the probable error. The third field indicates which module probably caused the error, and its memory location. The fourth field is the instruction in the stack that the application was on when the error occurred. The fifth field is the time/date that the error occurred.

The next two log sections indicate what was in the various CPU registers at fail time. The 32-bit registers are listed separately in the second register section.

The System Info section provides information about the system and Windows. Username and Organization are taken from Windows 3.1 files and may be blank from Windows 3.0.

The Stack Dump section is divided into frames. You can find out what was in the stack before the fault occurred in this section, in the first frame (0), by locating its memory location in the stack (the memory location was indicated in the third field of the $tag$ line).

The final section lists the applications running from the tasks list. (The number of tasks running can be found in the System Info section.)

A User description appears at the end of the log. These lines are preceded by a #> (for example, 1>, 2>, and so on).

Troubleshooting with Dr. Watson

The Dr. Watson log file is intended for debugging purposes. The more Windows knowledge you have, the more useful the Dr. Watson log file will be. At the very least, it can help isolate what application and module caused the error. In general it is more important which module caused the error than the application you were in when the error occurred. For example, the following log in the Failure Report section shows an error that could have been associated with the display driver:

   Dr. Watson 0.80 Failure Report- Sat May 23 14:30:44 1992
   Write had a 'Code Segment (Read)' fault at Display 2:ld70
   $tag$WRITE$Code Segment (Read)$Display 2:ld70$mov

It is important to remember that Dr. Watson is a diagnostic tool, and not a cure for a problem. Having Dr. Watson will not prevent an error from occurring, but the information in DRWATSON.LOG can help isolate the problem.