[Info-vax] Not getting a dump file when VMS crashes

[David Froble]

VAXman- @SendSpamHere.ORG wrote:
> In article <jldadr$7ig$1 at dont-email.me>, David Froble <davef at tsoft-inc.com> writes:
>> Ok, I should know more than I am remembering.  Take pity on a senile old man, if you know 
>> the answer(s).  Don't bother looking it up if you don't, I can still read.  Just hoping 
>> for a simple answer.
>>
>> Got a VAXstation 4000 model 90A running VMS V7.2.  Recently it has been crashing.  I had 
>> been thinking it might be power related, there were some incidents where other stuff also 
>> went down, but now it's happening maybe once or twice a week to only the VAXstation.
>>
>> So Ok, I'll look at the crash dump, right?  Unfortunately, what I'm getting is:
>>
>> $ ana/crash
>> _Dump File: sys$system:sysdump.dmp
>>
>> OpenVMS (TM) VAX System dump analyzer
>>
>> %SDA-W-VAXDUMP, dump file FLAGS2 DMP$V_VAXDUMP should be set
>> %SDA-E-DUMPEMPTY, dump file contains no valid dump
>>
>> Perhaps someone who knows what the above means can save me some eye strain?
>>
>> I have DUMPSTYLE set to 2
> 
> What does SYS$SYSTEM:SYSDUMP.DMP look like?  Is it sized appropriately?
> Is it contiguous?  Movefile disabled?
> 
> $ DUMP/HEADER/BLOCK=COUNT=0 SYS$SYSTEM:SYSDUMP.DMP
> 
> 

Well, that can at least produce a bunch of output  :-)

Dump of file SYS$SYSROOT:[SYSEXE]SYSDUMP.DMP;1 on  3-APR-2012 10:58:40.92
File ID (1074,2,0)   End of file block 131081 / Allocated 131081

                              File Header

Header area
     Identification area offset:           40
     Map area offset:                      100
     Access control area offset:           255
     Reserved area offset:                 255
     Extension segment number:             0
     Structure level and version:          2, 1
     File identification:                  (1074,2,0)
     Extension file identification:        (0,0,0)
     VAX-11 RMS attributes
         Record type:                      Undefined
         File organization:                Sequential
         Record attributes:                <none specified>
         Record size:                      0
         Highest block:                    131081
         End of file block:                131081
         End of file byte:                 512
         Bucket size:                      0
         Fixed control area size:          0
         Maximum record size:              0
         Default extension size:           0
         Global buffer count:              0
         Directory version limit:          0
     File characteristics:                 No backup, Contiguous best try,
                                           MoveFile disabled
     Caching attribute:                    Writethrough
     Map area words in use:                4
     Access mode:                          0
     File owner UIC:                       [SYSTEM]
     File protection:                      S:RWED, O:RWED, G:, W:
     Back link file identification:        (1053,1,0)
     Journal control flags:                <none specified>
     Active recovery units:                None
     Highest block written:                131081
     Client attributes:                    None

Identification area
     File name:                            SYSDUMP.DMP;1
     Revision number:                      10
     Creation date:                         1-FEB-1995 21:26:17.91
     Revision date:                        18-JAN-2001 20:37:17.05
     Expiration date:                      <none specified>
     Backup date:                          <none specified>

Map area
     Retrieval pointers
         Count:     131081        LBN:    1181478

Checksum:                                 51192