Better problem reporting: How to capture a crash dump

[Noel Borthwick]

Why do crashes occur?
Crashes occur when an application encounters an unexpected condition. There can be a myriad reasons for this including bugs, memory overwrites, problems in plugins or other third party components or add on's, driver errors as well as actual hardware problems.

Minidumps
Many crashes can be specific to a particular user's environment, therefore for troubleshooting it's important for developers to be able to do "post mortem" analysis to determine the cause of the crash. When a crash occurs Windows takes a snapshot of the crash and saves a file called a minidump file (.dmp). This file records information about the state of the system when the crash occurred and can be very helpful to diagnose these problems remotely.  For problems that are not reproducible such dump files can often be the only means of diagnosis.

Locating crash dump files for Cakewalk
If you encounter a crash when using Cakewalk you will normally see a crash dialog telling you that a problem occurred. In most cases Cakewalk will automatically save this crash dump for you. This dialog will list the name of the minidump file and also the name of the faulting module. If the crash occurred within the application the module will be Cakewalk.exe itself. If the crash site was inside a plugin the module listed will be the plugin name.  Most crashes are reported within the application. While crash location data can be useful, locating the root of the problem often requires further investigation.

 Minidump files  saved from Cakewalk are stored as timestamped files with a .dmp extension in the following folder:
%AppData%\Cakewalk\Sonar\Minidumps (for Sonar)
%AppData%\Cakewalk\Cakewalk Core\Minidumps (for CbB)
You can type that path directly into Windows file explorer and it will take you to the dumps folder where you can locate the file.
Note that if the crash was in a plugin the file may be in this folder instead:
%AppData%\Cakewalk\Sonar\Minidumps\Plugins (for Sonar)
%AppData%\Cakewalk\Cakewalk Core\Minidumps\Plugins (for CbB)
You can normally locate a minidump file of interest by its timestamp if you know when the crash occurred.

What if the application hangs but doesn't crash?
In some cases you may not encounter an actual crash in the app but the application appears hung and unresponsive. In such cases Windows will not save a crash dump file automatically. There are a few ways to manually create a dump file in such cases. The easiest way is to go to task manager and right click the process name (in this case it would be listed as "Cakewalk Application") and then choose "Create Dump File".  See attached screenshot. The downside to this method is that it saves a full dump which includes a memory snapshot. These files can be pretty large if you have a lot of RAM.
Alternatively if you are familiar with running command line tools you can run the Microsoft Procdump tool and save a minidump. Once you have installed that tool you can capture a minidump by typing this into a command prompt (note you will need to run the command prompt as an administrator by choosing Run as administrator):
procdump64.exe -ma Cakewalk.exe cakewalkhang.dmp

Alternative way to capture crash dumps using WinDbg
You can use the WinDbg tool to directly capture a crash dump. Read this article to learn how to use it.

Sending the dump file to Cakewalk for analysis
Once you have the dump file you can put it on a share like dropbox, google drive etc. Next, log a problem report case with Cakewalk and include the link to the dump file. If a Cakewalk staff member has requested info you may also PM the dump file link to them directly this way.  Note: Dump files may include personally identifiable data so please do not post links to them publicly in the forums or elsewhere to protect your privacy.

Cakewalk currently doesn't automatically submit minidumps via problem reports like SONAR did.
Here is an older KB article (from SONAR) with some more information.

[Eve Ripper]

Is there any chance to get back old way of reporting crashes? 

Edited May 21, 2019 by Eve Ripper

[Grem]

Great info Noel. I can now link to this post when commenting/replying to user posts with issues.

[jeff denigris]

Hi Noel thanks for the post um the script is not working i double checked it

i have a hang and unresponsive issue im trying to let cakewalk know but like you said its a huge file

Edited March 19, 2020 by jeff denigris

[scook]

On 3/19/2020 at 10:49 AM, jeff denigris said:

its a huge file

dumps compress quite a bit when zipped.

[reevant]

I like the advice I have some dumps but how do I log a call?

 

Tony

[Joel Stolarski]

The Vital Synth from Matt Tytel is repeatedly going into a white screen. That is the Synth when it is pulled up to adjust. Synth sound isn't crashed, but the interface.  So it isn't a crash exactly. Have to save the project, then close it. Upon reopening Cakewalk, the synth is ok for awhile.

Have dl'd the microsoft  procdmp tool so will attempt to extract a dmp if there is one.

[eric chevrier]

lots of crashes bandlab completely vanishes out it does not freeze i can get back in and open  here's what the last couple of things i was doing opening reason rack then going to pro channel click on preset it vanish just close it self out now one time Webroot virus software said that calk walk might have a memory leak ?? the last 4 updates I have seen this happen however more lately thanks for any thought I have a dump file!!! thanks guys Eric

04022021_125348.dmp

[Noel Borthwick]

Hi folks, this is the FAQ channel so please don't post specific problem reports here. @eric chevrier I've replied in your other thread.
 

[MAZproduction]

I have not only received the white screen freeze on Cakewalk by BandLab but also BandLab itself while working on a project. I suppose my real concern is that when I upgrade to my new computer and dedicate to only creating music on that system, am I to assume that the frequencies of the crash will dissipate. It's become just more than mildly frustrating as well as concerning that there have been constant updates saying these bug fixes have been started yet I am having more crashes and freezes with every new update. Just concerned

[Buddy J]

Lately I have been having program crashes without any error message and also without a dmp file created.  I have the latest CbB version installed and current on Windows 10 updates.  Thanks.

[WillmanSmith]

It is very frustrating when working in a project, and suddenly it closes. I don't know why...What shall I do?

[Jonatas de Almeida Nazareth]

Ao final de uma gravação uma faixa colorida cobre toda pista

Edited April 2, 2022 by Jonatas de Almeida Nazareth
Esclarecer melhor

[Jim Fogle]

On 4/2/2022 at 12:47 PM, Jonatas de Almeida Nazareth said:

Ao final de uma gravação uma faixa colorida cobre toda pista

Translation:  At the end of a recording, a colored strip covers the entire track.

Bem-vindo ao fórum e ao Cakewalk.  Welcome to the forum and to Cakewalk.

Comentários e problemas devem ser relatados aqui: Comments and problems should be reported here:

https://discuss.cakewalk.com/index.php?/forum/2-cakewalk-by-bandlab/

[GMBest]

When Cakewalk crashes, I don't see any crash dialogue, and the folder that the crash dumps should appear in don't seem to be on my computer. Considering it crashes every time I try and place a note in a track using the default piano MIDI (TTS-1), I'm very eager to figure out how to solve this issue, or at least put in a request on the Cakewalk Help page.

Edit: I don't know if this will help identify why I'm not getting crashes, but I went back to an older project that already had tracks using that piano  instrument, and discovered that it also crashes whenever the program tries to play a note on a track using it.

Edited March 3, 2024 by GMBest
Discovered more information on the issue

[G. Gallagher]

Back to my original post...the program does not crash. I have been using it live w2ith a playlist for several years and until the latest update never had an issue. Now after using the playlist for about an hour (one song following to another) the program just closes. There is no dump file as the program doesn't crash, it just closes.

[tparker24]

On 5/19/2019 at 11:13 AM, Noel Borthwick said:

What if the application hangs but doesn't crash?

[...]

Alternatively if you are familiar with running command line tools you can run the Microsoft Procdump tool and save a minidump. 

procdump64.exe -ma Cakewalk.exe cakewalkhang.dmp

I just noticed that the doc for procdump at https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/downloads/procdump says to use
"-mm" for a mini dump (and that -ma gets a full dump):

       -mm     Write a 'Mini' dump file. (default)  
       -ma     Write a 'Full' dump file.

So, which option should I use -ma or -mm to create the minidump for you?