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Troubleshooting Cantabile
The following notes describe how to generate log files and crash mini-dumps for diagnosing problems with Cantabile.
Before continuing, please read the current release notes as the issue you're encountering may already be fixed, or a work around suggested.
Please understand that any application that hosts plugins and modules developed by others is susceptible to crashes and other problems due to different interpretations of technical specifications by the developers involved.
The extensive range of VST plugins available makes it is impossible for me to completely test Cantabile and is the primary reason for making alpha and beta releases.
Cantabile includes a logging and tracing capability to help diagnose these problems.
Generating a Cantabile Log File
Please follow these steps if you encounter a reproducible problem with Cantabile:
- Restart Cantabile if it has crashed. Cantabile will detect it didn't shutdown properly and prompt whether to reload the previous configuration. Select No.
- Choose the Options command from the Tools menu and if necessary, switch to the General tab.
- Click the Diagnostics and Troubleshooting button.
- Set the logging level to Level 2 - Information (unless I've asked for a log at a higher level)
- Select the Write Log File option.
- Select the Append Existing Log File option.
- Press the Find Log File button to launch Window's Explorer at the location where the log file will be created.
- Leave Explorer running and switch back to Cantabile.
- Press OK to close the diagnostics dialog.
- Reconfigure the Audio Driver if you're restarting after a crash.
- Restart Cantabile.
- Try to reproduce the problem.
Once the problem has been reproduced, do the following:
- Close Cantabile if necessary.
- Switch to the Window's Explorer that was launched when pressing the Find Log File button above. (The location of the file varies between different builds and different operating systems).
- There will be a new file named Cantabile.log (b1253 and earlier) or Cantabile12.log (b1254 and later)
- Feel free to examine this file (its just a text file that you can open with any text editor)
- Attach the log file to an email and send with a complete description of how the problem occurred to techsupport @ toptensoftware.com .
- If you suspect the problem is due to a compatibility problem with a particular VST plugin or audio driver, please include information about the vendor of the plugin/driver if you know it. Most like I'll need to get a copy of the plugin/driver in order to fix the issue.
Once you've finished logging, please be sure to disable the logging as it can adversly affect Cantabile's performance.
Crash Reporting with Mini-dumps
Note: This information applies to Cantabile 1.2 build 1262 and later only. If you encounter a crash in builds prior to 1262, please consider updating to the latest version and try to reproduce the crash. Alternatively, see Using Dr Watson below.
If Cantabile build 1262 or later crashes it will automatically create a crash mini-dump file. A mini-dump captures essential information about the state of the program at the time of the crash and is an invaluable resource in resolving these crashes.
The mini-dumps generated by Cantabile have a .mdmp file extension, are time-stamped and saved in the same folder as Cantabile's log files. Use the Find Log File button in the Diagnostics and Troubleshooting dialog to locate the folder. Alternatively these files can typically be found here:
- On Windows 2000/XP - C:\Documents and Settings\<yourusername>\Application Data\Topten Software\Logs
- Vista - C:\Users\<yourusername>\AppData\Roaming\Topten Software\Logs
If the crash you're reporting is reproducible, please enable logging (see above) and also send the generated log file. For one-off crashes, send just the mini-dump file.
In addition to the mdmp and log files, please include a detailed description of how to reproduce the crash, including details on the audio driver you're using and all plugins used.
Using Dr Watson
Note: Using Dr Watson is now only necessary when using Windows 95 or Windows 98. On other operating systems, use Cantabile's automatic MiniDump creation described above
Dr Watson is a Microsoft utility included in Windows for diagnosing application crashes. To enable Dr Watson, follow these steps:
- Click the Start button
- Select the Run command
- Type (without the quotes): "drwtsn32"
- Press OK
The Dr Watson user interface should appear. Change the settings to:
- Number of instructions: 10
- Number of errors to save: 10
- Crash Dump Type: Mini
- Dump Symbol Table: On
- Dump All Thread Contexts: On
- Append to Existing Log File: Off
- Visual Notification: Doesn't matter
- Sound Notification: Doesn't matter
- Create Crash Dump File: On
- Press OK to enable Dr Watson and close the dialog.
Any crashes should now create a log file and a dump that you can email to techsupport @ toptensoftware.com to help diagnose the crash. Typically these files will be created in the following directory
C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Microsoft\Dr Watson
If Dr Watson doesn't appear to be working try this:
- Click the Start button
- Select the Run command
- Type (without the quotes): "drwtsn32 -i"
- Press OK
For more information about Dr Watson's please refer to its help file, or the following links:
- http://www.microsoft.com/resources/documentation/windows/xp/all/proddocs/en-us/drwatson_setup.mspx?mfr=true
- http://www.microsoft.com/resources/documentation/windows/xp/all/proddocs/en-us/app_dr_watson.mspx?mfr=true
Thanks
Finally, thanks for your time and effort in helping improve the quality of Cantabile!
Brad Robinson
Topten Software