Microsoft KB Archive/152468

= Troubleshooting Dr. Watson Errors in SMSEXEC =

Article ID: 152468

Article Last Modified on 10/27/2006

-

APPLIES TO


 * Microsoft Systems Management Server 1.0 Standard Edition
 * Microsoft Systems Management Server 1.1 Standard Edition
 * Microsoft Systems Management Server 1.2 Standard Edition

-



This article was previously published under Q152468



SYMPTOMS
SMSEXEC can fail with a Dr. Watson error when either the Inventory Processor, Inventory Dataloader, or Despooler attempts to process corrupted files.

Memory read and write errors are associated with the Dr. Watson problem.



CAUSE
The SMSEXEC process can fail with the Dr. Watson error if a RAW file, a MIF file, or a NIL file are corrupted.

RAW Files
RAW files are located in the Sms\Logon.srv\Inventry.box directory or the Sms\Site.srv\Inventry.box directory. The Inventory Agent program reports the inventory for the client by creating a RAW Inventory Agent file (*.raw) and placing this file in the Inventry.box directory of the SMS_SHR share on the client's logon server.

MIF Files
MIF files are located in the Sms\Site.srv\Dataload.box\Deltamif.col directory. A management information file (MIF) is an ASCII text file that contains information about a computer component. A MIF is a description of the component that is available to other applications through a standard management interface.

NIL Files
NIL files are located in the Sms\Site.srv\Despool.box\Receive. Instruction (NIL) files can have any of the following extensions: *.ins, *.sni, *.ist, or *.nil.

A *.ins or *.sni instruction becomes *.ist or *.nil when the Systems Management Server Despooler starts processing the instruction. A *.ist file is for instructions that have an accompanying package file; *.nil is for stand-alone instructions.

Use the following steps to determine what is causing the problem:


 * 1) Verify the existence of a DS_00000.NIL file in the \Sms\Site.srv\Despool.box\Receive directory. If this file exists, remove it. Check the Despool log file and verify which package ID it was failing on. Restart SMSEXEC. You may want to remove the problem package and try resubmitting it.
 * 2) Create a temporary directory in the root directory. Move the MIF files from Sms\Site.srv\Dataload.box\Deltamif.col to the temporary directory. Start SMSEXEC and determine whether the failure still occurs. If it does not, begin moving the MIF files back to the Deltamif.col directory, moving the newest RAW filess first, based on the file creation date. Move the MIF files in groups of approximately 10 to 20.

After the system fails, take the first MIF and move it back to the temporary directory. Restart SMSEXEC. Repeat this process until all the bad MIF files have been isolated, and then edit them to determine which clients are causing the failure. Troubleshoot the clients to determine why they are creating bad MIF files (bad hardware, bad UINFO/Custom MIF, and so on).
 * 1) Create a temporary directory in the root directory. Move the RAW files from Sms\Logon.srv\Inventry.box and \Sms\Site.srv\Inventry.box to the temporary directory. Note that we are only concerned about RAW files that have made it to the failing server; we are not concerned about logon servers with backed-up RAW files.

Start SMSEXEC and determine whether the crash still occurs. If it does not, begin moving the RAW files back to their originating directory, moving the newest first, based on file creation date. Move the MIF files in groups of approximately 10 to 20.

After the system fails, take the first RAW and move it back to the Temporary directory. Restart SMSEXEC. Repeat this process until all bad RAW files have been isolated, and then edit them to determine which clients are causing the failure. Troubleshoot the clients to determine why they are creating bad RAW files (bad hardware, bad UINFO/Custom MIF, and so on).

Additional query words: prodsms sms NIL SMSEXEC.EXE crash crashing

Keywords: kbdatabase kbnetwork kbprb KB152468

-

[mailto:TECHNET@MICROSOFT.COM Send feedback to Microsoft]

© Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.