Debugging
When 'almost' isn't good enough.
Bugs can be evasive, ranging from multi-threading issues to nasty problems caused by interaction with 3rd party software. Having your top engineers spend dozens of hours hunting a bug might not be the best use of their time and often a fresh perspective from an expert is what it takes to figure out the problem and deliver a fix quickly to the customer.
We are fluent in assembly language and were actually involved in developing one of the world's best known system level debuggers, so we truly understand how to approach a problem. Combine that with the fact that we have analyzed thousands of crash dumps and can often pinpoint a fix with very minimal information (e.g. the offset of the crash) and the potential for time savings is clear. Next time a nasty bug bogs down your team, get in touch and let us help get it resolved quickly.
Our primary debugging environment is WinDbg and WinDbg Preview, and we are fluent with the full suite of kernel debugging extensions including bugcheck analysis, pool tag inspection, and handle leak tracking. We routinely work with ETW (Event Tracing for Windows), Driver Verifier, and Application Verifier to reproduce intermittent failures. For crash dump work we use our custom built, internal tooling to accelerate triage. Memory leak detection, IRQL violations, and use-after-free errors in kernel-mode code are areas where our depth of experience consistently shortens time-to-fix.
We can work from crash dumps you supply without needing a live session at all. For time-critical production issues, such as a driver causing Blue Screens on customer systems, a hang that blocks a product launch, or a performance regression that showed up in a new Windows update, we offer priority turnaround. Contact us to discuss the situation and we will put the right resources on it immediately.
Frequently Asked Questions
- Q: What debugging tools do you use?
- Our primary tool is WinDbg, including kernel-mode live debugging and offline crash dump analysis. We also use IDA Pro, Driver Verifier, ETW tracing, Application Verifier, and custom kernel extensions for pool and handle leak tracking.
- Q: Can you analyze Windows crash dumps remotely?
- Yes. Send us your minidump or full kernel dump and we will analyze it remotely. In many cases a crash dump alone contains enough information to identify the root cause and propose a fix, without needing a live debug session on your hardware.
- Q: What types of bugs do you specialize in?
- We specialize in kernel-mode bugs that are notoriously hard to reproduce and fix: race conditions, IRQL violations, pool corruptions, deadlocks, use-after-free errors, and driver interaction issues caused by third-party software. We also handle user-mode crashes and hangs when they have a kernel-mode component.
- Q: How quickly can you typically resolve a critical driver bug?
- For bugs accompanied by a good crash dump or a reliable reproduction case, we can often identify the root cause within hours. A complete fix with testing typically follows within one to a few business days, depending on how deep the change needs to go. Get in touch to discuss your specific situation.
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