Article ID: 2510168 - Last Review: March 8, 2011 - Revision: 2.0

Memory dump file truncation occurs in systems where Windows physical memory address range limits have been exceeded

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SUMMARY

When opening a memory dump file generated on certain systems using the Debugging Tools for Windows (windbg.exe), the following message may appear:

************************************************************************
WARNING: Dump header physical memory block has been truncated.
Some valid physical pages may be inaccessible.
************************************************************************

While this warning has multiple possible causes, one reason this may occur is due to the physical memory layout of the system which generated the dump file.

The crash dump format has a limit of 42 (64-bit) and 86 (32-bit) physical address ranges. On certain systems, the BIOS firmware memory map may contain more than this number of non-contiguous regions. When a dump file is generated on this system, only the first 42 (64-bit) or 86 (32-bit) memory regions will be saved to the file.  Kernel and Complete memory dumps from a Windows system may not contain all the memory from the system.

To prevent the issue, the OEM of the affected system would need to modify the firmware memory map to ensure the number of physical contiguous physical memory regions exposed to the Operating System does not exceed the limits previously noted. 
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MORE INFORMATION

The Sysinternals tool RamMap can be used to determine the number of physical memory ranges on a system. After downloading and executing RamMap.exe, click the Physical Ranges tab. Counting the number of ranges listed will verify the number of physical ranges on a particular system.

See the following website for information on the RamMap tool: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/ff700229.aspx (http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/ff700229.aspx)
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Note This is a "FAST PUBLISH" article created directly from within the Microsoft support organization. The information contained herein is provided as-is in response to emerging issues. As a result of the speed in making it available, the materials may include typographical errors and may be revised at any time without notice. See Terms of Use (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=151500) for other considerations.
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APPLIES TO
  • Windows Server 2008 R2 Datacenter
  • Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise
  • Windows Server 2008 R2 Standard
  • Windows 7 Enterprise
  • Windows 7 Home Basic
  • Windows 7 Home Premium
  • Windows 7 Professional
  • Windows 7 Ultimate
  • Windows Server 2008 Datacenter
  • Windows Server 2008 Enterprise
  • Windows Server 2008 for Itanium-Based Systems
  • Windows Server 2008 Standard
  • Windows Vista Business
  • Windows Vista Enterprise
  • Windows Vista Home Basic
  • Windows Vista Home Premium
  • Windows Vista Starter
  • Windows Vista Ultimate
  • Microsoft Windows Server 2003 R2 Datacenter Edition (32-Bit x86)
  • Microsoft Windows Server 2003 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition
  • Microsoft Windows Server 2003 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition with Service Pack 2
  • Microsoft Windows Server 2003 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition
  • Microsoft Windows Server 2003 R2 Standard x64 Edition
  • Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Datacenter Edition (32-bit x86)
  • Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Datacenter Edition for Itanium-Based Systems
  • Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Datacenter x64 Edition
  • Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Enterprise Edition (32-bit x86)
  • Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Enterprise Edition for Itanium-based Systems
  • Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Enterprise x64 Edition
  • Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Standard x64 Edition
  • Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition
  • Microsoft Windows XP Professional
  • Microsoft Windows XP Professional x64 Edition
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Keywords: 
KB2510168
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