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Interpret core dump results

Sample core dump analysis

Core Dump View Core Dump View

When you retrieve and analyze a core dump, CodeFusion Studio populates the Core Dump Analysis view with the following sections:

Crash Cause

This section identifies the reason for the crash, if available.

  • Type: Categorizes the crash (example: memory fault, bus fault). Displays as Unknown if not determinable.

  • Address: Memory address where the crash occurred.

  • Faulting IP: Instruction pointer (PC) at the time of the crash.
  • Faulting Location: File and line number in the source code.
  • Details: May include specific Zephyr kernel error codes or messages, if available.

Sample UART Log Output

[00:00:00.001,000] <err> os: >>> ZEPHYR FATAL ERROR 4: Kernel panic on CPU 0
[00:00:00.001,000] <err> os: Current thread: 0x20000660 (main)
[00:00:00.083,000] <err> os: ***** HARD FAULT *****
[00:00:00.083,000] <err> os:   Fault escalation (see below)
[00:00:00.083,000] <err> os: ***** MPU FAULT *****
[00:00:00.083,000] <err> os:   Instruction Access Violation
[00:00:00.084,000] <err> os: >>> ZEPHYR FATAL ERROR 20: Unknown error on CPU 0
[00:00:00.084,000] <err> os: Fault during interrupt handling
[00:00:00.270,000] <err> os: Halting system

Tasks Stack

This section shows which thread was running at the time of the crash.

  • Name: The thread name. For example, main refers to the main application thread. z_thread_entry is an internal Zephyr function involved in thread execution.
  • Status: Indicates the current thread status (typically stopped).
  • Thread Address: Memory address of the thread control block.

Stack Usage

Information on how much stack memory was used by the crashed thread.

  • Used: Stack memory used at time of crash.
  • Total Allocated: Stack size assigned to the thread.
  • Watermark (Peak Usage): Peak stack usage prior to the crash.

Execution Info

Registers captured at the time of crash.

  • PC (Program Counter): Address of the currently executing instruction.
  • SP (Stack Pointer): Points to the top of the current stack.
  • LR (Link Register): Contains the return address for function calls.

Stack Trace

A backtrace of function calls leading to the crash.

  • Name: Function where the crash occurred.
  • Symtab: Source file and line number.
  • Line: Line of code that triggered the crash.
  • PC / SP: Program and stack pointers at time of crash.
  • Reason: Additional details if the stack could not be fully unwound.

Global Heap

This section summarizes system-wide heap memory usage at the time of the crash.

  • Total: Total heap available.
  • Used: Heap in use at time of crash.
  • Peak: Highest amount of heap used since boot.

Advanced users

For additional information on the values shown in the Core Dump Analysis view, refer to the GDB Toolbox scripts and the GDB Python API documentation.