What do I do if nTop crashes?

Matt

April 25, 2023 14:40

Issue:

nTop has crashed.

Cause:

The only known cause of nTop crashing and unexpectedly closing out is when the computer's memory (RAM) runs out of space. When the size of the mesh and/or simulation data approaches the computer's total RAM, nTop may crash. You can observe the current memory used by nTop using the Windows Task Manager.

Solution:

Crashes can be prevented by:

- Increasing the Pagefile (by using the computer's disk as virtual memory) To increase the Pagefile, we recommend following this article. Note, that this article isn't written by nTop and this link will take you to a different website.
  - On the Pagefile window, if you check "Custom Size" change the min to 100000 and max 400000. It may give you a warning, but it should be fine. These are the settings that the Simulation Team here at nTop uses (and were used with 32GB RAM).
  - Online recommends using 1.5x(RAM) as the min and 4x(RAM) as the largest, but the team has seen good results with the above values.
  - Note: Increasing the Pagefile will increase the size of your temp files. If you are running out of space, you may need to lower your Pagefile size.
- Increasing the RAM.
- Reducing the mesh element count.
- Removing memory-intensive blocks, such as Topology Optimization and Simulation blocks, from your notebook.
- Make sure other memory intense programs aren't running at the same time.

Locating crash dump

The system generates a crash log when nTop exits unexpectedly.

Find the crash dump file here (copy and paste the location into File Explorer):

%localappdata%\CrashDumps

The crash dump is in the format: ntop.exe.N.dmp

Where N is a system-generated value.

Click the 'View; tab on the Ribbon and choose 'Details' layout or Right Click and select 'View' > 'Details'

Identify the crash dump file closest to when it crashed and submit it to support.

If you are looking up the location manually and can't see Hidden Folders:

Go to Windows Explorer.
Open the C: drive.
Click the ^ in the upper right-hand corner to expand the options
Select the View tab.
Check 'Show hidden items'
Go to: This PC > Local Disc > Users > YOURNAME > AppData > Local > CrashDumps

Locating logs

The system generates a log for every instance nTop is run.

Find the logs here (copy and paste the location into File Explorer):

%TEMP%\nTop\Log

Zip the entire folder and submit it along with the crash dump

Submitting a crash dump and logs

Sending one or more crash dumps or logs to technical support helps our developers diagnose and solve the problem. To submit, click 'Contact Support' at the upper right corner of this support site, and attach the file(s). Please also include a description of what you observed, and if possible, the nTop file used during the crash.

Keywords:

crash ntop dump