When Things Go Wrong

Here are some things to check when the debugger is not doing what you think it should:

• If the debugger can't attach to the victim system:

  • Ensure your serial cable is a "null modem" cable (one that connects the transmit data pin of one machine to the receive data pin of the other).

  • Ensure that your serial cable is securely attached to both the host and victim machines.

  • Ensure that you have the serial cable connected to the correct COMx port that KDB will use on the victim machine and to the COMx port that you specified with the CAT_MACHINE environment variable on the host machine.

  • Ensure that KDB is installed on the victim machine, and if necessary, check this by using a terminal emulator from the host machine before running the debugger. If the terminal emulator is successful, don't forget to shut it down before invoking the debugger.

  • Ensure that your CAT_HOST_BIN_PATH is set correctly.

  • Ensure that your CAT_COMMUNICATION_TYPE environment variable is set to ASYNC_SIGBRK.

  • Ensure that you have buffered UARTs on both host and victim machines if you want to run at baud rates > 19200.

  • Ensure that your communication port is enabled if you use a ThinkPad.
  
  If the debugger only displays the disassembly listing of your program and not the source listing:

  • Ensure that the program was compiled with the proper flags to enable source-level debugging. See Compiling and Linking Your Program.

  • Ensure that the executable in the CAT_HOST_BIN_PATH was not processed by the DBGSTRIP utility. DBGSTRIP makes the executable smaller by removing the debug information.

  • Ensure that your CAT_HOST_SOURCE_PATH is set to reference your source files.

  • Ensure that the modules you want to debug are specified by the CAT_MODULE_LIST environment variable.

  ---

  [Back: Helpful Tips and Hints]
  [Next: Using the Demo]