windbg will not break in on hung system(kernel debugging)

Question

I have a target system that is consistently hanging. After the hang I get no response at all, I can't ping it, the NUM LOCK and CAPS LOCK keys do not toggle the associated lights on the keyboard.

I am currently attached to the system using kernel mode debugging over rs232. When the system hangs I am not able to break the debugger using CTRL - BREAK or Break in the menu.Is there another way for me to break into this?

Is the hang at such a low-level that I am locked out of the kernel all together?

It does not seem to me that my user mode application could cause a hang this bad, is this a correct assumption or am I missing something?

Answer 1

When the crash happens, can you force a dump via keyboard?

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff545499(VS.85).aspx

Worth a shot...