An approach is provided for collecting data for diagnosing a failure of a computer hardware device. An address translation table of a central processing unit (CPU) of the device is collected. A format of call stack frames of an operating system (OS) image of the device is retrieved. The call stack frames are retrieved and outputted to a computer file. A second address translation table of the CPU is collected. A second format of second call stack frames is retrieved. The OS image and the second OS image are of different types but have common anchor structures. The format of the call stack frames is different from the second format. Based on the second address translation table and the second format, the second call stack frames are retrieved and outputted to the computer file. A diagnosis of the failure is received based on the computer file.