HELP! Floating Point Problems

Dimitri Rotow dar at belltec.UUCP
Sat Jul 30 12:22:29 AEST 1988


In article <371 at uport.UUCP>, keith at uport.UUCP (Keith Hankin) writes:
> Your floating point hangs with Microport System V/386 2.2 could be the
> result of several things.
... 
> 2.  There is a known problem (Called Errata #21 by Intel) with the 80386
> 	chip.  If you are running in 386 protected mode (which UNIX always
> 	is) and you have a 80387 chip installed, if there is DMA going
> 	on (floppy, tape drive or smart serial card access), there is a
> 	possibility of random system hangs.  This can be fixed by a
> 	piece of hardware made by Bell Technologies, which by the way,
> 	will not work with Compaq machines.
...

This is an inaccurate description of Erratum 21:  it has nothing to do with
DMA at all.  Contact your local Intel sales office for a precise description
of Erratum 21.  Our Math Adaptor works just fine with Compaq.  You can, by
the way cure Erratum 21 in the operating system alone:  UNIX System V 
Release 3.1 does just that in all clones with no need for retrofit hardware.

- Dimitri Rotow



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