Blue Screen of Death (BSOD) Q&A
Note: This problem is more or less gone since it only affected an old type of motherboards.
Q: Why do I get a “Blue screen” I run the programs from Tolvan Data?
A: This is a known problem that occurs on some computers, it seems like the common factor is the following combination:
-Windows 98 or Me
-Some, but not all VIA motherboard
chipsets
-Fast
CPU’s, 650MHz+
-Possibly a Sound Blaster Live!
sound card
-A floatting point exception (e.g.
triggered by a division by zero in the programs)
Q: Is it only the programs from Tolvan Data that are affected?
A: No. However, it seems that most
other programs do not make frequent use FPU exceptions, and thus there are only
a few programs that are affected. The programs from Tolvan Data make extensive
use of FPU exceptions and it is simply too much work to eliminate all places
where they are used. Also, eliminating them would lead to poorer performance.
And, really, the problem is not in the programs, as far I can see, but rather
in the hardware combination. Unfortunately, neither of the manufacturers has
released a patch that eliminates the problem to my knowledge.
Q: Is there any solution?
A: No software patch, as I know
of. You must either change the motherboard in the computer, upgrade to Windows
2000, or change the sound card. If I hear of a solution I will post it on this
page. We can only hope for either the motherboard manufacturers, Creative labs,
or Microsoft to release a patch.
If
you happen to have a Soundblaster Live! sound card, try to disable it in device
manager or remove it from the computer. There have been quite a number of
reports on the net about problems with the SBLive! - VIA combination.
If you find a solution, please e-mail me.
Q: Where can I read more?
A: Have a look in the newsgroups
on the web. Go to for example google: http://groups.google.com/ and search for
VIA FPU exception blue screen
...or
VIA
SBLive!
One particular post by Stefan
Hoffmeister pretty much concludes the bottom line that the community has
arrived at:
http://groups.google.com/groups?selm=qgqigtkbbo2ki4doahj3ds8gc9217qnk0c%404ax.com
A test program is downloadable
from Econos at http://www.econos.de/fpu
Tolvan Data