Divide overflow error?

[Susan]

I've been trying to install and run Q&A for DOS on a machine that's running Win98 on a FAT32 drive.

When I attempt to run the program, I am getting The message "This software has caused a Divide Overflow Error". Whether I try to install and run the program from a DOS box or reboot clean to DOS, I get the same message.
I have gotten the program to run in the past with Win98 and FAT16.

Anyone think I have this problem because of FAT32? Or could it be something else?

Thanks [img]/forum/smile.gif[/img]

[nilknarf]

I've had similar problems with other DOS programs. I knew what the problem was, but I wasn't able to solve it.

The problems that I encountered were a direct result of the speed of the processor. Because the higher speed processors didn't exist when most DOS programs, and the compilers, were developed, the timing codes are written for the older machines. The newer computers simply go to fast.

This may be the problem that you are having. If it is, good luck finding a fix. There are some developers that had released their code ,for both apps and compilers, as part of developer's kits. The reason I mention this little tidbit is because, if there is a fix, this may very likely be the only way to fix it if the developer has stopped their support for the DOS products.

Hope this helps!
Good luck!

[Moe]

This maybe outdated, but i do seem to remember that there were so programs to "slow down" a computer that was too fast for certain programs. But this was back in the 386/486 era. I haven't seen any around in a good while.

Then again this may be one of those memory halluciations I have from time to time.

Oh yeah, (I really just had to say this), maybe you might "underclock" your system?? [img]/forum/wink.gif[/img]

Yes, i know, i'm really dumb.

[nilknarf]

Moe, you are on the right track! The problem is, you are also right when it comes to there not being any slow down progs out there.

I wouldn't try to underclock the cpu either.

I recently worked with another programmer on a project where the client was having timing problems. The original code had been written for the 133MHz computers that they had. They decided that they needed the newer 450MHz systems. Fortunately, We had the developer kit for the compiler, which included the assembler code. We spent over 20 hours on the internet searching for and evaluating methods of fixing the problem. After careful consideration, we rewrote the compiler code to work around the problem. In this case the vendor didn't have a fix for the problem, but provided the code so that a developer could customize the compiler.

Unfortunately for those of us that like our old DOS apps better than the Windows versions, MS and most software vendors are forcing us to use power hungry MM apps that were written just to get a product on the shelf rather than to make a useful & efficient app. This also means that more and more DOS apps are going to have problems on the faster cpu's.

And what's really funny is that I have more y2k compliant apps for DOS than for W95/98/NT!

[Susan]

Thanks for your input.

I found a program that supposedly will slow the system down to allow the old program code to work, but haven't tried it yet. It's called Speedfix.

I figured I would install Q&A on my system today to duplicate the problem and then install Speedfix to test.

Well, guess what? Q&A runs just fine on my system (AMD 400) and FAT32.

The other system is a C400.

Now I'm baffled.

[nilknarf]

Does it run fine with or without Speedfix?

What baffles you?

[Susan]

I installed Q&A on my computer, which is an AMD K6II 400 and it runs fine without having to use Speedfix.

If I install Q&A on the system that has a Celeron 400 CPU, it won't run and I get the overflow error.

Maybe it's not a speed problem after all?

[Bleeding Edge]

I was looking here http://search.support.microsoft.com/...de+overflow%22 (thanks to nathan's page)and reading about the different divide overflows problems.

There is reference to a buggy version of Dos. You may want to try a different version of Q&A. But first try to start Q&A form a clean dos boot. (I never used it, is it possilbe?) If your still getting this error, it could be the cause of one of the errata characteristics of your processor. Go to Intel's site developer.intel.com/design/celeron/ and download the Specification Update for the Celeron. Compare the serial number of your Celeron (the last set of S numbers) to the one found in the Update to view all the errata that affects your chip.

Susan, I'm completely guessing here so...

Reading thru the first link of Overflow errors may give you a better idea than I offered.

~edit
Can you copy and paste the address to the first link to the address bar? I can't seem to get it to work as a url link from here.


[This message has been edited by Bleeding Edge (edited 08-31-99).]

[nilknarf]

Now you know why I don't use any AMD, Cyrix, or Celeron processors!

There are always differences between them and the standard Intel Pentium chips.

I would definitely try to find out if there are any known quarks with those particular processors before doing anything else that might screw up your system!

Good Luck!

[zygmunt]

I think that your computer running on 100Mhz bus try to slowdown to 66Mhz. I seen that problem occur on such computers and buy changing jumper on mother board from 100Mhz to 66Mhz ( in my case ) solved that problem.

[RenaissanceMan]

Hello, a friend of mine programs Sat cards in Dos and uses a program to slow his computer down for the programming to take place. it's called "moslow" and can be found here. http://www.hpaa.com/moslo/
hope it helps.