CompuServe Thread

#Pentium, and Page Faults

14 messages in this thread
#98988From: DONALD NEWLANDSApr 28, 1994 2:44 AM
We are trying out a 90Mhz Pentium with a Diamond Viper and for some strange reason the damn thing has been bombing out while loading 3D Studio and while rendering with "page fault" errors. When I have a memory manager configured (QEMM 7.0 or just HIMEM) 3DS bombs when I enter. If I get rid of the memory manager, it bombs later, while rendering. General thoughts? What the heck is a page fault anyway? Donald
#99022From: Yost GroupApr 28, 1994 10:22 AM
It sounds like something might be wrong with the way it's doing memory management. A page fault is innocuous enough… all it means is that Phar Lap is hitting the disk instead of RAM. That's normal when you run out of RAM and start paging. But getting page faults without running out of RAM is a bad sign (that PL can't find the RAM). Can you swap that machine with another one? – G
#99128From: Jeff LenzApr 28, 1994 8:10 PM
Hoping you can answer my questions about this same problem. I recently bought a DX66 pent. system and was working with it without problems for about a week. Yesterday I bought a Orchid Fahrenheit 1280 + VLB video card. I now cannot get 3DSr3 to boot. It gives me 'Abnormal Program Termination, Page Fault'. I am using the Orchid 1280 Vibrant drivers that came with 3DSr3. Note that the drivers that came with the board did not include drivers for r3, but I'm not using Orchid's drivers. Thanx. Jeff.
#99217From: Yost GroupApr 29, 1994 10:10 AM
It sounds like your Orchid card is stepping on Phar Lap. You'll have to use QEMM to exclude the segment that Phar Lap wants, or to redirect the Orchid. I'm sure one of the many hardware experts here on the forum can help you out. (I'm a hardware idiot.) – G
#99322From: Jeff LenzApr 29, 1994 6:48 PM
Afraid I tried that already. Any other suggestions? Thanx. P.S. I really appreciate the rapid feed-back Jeff.
#99376From: Yost GroupApr 30, 1994 11:09 AM
I'll have to defer to one of the hardware experts to go beyond that suggestion. – G
#99595From: Jeff LenzMay 2, 1994 2:46 PM
It works!!! After considerable trial and error, I discovered that by removing the Stealth flag from my QEMM device line the machine works. (Have you ever seen a picture of those self-kicking machines?) Thanks again for all the suggestions. Jeff.
#99644From: Yost GroupMay 2, 1994 10:25 PM
Congratulations! With enough effort, it's usually possible to knock these DOS machines into line. Wham! – G
#99283From: John TissavaryApr 29, 1994 3:35 PM
Have you excluded your graphics card's (and all other hardware peripherals) rom map address from your memory manager (if you're using any memory managment)? If not you should. This sounds like a memory conflict. John Tissavary (LUNA cie)
#99582From: May 2, 1994 1:24 PM
> I am using the Orchid 1280 Vibrant drivers that came with 3DSr3. Note that Does the problem happen in all resolution/color-depths? Are you able to test the video mode from the configuration? Chuck Walbourn – Vibrant Graphics
#99150From: DONALD NEWLANDSApr 28, 1994 10:21 PM
Did you see Sherwood's message later in this thread? Have you seen Phar Lap incompatibilities with AMI Pentium BIOSes? Donald
#99166From: Yost GroupApr 29, 1994 12:30 AM
I noticed it and groaned my hardware-Phar Lap-groan. I haven't seen those problems because I don't have any AMI Pentium BIOS. But absolutely anything is possible with the DOS world. – G
#99035From: sherwood egbertApr 28, 1994 11:48 AM
i had the same problem with a 60mhz pentium with an ami bios. i switched to a micronics motherboard with an award bios and all problems went away. we found that some motherboards bios do not support phar laps memory switch. it documented in the read me files that come with 3dstudio. you can try the suggested work around in the read.me file by reconfiguring the way pharlap works. i can't remember exactly right now but its in the readme file. sherwood
#99149From: DONALD NEWLANDSApr 28, 1994 10:19 PM
Thanks for the replies! I will check the readme.doc file and give that a try. I will also check the BIOS maker… Fortunately and unfortunately this box is just a demo, and this is exactly the kind of thing that we were hoping to (not) discover. We have been having pretty spotty luck with Pentiums at our company… the wierdest was a 60 Mhz Dell machine that noticably slowed down as the day wore on…