Memory protection fault when running DOS program Gauss

Fred

unread,

Jan 29, 2004, 7:11:00 PM1/29/04

to

When I install and run a dos program called gauss (a math-matrix
programming language) on my old version of vpc 4 with w98 under
os9.2.2 (or earlier os's), it gave a memory protection fault error
message. Now that I have vpc 6.1 on osx 10.1.5 it gives the same error
message:
Abnormal program termination: Memory protection fault
CS:EIP = 00A7h:00001E35h
Does anyone know why is this happening and is there anyway around this
problem?
Thanks in advance.

Steve Jain

unread,

Jan 29, 2004, 8:00:17 PM1/29/04

to

Most likely its poor coding of the app. Back in the DOS days a lot of
programmers made shortcuts assuming that memory addresses, etc would
always be the same. When you switch to a VM, things can be different.

Does gauss work on a real PC running Windows 98? Have you tried
running it in Virtual PC with DOS?

Steve Jain, Microsoft MVP for Virtual PC for Windows
Website: http://www.essjae.com

Fred

unread,

Jan 30, 2004, 8:29:41 AM1/30/04

to

Thanks for the reply.
Yes, Gauss works fine on w98, as well as on NT or 2k. It relies on
using vm to manage large matrices.
Yes, I tried running it on vpc dos after booting w98 to dos. However,
I don't have a true dos disk to install on vpc.

Steve Jain <essj...@Spam-hotmail.com> wrote in message news:<02bj105nlcb6rpr2k...@4ax.com>...

Steve Jain

unread,

Jan 30, 2004, 2:59:53 PM1/30/04

to

Did it work in DOS? If so, you could give FreeDOS a try.

http://www.freedos.org/

Otherwise, MS DOS 6.22 is going for about $10 on eBay.

Fred

unread,

Feb 2, 2004, 11:16:41 PM2/2/04

to

Hi Steve,
Gauss works fine in DOS on a real PC, or in DOS prompt under all
windows on a real PC.
I tried to install Gauss on FreeDos in VPC 6.1 but failed on the 3rd
disk(out of 4 installation disks) due to a batch file name error.
I will try to get a full version of DOS next, but I doubt it will
work.
It seems that there are some memory mapping that is missing in VPC as
compared to a real PC.
In the documentation for VPC, I didn't see any place that talked about
the limitations of running a DOS program. That is the reason that I
bought VPC 6.1. I'm a bit disappointed.

Steve Jain <essj...@Spam-hotmail.com> wrote in message news:<epdl10dkh812lqi8o...@4ax.com>...

Steve Jain

unread,

Feb 3, 2004, 2:02:56 AM2/3/04

to

Most applications work, but unfortunately, there's no guarantee that
every program will. You could try and contact MS customer service and
explain the situation. Depending on the circumstances they may offer
you a refund. heres a path to the contact info I posted a while ago.

find the MS mac page...
http://www.microsoft.com/mac/

if you go to the mac support page...
http://www.microsoft.com/mac/support.aspx

click the product support link at the bottom of the page under 'call
US product support', which takes you here:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=%2fdefault.aspx%3fscid%3dsz%3ben-us%3btop

from the list, select Virtual PC 6.1 for Macintosh and click the
continue

follow the steps, in your case, select basic (General computing issues
including installation, problem diagnosis, and how-to.) and click
continue

where did you buy it, in your case "it was purchased separately" and
click continue
you'll see under...
<snip>
Phone Support

Your Product Support currently* includes two incidents and unlimited
installation support at no charge.
Options Price Per Incident Phone Numbers
****2 incidents and installation support No charge (425) 637-9308 ****
Paid support $35.00 U.S. (800) 936-5700
TTY/TDD Will vary depending on the service option (800) 892-5234
<snip>

call the 425 number, and when prompted to speak with a customer
service rep, press 2.