Autor: Slawomir Marczynski (slawek_at_arcadia.tuniv.szczecin.pl)
Data: Wed 12 Nov 1997 - 12:52:45 MET
Grzegorz Szyszlo (znik_at_avalon.wbc.lublin.pl) wrote:
: Czy ktos moze mi udzielic informacji ktore procesory sie wieszaja
: a ktore nie ?
Zajrzalem na http://www.intel.com, tamze mozna znalezc ponizszy tekst,
ktory "wszystko" wyjasnia. Nota bene - wyglada na to, ze cala afera jest
stosunkowo niedawna (11/7/97 to chyba 7 listopada br., a nie 11 lipca).
Cyt.:
On Friday afternoon (11/7/97) we discovered a number of postings in
newsgroups talking about a potential processor "bug." This describes
the assessment of the issue reported on those postings.
The issue occurs only when an illegal instruction sequence is issued.
Such a sequence is not purposefully generated in the course of
programming nor is such a sequence generated by commercial software.
The execution of that reported instruction sequence causes systems
with PentiumŽ processors and PentiumŽ processor with MMX™
technology to hang instead of terminating the application. This hang
condition is observed on multiple operating systems (DOS*, Windows*
95, Windows* NT, and Linux*) when used with this instruction sequence.
Intel has reproduced the behavior.
It is important to note that this erratum will only occur when someone
has intentionally created this invalid instruction because they want
to crash the system.
We have confirmed the existence of an erratum and are in the process
of evaluating workarounds.
Key Points:
* An Internet posting Friday made us aware of a potential erratum.
* Working all weekend we have confirmed a new erratum on the
PentiumŽ processor and PentiumŽ processor with MMX™ and have
been aggressively pursuing this issue in a very accelerated
manner. This erratum does not affect the PentiumŽ Pro processor or
the PentiumŽ II Processor.
* The errata only occurs when the processor receives a specific
invalid instruction.
* This invalid instruction is not in commercial software and would
have to be intentionally created.
* The result of executing the invalid instruction is that the system
could hang.
* If this occurs, the system will immediately hang and all the user
has to do is reboot the system and they are back in normal
operation.
* All processors have errata.
* Consistent with our process for errata we have begun to work
closely with hardware and software companies to define and deliver
the best workaround for this issue on an accelerated timeline. We
expect to have an update on the status of the workarounds within
the next week.
Spokespeople
Trade press calls to Manny Vara @ 408-765-6829, analyst calls to Bill
Miller @ 408-765-3920, business press calls to Tom Waldrop @
408-765-8478 or Chuck Mulloy @ 408-765-3484
* These trademarks are property of their respective owners.
-- Slawomir Marczynski (Mr) Institute of Physics, Technical University of Szczecin Al. Piastow 48/49, 70-310 Szczecin, Poland slawek_at_arcadia.inter.tuniv.szczecin.pl, tel:+(048-91)-494056
To archiwum zostało wygenerowane przez hypermail 2.1.7 : Tue 18 May 2004 - 16:32:41 MET DST