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- From: smithc@lars.acc.stolaf.edu (Christopher A. Smith)
- Subject: Re: Bad F-line instruction?
- Message-ID: <1992Jul22.034951.21764@news.stolaf.edu>
- Sender: news@news.stolaf.edu
- Organization: St. Olaf College, Northfield (aka Cow Country), MN USA
- References: <1992Jul19.011944.24423@smsc.sony.com> <1992Jul21.130232.1938@centerline.com> <wingo-210792100047@zardoz.apple.com>
- Distribution: na
- Date: Wed, 22 Jul 1992 03:49:51 GMT
- Lines: 131
-
- In article <wingo-210792100047@zardoz.apple.com> wingo@apple.com (Tony Wingo) writes:
- >In article <1992Jul21.130232.1938@centerline.com>, Devan F. Dewey
- ><dewey@centerline.com> wrote:
- >>
- >>
- >>
- >> >and then I got this "Bad F-line instruction" error from the Finder. I
- >>
- >> Is anyone from Apple listening?? I get this message a lot, too. It would
- >> be nice to know what it really means.
- >
- >It means that the CPU fetched and attempted to execute an op-code whose
- >high order 4 bits were all 1's. Such opcodes are known in the Motorola
- >documentation as F-Line Exceptions, and are meant primarily to interface
- >with co-processors. When the processor attempts to execute an F-Line that
- >doesn't correspond to an installed co-processor, it throws up it's hands
- >and traps into the OS, saying in effect "Here, you deal with it".
- >
- >The OS, knowing that no legitimate piece of code should have undefined
- >F-Lines in it, assumes that said code is horribly corrupted, and presents
- >the fatal error alert.
- >
- >OK, so Bad F-Line instruction means that some code is corrupted. (Actually,
- >almost all of those cryptic fatal errors boil down to some code being
- >corrupted). This in turn means that either:
- >
- >1. The copy on the disk got corrupted somehow, so that when you execute
- >that application (or int this case the Finder) you are executing bum code.
- >The only thing to do in this case is to re-install the effected software.
- >(NOTE, if you decide that your system is corrupted, drag the system file
- >and the finder into the trash before running the installer, to guarantee
- >that the installer actually replaces the whole thing).
- >
- >2. Some other application or INIT in your system is stepping on the
- >failing application in memory. Try running with no INITS. If this solves
- >the problem, start adding INITS one by one until the problem recurs. Then
- >trash that last INIT. If it is not an INIT problem, then one of your
- >applications is stepping on something it shouldn't (such as the Finder).
- >Experiment around until you figure out which one it is, then trash it.
- >
- >-tony
- >
- >>>usual disclaimer<<
-
-
- Tony, let me tell you about my experiences with this Bad F-Line
- instruction, just in case my previous posting from about a month ago
- has scrolled off...
-
- I've been getting the bad F-LIne errors for a couple of months now.
- I've tried narrowing it down to a specific INIT or application, but in
- every instance the results have been different; all of my software is
- either System 7 compatible or collecting dust on a separate hard
- drive. I've spent more than a week trying to find the culprit, but it
- is never conclusive. Never... I've replaced the Finder and then had
- to rebuild the desktop, but that doesn't always fix the problem. If
- it doesn't, then I either have to replace the Finder again or
- replace the System 7 tuneup (1.1.1). If *that* doesn't work, then the
- entire system ahs to be reinstalled. And in the few instances that
- that doesn't fix it, even with no INITs loaded, I have to reinstall
- the *entire* hard drive. Now, if the software is supposedly System 7
- compatible and the errors never occur in the same spot, then, to me,
- that sounds like something in the System software isn't stable enough.
- Possibly. I'm not a hot shot technician; I'm just saying what seems
- somewhat obvious. If a computer crashes with a bad F-line instruction
- with *no* INITs loaded, with no applications in the background, and
- while the computer is idle in the Finder, then that suggests to me
- that the system software is suspect. And that's exactly what's
- happened to me -- the computer crashing wiht a Bad F-Line error with
- nothing in memory save the basic System 7.0.1 software and the Finder.
-
- A co-consultant of mine and I worked one day to find the culprit INIT
- or application. After 10 hours of constant badgering, we found
- nothing conclusive. The error couldn't be duplicated; we couldn't
- force it to happen. Once it did happen, we couldn't gbet around it
- but to reinstall the Finder at least. We ran every application on my
- hard drive and ran it extensively. We ran with virtual memory, with
- file Sharing, and all INITs. We worked it to death, and it ran fine.
- But when the Bad F-line instructions started popping up, it was
- because we chose a menu in the Finder, or scrolled in an application
- that was system 7 compatible -- the most rudimentary things in System
- 7 compatible applications. We were both bffled beyond belief and gave
- up... Now I'm just bearing with it and trying not to deep-six my Mac
- IIci in the Potomac river here in Washington, D.C. (where I'm actually
- at -- gotta love the Internet).
-
- I saved a copy once of the supposedly corrupted Finder and ran it
- through ResEdit to see if there were any detectable errors. None...
- The Bad F-Line errors pop up in different places in every instance, in
- different applications, under different circumstances. It perfectly
- describes the term "intermittent." It cannot be duplicated on my
- machine, but I do know how to fix it. But it is very time consuming,
- and since I'm a consulnt who charges by the hour, I've lost many hours
- to these errors, having to reinstall my system or entire hard drive.
- I've run every diagnostic possible on this thing with Mac EKG, with
- Snooper, with virus programs, disk checkers, etc, etc, etc, and they
- all pronounce the computer to be healthy. So it must be software.
- But sinc emy software is up to date and current, and since the rrors
- never occur under the same circumstances, I'm rather inclined to
- wonder if something in the Finder or the System software is bad.
- Perhaps the lack of solid memory protection or file protection...
-
- How can a program become corrupted, especially more than once a day,
- under different circumstances (different or no INITs or applications)?
- Maybe I'm not a hot-shot programmer, but that to me sounds like
- something wasn't designed too well, with a program being vulnerable to
- frequent corruption. I haven't seen that on any other machine; I
- mean, I haven't seen it happen so often. Even on IBMs under MS
- Windows 3.0 with the most flaky versions of Stacker (the PC version of
- Autodoubler).
-
- Sorry if I sound frustrated, but I've lost a lot of valuable time at
- work having to deal with these Bad F-line errors that can't be
- prevented or that take sometimes at least an hour to begin to fix. If
- I tallied up the number of lost hours, we could possibly be talking a
- 4-digit figure here by the end of next month, seeing how things have
- been going lately. Sometimes I've been tempted to moth-ball my mac
- and boost up my PC because it's so much more stable and reliable....
-
- Y'all at Apple, please try to figure out what's going on here. It's
- getting ridiculous for me to constantly have to reinstall the Finder
- at least. That's ridiculous. That's not a stable system. Please
- either get some good memory protection into the System or find the
- culprit by doing some intensive software testing...
-
- Just my $0.03 worth...
-
- ==================================================================
- Christopher A. Smith
- German & Mathematics -- St. Olaf College, Northfield, MN
- Internet: smithc@stolaf.edu
-