GP Fault or Fatal Exception Error on Intel MMX CPU
Article ID: 156492
Article Last Modified on 11/15/2006
APPLIES TO
This article was previously published under Q156492
SYMPTOMS
When you are running a program or using a device driver that calls MMX-
specific instructions in the retail release of Windows 95 on a system
with an Intel processor supporting the MMX instruction set, the following
symptoms may occur:
- A general protection (GP) fault error message
- A fatal exception error message on a blue screen
This problem does not occur with Windows 95 OEM Service Release 2 or later.
CAUSE
The retail release of Windows 95 does not properly support some MMX
instructions if they are called from a device driver or from program code
running in protection level 0 (Ring 0, also known as privileged or Kernel
mode). If these instructions are issued while the processor is operating
in Ring 0, a GP fault or other serious error may occur.
RESOLUTION
STATUS
This problem no longer occurs in Windows 98. To resolve this problem, install the current version of Windows. For information about the current version of Windows, visit
http://www.microsoft.com/windows.
MORE INFORMATION
Additional query words: gpf
Keywords: kbhotfixserver kbqfe kbhardware kbprb KB156492