MICEpack/SLD 1.2

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Contents

Changes in 1.2
Windows/MICEpack SLD Configuration Guidelines
Processor and Toolchain Notes
Diagnosing Fatal MICEpack/SLD Errors



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Changes in 1.2


MICEpack/SLD 1.2 supports OMF86 load files from the Borland compiler & 
Paradigm Locate toolchain. 

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Windows/MICEpack SLD Configuration Guidelines


* GPF From Faulty Video Drivers

One GP fault that showed up in MICEpack/SLD was traced to a faulty 
video device driver of the Diamond Stealth ISA 1M VRAM card (version 
2.31) in 1024 X 768 mode.  The problem went away by reducing the 
resolution to 800 X 600.  Another problem exists with the Genoa 256-
color small font driver.  The symptom is the load-progress indicator is 
not updated completely at the completion of a load. If you encounter a 
fault in a driver file (*.DRV), try installing a more current device 
driver. 


* Adobe Type Manager

If you use Adobe Type Manager, turn it off when running MICEpack/SLD. 
The proportional font in the MICEpack/SLD Trigger window is displayed 
incorrectly when running ATM.


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Toolchain Notes


* General

Enumerated types do not display symbolic values.

Enums, structs and unions are limited to 256 elements.

The fatal error "Out of object pointers" indicates that MICEpack/SLD
has exhausted system display resources.  If you frequently encounter
this error condition, try the following:
- close windows that are not in use.
- reduce the size of windows.
- decrease the number of saved transcript lines and history commands
  in the shell window.
- when loading, select "On Demand Symbol Loading".
- include symbols in only the modules that are being actively debugged.

* Intel Toolchain Notes

MICEpack/SLD supports OMF86 file formats.  Testing has confirmed, however, 
that there are numerous interpretations of the OMF file specifications. 
MICEpack/SLD has been tested with these toolchains: 

    OMF86:  Microsoft C7 & SSI Link&Locate-86, 7.2f
    OMF86:  Microsoft C7 & Phar Lap LinkLoc 4.0
    OMF86:  Borland C 4.0, Paradigm Locate 4.0

Borland floating point emulation is done by replacing the floating point 
instruction with an INT instruction and some byte information that the 
interrupt handler is going to read. The interrupt handler reads this 
information and then modifies the stack pointer to return to the next 
executable instruction. The MICEpack/SLD disassembler knows nothing of this 
operation and hence when the source code is disassembled, it 
disassembles the INT instruction and then tries to disassemble the bytes 
that follow the INT instruction. These bytes are not really opcodes 
(they are special bytes that the INT routine knows about). The 
disassembly is incorrect until the next line number is reached. At this
point the disassembly has synched up again and the disassembly is 
correct. Trying to step past this code will not work correctly either 
(suffers from the same symptoms). However, if the source is viewed in 
Source Only (not mixed mode) then single stepping should work just fine 
since the breakpoint will be placed on the line number. 


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Diagnosing Fatal MICEpack/SLD Errors


* GP Faults

If you have received a GP fault, our ability to find and fix it is
increased if you run the Dr. Watson recorder, which captures
information at the point of the GP fault.  The Dr. Watson program
is shipped with Windows and is located in your windows directory.

To start Windows with Dr. Watson enabled, use the File Manager to drag 
and drop the drwatson.exe icon (in your windows directory) into the 
Windows StartUp Group.  Another way to do this is to add the path and 
filename to the load= line of your win.ini file.  Example: 

       load=c:\windows\drwatson.exe

After a GP fault, the drwatson.log file in your Windows directory
holds the information.  Fax or e-mail this file, along with any other
information that led up to the GP fault, to Microtek International, Inc.  

      Fax: +886-35-772-598


* PV.DMP

Under some conditions, an error can occur which produces a message box 
indicating that information about a problem has been placed in the file 
pv.dmp in your MICEpack/SLD directory.  This file gets written over each 
time an error occurs, so we recommend that you rename the file, then fax 
it to Microtek International, Inc. 
