ri09+@andrew.cmu.edu (Robert W. Igo) (04/02/91)
Offhand, I can't remember the version. It's either 3.0 or 5.0. Anyway, here's the deal: Often (about once every 10 minutes) when I compile with the make option (F9) the entire compiler will lock up and go off somewhere to hibernate. Most times, I am able to do a warm reboot, but it has also locked me out from doing that. Also, on rarer occasion, when my program is writing output to the hard drive (D:\TP, specifically) it will freeze in the same manner. This error has never occured before, and it started occuring on 4/1/91, yes April fool's day. I remember once being told never to enter a date which was a Friday the 13th or April fool's day because it might activate any latent viruses which the computer may have. So far, the error has been limited to the TP compiler and its compiled programs. Writing output to the hard disk seems to be a common denominator in the errors. I realize that this is a bit broad, and perhaps no one can draw any conclusions, but what I really need to know is if the computer is infected with a virus, or is this a TP bug? If a virus is suspected, can anyone tell me of any good vaccine programs for IBM compatibles? --Thanks for any help in advance, Bob
Mark.Ranum@p7.f31.n282.z1.FIDONET.ORG (Mark Ranum) (04/04/91)
I not sure what the problem with Pascal could be, but it sure sounds like you have a virus. I looked up the Phone numbers of the best man for the job. There is a program from this company called CLEANUP.EXE that should remove any virus's and another called SCAN.EXE that should detect it. If you cannot get a hold of any copy's around here, then here is the address and phone number's for this company.
McAfee Associates
4423 Cheeney Street
Santa Clara, CA 95054
(408) 988-3832 Voice - Use this # for questions/bug reports
(408) 988-4004 BBS - Use this # for obtaining program upgrades
(408) 970-9727 FAX
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|The Dark Knight's Table : Mark Ranum - via FidoNet node 1:282/31
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|Domain: Mark.Ranum@p7.f31.n282.z1.FIDONET.ORGdefaria@hpcupt3.cup.hp.com (Andy DeFaria) (04/05/91)
>/ hpcupt3:comp.lang.pascal / ri09+@andrew.cmu.edu (Robert W. Igo) / 7:54 am Apr 2, 1991 / >Often (about once every 10 minutes) when I compile with the make option >(F9) the entire compiler will lock up and go off somewhere to hibernate. > Most times, I am able to do a warm reboot, but it has also locked me >out from doing that. Also, on rarer occasion, when my program is >writing output to the hard drive (D:\TP, specifically) it will freeze in >the same manner. > >This error has never occured before, and it started occuring on 4/1/91, >yes April fool's day. I remember once being told never to enter a date >which was a Friday the 13th or April fool's day because it might >activate any latent viruses which the computer may have. So far, the >error has been limited to the TP compiler and its compiled programs. >Writing output to the hard disk seems to be a common denominator in the >errors. > >I realize that this is a bit broad, and perhaps no one can draw any >conclusions, but what I really need to know is if the computer is >infected with a virus, or is this a TP bug? If a virus is suspected, >can anyone tell me of any good vaccine programs for IBM compatibles? I assume that you are talking about Turbo *Pascal* and not Turbo *C* as you title states. I doubt that its the compiler or any kind of virus. I'll bet its your program. I have had times, when writing a linked list or an interupt routine, when, as the result of my own bugs, a pointer will point to the wrong place in memory. As I'm debugging the problem with the IDE, Turbo will lock up or the next compile will lock up. Yes Virginia, it is very easy to corrupt DOS with bad pointers and you shouldn't expect programs like Turbo Pascal, or Turbo C for that matter, that are running your program under them to function properly after you have modified some of their data with a bad pointer. Stated another way: If you only used TP for compiling (and perhaps editing also) you should never have a problem. But if it locks up *after* you have run your program under TP, then there is the possibility that your program has screwed up TP.
ri09+@andrew.cmu.edu (Robert W. Igo) (04/05/91)
Nevermind. It turned out to be the death throes of the hard drive. --Bob