cwiener@crlabs.CRLABS.COM (Chris Wiener) (04/12/89)
There exists a problem in Interactive's 386/ix Release 2.0 which will cause machines equipped with the latest mask revision of Intel's 386 (a.k.a. 80386-DX) to hang whenever floating point operations are attempted. I have spent over 2 months working with ISC's tech support department in N.H. and have not heard anything concrete regarding resolution of the problem. My system consists of a Dyna 386/20 motherboard (C&T chipset), 4MB RAM, and no numeric coprocessor. It's performance under 1.0.6 has been flawless. This problem occurs on 2 different machines here, and according to ISC has been reported to them as occuring on at least 8 other systems of different types. The implication here is staggering! Intel currently ships only the "D" mask processor. This means that if you are buying a NEW '386 box without a '387, DON'T BUY 386/ix 2.0. Unless Interactive wants to end up like Microport, they had better get off their butts and fix this. It has been 2 1/2 months since I reported the problem, and tech support in N.H. seems to have no idea of what is being done to fix it. It took them 2 months to get a 80386-DX chip! According to Tech Support, this problem was a "priority one" bug. Is this how ISC reacts to FATAL bugs in their products? #### DO NOT BUY INTERACTIVE 386/IX 2.0 IF YOUR MACHINE HAS A 80386-DX PROCESSOR AND NO MATH COPROCESSOR!! THIS PROBLEM IS NOT UNIQUE TO A PARTICULAR MACHINE. #### Since Tech Support has no idea of the status, maybe someone technical (hi Darryl!) could provide the net with a progress report. The more I deal with them, the more they start looking (and acting) like Microport. -- Christopher Wiener N2CR CR Labs, Cliffside Park, NJ DOMAIN: cwiener@CRLABS.COM UCCP: ..!killer!crlabs!cwiener WORK: 1-800-631-2524 x254 (9am-5pm EDT)