Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!ucbvax!hplabs!hp-ses!hpcea!hpnmdla!waynec
From: waynec@hpnmdla.HP.COM (Wayne Cannon)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc
Subject: Re: 80386 versus 80387
Message-ID: <340003@hpnmdla.HP.COM>
Date: 18 May 89 05:43:09 GMT
References: <1427@uw-entropy.ms.washington.edu>
Organization: HP Network Measurements Div, Santa Rosa, CA
Lines: 17

There have been at least two floating point problems.  The
double-sigma fixed one of them (I believe it had a work-around
involving initializing some floating point operations, or
something).  The other is fixed by the DX step 80386 chips as
outlined very nicely in another reply.  It can happen very often
-- enough to make programs run successfully only one out of ten
attempts -- running UNIX with heavy floating point operations.

There are a couple of workarounds.  One involves bypassing your
80387 and using only software emulation [great, huh?!].  The
other is a board from Bell Technologies that goes between your
80386 and its socket.  The best, of course, is to get a chip with
the DX step.  The DX chips have been available for some time (at
least 6 months, maybe a year), but still very few are actually
showing up in packaged units.  I guess vendors are flushing their
inventory of the old chips, or maybe Intel is still shipping the
old chips.