invalid floating point error with wide fs/wide client and P8

[scohyj]

Hello,

May I ask you for help to understand this problem :

there is a free FMC software called "P8R" (guess you know it).

It's author has recently set up a new version including FMC, ND, EFIS and EICAS.

On a single computer it runs fine, each module interacting with FS through FSUIPC (I have a registered 3.60 version of FSUIPC with WideFs).

So I wanted to make it run in a network (two PCs) with FS and FSUIPC on the server and the P8R suite on the host.

When WideFs is not running on the host pc, each module of P8R runs ok (but of course does not find a link to FS).

When I activate WideFs and then the P8R modules, each runs well and finds FS through the network, except the ND module that does not connect and gives me the "invalid floating point error".

It seems then to be an error resulting in the interaction between WideFs and the ND module.

Would you have any idea for helping me to solve this problem ?

I asked to the P8R author, he advised me to remove each P8R entry in the registry.

(I did not do it yet).

Thank you for your help.

JJ Scohy

[Pete Dowson]

there is a free FMC software called "P8R" (guess you know it).

Sorry, no, I do not.

When I activate WideFs and then the P8R modules, each runs well and finds FS through the network, except the ND module that does not connect and gives me the "invalid floating point error".

It seems then to be an error resulting in the interaction between WideFs and the ND module.

It sounds like his program is assuming that all data it reads is going to be valid straightaway, but with WideFS it can be many milliseconds for some values to initialise. Before that they will read as zero.

Now zero is NOT an invalid floating point value, but I guess he may be assuming that he has a non-zero value and is doing something naughty with it, like dividing it into something. I would have thought that this would give an overflow errors, and maybe it does -- but his message "invalid floating point error" may be a catch-all. (I wonder what a valid floating point error would be! ).

There is a parameter in WideClient which you could conceivalby use to make the program wait longer for any fresh data it needs. This is defaulted to 500 msecs (half a second) which should be easily adequate, but perhaps it all depends upon how fast the connection is and how much other data he is requesting simultaneously. Please see the first Question and Answer in the WideFS document.

I asked to the P8R author, he advised me to remove each P8R entry in the registry.

Registry? Don't understand that. Or is he rferring to a list of data items he reads, in which case he might be asking you to find out which one it is by a process of elimination.

You can use the extensive Logging facilities in WideClient to see what the last data his ND read was before it crashed. Use Log=Yes, as described in the documentation. Keep the session short with only the crashing program running. I can help you decode the log afterwards.

Regards,

Pete

[scohyj]

Thank you for answering me so quickly.

Sorry, I meant delete all the Windows registry settings for P8R software (just tried it and the error still remains).

One other user of P8R wrote me that he tried to reinstall XP, WideFs and the P8R softs and that the problem was solved.

I followed your advise and set in the WideClient.ini file the lines :

WaitForNewData=2000

...

[user]

Log=Yes

And tried again, but the invalid floating point error still remains.

I will post the content of the .ini file and the WideClient log file as answers to this message, so you can read them.

thanks again,

JJ Scohy

[scohyj]

the WideClient.ini file as it is now :

; PLEASE SEE WideFS documentation for parameter details

; =====================================================

[Config]

Port=8002

Window=4,4,1288,998

Visible=Yes

ServerName=marcel

ButtonScanInterval=20

ClassInstance=0

NetworkTiming=5,1

PollInterval=2000

ResponseTime=18

ApplicationDelay=0

TCPcoalesce=No

UseTCPIP=Yes

WaitForNewData=2000

MaxSendQ=100

OnMaxSendQ=Log

NewSendScanTime=50

Priority=3,1,2

; -----------------------------------------------

[user]

Log=Yes

; ===============================================

[scohyj]

the WideClient.log file that I obtained after the invalid floating point error occured ("NdA" is the name of the soft) :

********* WideClient Log [version 6.51] Class=FS98MAIN *********

Date (dmy): 07/08/06, Time 15:47:22.609: Client name is ALBERT

313 Timing Thread Started

360 SendReq Thread Started

360 Trying TCP/IP host "marcel" port 8002 ...

360Okay, IP Address = 192.168.0.1

391 Sending computer name and requesting base data ...

391 Button Thread Started

111281 New Client Application: "NdA" (Id=2468)

111281 Write: Offset=330A, Size=0002

00 00

111281 0 ReadLocal: Offset=3304, Size=0004

00 00 00 36

111281 0 ReadLocal: Offset=3308, Size=0004

07 00 DE FA

111391 0 ReadLocal: Offset=3D00, Size=0100

46 65 65 6C 54 68 65 72 65 20 42 6F 65 69 6E 67

20 37 33 37 2D 35 30 30 20 48 6F 75 73 65 20 56

43 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00

00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00

00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00

00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00

00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00

00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00

00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00

00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00

00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00

00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00

00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00

00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00

00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00

00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00

116391 Write: Offset=330A, Size=0002

00 00

116391 0 ReadLocal: Offset=3304, Size=0004

00 00 00 36

116391 0 ReadLocal: Offset=3308, Size=0004

07 00 DE FA

116500 0 ReadLocal: Offset=3D00, Size=0100

46 65 65 6C 54 68 65 72 65 20 42 6F 65 69 6E 67

20 37 33 37 2D 35 30 30 20 48 6F 75 73 65 20 56

43 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00

00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00

00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00

00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00

00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00

00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00

00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00

00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00

00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00

00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00

00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00

00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00

00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00

00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00

116688 157 ReadOk: Offset=3324, Size=0004

C1 00 00 00

116985 297 ReadOk: Offset=02A0, Size=0002

03 FE

117281 296 ReadOk: Offset=0580, Size=0004

A1 29 39 EE

117578 297 ReadOk: Offset=0564, Size=0004

1B 4F 56 00

117891 313 ReadOk: Offset=056C, Size=0004

27 C0 30 03

118188 266 ReadOk: Offset=057C, Size=0004

97 07 FE FF

118485 297 ReadOk: Offset=07CC, Size=0002

C7 F1

136985 Timing Thread Terminated

136985 Button Thread Terminated

136985 SendReq Thread Terminated

136985 ****** End of session performance summary ******

136985 Total time connected = 137 seconds

136985 Reception maximum: 8 frames/sec, 204 bytes/sec

136985 Reception average whilst connected: 2 frames/sec, 59 bytes/sec

136985 Transmission maximum: 2 frames/sec, 88 bytes/sec

136985 Transmission average whilst connected: 0 frames/sec, 22 bytes/sec

136985 Max receive buffer = 294, Max send depth = 1, Send frames lost = 0

136985 **************** Individual client application activity ****************

136985 Client 2468 requests: 11 (Ave 0/sec), Data: 788 bytes (5/sec), Average 71 bytes/Process

136985 ********* Log file closed (Buffers: MaxUsed 2, Alloc 380 Freed 380 Refused 0) *********

[Pete Dowson]

Sorry, I meant delete all the Windows registry settings for P8R software (just tried it and the error still remains).

I have no idea why it would want any in the first place!

One other user of P8R wrote me that he tried to reinstall XP, WideFs and the P8R softs and that the problem was solved.

I followed your advise and set in the WideClient.ini file the lines :

WaitForNewData=2000

...

[user]

Log=Yes

And tried again, but the invalid floating point error still remains.

The "Log=Yes" wasn't for fixing anything, only to see what the program was asking for just before it crashed!

Really the author of the program should be investigating and fixing this. He seems to be shirking his duties!

Pete

[scohyj]

Thank you.

I understand that setting the log to "Yes" would not solve the problem. :)

But setting the delay to 2000 did not.

P8R is a free software and I am using it as a beta test version.

It seems that other testers did not experience this error with networked PCs, except the one that wrote me to reinstall Windows XP as he did, the error did not occur anymore when he did.

I was wondering if you had already be informed of such errors and their solutions, from the FSUIPC and WideClient side.

Otherwise, the P8R soft is working very well (if you are interrested to see them I can give you a download link but as a private message. The author has restricted access to his soft, only available from now as a beta, you have to register to a yahoo-group to access the download).

I will just test the reinstallation of XP now.

Thanks,

JJ Scohy.

[Pete Dowson]

I understand that setting the log to "Yes" would not solve the problem. :)

But setting the delay to 2000 did not.

Right. In fact 2000 os probably long enough to cause some programs to time out the FSUIPC connection and report an error!

But it does indicate that the cause of the problem is not some initial zero the program wasn't expecting. Really, I doubt if I'll be able to get anywhere -- the author needs to be involved. I can help him, of course.

P8R is a free software and I am using it as a beta test version.

It seems that other testers did not experience this error with networked PCs, except the one that wrote me to reinstall Windows XP as he did, the error did not occur anymore when he did.

That is actually very strange and points to something other than WideFs entirely. It sounds like it is more to do with the installation of the software. I'm surprised it uses the registry so much. I try to avoid that as it makes things far too install dependent.

I was wondering if you had already be informed of such errors and their solutions, from the FSUIPC and WideClient side.

No, not at all, sorry.

Otherwise, the P8R soft is working very well (if you are interrested to see them I can give you a download link but as a private message. The author has restricted access to his soft, only available from now as a beta, you have to register to a yahoo-group to access the download).

No, thnkyou anyway. I am really far to busy. ;-)

Regards,

Pete

[scohyj]

Well I just finished a complete reinstall from the beginning and found the apparent cause of the problem : the latest version of the Nvidia driver.

I use in this PC a Geforce MX440 Se (64Mb).

The default Nvidia driver installed by XP runs well, the ND finds FS9 on the other computer via WideClient.

I can install the latest Directx and eveything runs fine, but when I try to update the Nvidia driver with the latest version, the invalid floating point error comes again...

So eveything runs fine now.

Thank you for your help.

JJ Scohy.