Invalid exception, divide by zero?

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~misfit~ - 15 Nov 2008 10:46 GMT

I've had LoD crash a lot recently, with the above message. Anyone know
what's up?

Franks,

Signature

Shaun.

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Trammel - 15 Nov 2008 13:42 GMT

> I've had LoD crash a lot recently, with the above message. Anyone know
> what's up?
>
> Franks,

Divide by 0 error is just that... the LoD program tried to divide something
by 0.

This would be due to bad programming (not checking a value before you
attempt to divide with it) on Blizzards side. First time I have heard of
DivideByZero's on Diablo2/LoD though... does it keep happening or was it
only that once?

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~misfit~ - 15 Nov 2008 23:34 GMT

>> I've had LoD crash a lot recently, with the above message. Anyone
>> know what's up?
[quoted text clipped - 8 lines]
> heard of DivideByZero's on Diablo2/LoD though... does it keep
> happening or was it only that once?

Hi Trammel,

Here's the back story:

I've been reorganising my collection of hardware after running a
power-comsumption meter on my machines for a week each. My main, OCed C2D
with 4GB/1.6TB costs me ~NZ$10 / week [240W] to run, a lot of money on an
invalid's benefit, not to mention contravening my green streak. In fact that
could buy me food for a few days with my frugal habits (and my vegetable
garden). Some of the other machines aren't that far behind.

Soooo, I've bought a second-hand IBM ThinkPad (R51, one of the last true
IBMs before Lenovo took over the company and ThinkPad name. It has a 1.7GHz
Dothan CPU (with 2MB L2 cache and dynamic speedstepping that runs the CPU at
600MHz until more power is needed and gets an identical CPU Mark score as my
AMD Athlon XP3200+ CPU [which runs at 2.2GHz and uses 5 x the electricity]).
It has an ATI mobility 7500 / 32MB VRAM graphics 'card' and I've upgraded to
2GB RAM (from 512MB) and to a 160GB 5,400rpm Seagate Momentus HDD (from 40GB
4,200rpm Hitachi). The Visa card is almost exhausted. :-(

This is now my main machine, running 24/7 torrenting (using an external USB
HDD as the torrent repository) and it only pulls 23W with display running
(<20W with the lid closed) from the wall socket. (I haven't measured the
external HDDs power pull yet but I suspect ~10W including my home-built
super-efficient cooling system for it. <g>) A far better proposition. It
will do 98% of what I need a machine to do, albeit with a slightly longer
pause between clicking icons and programmes opening than I'm used to, due
primarilly to the slower HDD than my desktop machine's. Once I source a DVD
writer "Ultrabay Enhanced" module rather than the DVD reader / CD writer
module it has now, it'll do 99%, I'll only need to fire up the heavy iron
for encoding [and then only if I'm impatient] as the only games I'm playing
at the moment run fine on the ThinkPad. Of course, that'll likely change if
D3 ever gets released.

Now, back to my "divide by zero" problem; In the past I've always simply
copied over a D2/LoD installed directory to a 'new' machine rather than
install vis CD media. I have all four of my keysets installed folder
archived on my main machine. It's always worked like a charm. However, the
last couple times I've copied on of these over I've had this error. On the
previous machine it won't even go into a game before this happens and on the
ThinkPad it actually ran for ~15 minutes (quite acceptably) on Bnet before
it froze and the error was showing on the desktop.

So, them's the circumstances. I guess I can try CD shuffling and do a
'proper' install and see if that fixes it. (The saved installs are ver.1.10
and they update on being 'installed'.)

Cheers,

Signature

Shaun.

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Trammel - 16 Nov 2008 01:05 GMT

>>> I've had LoD crash a lot recently, with the above message. Anyone
>>> know what's up?
[quoted text clipped - 56 lines]
> 'proper' install and see if that fixes it. (The saved installs are
> ver.1.10 and they update on being 'installed'.)

So it might be an error from copying files instead of installing D2
properly?
...do a "proper" install and let us know?

Also, if you cant find the CDs then you couold always download D2 free from
the blizzard shop.

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~misfit~ - 16 Nov 2008 08:04 GMT

>>>> I've had LoD crash a lot recently, with the above message. Anyone
>>>> know what's up?
[quoted text clipped - 61 lines]
> properly?
> ...do a "proper" install and let us know?

Aye, that's the next step. I find it odd that suddenly two different install
folders going to two different machines produce the same error but still...

Argh! I have my bandwidth throttled ATM so patching in-line will take an
age. Must look, I might have 1.10 patch somewhere....

> Also, if you cant find the CDs then you couold always download D2
> free from the blizzard shop.

Oh, I can find the CDs, all four sets. I don't lose much. ;-) I just don't
relish disc-shuffling and patching. :-(

I shall report back after I get around to it.

TTFN,

Signature

Shaun.

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Mickey - 17 Nov 2008 11:52 GMT

> I've had LoD crash a lot recently, with the above message. Anyone know
> what's up?
>
> Franks,
> --
> Shaun.

This is a parody error in copying files. Do a fresh install and it
will go bye bye.

Mickey

PS. Stop in and say hell once in a while, ya bum

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freemont - 17 Nov 2008 14:05 GMT

> This is a parody error

This makes me think of Airplane II: The Sequel.

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"Because all you of Earth are idiots!"
¯`·.¸¸.·´¯`·-> freemont© <-·´¯`·.¸¸.·´¯

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~misfit~ - 17 Nov 2008 21:21 GMT

>> This is a parody error
>
> This makes me think of Airplane II: The Sequel.

While we all know that Mickey in fact meant a parroty error and was thinking
about a Norwegian Blue, pining for the fjords....

Signature

Shaun.

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Mickey - 18 Nov 2008 08:16 GMT

> >> This is a parody error
>
> > This makes me think of Airplane II: The Sequel.
>
> While we all know that Mickey in fact meant a parroty error and was thinking
> about a Norwegian Blue, pining for the fjords....

Over medicated...

Parity error.

Mickey

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~misfit~ - 18 Nov 2008 12:22 GMT

>>>> This is a parody error
>>
[quoted text clipped - 4 lines]
>
> Over medicated...

Not as often as I'd like to be....

> Parity error.

Hehee, I know. :-)

Cheers,

Signature

Shaun.

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~misfit~ - 18 Nov 2008 12:22 GMT

>>>> This is a parody error
>>
[quoted text clipped - 4 lines]
>
> Over medicated...

Not as often as I'd like to be....

> Parity error.

Hehee, I know. :-)

Cheers,

Signature

Shaun.

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~misfit~ - 17 Nov 2008 21:21 GMT

>> I've had LoD crash a lot recently, with the above message. Anyone
>> know what's up?
[quoted text clipped - 5 lines]
> This is a parody error in copying files. Do a fresh install and it
> will go bye bye.

You're right, (as was Trammel), a new install from disks fixed it. :-)

> Mickey
>
> PS. Stop in and say hello once in a while, ya bum

Hehee! My top toon is lvl 20 and a necro! I was in the agd game for a while
last night, refreshing my three characters....

M u s t p u t r e a l l i f e o n h o l d m o r e o f t e n . <g>

Signature

Shaun.

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Trammel - 18 Nov 2008 00:44 GMT

>>> I've had LoD crash a lot recently, with the above message. Anyone
>>> know what's up?
[quoted text clipped - 7 lines]
>
> You're right, (as was Trammel), a new install from disks fixed it. :-)

[snip]

Well... we were both right apart from one minor detail...
...things stored on the HDD dont use parity bits... only memory generally
uses parity, hence it couldnt have been a parity error...

In order for the information stored on the HDD to have a parity problem...
you'd need to be using a raid array... the copying of data to the array
wouldnt have created a parity error AND a parity error doesnt generate a
divide-by-zero... it generates a driver-level "hardware" interupt ;¬)

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Trammel - 18 Nov 2008 00:46 GMT

>>>> I've had LoD crash a lot recently, with the above message. Anyone
>>>> know what's up?
[quoted text clipped - 17 lines]
> wouldnt have created a parity error AND a parity error doesnt generate a
> divide-by-zero... it generates a driver-level "hardware" interupt ;¬)

(Aka: Mikey was talking shite but he copied the correct resolution ;¬)

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~misfit~ - 18 Nov 2008 05:55 GMT

>>>>> I've had LoD crash a lot recently, with the above message. Anyone
>>>>> know what's up?
[quoted text clipped - 21 lines]
> (Aka: Mikey was talking shite but he copied the correct resolution
> ;¬)

LOL, couldn't you have just accepted the nod in your direction graciously?

This is starting to look like a parody error, a parody of all the Mickey
bashing.

Signature

Shaun.

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Trammel - 18 Nov 2008 18:50 GMT

>>>>>> I've had LoD crash a lot recently, with the above message. Anyone
>>>>>> know what's up?
[quoted text clipped - 23 lines]
>
> LOL, couldn't you have just accepted the nod in your direction graciously?

I could have done... but someone might have believed that parity crap and
passed it on, therefore permeating made-up "knowledge" that doesn't fit into
the real world situation. Before long, you'll have people claiming the war
in Iraq was caused by a parity error within the central government funding
of railroads on mars.

Wait... rewind... there are railroads on mars?! O.o

> This is starting to look like a parody error, a parody of all the Mickey
> bashing.

Nawww... just me making fun bogus info...
(There is also no central government on mars, its a penal colony of Venus :)

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~misfit~ - 18 Nov 2008 22:13 GMT

>>>>>>> I've had LoD crash a lot recently, with the above message.
>>>>>>> Anyone know what's up?
[quoted text clipped - 28 lines]
> and passed it on, therefore permeating made-up "knowledge" that
> doesn't fit into the real world situation.

Ok, so we've got to this point. I call bullshit on your claim that "In order
for the information stored on the HDD to have a parity problem... you'd need
to be using a raid array...". Most parity problems are caused in RAM, some
by faults with the PCI bus, some with USB.... and yes, *some* in a RAID
array.

"Parity" means to be equal and a "parity error" means that the source and
the destination files differ. That difference can be down to a glitch in any
part of the data path (but, as I said, it is primarilly in RAM, hence
enterprise systems using 'parity RAM' or 'ECC RAM' to reduce these errors.
There is also parity checking in some types of RAID arrays to prevent errors
in file copying).

Therefore a "parity error" is, in a computer sense, an error in copying or
moving a file. The source and the destination don't have parity; They aren't
identical. In most cases it's simply a slightly corrupted file / data set, a
single 1 or 0 written wrongly. In my case that is quite possible as I was
copying from an external USB drive (in a cheap enclosure, likely with cheap
logic chips) connected to another computer, through it's RAM, over ethernet,
through a switch, (all 'consumer items' rather than 'enterprise equipment')
into my computer (through my RAM) and then over the IDE bus to my HDD. There
could have been solar flare activity or sunspots at the time...

There is no telling the result of a parity error. If it's a part of a
programme 'divide by zero' is quite possilble. Often it's a complete lock-up
of the machine if the error is in a core part of the OS (rather than a game,
run in a protected... thingy).

> Before long, you'll have
> people claiming the war in Iraq was caused by a parity error within
> the central government funding of railroads on mars.

No, that was a result of arrogance, capitalism, greed and a complete
disregard for international conventions. In 30 years time it'll be seen as
the straw that broke the US' back, unless Obama can work miracles.

> Wait... rewind... there are railroads on mars?! O.o
>
[quoted text clipped - 4 lines]
> (There is also no central government on mars, its a penal colony of
> Venus :)

I thought it was a penile colony? All those Venusians need their holiday
resorts. <g>

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Shaun.

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Trammel - 19 Nov 2008 00:31 GMT

>>>>>>>> I've had LoD crash a lot recently, with the above message.
>>>>>>>> Anyone know what's up?
[quoted text clipped - 57 lines]
> lock-up of the machine if the error is in a core part of the OS (rather
> than a game, run in a protected... thingy).

The HDD (specifically Fat32 and NTFS) does not contain any parity
information. Even if your using a raid-array, the parity information is NOT
accessible to the OS. This means a parity problem can not be blamed on a
transfer of files to the HDD. Even IF you were using a raid array... the
parity (normally odd or even, which refers to a bit that balances 1s in a
byte) is calculated for a byte as it is written and as such could not be
copied for another file system without specialist software.

A hardware parity problem (from hardware level raid) would generate a true
hardware interrupt and depending on the "software" installed (either on the
OS or inside the hardware) could do a lot of things - none of which Diablo2
will be programmed to handle or even see. The other type of raid (software)
would generate a "fake" hardware interrupt and would normally be handled by
the raid software or OS in just the same manner.

Either way... it wouldn't cause a divide-by-zero, it would most likely cause
a read error because the data integrity had been compromised.

Your divide-by-zero was most likely caused by a file or setting just never
being copied across or not being relevant to the system/graphics card that
it was originally installed for. Diablo2, not expecting a file or setting
to just disappear does a chain of wrong things... one of them leading to it
trying to divide something by a value it doesn't have (like a frame-rate)
and oops... its accidentally divided by zero because it was never coded to
check first... (note: example is over-simplified)

Parity in memory (ram) would not "consistently" fail due to a "bad copy" on
the HDD... as parity in memory is created when the data is loaded into
memory... and then scrapped as the data is unloaded from memory... its not
stored anywhere apart from ram... as I said before... the file system does
not contain parity information so that excuse is... complete bollocks :)

(Note: My original reasoning could be wrong too... but atleast mine is
POSSIBLE... repeated divide-by-zero because of a parity problem on a HDD or
even memory isnt even possible... its a different (hardware) error
altogether)

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~misfit~ - 19 Nov 2008 09:48 GMT

>>>>>>>>> I've had LoD crash a lot recently, with the above message.
>>>>>>>>> Anyone know what's up?
[quoted text clipped - 94 lines]
> HDD or even memory isnt even possible... its a different (hardware)
> error altogether)

OK, thanks, I learned something. :-)

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Shaun.

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Chemo Savy - 19 Nov 2008 13:01 GMT

>>>>>>>>>> I've had LoD crash a lot recently, with the above message.
>>>>>>>>>> Anyone know what's up?
[quoted text clipped - 96 lines]
>
>OK, thanks, I learned something. :-)

Nice ending (and I learned a lot too). I was worried you two guys were
gonna start a nuclear war!

Chemo

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Mickey - 18 Nov 2008 08:18 GMT

> >>> I've had LoD crash a lot recently, with the above message. Anyone
> >>> know what's up?
[quoted text clipped - 18 lines]
> wouldnt have created a parity error AND a parity error doesnt generate a
> divide-by-zero... it generates a driver-level "hardware" interupt ;¬)

But if a byte gets corrupted, it can cause a parity error in memory. I
was getting teh same issue, put OS/2 into trace mode, and sure enough,
that is what showed up.

Mickey

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