Failures on a VAX with FPA under UNIX 4.2bsd

[Patrick Geurts]

On behalf of the University of Namur in Belgium, we forward the
following request.

They have a VAX 750 under UNIX 4.2bsd. An FPA is available. Currently,
the system crashes about every 10 minutes with a "fatal error - illegal
operand". Investigations held on site came to suspect the FPA, which
had just been replaced. DIGITAL maintenance service has been unable to
address the problem, and proved to be incompetent in handling UNIX.

Two questions are asked:

1) What influence does the presence of an FPA have on the installation
of UNIX 4.2bsd?

2) Does the C compiler in 4.2bsd have to know about FPA, and what happens
if it supposes there is no FPA while there actually is one? Concurrently,
what is the effect of an FPA failure on the functionning of a C compiler
assuming the presence of an FPA?

Please reply through email to:
Patrick Geurts  {mcvax!prlb2!}sunbim!pge