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Technology Stocks : Intel Corporation (INTC) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: L. Adam Latham who wrote (168428)	7/17/2002 6:52:11 PM
From: Gary Kao	Respond to of 186894

Microsoft admits Win XP DirectX problems on AMD platforms AMD-specific code a right mess >taken from Inquirer.net< By Paul Hales: Wednesday 17 July 2002, 10:03 MICROSOFT HAS IDENTIFIED a problem with running DirectX 8.1 on AMD processor-based systems. Some DirectX 8.1 programs may simply stop working on AMD PCs, says the Vole, and it has come up with a patch to fix the problem. The problem applies to DirectX programs running under Windows XP on AMD platforms. Intel processors are unaffected, the posting on Microsoft's support site here says. According to the posting, "the DrawIndexedPrimitive function stops working without displaying an error or debug message". Microsoft fesses up and says the error occurs because of "a code error in the AMD-specific optimized code. This code error may lead to heap corruption," it says. So Microsoft, not AMD, messed up, in case you were wondering. To fix the problem you'll have to call Microsoft. One thing we're always fascinated by is the fact that Microsoft charges you around £35 per question, when you call them up. Yet, "in special cases, charges that are ordinarily incurred for support calls may be canceled if a Microsoft Support Professional determines that a specific update will resolve your problem". So, if you run across a problem the Vole is unaware of, it'll charge you for asking about it. Or, even if Microsoft is aware of the problem, unless it has already posted a fix, it'll still charge you for asking about it. So, if for example, you'd called up last month to ask why your DirectX 8.1 game wasn't working on your Athlon XP machine, Microsoft may well have replied, "We don't know sir. That'll be £35 please." Now, if you call up they'll say: "yes we've fixed that, sir. If you promise to be a good boy and only ring us after we've fixed things we'll let you off the £35 this time." How will you know before you make the call whether you'll get charged on not? Er. We dunno either. Please send your £35 to the usual INQUIRER address. µ