Floating point: overflow

[Peter Gornall]

I have posted a similar query on the software site but the problem does seem to stem from the operating system. I have a small program which calculates interest for specific purposes where the rates on interest have varied over the years. It worked on Windows 3.11 which I still have on an old machine. It doesn't work on the OS from W95 through W98 or millennium. I get the error message
Floating Point: Overflow

Does anybody have any idea why this should happen and can I get around it?

[davidgsmith]

Hello Peter,

I don't know the answer, but I went to www.google.com and did a search for Floating Point: Overflow and got a bunch of stuff that I did not understand.

Maybe if you take a look in the same manner you may find the answer you seek.

Sorry i couldn't be of any more help.

Good Luck,
Dave

[AlaricD]

Does this error reference any particular .DLL, by any chance? It could be that the software was written for a specific .DLL that has been replaced with a newer one by Win95. You may need to copy the .DLL that came with the original software into the working directory on the Win9x machine.

When does the error occur? As soon as the program is started? When you perform a specific function?

Win9x also has a program called MKCOMPAT, which allows you to define specific settings for a program to give it a more 3.x-like environment. Go to Start, Run, type mkcompat and hit Ok, and use the info in the link above as a reference.

[Peter Gornall]

Thanks for the responses which I will now check out. It appears the program was written for 16 bit systems which I am told is why it will not work with the changes introduced by W95 but I will try the suggested solutions.

many thanks

Peter

[Peter Gornall]

I've tried mkcompat which looks interesting but it now gives me the message 'the program uses ctl3dv2.dll which has not been correctly installed. How do you correctly install this .dll of which I have 3 or 4 dotted about. It can be found in the windows system directory. Incidentally the program does open and it is when I want to open the database to update interest rates that I get the message. It also comes up if I try to make a calculation using existing data.

[AlaricD]

Sometimes errors concerning ctl3dv2.dl are related to the fact that there are too many copies of the .DLL.

Create a new directory on C: (so it will be a directory not in the search path) Close all running applications, then do a "Find Files and Folders" for ctl3dv2.dll Once the search is complete and is displaying the list of files that it has located, drag all but the one from \windows\system to that folder, and try the software again. (However, the .DLL may be cached, so you may need to reboot before retrying the software.)

[Peter Gornall]

That didn't work either and I am still getting the Floating point: Overflow error message. Thanks for the ideas but it seems I'll have to keep my W3.11 handy to use the program on that.

[ralph3124]

Check your Win95 help section. There was a setting to set the version backward. I think it was SETVER <program name> <version>
Which would translate to:
SETVER XXXXXXXX 3.1

This may have to be in your CONFIG.SYS, I'm not sure-maybe someone can shed some light on the issue.

[AlaricD]

SETVER reports a DOS version number to programs that were designed for earlier versions of MS-DOS and do not work with the current version.

It's not designed for Windows version reporting. Also, version reporting is not the same as adjusting the runtime environment such as MKCOMPAT does.

[Train]

Have seen that error show up because the AMD cpus have a compatability error with a few program languages also. If I see that I know a crash will happen. Sometimes though the program just shuts down though. My 2 ¢.

[Vernon Frazee]

Have also see a "Floating Point Error" occur because of a corrupt database.

[Peter Gornall]

The database is fine and the program works perfectly well with Windows 3.11. As was earlier explained the problem came with W95 and later. I'll just have to live with it. Thanks for the interest.