PRB: DX5420 and DX1230 Errors from Incorrect SYSTEM.INI File

 Last reviewed: July 17, 1997
Article ID: Q98858
1.00 1.00a | 1.00 1.50 
MS-DOS     | WINDOWS
kbtool kbprb

The information in this article applies to:

  • The Microsoft C/C++ Compiler (CL.EXE) included with: 

        - Microsoft Visual C++ for Windows, versions 1.0 and 1.5
    - Microsoft Fortran PowerStation for MS-DOS, versions 1.0 and 1.0a

SYMPTOMS

An attempt to build in an application in Microsoft Visual C++ or Fortran Powerstation may fail and the compiler generates the following messages: 

   DOSXNT: system error DX5420: CheckDPMI: error when checking
           for coprocessor support

   DOSXNT: fatal error DX1230: DOSXNT initialization failed
These errors usually occur soon after installation of these applications or another application for the Microsoft Windows operating system.

CAUSE

These errors are related (DX5420 causes DX1230) and occur when a required virtual device driver is not available.

RESOLUTION

Verify that the [386enh] section of your SYSTEM.INI file contains the following line: 

   device=*vmcpd
This line must only appear one time (Windows does not load if the line appears more than once). If you change your SYSTEM.INI file, you must close Windows and restart it for the changes to take effect.

MORE INFORMATION

The Setup program adds the line above to the SYSTEM.INI file. If this error occurs, verify that you are using the SYSTEM.INI file that Setup modified or that you manually made all necessary changes to the SYSTEM.INI file.

Additional reference words: 1.00 1.00a 1.50 8.00 8.00c
KBCategory: kbtool kbprb
KBSubcategory: CLIss FLIss
Keywords : kb16bitonly

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Last reviewed: July 17, 1997
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