PRB: Display Problems with Win32s and the S3 Driver

• Microsoft Win32s versions 1.1, 1.15, 1.2, 1.3, 1.30c

SYMPTOMS

Applications running on Windows 3.1 exhibit no problems when using an S3 driver, with a resolution of 1024x768 and 256 colors. However, the display is corrupted when Win32-based applications, such as FreeCell, run on Win32s in the same configuration.

CAUSE

This is a known problem with the S3 driver.

A general protection (GP) fault occurs when the display driver is performing a bit-block transfer (BitBlt). This happens whether or not Win32s is running. However, when Win32s is not running, Windows recovers from the faults. When a Win32-based application is running, Win32s catches all exceptions and transfers control to the nearest try/except frame. As a result, the BitBlt is interrupted.

RESOLUTION

Certain S3 drivers which exhibit these problems can be made to work with Win32s by making the following edit to your SYSTEM.INI file before running any Win32-based applications:

In the SYSTEM.INI file, you will find an entry in the [display] section

   aperture-base=100

   aperture-base=0

If this does not help, obtain the latest S3 drivers. It is reported that S3 driver version 1.3 does not have this problem.