Excel AppNote: Pentium Floating Point Unit Patch (WE1136)
ID: Q123783
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The information in this article applies to:
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Microsoft Excel for Windows, versions 4.0, 4.0a, 5.0, 5.0a, 5.0c
SUMMARY
The "Pentium Floating Point Unit (FPU) Patch" (WE1136) Application Note is
now available from Microsoft Product Support Services (PSS). This
application note contains a patch that you can use to test for a faulty FPU
and to disable the FPU in your computer when you use Microsoft Excel.
To Obtain This Application Note
The following file is available for download from the Microsoft
Download Center. Click the file name below to download the file:
We1136.exe For more information about how to download files from the Microsoft
Download Center, please visit the Download Center at the following Web
address
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/search.asp
and then click How to use the Microsoft Download Center.
MORE INFORMATIONThe Text of We1136
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Microsoft(R) Product Support Services Application Note (Text File)
WE1136: PENTIUM(R) FLOATING POINT UNIT (FPU) PATCH
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Revision Date: 12/94
1 Disk Included
The following information applies to Microsoft Excel for Windows(TM),
version 4.0, 4.0a, 5.0, 5.0a, 5.0c.
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| INFORMATION PROVIDED IN THIS DOCUMENT AND ANY SOFTWARE THAT MAY |
| ACCOMPANY THIS DOCUMENT (collectively referred to as an Application |
| Note) IS PROVIDED "AS IS" WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EITHER |
| EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE IMPLIED |
| WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND/OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR |
| PURPOSE. The user assumes the entire risk as to the accuracy and |
| the use of this Application Note. This Application Note may be |
| copied and distributed subject to the following conditions: 1) All |
| text must be copied without modification and all pages must be |
| included; 2) If software is included, all files on the disk(s) |
| must be copied without modification (the MS-DOS(R) utility |
| diskcopy is appropriate for this purpose); 3) All components of |
| this Application Note must be distributed together; and 4) This |
| Application Note may not be distributed for profit. |
| |
| Copyright (C) 1994 Microsoft Corporation. All Rights Reserved. |
| Microsoft and MS-DOS are registered trademarks and Windows and |
| Windows NT are trademarks of Microsoft Corporation. Intel and |
| Pentium are registered trademarks of Intel Corporation. |
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Introduction
If you are using Microsoft Excel on a computer that contains an
Intel(R) Pentium processor, you may receive unexpected results when
you perform mathematical operations that involve dividing certain
combinations of numbers. This problem is caused by an error in the
FPU, a part of the Intel Pentium chip that performs elaborate
calculations. Intel is aware of this problem.
The disk included with this Application Note contains a patch for use
with Microsoft Excel for Windows version 4.0, 4.0a, 5.0, 5.0a, or
5.0c. The patch allows you to do the following:
- Test whether the FPU in your computer is faulty.
- Prevent Microsoft Excel from using the built-in FPU.
After you install the patch, Microsoft Excel will handle all math
operations as though there were no FPU in your computer. Because the
FPU is disabled in Microsoft Excel, any calculation errors that you
received as a result of the FPU will be corrected.
NOTE: This patch works with Microsoft Excel versions 4.0, 4.0a,
5.0, 5.0a, and 5.0c (including all non-English language versions).
The patch does not work with Microsoft Excel version 5.0 for
Windows NT(TM). To copy the patch to your hard disk drive
- Quit Microsoft Excel.
- Insert the enclosed WE1136 disk in your floppy disk drive.
- At the MS-DOS prompt, type the following and press ENTER
copy <drive>:\p5patch.com <destination>
where <drive> is the floppy disk drive containing the WE1136 disk
and <destination> is your Microsoft Excel directory. For example,
if the WE1136 disk is in drive A and your Microsoft Excel directory
is C:\EXCEL, type the following command and press ENTER:
copy a:\p5patch.com c:\excel
To test for a faulty FPU
- At the MS-DOS prompt, change to the drive that contains your
Microsoft Excel directory. For example, if your Microsoft Excel
directory is on drive C, type the following command and press
ENTER:
c:
- Change to your Microsoft Excel directory. For example, if your
Microsoft Excel directory is C:\EXCEL, type the following and press
ENTER:
cd \excel
- Type the following and press ENTER to determine whether your
Pentium computer has a faulty FPU:
p5patch
The patch will return a message stating whether your Pentium
computer has a faulty FPU.
To run the Pentium FPU patch
At the MS-DOS prompt, type the following and press ENTER:
p5patch /p
NOTE: The FPU is now disabled for Microsoft Excel. If you want re-enable
the FPU for Microsoft Excel, you can remove the patch. To remove the patch,
type the following and press ENTER:
p5patch /u To update the formulas on your worksheet
After you have installed the patch, do either of the following to
update the formulas on your worksheet:
- To force your entire worksheet to be recalculated, press
CTRL+ALT+F9.
-or-
- To recalculate a single cell, or a range of cells on your
worksheet, do the following:
Note that the following method is not recommended if you are using
array-type formulas. Replacing the equal sign (=) in such formulas
will require that you re-enter any array formulas as arrays.
- Select the cell, or cells, on the worksheet that you want to
update.
- In Microsoft Excel 5.0, choose Replace from the Edit menu. In
Microsoft Excel version 4.0, choose Replace from the Formula
menu.
- In the Find What box, type =. In the Replace With box, type =.
In Microsoft Excel version 5.0, clear the Find Entire Cells Only
check box if it is selected. In Microsoft Excel version 4.0,
under Look At, select the Part option.
- To recalculate a single cell, choose the Replace button. To
recalculate a range of cells, choose the Replace All button.
Additional query words:
4.00a 5.00a 5.00c p5 numeric coprocessor co-processor processor floating-point math
Keywords : kbfile kbdta xlwin
Version : WINDOWS:4.0,4.0a,5.0,5.0a,5.0c
Platform : WINDOWS
Issue type : kbinfo
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