Hello everyone. Just came on the forum. I just got a job doing techsupport for a large cd rom encyclopedia distributer (worldbook.com). well in my few days so far I get allot of people calling with page fault errors on the install. Is this due to the product? or the people's computer? I need sopmething I can try to get rid of this. I would really like to quit telling then to contact the hardware manufacturer. thanks people!
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page fault errors
- Thread starter L0stm4n
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A page fault is usually a problem caused by the application:
The Operating system divides up avalible memory into equally sized chunks called pages. It allocats a certian number of these pages for each program that is running.
When the main memory is full, the operating system stores the pages on disk in "virtual memory" (on the hard disk in a swap or paging file) and when an application needs a page that is in "virtual memory", the operating system "swaps" it. This means that the OS takes a page that is in memory and swaps it with the needed one on disk.
A page fault occurs when the program asks for a page that does not exist.
For example:
I am a program that is allocated 20 pages, and I use 25 pages. Pages 1-20 are stored in main memory, and 5 are stored in the paging file, on the hard disk. If I say give me page 21, it may swap page 14 and 21.
Now, I have pages 1-13, 15-20, and 21 in main memory, and the rest on disk. Now if I ask for page 26, the OS can't find it, and I get a "page fault"
This can happen if the program is accessing a memory address that is not allocated to it, such as an array access past the end of the array. Most likely it's a bug in your installer.
Hope that helps
MWB.
The Operating system divides up avalible memory into equally sized chunks called pages. It allocats a certian number of these pages for each program that is running.
When the main memory is full, the operating system stores the pages on disk in "virtual memory" (on the hard disk in a swap or paging file) and when an application needs a page that is in "virtual memory", the operating system "swaps" it. This means that the OS takes a page that is in memory and swaps it with the needed one on disk.
A page fault occurs when the program asks for a page that does not exist.
For example:
I am a program that is allocated 20 pages, and I use 25 pages. Pages 1-20 are stored in main memory, and 5 are stored in the paging file, on the hard disk. If I say give me page 21, it may swap page 14 and 21.
Now, I have pages 1-13, 15-20, and 21 in main memory, and the rest on disk. Now if I ask for page 26, the OS can't find it, and I get a "page fault"
This can happen if the program is accessing a memory address that is not allocated to it, such as an array access past the end of the array. Most likely it's a bug in your installer.
Hope that helps
MWB.
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