[MPlayer-users] "Illegal Instruction" on XP - more info

[emaillist+mpu at dogphilosophy.net]

On Monday 03 March 2003 09:55 pm, emaillist+mpu at dogphilosophy.net wrote:
> [Automatic answer: RTFM (read DOCS, FAQ), also read DOCS/bugreports.html]
>
> On Monday 03 March 2003 04:07 pm, Baracus wrote:
> > [Automatic answer: RTFM (read DOCS, FAQ), also read DOCS/bugreports.html]
> > Hi
> > Similar problem was few posts ago but it wasnt solved
> > I have Athlon [XP 1700]+ and ECS K7S5A mainboard
[...]
> > > MPlayer interrupted by signal 4 in module: demux_open
> > > - MPlayer crashed by an 'Illegal Instruction'.

Just a quick update - I googled for info on the ECS K7S5A mainboard.
It's NOT an ALi chipset but an SiS 735.  On the other hand...I found a 
review on this board from August 2001 - about the same time that I 
bought my Amptron K7 817LM mainboard (ALi chipset).

The review implies that, like my mainboard at the time, it was originally
designed pre-XP (the review states that it supports "Duron/Thunderbird").

Like my Amptron, the manufacturer's current page on the board states
that it also supports Athlon XP processors.  I'm guessing that, like
mine, the board has been upgraded somewhat and the BIOS updated to
recognize the processor...BUT the existing boards, BIOS upgrade or not, 
may not be initializing the processor properly or something of the
sort (I am unfamiliar with, for example, whether the BIOS plays a role 
in allowing the SSE instructions of a modern XP chip to be accessible...)

At any rate, this makes me more suspicious that a lot of the "illegal
instruction" problems may be caused by mainboards that don't QUITE support
the modern chips they claim to support...

Hopefully I'll have time to upgrade my mainboard today (to an MSI board
with the Via KT333 chipset) - if it turns out that "athlon-4/athlon-xp"
optimizations start working when I do this, that'll confirm my
suspicions...