Old 16-bit Application Causing GPF in WIN87EM.DLL, intermittently
I've got an old 16-bit application, that was developed for Windows 3.1. It preforms some calculations and is part of a more complex system. The system sets up the inputs for the program, and collects the output results.
Unfortunately, the 16-bit program is here to stay for the mean time, so we have to work around the frustrations it causes on modern operating systems.
The system runs on Windows XP, and on physical Windows XP machines it runs alright. The machine I'm having a problem with, is a Windows XP instance running on VirtualBox (version 4.1.12) on a Debian box. The physical computer is an HP Proliant server, with Quad Core Xeon 3.4 Ghz. I'm using remote desktop to access the computer from my Windows 7 box.
The error I'm getting is, "PROGRAM caused a General Protection Fault in WIN87EM.DLL at address : 0001:02C9". The annoying thing is, at times it works and other times it doesn't, making troubleshooting all that more frustrating.
From trawling the internet, I've come across a few sites that mention the same problem. None of them seem to offer real solutions, except to say that WIN87EM.DLL supplies floating point routines, and has some issues with certain printers.
I've uninstalled all printers on the virtual machine, I've also tried installing a PDF writer and setting it as the default printer - so that there is a printer on the machine. I've disabled resource sharing with my Remote Desktop connection. I've updated the Virtual Machine Guest drivers on the machine. I've also tried setting the compatibility to Windows 95 in the properties of the executable.
Any pointers for troubleshooting this problem, or methods I could try to get it working?
Answer
This was the same error I had with Microsoft XP Mode. Obviously WIN87EM.DLL has Problems with virtualized processors. My Solution: I "unloaded" the XP-Version of WIN87EM.DLL in the registry (search and delete every item with this name), and copied a much older version into application folder. The old version can be found her: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/86869/de Good luck!