EBCDIC Characters not Properly Converted to ANSI Characters

• Microsoft Windows NT Server version 4.0
• Microsoft Windows NT Workstation version 4.0
• Microsoft Windows NT Server Enterprise Edition version 4.0

SYMPTOMS

A Windows NT client or server that receives EBCDIC characters from an IBM- compatible computer does not convert properly from EBCDIC character codes to ANSI character codes. For example, a received string may be garbled.

CAUSE

This problem occurs because the default conversion table does not map some characters as needed. Also, according to DCE (Distributed Computing Environment) specifications, the RPC (remote procedure calls) NDR (network data representation) does not provide information about code pages to the RPC layer. In other words, incoming data does not supply to the RPC receiver (client or server) any information about the code set or code page of the sender (client or server). This means that 1) the IBM-compatible computer can have a symmetrical problem when converting from a specific ANSI code page that is valid for a particular locale; and 2) the RPC layer cannot convert properly based on the information from the received data.

RESOLUTION

The default conversion table has been changed to default to mapping from 1047 IBM EBCDIC code set to 1252 ANSI code page. This hotfix works properly for IBM and Microsoft systems that use the indicated default code set/code page.

To resolve this problem, obtain the following fix or wait for the next Windows NT service pack.

This fix should have the following time stamp:

   12/08/97  01:16p               680,208 Ole32.dll  (Intel)
   12/08/97  01:16p               312,592 Rpcrt4.dll (Intel)
   12/08/97  01:17p               104,720 Rpcss.exe  (Intel)

   12/08/97  01:14p             1,217,296 Ole32.dll  (Alpha)
   12/08/97  01:14p               552,208 Rpcrt4.dll (Alpha)
   12/08/97  01:13p               187,152 Rpcss.exe  (Alpha)

   ftp://ftp.microsoft.com/bussys/winnt/winnt-public/fixes/usa/NT40/
   hotfixes-postSP3/sag-fix/

STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed this to be a problem in Windows NT version 4.0. A supported fix is now available, but has not been fully regression-tested and should be applied only to systems experiencing this specific problem. Unless you are severely impacted by this specific problem, Microsoft recommends that you wait for the next Service Pack that contains this fix. Contact Microsoft Technical Support for more information.