Windows NT Doesn't Support B1 and Earlier 386s

• Microsoft Windows NT operating system version 3.1

SUMMARY

Windows NT does not support the B1 and earlier steppings of the Intel 80386 processor because of problems with these versions of the chip.

MORE INFORMATION

Just as software manufacturers produce different versions of their software, chip manufacturers produce different versions of their chips. For Intel, the major version numbers are 8080, 8088, 8086, 80286, and so on. The minor version numbers are called steppings. There are both letter and number steppings, which correspond to bug fixes in the chip. The B1 stepping of the 80386, as well as all previous steppings, have problems in them that are difficult to work around. Two problems in particular can cause a B-step 386 to lock up when a 80387 instruction is run and paging is enabled.

To determine whether your CPU is a B1 stepping or earlier, you should run the MS-DOS program, IBSTEP.EXE. This is part of the Win32 Software Development Kit and can be found on the CD-ROM in the SETUP\INSTALL directory. You can also identify B1 steppings by the number S40344 or S40362 on the chip. If your CPU is a B1 stepping or earlier, you need to contact the manufacturer of your system for a chip upgrade.