Stack overflow problem?

[Racer7201]

Recently I've started getting the message below:

Terminating Thread due to a stack overflow problem.
A VxD, possibly recently installed, has consumed too
much slack space. Increase the setting of 'MinSPs'
in System.ini or remove recently installed vxd's.
There are currently 4 SPs allocated.
press any key to continue

I don't have any MinSP lines in system.ini or config.sys. I remember something about errors like this several years back when lines needed to be added for games, etc to run correctly. If it would call out a vxd, I might be able to trace it down. I've recently flashed my video card bios and installed new drivers, installed a couple games, but nothing that runs when windows starts. This will usually happen right after the desktop appears. It doesn't happen everytime it starts and the system seems to run ok after continuing. Any hints greatly appreciated.
Thanks
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System:
Asus A7V (1003 bios)
Duron 700@875 (103fsb-8.5x)
192m generic pc100
Matrox G400 32m single head
Maxtor 15g 7200 ata66 on the ata100 controller
CD-DVD Rom
Acer CD-RW
Cheap sound card (essolo chip)
Realtek nic
Network Everywhere nic
----------------------------------------------------
Actually, I think its the soundcard driver, essolo.vxd. There's a line in config.sys--device=c:\essolo.drv. I've tried removing this line and getting rid of it in the root directory, but then some games won't work. Think its time to go get a good soundblaster card.

 

[jaywallen]

Hi,

You can add a line "MinSPs=x" in the [386Enh] section of the system.ini file. The error message you received is issued when a virtual device driver consumes more than the 4K stack space allotted. Microsoft recommends increments of 4 in the MinSPs value, so you should probably try a value of 8 next. (The reason there is no line in the system.ini file is that the default value of 4 is applied when there is no entry at all.) You'll need to reboot for the change to take effect. Continue to increment the value by 4 until the problem goes away or you get sick of fiddling with it and decide to whack the driver you think is the culprit.

Hope this helps.

Regards,
Jim

Sorry, I should have mentioned that you replace "x" in the line with the value you want to use. Probably obvious, but one should never take for granted that someone else will understand just what your "scribblings" mean!

 

[Aybara]

I have had that same problem. Thanks jaywallen.

 

[Racer7201]

Thought sure it was the Essolo driver, but I guess not. I bought a Soundblaster pci128 and after installation, got the error again. Decided to add the MinSPs=8 line in system.ini and so far no errors. It sure would be nice if it would call out the vxd that's causing the error. It would be a lot easier to find the problem.
Thanks

 

[jaywallen]

Aybara: YERWELKUM!

Racer7201: YERWELKUM! And, you're right! I'm not sure how they'd implement it, though. I suspect that it's because it's a virtual device driver that Windows can't tell who goofed when the stack overflow error condition occurs. I'm not well-versed in Windows-ology yet, though. I'm a recent transplant from AIX. (Retired dudes don't like to buy RISCstations. We're too busy saving money for pills.)



Regards,
Jim