buffer overrun

[davmac]

do we have a thread on buffer overrun? i have googled this so still have no idea what it is. but can it be fixed
any ideas.
thanks

[gmb45]

do we have a thread on buffer overrun? i have googled this so still have no idea what it is. but can it be fixed
any ideas.
thanks

i think its to do with burning m8 i have come across a setting in a burning program i have it says enable-disable buffer overrun,if its broke it can be fixed thats all i can add m8 keep checking your post someone will add to it who knows more

[caveman_nige]

do we have a thread on buffer overrun? i have googled this so still have no idea what it is. but can it be fixed
any ideas.
thanks

What process are you running when you get this problem... What are you trying to do davmac?

[davmac]

well what it is its my daughters laptop, she has been having problems with it lately and now it simply will not boot up, i don,t have the laptop with me yet i have asked her to bring it down to mine. but i believe she is just getting an error msg
buffer overrun or overload,and was wondering if this is something you can repair or is it a shop job.

[cunny]

well what it is its my daughters laptop, she has been having problems with it lately and now it simply will not boot up, i don,t have the laptop with me yet i have asked her to bring it down to mine. but i believe she is just getting an error msg
buffer overrun or overload,and was wondering if this is something you can repair or is it a shop job.

WHen you have more info for us post here, not a shop job anyways

[chroma]

A buffer overflow is related to memory.

All a computer essentialy only does three things.
Fetches data from memory.
Executes changes on the data.
Stores modified data back in memory.

So for a computer to work out the value of 2+3 it first checks the memory for the values, reads in the 2 and the 3.
The processor then exectues an add instruction.
Then the proccessor writes the new value 5 back into memory.

Idealy this should take 3 clock cycles (read in the 2 and 3, add them, store the result) the problem comes in when there are different memory types.

In your computer you have really fast memory bolted on to your processor called cache, this is expensive to make so you only get a small ammount.

Much cheaper RAM feeds data into the cache, although this is also slower.

Then you have far larger and cheaper you guessed it slower hard drive and dvd/cd memory, which gets chopped up into bits and sent to your RAM.

Your processor only really works with stuff in the cache memory, it treies its best to chop up everything into blocks called buffers in there from slower technologies like RAM and Harddrive memories.

The problem with overflows is that theres not enough room in cache to do everything so in the case of adding 2+3 there may only be room in the cache to store the value for the 2.
The ram sends the cache the 2 and the 3 "overflows" resulting in the processor having to add 2+"oh-shi... THERES NOTHING HERE!!!" and having a meltdown.

There are several causes for an overflow.
1: the programmer is an idiot and had decided to allocate a buffer manualy thats too big for the cache available (fairly commonplace in alpha/beta software but should get picked up on before a release build)
2:theres a ram error and one of the bits has an error resulting in corrupt data being placed into the cache (really commonplace, run a memtest86 to check your ram)
3:theres a hard drive error meaning that the data placed into ram has been corrupted (this is easily fixed with a scandisk wich scans for bad bits of disk and stores the areas in a file for the computer to avoid using)
4:dirty powersupply, all the 1s and 0s in a computer are represented by changes in voltages, if theres a spike or electrical noise a 1 can become a 0 and vice versa resulting in all kinds of mayhem.

Other less common causes could be the processors cache is screwed (really uncommon) or the computers chipset drivers have an error (fairly ncommon as the drivers for mission critical hardware should be thoroughly tested)

I would say first run a scandisk in windows to check for errors and sort them.
Then download "memtest86" and boot it from a floppy/flash drive and run a complete test to check your ram.

[drawflex]

anyway....easiest solution mate, download a memtest ISO, Memtest86+ - Advanced Memory Diagnostic Tool

burn it to a disk and boot off it.. run the tests for a few cycles, if it gets errors, its hardware configs / ram / psu... (prob not) if not, i'd start looking down the software / os route .

I doubt it'd be hardware with a buffer error, more likley a rouge piece of software.

[davmac]

thanks for the info i will take in all that and give it a go,
i will let you know how i get on

[aftermath]

In computer security and programming, a buffer overflow, or buffer overrun, is an anomalous condition where a process attempts to store data beyond the boundaries of a fixed-length buffer. The result is that the extra data overwrites adjacent memory locations. The overwritten data may include other buffers, variables and program flow data, and may result in erratic program behavior, a memory access exception, program termination (a crash), incorrect results or ― especially if deliberately caused by a malicious user ― a possible breach of system security.

Buffer overflows can be triggered by inputs specifically designed to execute malicious code or to make the program operate in an unintended way. As such, buffer overflows cause many software vulnerabilities and form the basis of many exploits. Sufficient bounds checking by either the programmer, the compiler or the runtime can prevent buffer overflows.

The programming languages most commonly associated with buffer overflows are C and C++. They provide no built-in protection against accessing or overwriting data in any part of memory and do not check that data written to an array (the built-in buffer type) is within the boundaries of that array.

A buffer overflow occurs when data written to a buffer, due to insufficient bounds checking, corrupts data values in memory addresses adjacent to the allocated buffer. Most commonly this occurs when copying strings of characters from one buffer to another.

Also i would advise to clean your registry, there is lots of freeware programmes out there to clean your registry.

[davmac]

hi i now have the laptop and have removed any unwanted files done a defrag and a scan of the hard drive using the laptops own system tools. the problem is when i try and connect to the internet,this is the error msg i get-
mirosoft visual c++ runtime library
buffer overrun detected
program c:\program files\internet explorer\iexplore.exe

a buffer overun has been detected which has corrupted the program cannot saftley continue execution and must be terminated.

i have read the above posts and have downloaded the memtest86+ and put it on a disc however i don't really know what to do with it , it just shows a file called :boot: and inside two other files which don't seem to do anything, i know its just me been thick but any chance anyone can help me out
thankyou

[C64]

i think its to do with burning m8 i have come across a setting in a burning program i have it says enable-disable buffer overrun

That's a buffer underrun mate

[chroma]

i have read the above posts and have downloaded the memtest86+ and put it on a disc however i don't really know what to do with it , it just shows a file called :boot: and inside two other files which don't seem to do anything, i know its just me been thick but any chance anyone can help me out
thankyou

Put the disk in your drive.
Reboot your computer.
Go into your bios when your booting up and make sure that the drive the disk is in is the primary boot drive.

Exit the bios saving that change and it should do its thing automagicaly.

mirosoft visual c++ runtime library
buffer overrun detected
program c:\program files\internet explorer\iexplore.exe

After performing the scan and seeing if your memory is ok then the problem is more than likely software.

Does IE have any toolbars installed, the coding on these can be sketchy at best and cause overflows, if you have any, uninstall them one by one and see if you can single any out.

Aside from toolbars there are a few trojans that cause this, most virus scanners apparently miss a vast bulk of trojans in the VUNDO family (these are "mostly" harmless spyware scripts that attempt to download more shit via popup spam) it also likes to propagate across your network infecting other computers connected to your lan.

It may also be a configuaration error, try renaming the following :

C:\Documents and Settings\<Profile Name>\Application Data\Microsoft\Proof ---> Proof.old

C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\PROOF ---> Proof.old


this will force both proofs to autogenerate (if it all goes wrong just remove the .old and things will revert to previous.

[davmac]

hi thanks for the info and i think you may be right about he tool bars,this is what i have done while waiting for a reply. firstly i noticed that the laptop had a foxfire toolbar icon on the desk top which some one had put on for her, however this would not conect to the internet, when clicking on the "normal" internet icon this is when i got the error message. so i did a system restore and what do you know the internet was working(well for a while) MIROSOFT wanted to download service pack 3 so i let it carry on,after it was complete i got the buffer overrun error again but firefox worked. so i restored it again and did not up grade tp pack 3 but i did download a google toolbar,and it went off again,so a third restore later its all working again.so while there may be an answer in there somewere i don't know what it is,could it be the fire fox or maybe the lack of ram the laptop only as 256 ram, any way its working for now but i would still be interested in your answers if any as i am sure anyone else with this problem would,
thank you again

[rammhead]

I had a problem with buffer underrun on when burning cd's with nero, fixed it when I updated my drivers