From:	mert0407 AT sable DOT ox DOT ac DOT uk (George Foot)
Newsgroups:	comp.os.msdos.djgpp
Subject:	Re: gxx.exe : not COFF ??
Date:	24 Apr 1997 11:55:21 GMT
Organization:	Oxford University, England
Lines:	24
Message-ID:	<5jnhn9$2rv@news.ox.ac.uk>
References:	<335F4439 DOT 7C48 AT pi DOT net>
NNTP-Posting-Host:	sable.ox.ac.uk
To:	djgpp AT delorie DOT com
DJ-Gateway:	from newsgroup comp.os.msdos.djgpp

Jasper Drop (zjadied AT pi DOT net) wrote:
: after using undelete to retrieve a .cc file it seems something went
: terrinbly wrong .
: Whenever i try gxx, redir or go32-v2 i get the message .... .exe: not
: COFF.
: I reinstalled djgpp but that didn't solve it. I'm new at this so i don't
: even know what a coff is or what coff2exe does. Please help me!!

In short, check your system for viruses.

To explain: DJGPP-compiled programs (like gxx.exe, redir.exe, go32-v2.exe) 
consist of two parts: a real-mode `stub' and a protected-mode `coff'
image. The stub (among other things) attempts to find a DPMI host,
switches to protected mode and transfers control to the `coff' section,
which is the bit of the file that does what the program is intended for. 
What the error message you are receiving means is that the real-mode stub
looked at the rest of the file and found that it wasn't a valid coff
image. This can be caused by a virus attempting to infect the exe file, or
by the file being corrupted in some other way.  You should check for
viruses, and then reinstall the broken files from your original ZIPs.

-- 
George Foot <mert0407 AT sable DOT ox DOT ac DOT uk>
Merton College, Oxford

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