VML and VSL functions in Intel MKL 10.2 may crash on new processors with old operating systems

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November 2, 2011 3:00 PM PDT


Reference Number: DPD200261138


Version: Intel® MKL 10.2 (all updates)


Product: Intel® MKL


Operating System: Windows 7 (w/o) Service Pack 1, Windows Vista, Windows XP


Problem Description:

Vector math functions (VML) and Basic Random Number Generator (VSL) functions may crash or hang when run on a CPU that supports Intel® AVX instructions, but has installed an operating system that does not support Intel® AVX instructions.

In version 10.2, Intel MKL had a problem with the code that determines which optimized code-path to take. The dispatcher would test to see if the processor supports AVX instructions, but it did not check for the required support in the operating system. Many of the Intel MKL functions required an additional instruction to 'enable' these code-paths, but the vector math functions (VML) and Random number generators (VSL) functions were unintentionally enabled by default.

Intel AVX instructions are only supported in Windows 7 SP1 and Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1.
They are not supported in Windows Vista or Windows XP.

Linux is supporting Intel® AVX instructions since kernel version 2.6.30 (type 'uname -a' to check).


Resolution Status:

  • All versions since the release of Intel MKL 10.3 (available in Intel® Composer XE 2011) have been fixed.
  • All versions of Intel MKL will work with operating systems that support Intel AVX instructions.
Note:

Please contact us at Intel Premier support or on the User forum if you cannot update your OS or upgrade to a later version of Intel MKL.


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This article applies to: Intel® Math Kernel Library Knowledge Base