Aborts in Windows CE

This article shows how to generate Prefetch Abort, Data Abort and Undefined Exception in Windows CE 6.0 R3

Data Abort

To generate the below exception a NULL pointer is written with some value

unsigned int *pu32Ptr = 23;

Exception 'Data Abort' (4): Thread-Id=08df001a(pth=847b8000), Proc-Id=08de001a(pprc=848059cc) 'Test.exe', VM-active=08de001a(pprc=848059cc) 'Test.exe'
PC=00011020(Test.exe+0x00001020) RA=000110f4(Test.exe+0x000010f4) SP=0002fbb4, BVA=00011040

Prefetch Abort

 

When a function pointer is assigned with a NULL Pointer Prefetch Abort is generated. This is learned after reading the following blog:http://geekswithblogs.net/BruceEitman/archive/2008/05/23/windows-ce-prefetch-aborts-why-the-are-difficult-to-locate.aspx

Exception 'Prefetch Abort' (3): Thread-Id=096d005e(pth=847b8000), Proc-Id=096b005e(pprc=848059cc) 'Test_NullFP.exe', VM-active=096b005e(pprc=848059cc) 'Test_NullFP.exe'
PC=00000000(???+0x00000000) RA=0001103c(Test_NullFP.exe+0x0000103c) SP=0002fba4, BVA=00000000

Undefined Instruction

When a function pointer is assigned with a variable's address the below exception is generated
Exception 'Undefined Instruction' (1): Thread-Id=09be0032(pth=8a86e0ac), Proc-Id=09bd0032(pprc=848059cc) 'Test.exe', VM-active=09bd0032(pprc=848059cc) 'Test.exe'
PC=0002fd14(???+0x0002fd14) RA=00011034(Test.exe+0x00001034) SP=0002fbb0, BVA=00000000