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Message-Id:	<200406100759.i5A7xXRK010329@delorie.com>
From:	"Michal H. Tyc" <mht AT bttr-software DOT de>
Organization:	BTTR Software
Date:	Thu, 10 Jun 2004 09:59:08 +0200
X-Mailer:	Arachne V1.73J4;GPL
To:	opendos AT delorie DOT com
Subject:	Re: Random Lockups with DR-DOS 7.03
MIME-Version:	1.0
Reply-To:	opendos AT delorie DOT com

Hi Paul,

On Tue, 8 Jun 2004 17:29:24 -0400 (EDT), Paul O. BARTLETT wrote:

> On the bootable FAT partition I installed DR-DOS 7.03.  This boots
> as C:, and the "common" partition is visible as D: to both DR-DOS and
> Win98.  When I boot into DR-DOS the first message that comes up is "Hard
> disk 2 configuration error," but I presume this is an artefact of Win98
> mucking around with things.  The D: partition seems to be fully usable
> from DR-DOS.

This message does not come from DR-DOS itself. It comes either from
your boot manager (if it appears before "Starting Caldera DR-DOS...")
or from one of the device drivers.

> Long ago when I used MS-DOS 5.0 exclusively, I had the Northon
> Utilities version 8, so I installed them on the DR-DOS C: partition and
> decided to use NDOS as the command shell and some of the utilities such
> as Norton Control Center (NCC.EXE) to set some of the display
> parameters.

> So far so good.  However......  When I am working in DR-DOS, I get
> completely unpredictable lockups when I return to the command prompt.
> Locked up tight.  Ctr-Alt-Del does not work.  I have to press the reset
> button.  These lockups are completely unpredictable, and I cannot detect
> any pattern to them at all.  None.

Do these lockups occur only just after exiting NCC, or in other
situations too? BTW, much of the NCC functionality is now available
through CONFIG.SYS directives (NUMLOCK=OFF etc.) and DOS MODE
command (keyboard delay/autorepeat etc.)

> I am including below my software configuration.  In AUTOEXEC.BAT,
> GUEST.EXE is a driver from Iomega for the ZIPdrive.  LOADRAMD.BAT merely
> uses XCOPY to load a lot of files to the RAMdisk (E:).  ALISTSET.BAT
> creates a set of NDOS aliases (listed below) similar to DOSKEY macros.
> NCC.EXE and M.BAT set the screen using a saved configuration from the
> Norton Control Center.

It would be a good idea to temporarily remove (rem out) all drivers
and TSRs and then (if the lockup disappears) enable them one after
another to see whether there are any confilicts which cause the
lockups.

Do the lockups occur as well without EMM386 (HIMEM only)?
If not, please try to exclude all UMB area (EXCLUDE=C800-EFFF
option of EMM386). Some machines have ROM modules without
proper headers there (particularly at E000-EFFF), which are 
not recognized by EMM386, and cause lockups when upper RAM 
is mapped over them.

> Once I booted into DR-DOS on one occasion, the very first thing I
> did was capture the output from 'mem /debug' (below).  Several times I
> did the same when I got back to the back at the command prompt, and the
> results were always the same, so there doesn't seem to be any obvious
> memory leakage.

> end when AUTOEXEC.BAT completes, the command prompt comes up, and then
> the system explodes.  I get a "black screen of death" :-) from
> EMM386.EXE, which starts off "The system memory manager (EMM386.EXE) has
> detected an error caused by a fault in one of the device drivers or
> programs loaded in the system" followed by a lot of supposedly (but to
> me not really) diagnostics.  (If there is a way to capture this, I
> haven't figured out how.) 

You need a pencil and a piece of paper ;-)

Anyway, you should start with the most standard configuration
(DR COMMAND.COM, no additional drivers/TSRs). When it works 
correctly, you can start adding more stuff and switch to NDOS.

> The screen says that the system is in an
> unstable state and should be rebooted.  Again, Ctl-Alt-Del is dead, and
> I have to press the button.  When I boot from a floppy so I can restore
> CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT to their states below, everything is fine.

No need to boot from a floppy. Just press F5 at "Starting Caldera 
DR-DOS..." prompt to bypass CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT processing 
completely.

There are also several things in your configuration files which can
be optimized (less memory occupied etc.), but they are not rather
less important until your system is stable.

Hope this helps,

Michal

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