Message-ID: <001c01c08592$a5763200$3a8e1d26@dbcooper> From: "Patrick Moran" To: References: <"3A6DC7D6.00EA.A96D.000*/c=us/admd= /prmd=or.gov/o=LEG/ou=gwise/s=Blaszak/g=Nicholas/i=D/"@MHS> Subject: Re: DOS and WIN/98 Date: Tue, 23 Jan 2001 16:15:32 -0700 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Priority: 3 X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook Express 5.00.3018.1300 X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V5.00.3018.1300 Reply-To: opendos AT delorie DOT com I am assumming that you are rebooting to DOS mode from WINDOZE 98. If this is the case and you are not running a DOS window, why not just install DRDOS and use it's boot manager to boot either into DRDOS or WINDOZE 98. This will be basically the same thing you do when you reboot to a DOS prompt with WINDOZE 9x. What you will need to do is to repartition the HD and make a FAT 16 partition large enough to hold all of your DOS stuff. If it is more than 256MB then make more than one DOS FAT 16 partition each of which is just under 256MB. (This is because of slack space caused with large cluster sizes.) Make the rest of the drive a FAT 32 for WINDOZE 98. Then install WINDOZE 98 to the FAT 32. It will put stuff into the C: drive which should be FAT 16 and start the WINDOZE boot process from drive C: and the after the kernel is loaded it will run from the FAT 32 partition. After installing WINDOZE 98, install DRDOS and it will automatically set up the boot manager for you and use the alternate CONFIG.SYS (DCONFIG.SYS) and AUTOEXEC.BAT (AUTODOS7.BAT) files for you automatically. Then when you boot the system you hit function key F1 for 98 or F2 for DRDOS. This should eliminate any so-called DOS problems associated with 98. I Suspect the problems you may be having is in the CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT files you use when you want DOS. WINDOZE may be reading those. 98 is much better than 95 for this problem. You should use the CONFIG.DOS and AUTOEXEC.DOS for the DOS setup under WINDOZE. But I am not sure this will really cure all of the problems you may have. Sooner or later you will have to do this anyway, because they will probably update to ME or 2000 and neither of those have any DOS in them. MS completely stripped DOS out of these. SO you will have to have a separate DOS installed with those anyway. Might as well jump in and do in now. Pat ----- Original Message ----- From: "BLASZAK Nicholas D" To: Sent: Tuesday, January 23, 2001 11:05 AM Subject: DOS and WIN/98 > My name is Nick and I am a diehard DOS user. I absolutely depend on my DOS window under Win/98 for my productive work - even at my job which is System Programmer for the Oregon State Legislature. I support IBM mainframe software - not PC - but use a PC with 3270 host emulation (terminal emulation) to access my host S/390. > > The problem; For several months, since I've been upgraded to a Pentium III 600 mh Tangent, I have experienced severe shutdown and boot up problems. I am the only one in my department of about 30 persons, who have this difficulty. Many of my peers have the same PC. I am the ONLY DOS user, and our PC administrator is blaming my problems on my use of DOS! He claims that DOS is illegitimate now, and not really a safe thing to use etc. etc. > > He's got the boss thinking his way and so I'm being pressured to stop using DOS. Well this is like asking me to stop drinking water or something - unimaginable. I need DOS to do my work. > > Has anyone heard of system problems having to do with a user running DOS under Win/98? I'm talking about the regular DOS that is built into Win/98's command prompt only. The specific problems are that my PC, over time, degrades more and more in terms of shutdown and bootup. Once it's up it's OK. But when I boot up it comes up with blank screen - basically halted - before loading Windows. Then upon reboot, it may come up in Safe mode etc. It will take a few trys to finally get a clean boot. Shutdown also becomes failure prone. The PC was rebuilt (formatted HD) and the same problems revist. > > To try to resolve the probem, we have swapped my PC with another in the office and rebuilt them both from an HD format on up. I have been asked to not use DOS for a period of time to see if the problem revisits me. I have not complied however, as I don't by the 'poison DOS' theory, and prefer to believe it is in the hardware. But if my new PC takes on the > same symptoms I'm going to have a weak case. > > > Thank you, > > > Nicholas Blaszak > Software Analyst > Oregon State Legislature > > Nicholas DOT D DOT Blaszak AT state DOT or DOT us > (503) 986-1221 > > ! > Shop online without a credit card http://www.rocketcash.com RocketCash, a NetZero subsidiary