X-Authentication-Warning: delorie.com: mail set sender to opendos-bounces using -f Date: Mon, 14 Jun 2004 20:44:42 -0400 (EDT) From: "Paul O. BARTLETT" To: opendos AT delorie DOT com Subject: Re: Random Lockups with DR-DOS 7.03 In-Reply-To: <200406100759.i5A7xXRK010329@delorie.com> Message-ID: References: <200406100759 DOT i5A7xXRK010329 AT delorie DOT com> X-PGP-key: ftp://ftp.smart.net/pub/bartlett/pgpkey X-PGP-keyid: 0xF383C8F9 X-PGP-key-fingerprint: E62D 2E2C 7BCD 08CB B742 A937 26A9 1532 Organization: SmartNet Private Account MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Reply-To: opendos AT delorie DOT com Errors-To: nobody AT delorie DOT com X-Mailing-List: opendos AT delorie DOT com X-Unsubscribes-To: listserv AT delorie DOT com Precedence: bulk Last week I posted a problem I was having with random lockups with DR-DOS 7.03. In my original message, which because of size I will not repeat here, I included my CONFIG.SYS, AUTOEXEC.BAT, and a 'MEM /DEBUG' map of memory. Recently I have been ill and have not done a lot of work on the problem, but I do have a little followup here. However, if anyone thinks that it would be better dealt with offline by individual email, that is fine with me. I usually check my email at least once a day. On Thu, 10 Jun 2004, Michal H. Tyc wrote (excerpted): > 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. This message appears after "Starting Caldera DR-DOS..." and before the first message from EMM386.EXE, which is the first thing that loads in CONFIG.SYS. The common partition gets IMAGEd by the Norton Utilities for Windows running when I have booted into Win98. From DR-DOS I cannot delete (even after resetting the file attributes) IMAGE.DAT and IMAGE.IDX in the root of the D: partition, so I presume that Win does some kind of funny stuff that is disliked by something on the DR-DOS side of the fence. > > 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? The lockups occur entirely randomly, as nearly as I can tell. I can be doing just about anything, and when I get back to the command prompt, the system locks up tight. I cannot detect any pattern whatsoever. > BTW, much of the NCC functionality is now available > through CONFIG.SYS directives (NUMLOCK=OFF etc.) and DOS MODE > command (keyboard delay/autorepeat etc.) That may well be the case. I haven't explored the capabilities of DR-DOS's COMMAND.COM to its fullest extent. My main interest in using an old NDOS was screen color control. (I detest white letters on a black screen, and I like a VGA overscan border around the screen.) However, someone who uses DOS exclusively in a business context has recommended ANSIPLUS for various capabilities. Does anyone else have any experience with this? > > I am including below my software configuration. [trimmed] > > 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. I have taken COUNTRY.SYS more or less permanently out of the picture. I live in the USA, so I suppose the defaults are adequate. HOWEVER, this afternoon, I took GUEST.EXE, the Iomega ZIPdrive driver, out of AUTOEXEC.BAT, and for the length of time I was working I had no lockups. Then I started GUEST.EXE (it can load from the command line or AUTOEXEC.BAT), and after some time I had another lockup. That might tend to point to that driver, although further work will be needed to try to point to that conclusively. I must confess to a boo-boo. I started including that driver before I had read all the documentation that came with it. I know, I know, RTFM, and all that. :-/ So as I have time available and feel well enough, I will continue working on it. > 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. I would still be interested in your suggestions, even while I am working on the lockup problem. > Hope this helps, Very much. I appreciate your consideration. -- Paul Bartlett bartlett "at" smart "dot" net PGP key info in message headers