X-Authentication-Warning: delorie.com: mail set sender to opendos-bounces using -f From: shadow AT shadowgard DOT com Organization: Shadowgard To: opendos AT delorie DOT com Date: Tue, 15 Jun 2004 14:09:09 -0700 Subject: Re: Random Lockups with DR-DOS 7.03 Message-ID: <40CF0305.10732.9898147@localhost> In-reply-to: References: <200406100759 DOT i5A7xXRK010329 AT delorie DOT com> X-mailer: Pegasus Mail for Windows (v4.12a) 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 On 14 Jun 2004 at 20:44, 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. It may be the first thing *listed* in config.sys. But that doesn't mean it's the first thing *loaded*. Try doing the "step by step confirmation" at boot (I can't remember if it's f5 or f8). You may be surprised at the order statements in config.sys get processed. > 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. If you can't delete them, that means that *something* is using them or protecting them. If you can boot without running config.sys & autoexec.bat, try deleting them then. > 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. Could be bad RAM. More likely is bad drivers. > 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? NDOS is an *old* version of 4dos. Old enough that there may be problems with some newer software & hardware. http://www.jpsoft.com will let you grab an evaluation version of 4dos. It'll run with all features for a few weeks. Try it and see if the problem goes away. > 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. Actually, you can do without guest.exe. You need to load the right combo of the drivers it calls, with the right options. As a bonus, it'll use less memory. It's been a *long* time, so I don't recall the steps I had to go thru to get my old Zip drive working without Guest. But it was worth it. You see, I had to run it on a system with no HD. Getting all the drivers onto a floppy wasn't easy. :-) -- Leonard Erickson (aka shadow) shadow at shadowgard dot com