X-Authentication-Warning: delorie.com: mail set sender to opendos-bounces using -f Date: Tue, 15 Jun 2004 20:44:48 -0400 (EDT) From: "Paul O. BARTLETT" To: opendos AT delorie DOT com Subject: Re: Random Lockups with DR-DOS 7.03 In-Reply-To: <40CF0305.10732.9898147@localhost> Message-ID: References: <200406100759 DOT i5A7xXRK010329 AT delorie DOT com> <40CF0305 DOT 10732 DOT 9898147 AT localhost> 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 On Tue, 15 Jun 2004, shadow AT shadowgard DOT com wrote: > On 14 Jun 2004 at 20:44, Paul O. BARTLETT wrote: > > > > [concerning "Hard disk 2 configuration error" at bootup"] > > 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. F8, if you catch it quickly enough (in my case, immediately after triggering the boot manager to the DOS partition). I did a couple of times. As I recall, it was coming *before* anything was getting loaded. However, I will try it again next time I boot into DR-DOS. (I don't have time this evening.) > > 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. Actually, I don't really want to delete them permanently. The whole purpose of that partition is to be visible both to Win98 (where I am still doing a lot of work) and to DR-DOS. So I don't object as such to NU imaging it from the Win side. I just tried deleting them one time to see if that might be where the "configuration error" message might be coming from and found that DR-DOS wouldn't touch them. (It has been a bit, so I don't recall the exact error message.) > > 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. Possibly (this machine is old and was given to me), although I am not having any errors from Win98 of a sort that I might attribute to failing RAM. > More likely is bad drivers. As I mentioned below, I am suspecting GUEST.EXE, although I haven't had time to work on it further. I will try to get back to it as soon as I can. > > 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. [...] > NDOS is an *old* version of 4dos. That I am aware of. > Old enough that there may be > problems with some newer software & hardware. I have wondered about that. However, as I indicated in my original post, I ran into a problem when I tried to load the native DR-DOS COMMAND.COM. Unfortunately, I am having to pick away at this setup on a time available basis. > http://www.jpsoft.com will let you grab an evaluation version of > 4dos. It'll run with all features for a few weeks. My financial situation is such that if it isn't free, I may not be able to afford it. I already had the copy of Norton Utilities with NDOS, which is why I used it. > > 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. [...] > > 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. But if I want to use the ZIPdrive, I presume I need a driver for it, and GUEST.EXE is what I found at Iomega's website. > 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. If you do recall, I would be very interested. :-) How one gets it to work without a driver I can't imagine. -- Paul Bartlett bartlett "at" smart "dot" net PGP key info in message headers