Copyright: Contents Copyright ® 1992-1994 Serif Inc.


Troubleshooting: Installation

General

PagePlus, DrawPlus, TypePlus, TablePlus, PhotoPlus and other Serif products (including the Install program) are extensively tested before release. Fundamental problems (such as Install failing, or frequent "crashes" in an application) are generally the result of hardware or software incompatibilities on a specific system. These incompatibilities are usually the result of inappropriate setup of a system, not the use of a specific product. The proliferation of third-party products which run alongside Windows makes setup a complex issue.

All Serif applications require Windows 3.1 or higher, and require a correctly configured PC setup, especially for display and printing. As a result, they may be less tolerant than many other applications: do not be misled if the system is OK running other applications.

Specific problems:

The same disk is repeatedly requested

The install program will not start

The install program finishes but the icon(s) do not appear

Error message: "Error copying files to..."

Error message: "Error creating directory..."

Install unexpectedly stops or bleeps...

Other problems:

If you reply YES to any of the following questions, then you may need to look at your system configuration in more detail (see System Setup Troubleshooting for guidelines on finding the cause of your problem).

·	Is your basic DOS setup different to that recommended for Windows?

·	Are you using a non-standard disk cache utility as a replacement for Smartdrv supplied with Windows?

·	Are you using a disk compression utility (such as Stacker)?

·	Are you using a "shell" which replaces Program Manager (such as Norton Desktop)?

·	Are you using a third-party memory manager (such as QEMM386)?

·	Are you using a third-party display driver for your screen (i.e. NOT a standard Windows driver)?

·	Are you using third-party drivers for additional hardware (printer, network, mouse, scanner)?


The same disk is repeatedly requested

If the install program repeatedly asks for a disk which is already inserted in the disk drive this may be due to a faulty disk, or some other error. To determine the cause try the following.

If you have an appropriate disk utility, use it to check the disks from which you are installing. If not, test the disk by trying to copy its entire contents (including sub-directories) to a "temporary" directory on your hard disk. If the disk copies without problem, then it is unlikely that you have a faulty disk.

If an error is displayed whilst copying the disk, then that disk is faulty and you should contact technical support for a replacement disk. It's a good idea to check all the disks before requesting replacements.

If a faulty disk is detected, it is possible that the faulty area of disk does not affect any critical program files. If the Skip File button of the Insert disk dialog is not grayed, clicking on this will skip the file using the bad area of disk and install will continue. You may have to skip several files if the disk is badly damaged. If the Skip File button is grayed, the bad area of disk contains data, essential to obtaining a usable installation. In this case, the faulty disk must be replaced before a usable installation can be completed.

If the disks appear to be OK, then the problem is probably due to your system setup. See System Setup Troubleshooting or contact technical support for help.


The install program will not start

This may be due to a problem with your system setup or due to a faulty disk.

If you have an appropriate disk utility, use it to check the disks from which you are installing. If not, test the disk by trying to copy its entire contents (including sub-directories) to a "temporary" directory on your hard disk. If the disk copies without problem, then it is unlikely that you have a faulty disk. If an error is displayed whilst copying the disk, then that disk is faulty and you should contact technical support for a replacement disk. It's a good idea to check all the disks before requesting replacements.

If the disks appear to be OK, then the problem is probably due to your system setup. See System Setup Troubleshooting or contact technical support for help.


The install program finishes but the correct icon(s) do not appear

Some products which "take over" or replace the standard Windows Program Manager can cause problems with the installation. Switch to using the standard Windows Program Manager and try the installation again or, if you know Windows well, add the required icons manually. For further help, contact technical support.


System Setup Troubleshooting

The Microsoft Windows operating environment is a complicated matter and problems can occur if your PC is not setup correctly or is using old or non-standard device drivers etc.

If you understand terms such as as config.sys and autoexec.bat then you may be able to resolve system setup problems by following the guidelines below. If you don't understand these terms then you should contact Microsoft technical support if you think your problem is related to Windows, or Serif technical support if you think that your problem is specific to a Serif product.

For the purposes of this section it is assumed that you are using Windows 3.1 and MS DOS 3.1 or higher, installed in their default directories. If your system is different to this then you'll need to make appropriate corrections/adjustments to the recommendations and suggestions.

In brief, the idea is to simplify your PC's setup, see if the problem is no longer present, and then incrementally restore your PC's original setup, testing to see which component makes the problem re-occur. Please follow our recommendations carefully and always work from a "system" floppy disk, rather than modifying the system files on your hard disk.

1. Are you using one of the standard VGA display drivers, as supplied with your original Windows disks. Use the "Windows Setup" icon in the main program group to check. If you are using a third party VGA driver, switch to using one of the standard drivers now.

2. Do you have any "special" hardware installed in your PC such as network cards, scanner cards or other interfaces. If so then remove whatever you can, check with the suppliers that any which you leave do not require any special settings to work correctly with Windows and that there are no conflicts between any of the interface cards. For the purposes of fault diagnosis we recommend you remove all that you can without rendering your PC inoperative.

3. Create a "system" floppy disk with a CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT as shown below:

AUTOEXEC.BAT

C:\WINDOWS\SMARTDRV.EXE a- b-
PATH=C:\;C:\DOS;C:\WINDOWS
SET TEMP=C:\WINDOWS\TEMP
PROMPT $P$G

CONFIG.SYS

FILES=50
BUFFERS=20
DEVICE=C:\WINDOWS\HIMEM.SYS

If your hard disk is using an on-line disk compression utility then your floppy disk will need to have the correct settings for this. It is a good idea to check with the suppliers of your disk compression utility to ensure that the version you have is 100% compatible with Windows and that the settings you are using are correct.

4. Now re-boot your PC using the floppy system disk and see if you get the problem(s) you did earlier. If the problem is no longer present then you should gradually change back your PC's setup, checking to see what makes the problem appear again. This is time consuming, but is the simplest way to find what component of your system is causing the problem.

For further help contact Microsoft or Serif technical support as appropriate.


Error message: "Error copying files to ..."

This may be due to a problem with your system setup, a faulty disk or a problem copying to your hard disk (the disk is full, the disk with the "TEMP" directory is full or the file being copied already exists but has been set to "read only" access) or because install is unable to read the floppy disk. Start by checking your hard disk and TEMP directory have available space.

If you have an appropriate disk utility, use it to check the disks from which you are installing. If not, test the disk by trying to copy its entire contents (including sub-directories) to a "temporary" directory on your hard disk. If the disk copies without problem, then it is unlikely that you have a faulty disk. If an error is displayed whilst copying the disk, then that disk is faulty and you should contact technical support for a replacement disk. It's a good idea to check all the disks before requesting replacements.

If the disks appear to be OK, then the problem is probably due to your system setup. See System Setup Troubleshooting or contact technical support for help.


Error message: "Error creating directory..."

This may be due to a file existing of the same name as the requested directory, or if you have no "create directory" access right to the disk to which you are installing. Correct the fault and run the install again.


Install Directory

The install program is asking for the name of the directory in which you wish the application to be installed. The name that you type should be a full path name, in that it should include a drive name and a directory, e.g. "C:\SERIFAPP is valid, but "\SERIFAPP" is not since it does not specify a drive.

The directory you select can be on any hard drive with sufficient free space, regardless of the location of Windows on your system. In general we suggest you use the installation directory suggested by the install program.

If you have any problems installing see Troubleshooting: Installation.


Selecting Install Options

The Install program can install all of the possible options or just a sub-set (to save on required disk space).

To select those options that you wish to have installed, click on them in the list, to deselect an option, click on it again. Each option shows how much space it requires to its right and the lower window gives you a more detailed description.

The information displayed at the bottom of the install window will be updated as you select the options, giving you a report of how much disk space is required and how much is available.

Once you have selected all the options you wish to install, click on "INSTALL". The program will then install the selected options, prompting you to change disks as required.

You can come back to the install program at any point in the future and select any options that you ignored the first time round.

If you need to re-install the entire product (rather than just installing more options), it is important that you FIRST remove your existing installation. You should do this if you have had problems during an earlier installation.

Remember to make sure that any document files are in a safe place before you start deleting files.

If you have any problems installing see Troubleshooting: Installation.


Install unexpectedly stops or bleeps..."
Install unexpectedly stops or bleeps...

You probably have a virus checker or similar software installed which is configured to prevent files being overwritten or added to your Windows or other directories. To install you will need to temporarily disable this software. You should re-enable this software after installation is complete.