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[OS/2 Tips and Techniques -- Part 2 of 6] Question: Can I install across the LAN? Answer: IBM LAN Installation Utility/2 (LIU/2) ORDERING INFORMATION: IBM LAN Installation Utility/2 is to be ordered as: PROGR AM ONE-TIME LICENSE NUMBER ORDER TYPE CHARGE CHARGE 5799-PTC PROGRAM PACKAGE $350.00 $300.00 Problem: C0000005 is displayed on the screen during install Resolution: The problem is resolved in a fixed version of BVHSVGA.DLL available from IBM. Problem: My install hangs on Disk 1. Resolution: In many cases, PCM hardware has disk caching enabled on the drive controller card. The hang can often be fixed by disabling the on-board caching. Another suggestion is if the card has asynchronous memory refresh capabilities, turn it off. This too may fix the problem. Problem: Hang on Disk1 right after LOGO screen Resolution: Ask the customer if he has an OAK video card. An INT10 call is made to the BIOS which causes the problem on OAK cards. You will need to patch the OS2LDR file and make the following changes. Step 1. Make a backup copy of your Install Diskette 1. Use DOS DISKCOPY if necessary. *DO NOT* perform this modification on your original OS/2 2.0 Install Diskette 1. Step 2. Boot DOS, make sure you have DEBUG.COM on that diskette or on your hard drive where you can get to it. Change to the appropriate directory if necessary. Step 3. Insert your backup copy of Install Diskette 1. Type DEBUG A:\OS2LDR<enter> at the DOS command prompt. Step 4. To unassemble OS2LDR, enter the following command: U 4F7C<enter> Step 5. Enter the following: 4F7C<enter> CD. will be displayed. You will enter 90<space> and 10. will be displayed. You will enter 90<enter> Step 6. To write changes to the file,enter the following command: W<enter> Step 7. To quit debug, enter the following command: Q<enter> Step 8. You should now see your DOS prompt. Restart the installation using your newly modified backup Install Diskette. Problem: Successful install, but the system hangs on the next reboot at the LOGO screen Resolution: Ask the customer if he has a FUTURE DOMAIN 16XX SCSI controller. The .ADD file uses interrupt driven I/O rather than polling which is used by DOS. An interrupt conflict likely exists. You should check all IRQ settings on all cards to find the conflict. Tips and Techniques ------------------- Printing -------- General Information ------------------- When instaling auxiliary parallel port expansion cards, you need to ensure that LPT1 is configured to interrupt level 7 (IRQ7). Not doing so will cause printing under OS/2 to function erratically. Be aware that when using many other common adapters such as the SoundBlaster card, they may come from the factory configured on IRQ7. Also, many manufacturers recommend you configure their cards on IRQ7. Non-microchannel machines cannot share interrupts and each card must be on a separate IRQ to avoid conflicts. See the reference for your adapter cards to configure the IRQs. Additionally, LPT2 cards should be configured on IRQ5. Questions, Common Problems and Answers -------------------------------------- Problem: Automatic emulation switching does not work Resolution: NONE AES does not currently work under OS/2 2.0. Lexmark is working on this to be released soon. Question: How does AES for OS/2 interact with 2.0 GA? Answer:The basic function of AES is to provide a convenient method for emulation mode switching the IBM LaserPrinter products. By correlating LPT ports with emulation modes on the printer, a user can send their job to the correct port and get the mode switch properly, and thus not have to touch the printer to change emulation modes. During AES install, the option is given to the user if they want to install extra LPT ports (as the LPTX.SYS Device Driver). This driver is the same identical driver that is used by the Lexmark External Network Adapter, IBM 4033. It essentially allows for character monitors to be installed on LPT ports > 3. Then the character monitor does what it needs to, and re-directs that data to the physical port where the printer is connected. Or in the case of the IBM 4033, the data is re-directed (by the character monitor) to the Token Ring or Ethernet PS/2 card. Problem: Printing problems with parallel ports - nothing prints Resolution: Ensure that LPT1 is configured to use IRQ7 and LPT2 is configured as IRQ5. Check the printer cable to ensure that the cable runs all 25 lines, not all cables wire the necessary lines. If the problem persists and you are convinced it is not an interrupt problem, cable problem or just the wrong driver the problem may be with you I/O card. Some older I/O cards do not work in OS/2. Tips and Techniques ------------------- If you send a print job to a printer that is powered off, you may experience a corrupted job when responding to the RETRY dialog after powering on the printer. You should cancel the job and resubmit it after turning on the printer. Video, SVGA ----------- General Information ------------------- - THE FILES THAT MAKE UP OS/2 SVGA VIDEO: \OS2\SVGADATA.PMI This file serves as a flag to tell OS/2 whether SVGA support has been enabled with SVGA ON. The file actually contains data on 1. What video chipset your SVGA card has. 2. What SVGA modes, from the supported list, your adapter is capable of setting. The list of supported modes is: a. 640x480/256 colors b. 800x600/16 colors c. 800x600/256 colors d. 1024x768/16 colors e. 1024x768/256 colors f. 132x25 text g. 132x43 or 44 text 3. What values are in the video registers when the card is in each mode.. this data is used by OS/2 to save and restore the registers to their proper state when switching between sessions with different SVGA modes set. This data file must be generated by typing SVGA ON from a DOS FULLSCREEN, because what SVGA ON actually does is set all the possible modes using the video card's BIOS and then read out the values of the registers into the .PMI file. If SVGA ON is run from a DOS window, OS/2's video virtualization takes over, and the BIOS doesn't set the svga modes properly. \OS2\SVGA.EXE This is the utility that generates the .PMI file and places it in the \OS2 subdirectory. Syntax is SVGA ON|OFF|STATUS, where ON: creates the \OS2\SVGADATA.PMI file and enables SVGA support. OFF: deletes the .PMI file. STATUS: returns the chipset type OS/2 thinks your card is. \OS2\DLL\DISPLAY.DLL This file determines what video resolution the PM desktop uses. This is the PM display driver and the heart of OS/2 video. The equivalent file on a Windows system is the VGA.DRV (in the case of VGA) file. For the first release, SVGA systems will have a VGA display driver installed on their system. Already, SVGA drivers are available from most of the main board manufacturers. In this document, I'll try to list some of the ones that are working. \OS2\DLL\BVHSVGA.DLL This file is the Base Video Handler for OS/2. Any OS/2 application that sets a video mode calls this DLL. In most cases, however, the only application that sets any video modes is the PM display driver and the MODE.EXE utility (for setting 132 column modes). The first time this DLL would be called is after the OS/2 bitmap logo appears (PM starts up then). This DLL is specified in the CONFIG.SYS in the following manner: SET VIO_VGA=DEVICE(BVHVGA,BVHSVGA) BVHVGA is used to set, save, and restore VGA modes, BVHSVGA for SVGA modes. \OS2\MDOS\VSVGA.SYS This is the virtual video device handler for DOS sessions. All calls to change the video mode from a DOS session are handled through this driver. This driver's job is to allow the user to set a SVGA mode, and when the user switches away, save the current state of the video card (its registers and its video RAM). Then, when the user returns to the DOS session, restore the video card to it's previous state. When there is no .PMI file (SVGA is OFF) this driver acts like a VGA driver, except for adapter-specific code in it to make sure the VGA modes work right on the SVGA adapter. Therefore, even if you don't want SVGA, you'll probably want VSVGA. \OS2\MDOS\WINOS2\SYSTEM\VGA.DRV \OS2\MDOS\WINOS2\SYSTEM\SWINVGA.DRV These are the WINOS2 and seamless WINOS2 drivers, respectively. They determine what resolution WINSO2 uses. [OS/2 Tips and Techniques -- Part 2 of 6] [OS/2 Tips and Techniques -- Part 3 of 6] Questions, Common Problems and Answers -------------------------------------- Problem: Screen resynch problems in DOS or WINOS2 FULL SCREEN sessions Resolution: The problem is with how some SVGA cards handle switching. IBM has created a new VSVGA.SYS file to cure this. More specifically, the problem occurs most frequently with TSENG chipsets. Video adapters using the Tseng ET4000 chipset with batch #TC6059AF have been identified to have this problem. The VSVGA.SYS file dated 4/8/92 or later should solve this. Question: What SVGA support is actually provided with OS/2 2.0? Answer: The only support that is provided in the shrink wrapped version is the ability to switch away from a DOS or OS/2 fullscreen and have the current state of your video card saved... and this is only after you have turned SVGA ON, and if you have one of the adapters listed in the readme..although everyone with a Tseng, Trident, ATI, Headland, or Western Digital chipset should try turning SVGA ON at least for a while to see if it fixes any unseemly video problems they might be having. Question: What is the most important thing to remember about turning SVGA ON? Answer: When you type SVGA ON (as per the README) it must be in a DOS full screen session. Question: For what adapters has DOS + OS/2 fullscreen save/restore been tested so far? Answer: ATI VGA Wonder XL Boca Reseach SVGA Orchid Prodesigner II STB Powergraph Trident 8900C and 8900B Video 7 VRAM II Paradise VGA Professional Question: Are these the only cards which are "compatable" with OS/2? Answer: No. Our support is designed to be generic for the Trident, Tseng, ATI, Headland, and Western Digital chipsets. There are likely many more cards which work under OS/2 which we havn't even tried. Question : How do I get my OS/2 desktop to use SVGA? Answer: OS/2 does not provide any PM SVGA drivers.. they are available from the video board manufacturers. Trident has a set of OS/2 2.0 16-bit PM drivers that include seamless windows support and virtual desktops. Orchid has 16-bit 2.0 drivers in beta test at the time of this writing. There are many OS/2 1.3 drivers which function fine under 2.0. Do not be deterred from using a PM display driver labeled for OS/2 version 1.3 Question: What is a virtual desktop? Answer: It is a PM display driver that uses all of the adapter's video memory to store a desktop that is bigger than what's actually displayed. So, you could have 1024x1024 of desktop space, with only 640x480 being displayed on the screen. You move to other portions of the desktop by dragging the mouse to the edge of the screen, which scrolls the desktop. Because of the way OS/2 is designed, this is an extremely quick operation and will be very smooth even on the slowest video cards. The PM driver has to be coded to support virtual desktops, and Trident is so far the only chipset to support it. Question: What is Seamless Windows, and can it co-exist with SVGA? Answer: Seamless windows is the ability to run Windows 3.x programs on the PM desktop. The way it is achieved is by making a "hole" in the PM desktop that the seamless windows driver writes into. Special code has to be put into both the windows driver and the PM display driver to support this. Stone Li from Trident was able to produce 800x600/16 seamless drivers for Trident in about a week, and has been the only one to produce SVGA seamless support so far. Question: I have an ATI 8514 Ultra or Graphics Ultra, does it work under OS/2? Answer: This card is 100% 8514 register compatible, and OS/2 detects and treats it like an 8514. One difference, though, is that you should update the video line in your CONFIG.SYS that reads: DEVICE=\OS2\MDOS\VVGA.SYS to: DEVICE=\OS2\MDOS\VSVGA.SYS Because OS/2 detects it as 8514, you can use OS/2's 8514 PM in WinOS2 display drivers with no problems. Question: What is the outlook for OS/2 support for boards based on the S3 or TI chipsets? Answer: Boards which are co-processed are the fastest, but also take the longest to develop software for. No manufacturers have announced dates yet for support for any of these cards. The more these manufacturers are "encouraged" by owners of their cards, the faster the support will arrive. Problem: I'm getting some corruption returning to my WinOS2 fullscreen Resolution: Set your VIDEO_SWITCH_NOTIFICATION in the DOS SETTINGS to ON. Problem: Even in VGA, games in a DOS fullscreen are shakey Resolution: Set your VIDEO_RETRACE_EMULATION in the DOS SETTINGS to OFF. Problem: A lot of DOS apps in a window have messed up colors Resolution: This is a limitation of the VGA desktop. The color palatte of the DOS session has to be translated to PM, and the 640x480/16 desktop doesn't offer enough colors to do a good translation. The only solution to the problem is to use a 256 color PM driver or run the application in a DOS FULLSCREEN Problem: The graphics of some of my apps are messed up when in a window Resolution: Chances are, this app is using a non-standard VGA mode that the card can support, but which OS/2 doesn't. Question: My friend has the same video card as me, and it doesn't work.. can't I just give him a working SVGADATA.PMI file? Answer: No. The SVGADATA.PMI has to be specific to each adapter/monitor setup. Question: If I have SVGA ON, can I use 132 column modes in an OS/2 fullscreen? Answer: Yes. Question: If I have SVGA ON, can I window a DOS fullscreen onto the PM desktop, even if it is Super VGA? Answer: Yes. Question: If I have SVGA ON, can I take a window with a SVGA image in it can paste to the clipboard? Answer: Yes. Question: Will the Windows 3.0 SVGA drivers work in WIN-OS2? Answer: Yes, you should be able to simply update the SYSTEM.INI to point to a new Windows display driver, or just copy over the VGA.DRV in the \OS2\MDOS\WINOS2\SYSTEM directory. Keep in mind, however, that Windows in SVGA mode will only work if you have set SVGA ON. Question: Why do we need SVGA ON and OFF? Answer: Many different SVGA boards have different interfaces and chipsets, each with their own quirks. We have found that some boards actually behave worse with SVGA ON, so the SVGA OFF was also provided. Tips and Techniques ------------------- Trident supports OS/2 2.0 and has SVGA Presentation drivers available for their SVGA boards. Trident's support number is 415-691-9211. They also have support bulletin boards where these drivers are available. For the West Coast, the number is 415-691-1016 and for the East Coast, the number is 203-483-0348. General Hardware ---------------- General Information ------------------- Always Technology SCSI If you are experiencing OS/2 problems either at installation time or after, (most like a TRAP 000D) and your system has an Always Technology IN-2000 SCSI adaapter, the BIOS on the adapter may be the problem. If the BIOS revision level is 3.06A or 3.20, (as shown during the system self-test) you should get the BIOS on the card upgraded. The current BIOS level is VCN:1-02 and works with OS/2 2.0. If you require this upgrade, you may also need and upgrade to a companion 8-pin serial PROM chip which must have a revision level of 2.5-2.7. Always Technology support can be reached at 818-597-9595. Bernoulli Boxes - 44 and 89 meg drives work if connected to Adaptec, Future Domain or IBM or anyone else's adapter except for Bernoulli's own adapter. The drive will work as a large diskette and is NON-BOOTABLE. Customers should call IOMEGA for status on update on their adapter. Colorado Memories Tape Drive - Colorado Memory Systems has a fix for their tape backup systems that will allow customers to run the hardware from OS/2 DOS sessions (VDMs) Customers can get this from Colorado Memory Systems directly. CDROM devices - The only ones we know work are IBM and Tobisha.If CDROM is either SCSI with no other devices attached or is non-SCSI than you might get it to work by using a external native DOS session (VMBOOT via the DOS_Startup_Drive Dos Program setting). IBM understands this is an area of customer need. HP Mouse - Directions for installing an HP mouse 1- Select any mouse during system installation 2- Copy HILMOU.SYS and NOEXBIOS.SYS to C:\OS2\ (these are supplied by the manufacturer) 3-Modify CONFIG.SYS with the following in the order shown: DEVICE=C:\OS2\NOEXBIOS.SYS DEVICE=C:\OS2\HILMOU.SYS DEVICE=C:\OS2\MOUSE.SYS TYPE=HILMOU$(THIS LINE SHOULD ALREADY BE IN CONFIG.SYS BUT WILL NEED TYPE=... ADDED ) HP Cust Service # is 1-800-752-0900 P#289547 Customer may also go to his dealer for the diskette which ships with the mouse. Customer may also see COMPUSERV GO HP HP Scanjet - If you get an error saying that you cannot access your HP scanner, and you are using a Family 1 (AT-style) bus machine, your switches need to be set as follows: The card switches need to be set to 1010 If you are on a PS/2 machine, you must run the reference diskette to set the card to ROM addresses C8000-CBFFF and I/O address to 268-26F. In both cases you also need to set the DOS Setting for the DOS session for EMS_FRAME_LOCATION to AUTO. Logitech Mouse - When you are using a Logitech mouse (serial or Bus version), select the "PS/2 style pointing device" from the install, or selective install window. Tape Drives (Adapter or SCSI) - The only tape drives that have been tested thus far are IBM tape drives. If no other device is connected to the SCSI bus on that adapter or the tape adapter, then you may be able to get your drive to work in a external native DOS (VMBOOT) session. If the tape drive worked under OS/2 1.x and the device is written to ASPI, IBM is currently working on support for your device. IBM does not provide 3rd party device drivers for peripherals. Refer to your peripheral manufacturer for OS/2 specific support. Tape Drives (diskette based) - IBM or IRWIN tape drives are supported. Applications are PMTAPE or PS2TAPE. Easy Tape from Maynard Backup Systems should be released soon. Please contact Maynard for information. How to make COM3 or COM4 work on an ISA machine - Place the following in the CONFIG.SYS DEVICE=X:\OS2\COM.SYS (n,a,i) (n,a,i) where X = the drive where OS/2 is installed n = the Com port that you are attempting to access a = communications port I/O address (03E8, 02E8 for example) found in the documentation for I/O card i = IRQ level which is usually a jumper setting on the I/O card [OS/2 Tips and Techniques -- Part 3 of 6] [OS/2 Tips and Techniques -- Part 4 of 6] SCSI devices - PROCOMM+ SCSI disk adapters (Microchannel) do NOT work. Customers should contact PROCOMM for any details on OS/2 support. - Some SCSI card have jumper pins which can be set to either Synchronous or Asynchronous mode. There have been noted problems such as no icons appearing or slow hard disk performance. This can be attributed to the SCSI card and hard disk not being set to the same asynch or synch settings. Either way, they must match. Be sure these are set properly. - The early versions of the IBM 16-bit SCSI adapters may experience problems and report erroneously that the device is not functioning. This can be corrected by replacing the SCSI card with a card with updated microcode. IBM PS/2 model 30-286 upgrades - IBM PS/2 Mod30-286 upgrades to a 386 processor card will NOT work. 50 mHz Systems - There have been some intermittent problems using 50 mHz systems with AT-style bus machines with a mouse. The mouse can get out of synch. Input will function through the keyboard and the mouse, but it is recommended to shutdown the system and restart to "resynch" the mouse. Alternate pointing devices - There is an undocumented function in the mouse device driver. If you have some alternate pointing device such as a tablet or touch screen, you may use it in addition to the the regular mouse pointing device. 1) Install the device driver for the device with the appropriate DEVICE= statement in CONFIG.SYS (this must be an OS/2 device driver) 2) Add the following to the end of the DEVICE=C:\OS2\MOUSE.SYS line: STYPE=xxxxxx$ Where the xxxxx$ is the name of the device (from the device driver's manual) 3) Upon reboot, both pointing devices will be active. AOX systems - If your computer has an AOX add-in processor card and you encounter problems either installing or booting your OS2 system, you should call AOX support and ask for the latest "flash-prom" code upgrade. ISA (non Microchannel or non-EISA) bus systems - Some customers with AT-bus(ISA) systems may have disk controllers that are not recognized or supported by 2.0. OEM drivers for their disk controller may not yet be available. SYMPTOMS: Very slow install Very noisy hard disk during install FDISK errors Disk not recognized IBM has a new IBM1S506.ADD disk driver available that will fix many of these problems. It can be obtained from any of the sources listed above. In the event you cannot get this new file, or if the new file does not solve your particular problem, you may do the following: WORKAROUND: 1) Use DOS to edit the CONFIG.SYS on Diskette #1 in the 2.0 package. Diskette #1 is the first diskette AFTER the Install diskette. Change the line - BASEDEV=IBM1S506.ADD to REM BASEDEV=IBM1S506.ADD 2) Boot the Install diskette and proceed with Install through the first five diskettes. 3) After diskettes 1 through 5 are processed, you are asked to reinsert the Install diskette. DO SO. After copying some files from the Install diskette, you are asked to remove the Install diskette and press Enter to reboot. DO NOT DO THIS. LEAVE THE INSTALL DISKETTE IN THE DRIVE. 4) Press Enter with the Install diskette in the drive. This will boot the Install diskette. You will be asked to insert Diskette #1. DO SO. Watch the screens carefully. You will see a screen that tells you (on the lower left) to press ESC to exit. When you see this, press Esc. 5) You are now at a command line. Enter the following commands: RENAME C:\OS2\IBM1S506.ADD IBM1S506.XXX COPY C:\OS2\IBMINT13.I13 C:\OS2\IBM1S506.ADD Note: If C is not your install drive, adjust the commands accordingly. 6) Remove the diskette from the drive. Press ALT-CTRL-DEL to reboot the system, and install will pick up where it left off. IBM PS/2 Model 90/95 systems - If you are experiencing problems with your Model 90/95 you should ensure your system is at teh latest engineering change (EC) level. Your IBM service representative can assist you with this. - If your 90/95 is a 33 mhz system and if you are having intermittent, difficult to diagnose memory parity errors such as TRAP 0002, and must reboot your system, then ECA053 may apply. If your processor card has part number 84F9356, contact your IBM rep to assist you with a replacement. - If your model 90 is experiencing intermittent memory errors ECA084 may apply if the part number of your memory riser card is N33F4905 or 84F9356. Again, your IBM rep can assist you with a replacement. For both model 90 and 95 machines, you must ensure that you have matched pairs of memory SIMMs. This means that each pair of SIMMs, as described in your technical reference manual, must be matched as to memory size and speed. Mixing SIMMS can cause some machines to report memory errors. Questions, Common Problems and Answers -------------------------------------- Problem: When I swap disks during my installation, my machine beeps consistenly. Resolution: This is indicative of a bad floppy drive controller or cable. You should check out your cable for damage and check the controller card as well, along with all connections. Environment: OEM or PCM machines with 2 Drives (IDE, WD 506 clone etc) - During install, use the generic INT13 driver as described in Readme. Post Install symptom: OS/2 will not recognize the 2nd drive. Cause: 2nd drive formatted using SPEEDSTOR or Seagate's Disk Manager Utility Solution: Reformat 2nd drive with DOS or OS/2 Problem: White screen on install and the disk light is constantly on. Resolution: If the machine is a fast 486 ISA bus machine, try switching the board out of turbo mode to reduce the speed of the CPU. Problem :Customer has Micronics motherboard from Gateway that locks up. Resolution: If the Micronics motherboard is revision E and purchased from Gateway, Gateway 2000 will provide an upgrade to revision F. The number for Gateway 2000 is 1-800-523-2000. Gateway 2000 board will cause some systems to lockup. They also suggest that earlier versions should be replaced. Problem: Cannot get a High Density 5.25 inch 1.2 MB drive to work. Resolution: If you are using the \OS2\EXTDSKDD.SYS driver you need to use the EXT5DD.SYS driver that comes with the Drive. Tips and Techniques ------------------- Applications ------------ General Information ------------------- FAX and comm programs FAX, communication programs for DOS, running in a virtual DOS machine (VDM) under OS/2 may not work correctly at high speeds. VDMs have an upper limit of being able to deliver only 1000 interrupts per second. As such, FAX and other communication programs operating at 9600 baud or higher may not perform correctly. The workaround is to use a lower spped such as 4800 or to move to an OS/2 based communications program. Installation of OS/2 1.3, DOS and Windows programs OS/2 2.0 allows you to install the operating system on drives other than C:. Many DOS, Windows and OS/2 1.3 programs that update config.sys assume that C: is a valid drive and is formatted. This may not be the case under OS/2 2.0. The answer to this is after the application updates config.sys, and before rebooting, check to be sure that anything added by the application's install program points to the correct place. Another way around this is to tell the application "no" when it asks you if you want it to update config.sys, then you can do it manually. One other piece of information here: Some applications are hard coded to install on Drive C. If Drive C is not formatted, you will get errors from the application. Also, some of these programs use C: as a temporary workspace while installing. You may see the same errors in this case. Questions, Common Problems and Answers -------------------------------------- Microsoft Windows (or OS/2's WIN-OS2) Microsoft Windows Product - In general, it is advisable to not keep the Microsoft Windows product on your OS/2 system. The reason is that IBM OS/2 2.0 includes a full, working copy of the Windows code called WIN-OS2. Applications from Windows can be run under WIN-OS2. We advise that you use OS/2's "Migrate Applications" utility to capture all of your Windows apps and remove the Windows code. Many of the files from Microsoft Windows have the same names as WIN-OS2, but are different. WIN-OS2 offers you the function of running Windows programs on your OS/2 desktop and if Windows files are also on your disk, there may be conflicts. So, if you plan to run WIN-OS2, you should remove the Windows product from your disk. Users are advised to NOT install Windows 3.1 on top of an OS/2 system. WINDOWS 3.1 queries for existing INI files to detect whether or not OS/2 is installed and will then ask if you want to install over the top of what it thinks is old Windows code, but is actually WINOS2. The result is a corrupted WINOS2 system since WINDOWS 3.1 changed the format of the WINOS2 INI files. Also, Windows 3.1 will not run under OS/2 2.0 today and since the configuration files have been updated, invoking any DOS command prompt will attempt to start Windows. If the user has done this, they must delete the WINOS2 directory and rebuild the configuration files and then use selective install to reinstall the WINOS2 code. [OS/2 Tips and Techniques -- Part 4 of 6] [OS/2 Tips and Techniques -- Part 5 of 6] Starting WINOS2 applications produce FATAL ERROR 0x0401 - This problem is due to the fact that you have migrated your WINOS2 environment, somewhere devices in your SYSTEM.INI file never made it over from the SYSTEM.INI in your WINDOWS directory. Ensure that all devices are in their appropriate WINOS2 placement, or remove the remarks from the \OS2\MDOS\WINOS2\SYSTEM.INI. Clipboarding from DOS or OS/2 to WIN-OS2 programs - If you are using the clipboard to cut. copy or paste from DOS or OS/2 Presentation Manager programs to a Windows (WIN-OS2) application, be sure that both the OS/2 or DOS application AND the Windows application are running before doing the mark, then cut or copy from the source. If not, the copy may not be successful. IBM 4029 Postscript driver for WIN-OS2 - If you are installing the IBM4029 WINDOWS Postscript driver for use in Win-OS/2, use the following steps. Doing it in any other way may create an invalid entry in your WIN.INI file. Click on the Control Panel icon Click on the Printers icon Click on the button "Add Printer" Select from the list of printers "Unlisted Printer" (bottom of list) Insert the printer drivers diskette 4 In the Files and Directories dialog click on "A:" Choose PSCRIPT.DRV from files list (PScript driver is being installed) Click on button "Configure" Select proper port Click button "Setup" Select from list of printers "IBM4029 (17 font, 600 dpi) Click on "OK" 3 times. Exit the Control Panel Exit WIN-OS/2, saving changes Problems Printing With 4029 Printers under WIN-OS2 - Problem: In a Windows application like Word 2.0 selecting the IBM4029 PS printer Print Setup does not work. The font menu is completely blank and the PRINT OPTION is disabled. The IBM4029 PPDS and PCL seem to work fine. Its just PostScript that is having the problems. The driver is "enabled" to talk to one of the LPTx.OS2 ports via Print Manager. Resolution: Edit your WIN.INI in the OS2\MDOS\WINOS2 directory. There are several lines in the WIN.INI file that refer to the 4029 printer like "IBM 4029 v52.3 (17 Fonts, 600 Dpi)...". Change the comma to a COLON to resolve the problem. Microsoft Excel for Windows - Excel has a habit of placing large amounts of data into the clipboard used between OS/2 and Windows applications. This has led to some performance problems. To resolve these, you may set the Windows clipboard to private, using the Clipboard viewer. Stacker - The STACKER product for DOS from Stac Electronics will not work under OS/2. Stac has announced an OS/2 2.0 compatible version of STACKER to be released later in 1992. Contact Stac Electronics for more information. Borland C++ - If you wish to run Borland C++ for DOS under OS/2, you need to set the DOS settings for that session for DPMI_DOS_API. This setting must be DPMI_DOS_API set to ENABLE in order for C++ to function. DBASE IV V1.1 - DBASE will report a "too many files open" error message. DBASE uses the DOS version number to adjust the file handle table. The DOS version must be between 3.0 --> 10 (which is actually OS/2 1.0) To resolve the problem edit the settings for the VDM and add the following to set the version number for that DOS session to DOS v5.0. DOS_VERSION DBASE.EXE,5,0,255 PMTERM not working - Ensure that SASYNCDA.SYS, the asynchronous communications driver is not REMarked out of CONFIG.SYS AUTOCAD10 produces a TRAP000D - Actually if any older DOS application produces a TRAPD, check the CSEIP register value. If it is 0150:4912, then a protection fault in the OS2 kernel has occurred IBM has developed a new kernel file to fix this. After Dark for Windows - After Dark, the Windows screen saver program, places a TSR (terminate and stay-resident) program into your AUTOEXEC.BAT file when it install itself. If you wush to run After Dark in seamless mode (a Windows window on the OS/2 desktop) then you must remove the reference to After Dark in your AUTOEXEC.BAT file. IBM PC LAN Support Program - If you use the IBM PC LAN Support Program using the DOS device drivers in an MVDM session, it may be necessary to reset the token ring adapter card. That is, if you open the VDM, then shut it down and subsequently wish to open another VDM with the LAN program. The file RSTTOK.ZIP can be found in the IBMFILES section on Compuserve and on the IBM National Support Center BBS. (For IBM internal users, it can be found as RSTTOK PACKAGE on OS2TOOLS). Microsoft Word for OS/2 - Microsoft Word for OS/2 has experienced problems running on OS/2 2.0. The problem is you cannot select anything from the application menu, and the application appears to freeze. The fix is available from Microsoft by calling their support number. Lotus 1-2-3 in a under OS/2 in a DOS session - 1) Create a sample BATCH file called Lotus.BAT which should contain: @ECHO OFF CLS PROMPT $p$g PATH=X:\LOTUS SET 123MEMSIZE=2048 .... Any other lines that you might choose to Add 123.EXE (Make this your last line in the .BAT file) 2) Open the Templates Folder from your Desktop and select the Program Icon by single clicking on it with the left mouse button. Drag a program template to the DESKTOP using the Right mouse button. 3) Once the Program Template Icon is on the desktop, single click on it with the right mouse button to reveal the Object menu. Select Open->Settings. A notebook display will now open. 4) In the Program and Filename field Enter: x:\path\lotus.bat which is where the file created above resides 5) Select the Session Tab and click on the DOS FULL SCREEN radiobutton then select the DOS SETTINGS pushbutton. 6) Select or add the following DOS Settings: DOS_UMB ON DOS_HIGH ON DOS_VERSION INSTALL.EXE,3,40,255 123.EXE,3,40,255 LOTUS.EXE,3,40,255 123DOS.EXE,3,40,255 ZAP.EXE,3,40,255 INS.EXE,3,40,255 DPMI_MEMORY_LIMIT 4 OR HIGHER 7) Click the General Tab and Add: Title -> Lotus 123 (Or whatever else you'd like to call it) 8) Close the Notebook by double clicking the system menu or selecting close. 9) You should now have a DOS Fullscreen Icon, start the DOS session by double clicking the Icon. 10) From an A:> DOS prompt type INSTALL to install the product. 11) Start the LOTUS VDM by double clicking the LOTUS program object. Lotus Freelance Graphics for OS/2 - If you are a user of Lotus Freelance Graphics for OS/2, you may experience problems installing the software. This has to do with how Freelance checks for OS/2 version levels. A fix is available from Lotus. You may also download FLGOS2.ZIP from the IBM BBS or Compuserve (in the IBMFILES section) or INSTAL.ZIP from the LOTUS section of Compuserve. Tips and Techniques ------------------- Configuration ------------- General Information ------------------- - If you add memory to your system after installing OS/2 OS/2 determines how much memory you have on your system when it installs and sets up it's initial SWAP file size based on this number. If you add or remove memory after OS/2 is installed, you may wish to change this value. If you removed memory, you should raise the number, it you added memory, you may wish to lower the number. The line in the CONFIG.SYS file is something like: SWAPPATH=C:\OS2\SYSTEM 2048 xxxx The number you want to modify is the xxxx where xxxx is a multiple of 512. - Creating icons from/for graphical applications NOTE: This will only work for graphical applications. Text applications must have custom icons done by hand. 1. Bring up the program in a windowed session, and use the system icon (upper left corner) pulldown to change it to a windowed, scaled image. 2. Run the program until a nice graphic about the size of an icon appears on the screen. (E.g., Mario standing on the lowest level, poised for action.) 3. Select mark from the system icon, and mark the graphic area about the size of a desktop icon. Then select "copy" to move it to the clipboard. 4. Open the settings for the program, and select the General tab, to get to the "DOS" icon. 5. Select the create another button, which brings up the icon editor. 6. Select File/New, and Icon, to create a new icon. 7. Select Edit/Paste to paste in your graphic. Clean it up a little with the icon editor, if you want. 8. Select File/Save as, and store it as program.ico (eg, Mario.ico) in the same drive and directory as the program (.com, .exe) itself is stored. Exit the icon editor. 9. (You're back at the settings notebook.) Click the Find button, and find the .ico you just stored. Using the Drives tab is the easiest way. Select the icon, and save. 10.Exit the settings folder, and voila! The "DOS" icon has been replaced with a snazzy graphic icon, right out of the application. [OS/2 Tips and Techniques -- Part 5 of 6] [OS/2 Tips and Techniques -- Part 6 of 6] -Configuring Program References OS/2 2.0 is an object-oriented system. Is is very tempting to enter the Drives folders and begin moving program files where you want to use them. The recommended way to do this is to not move the program files, but to create Program Reference objects. In the settings for these objects, you specify where the program file is. An alternative method is to create a shadow of the program file. This way the files stays where the application installation program put it, and no matter where it is subsequently moved, the shadow points to it. You can then place the shadow(s) wherever you like. To create a Program Reference to a program: -Create Another on the Popup menu of a Program File creates a Program Reference to that program. -Another way to create a program reference is to click with the right mouse button on a program file (like the EXE file in the drives folder) and select "Create Another". This will create a program reference to that program file. - To add types to the system: Assuming you have followed the instructions for loading the functions in the RexxUtil package, the following command will add new types to the system. SysCreateObject( "WPProgram", "Title", "<WP_DESKTOP>",, "EXENAME=*;ASSOCTYPE=New Type1,New Type2,,") It does this by creating a program reference and then associating those types to the program reference. If the types don't already exist they are added to the system. You can then delete the program reference and the types remain. The double commas at the end of the first line indicate to Rexx that the line is being continued. If you type it on one line then you only need the one comma. The double comma after New Type2 indicates the end of the list. - Changing icon text color If you want to change the color of the text under the icons in a folder, use the color palette to drag a color to the icon text. To do this, open the color palette. Choose the color. Then press the Ctrl key and while holding that down, use mouse button 2 to click and drag the desired color from the palette to the icon text. Then drop the color there and release the Ctrl key. Note that all icon text within a folder is changed. You cannot do this on a per-icon basis within a folder. Questions, Common Problems and Answers -------------------------------------- Problem: TRAP000E when opening the DOS SESSION or WINOS2 SESSION Resolution: The problem occurs on machines with 4MB of memory and SVGA adapters, have the customer obtain the VSVGA.SYS driver replacement from IBM. Problem: SYS3176 message when starting a DOS or WINOS2 command prompt. Resolution: Try setting the HW_ROM_TO_RAM setting in the VDM to ON or changing the DOS_RMSIZE parameter in the VDM to 624 from the default 640. If this does not work the VSVGA.SYS fix from IBM might resolve the problem. Problem: Why am I unable to remake my desktop? Resolution: If the .INI files in the \OS2\INSTALL subdirectory are your backups instead of the original ones, the system will not remake the desktop. The original .INI files in the \OS2\INSTALL subdirectory remake the desktop. A new subdirectory then exists named OS!2_21.0_D, then OS!2_22.0_D, etc. Question: Why should I use MAKEINI instead of the ALT-F1 feature? Answer: MAKEINI does not replace the CONFIG.SYS and DESKTOP. The install process places a copy of the original OS2.INI and OS2SYS.INI files and a copy of CONFIG.SYS in the \OS2\INSTALL subdirectory. These are the same INI files you would get if you do a MAKEINI. These .INI files will rebuild the desktop, and set your desktop to its initial state, as when you installed the machine. The ALT-F1 replaces OS2.INI, OS2SYS.INI, and the CONFIG.SYS files. Question: What if I lose some important folders? Answer: An interesting thing happened where a user dragged the OS/2 System object into a drive folder. The user subsequently closed the drive folder and all drives objects. The user could not get to the OS/2 System object, because the drives objects were in it, and it was in the drives object! All folders are represented in the OS/2 file system. If you run into a situation like the one described above, you can use the OS/2 command line to do the following: Use the MOVE command to move the folder (a subdirectory within the file system) to the proper place. For example, the OS/2 System folder is called "OS!2 System". You will notice that each folder has a representative subdirectory under the "OS!2 2.0 DESKTOP" subdirectory. To move a folder that is inaccessible due to a scenario described above, use the MOVE command to place it in an accessible place. To move the "OS!2 SYSTEM" folder to the desktop, for example, go into the subdirectory where "OS!2 SYSTEM" is. Then type: MOVE "OS!2 SYSTEM" \"OS!2 2.0 DESKTOP" This will move the folder back to the desktop. NOTE: ONLY do this if your folders are inaccessible from the shell! Tips and Techniques ------------------- General Topics -------------- - Restoring a corrupted desktop There may be cases where your desktop may have been corrupted. An example is if you booted DOS and tried to rearrange your hard disk and corrupted either INI files or Extended Attributes. The following mechanisms have been implemented to help in these cases. 1) There is an undocumented function in OS/2 2.0 that will backup your current INI files and CONFIG.SYS and give you the ones that were set up initially during installation. Note however, that any modifications (such as shadows and associations) since installation will be lost and have to be recreated. This is function is also useful if you have followed the product documentation and created new INI files you wish to make current. (i.e.- OS/2 1.3 "look and feel" INI files) The steps are: a) Reboot your system. b) As soon as you hear a single beep from the system speaker after the Power on Self Test completes (or as soon as you hit the enter key at the BOOT MANAGER menu or power-on password prompt), press and hold the ALT key and press F1. Hold these keys down until you hear rapid beeping from the system indicating that the keyboard buffer is full. c) This will back up your old INI files and CONFIG.SYS. You will see a message during the boot process confirming the backup. If you do not see the message, it did not work and you may have to try again. This will not erase any files off of your disk, just restore your desktop to a basic state. The INI files in the \OS2\INSTALL will be copied and made active. If you have new INI files you wish to make current, place them here (but remember to back up a copy of the old ones). Then execute this procedure. 2) If you have corrupted INI files, or lose objects such as the clock or font palettes, and option (1) above does not help, you can retrieve them by remaking your INI files. To do this, boot off the install disks. Press ESC to get to a command prompt and change to the \OS2 directory. Once there, type MAKEINI OS2.INI INI.RC then type MAKEINI OS2SYS.INI INISYS.RC Then reboot your machine. This will look at the INI file from installation and merge items in it with your current INI file, thus restoring the lost objects. 3) If you have corrupted EAs and have lost folders and/or program references, the recommended method is to simply use the templates and recreate them. The second option is to try step (1), above. In the event that your desktop objects are so far gone that you cannot use it (this is the last resort), boot your install disks and escape to a command prompt. Then delete the \"OS!2 2.0 DESKTOP" directory and everything underneath it. Then look at item (1), above. - Removing an unshreddable folder If you have a folder that you cannot delete or shred. Open an OS/2 Window and from the DESKTOP directory physically remove the FOLDER directory. - Shutting down a mouseless system The shutdown procedure is accessed from the desktop's menu. To access this menu without a mouse, first press and hold the CTRL key while pressing the ESC key. Cursor up to the OS/2 Desktop entry and hit ENTER. Now press the spacebar to deselect all currently selected icons. Press SHIFT and hit the F10 key. This will bring up the desktop's menu. You can now cursor down to the Shutdown option and press enter to shut down the system. - Quick and easy way to get an OS/2 Window Add a new menu item to the desktop pop-up menu pointing to CMD.EXE 1) Click with the right mouse button to get the menu. 2) Open settings 3) Go to the MENU page 4) On the primary pop-up entry, select "Create Another" 5) For the program name, put in OS/2 Window (or whatever you'd like) 6) For the program name enter C:\OS2\CMD.EXE (or use whatever your boot drive is) 7) Close all windows opened in steps 1-6. 8) Now click the right mouse button on the desktop to bring up the menu. You now see your OS/2 Window entry on the menu. Selecting it will give you an OS/2 window. - Enabling the UNDELETE function To activate this function, simply edit the CONFIG.SYS file, and remove the "REM" from the line beginning REM SET DELDIR....... Upon reboot, the undelete function is active - Preventing STARTUP applications from opening OS/2 2.0 has a STARTUP folder which will automatically start any programs within it at system boot time. Additionally, any programs that were running when the system was shut down are started upon bootup. There may be some cases where you have installed an application to automatically start and it has somehow become corrupted. It is sometimes useful to inhibit the auto-start features of the Workplace Shell. You can do this as follows: When the system is starting, you will see the Workplace desktop background paint. As soon as you see the mouse pointer show up on the desktop, press and hold the CTRL and SHIFT keys then press and hold the F1 key. You should hold this down for approximately 15 seconds, or until the desktop icons appear. If the hard disk light stops during this period, your system may be suspended. Release the keys quickly, then resume holding them until the desktop icons appear. This will inhibit all of the applications in the startup folder from coming up, and inhibit the auto-start of programs running at the time the system was shut down. Questions, Common Problems and Answers -------------------------------------- Question: What do I do if I get "Incorrect DOS version when trying to run a DOS program under OS/2? Answer:If you execute DOS commands that show "Incorrect DOS version", this is indicative of pieces of older DOS versions being picked up. Check your path statements and the current directory. IBM DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES, WHETHER EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION, WARRANTIES OF FITNESS AND MERCHANTABILITY WITH RESPECT TO THE INFORMATION IN THIS DOCUMENT. BY FURNISHING THIS DOCUMENT, IBM GRANTS NO LICENSES TO ANY RELATED PATENTS OR COPYRIGHTS. Copyright IBM Corporation, 1992. All rights reserved. [OS/2 Tips and Techniques -- Part 6 of 6] [END]