Programmer 7500

home *** CD-ROM | disk | FTP | other *** search

/ Programmer 7500 / MAX_PROGRAMMERS.iso / PROGRAMS / UTILS / NOVELL / NOV3FIX.ZIP / 386PRB.TXT next >

Wrap

Text File | 1990-04-14 | 25.9 KB | 596 lines

386 PROBLEMS AND SOLUTIONS 1. PROBLEM: The 386 diskset does not properly initialize a new or previously uninitialized DCB. SOLUTION: Use an older 2.15 version of diskset which is available on Netwire. Once initialized, however, the 386 diskset can talk to the DCB and set up drives etc. (Be advised however that the Micropolis 1375 drives shows up incorrectly as a 3175. It should work with the 1375). 2. PROBLEM: Some fast 386 machines will hang when loading NetWare 386 and display strange errors etc...this occurs because the hardware was not able to initialize before the software was ready. This is usually seen in some 33mhz machines. SOLUTION: Download the file called LOADFX.ARC from Netwire. This file injects some wait loops on boot to allow the hardware time to make the witch to protected mode. 3. PROBLEM: When using the originally shipped RXNET driver the server keeps allocating additional packet receive buffers until the maximum value is reached and does not give any back which causes the connection to be lost not allowing any further logins etc... SOLUTION: Download the new driver called RXNET.ZIP from Netwire. 4. PROBLEM: There are several documentation errors in the SYSTEM ADMINISTRATION manual which may cause trouble using the UPS monitoring functions. SOLUTION: If you want to be prompted just type "load UPS" at the command line and a little menu system will come up and give you the other parameters by number. However, if you type in the entire command at once you need to specify the parameters by name not by number. This is also true if putting the command in the AUTOEXEC file which most people will want to do. The example in the manual on page 293 is also incorrect. Here is a correct example of how the command should look. (LOAD UPS TYPE=MOUSE PORT=0 DISCHARGE=20 RECHARGE=120) 5. PROBLEM: Remote printers randomly loosing connection and hanging the system in certain instances. Also trouble attaching to more than 9 printers etc. SOLUTION: There are some later PSERVER and RPRINTER files available in the 386 library (16) on Netwire, the name of the file is 386PRT.ZIP. Make sure everything has been set up properly in PCONSOLE etc., as most problems can be traced back to incorrect or incomplete set ups etc. (Be sure to read the manual as there are considerable changes from previous versions.) Also, make sure there are no conflicts with the IRQ for the prot your printer is running off. If your printer is printing slow this is likely the problem. 6. PROBLEM: Server hangs with a break point interrupt etc. when using ENHANCED EGA video adapters. SOLUTION: The enhanced mode does not seem to be strictly IBM compatible on most of these cards and can usually be disabled with jumpers etc. on the board. 7. PROBLEM: Work station gets a Connection No Longer Valid, Abort Retry error at the workstation when doing an SLIST, USERLIST, or any other command that scrolls information on the screen. SOLUTION: This is caused by an I/O address 2EOh conflict in the workstation. Most often seen when the workstation is using the RXNET default I/O of 2EOh. The library call used by the SLIST and other commands to find the number of lines accessable on the monitor uses I/O address 2EOh, thus killing the RXNET board. The answer is to choose an I/O option other than 2EOh for RXNET. 8. PROBLEM: Unable to "INSERT GROUPS" using the 3.0 386 SYSCON on a 2.12 server etc. SOLUTION: No fix at this time, but it does work properly on a 2.15 system. To work around this use the 2.21 SYSCON to insert groups from the 2.12 side etc. 9. PROBLEM: There have been some problems trying to get a second token ring card to be recognized properly when doing an internal bridge using both the standard 4Mb card and a 16/4 card together in the server. SOLUTION: Try putting the 16/4 card first as the primary adapter rather than the secondary. Also make sure that all cards on a ring are set to the same speed which in this case would be 4Mb. 10. PROBLEM: When you do a SLIST all 386 servers show a node address of 1. SOLUTION: This is normal for 386 servers and the network address that is displayed is the new internal IPX address of the server not the cable address. To get the common cable or network address do a "CONFIG" at the server or a "USERLIST" at the work station. 11. PROBLEM: The Utilities Reference Manual has documented under the PSC command that there is a rewind parameter, ut it does not really exist in the software. SOLUTION: The only way you can do the rewind option is through PCONSOLE and you have to be a print server operator to get that option, as well as other printer control options. Enter "PCONSOLE" PRINT SERVER INFORMATION Select "PRINT SERVER" PRINT SERVER STATUS/CONTROL PRINTER STATUS Select "ACTIVE PRINTER" PRINTER CONTROL should be highlighted in upper right hand corner of the screen. Press return and you will see the option for REWIND> 12. PROBLEM: When using the WANGTEK 5150 PK Tape Drive and running NBACKUP, you may get the error "ERROR OXI initializing D1BI Driver. INVALID CONTROLLER ADDRESS". SOLUTION: Some of the manuals for this tape drive may say to use IRQ 6 and I/O 338 or something strange, but you must use IRQ 5, I/O 280, and DMA 3. There is also a controller with assembly # 30475-007 that is called a QUICK 02 controller that seems to not work. Engineering is looking at the problem now. Make sure they use the above options at least, because the driver will not recognize anything else. NOTE: This may not solve the problem. 13. PROBLEM: We have verified that version 2.17 of ARCMON.EXE, created by Brightworks, will cause the NetWare 386 server to GPI. The utility is an ARCNET monitoring utility that broadcasts invalid packets. Using a sniffer, testing was able to tell that the packets contain data in the address fields. The ARCNET driver up to this point was not checking for that type of packet, therefore causing the server to GPI. The RXNET.LAN that is being revised has the changes which will handle the invalid packet properly. This new driver will not be released until the maintenance or 3.1. (Version 2.17 was the one tested, other versions of ARCMON may act the same.) SOLUTION: Until the maintenance RXNET.LAN is released do not use ARCMON.EXE. 14. PROBLEM: Getting "Router Configuration" errors showing up on the internet or unable to see a particular fileserver. SOLUTION: Double check that the "IPX Internal Network Address" number, assigned to any 386 server, does not conflict with any network or node addresses,(including Dos Process numbers on non-dedicated servers) on the internet. (This number must be completely unique!) 15. PROBLEM: The fileserver comes up but get an Access Denied error at the workstation to log into the 386 server on an internet, even though it is possible to login to a 286 server. SOLUTION: 386 Login.exe encrypts the password acrossed the wire. You have attached to a 286 server and are using that copy of login.exe, which does not encrypt the password like the 386 login.exe does. There is a default "Set" parameter on the server expecting an encrypted password. When it gets an unencrypted password, the server returns the Access Denied error. This "Set" parameter can be set to allow unencrypted passwords by typing at the server command line: Set Allow Unencrypted Passwords = On. This would also hold true for the Attach, Map, or any other command or utility that attempts to attach you to a 386 server from a 286 server. 16. PROBLEM: The 386 server comes up but when executing Net3 or Net4 the error A File Server Could Not Be Found is returned. SOLUTION: This error usually indicates a hardware problem with either a card, cable or terminator. Keep in mind however that NetWare 386 expects you to resolve any IRQ or I/O conflicts in the server box before you install the software, it does not resolve them during installation like NetWare 286's Netgen did! Double check your server to ensure there are no conflicts with IRQ's, I/O address etc. 17. PROBLEM: When using certain applications that open the same file more than once within a program, files can lose access rights when a file is opened again with different rights before it was closed the last time, etc. This can result in the application receiving an "ACCESS DENIED" error from NetWare, which may be interpreted differently by different applications etc. (For example the ACCPAC software by Computer Associates will return a "DISK FULL" error. AUTOCADD also has this problem.) SOLUTION: There is a patch on Netwire in library 16 named OPENFX.ZIP that comes with a readme to resolve this problem. This file is also available through the 386 Support Hotline. 18. PROBLEM: When loading the DCB NLM the error Hardware Initialization Failure is returned. Seen specifically on some Compaq machines. SOLUTION: These machine comes with a mouse port that is enabled with a jumper on the motherboard. The port conflicts with IRQ 12 that is used by a Novell channel 2 DCB and possibly other hardware cards. Check your Compaq documentation and move the jumper to disable the mouse port. (Note: you cannot just remove the jumper completely.) 19. PROBLEM: Some applications use an older NetWare NCP call (Function 23 - Subfunction 2) in order to map a user to a connection list. This call will return incorrect information if there are two users with names that are identical, with the exception of the last character (for example, SAMS and SAMR). This may cause the application to confuse the two users. For instance, in a mail application SAMS may get his mail and SAMR's mail too. SOLUTION: Run the patch CONFIX.ZIP found in data library 16 on Netwire. 20. PROBLEM: When using the MAKEUSER or USERDEF utilities, an error like the following keeps coming up, and it is impossible to create the users etc. "Error creating directory\\servername\sys\mail\xxxxxxxx User xxxx not created". SOLUTION: Shorten the name of the fileserver to be eight characters or less. (This is the only solution at this time.) 21. PROBLEM: After doing an upgrade to 386, users attempt to login and receive the error Unknown Error Returned By Attach (89Fb). SOLUTION: This message will occur if the supervisor hasn't gone into Syscon and given the users new passwords. Passwords are not carried over in the upgrade process. 22. PROBLEM: When attempting the restore portion of upgrade the error Can Not Find Session Files is returned. SOLUTION: The session file names have become corrupted(renamed). For instance, if my working directory is specified as C:\FRED, the files in that direcory should be similar to $UPGRADE.BND, $UPGRADE.000, $UPGRADE.001. When looking at these files however, they have names like FRED$UPG.BND, FRED$UPG.000, FRED$UPG.001 etc. To fix this problem simply rename the files properly - $UPGRADE.BND, $UPGRADE.000, $UPGRADE.001 etc. 23. PROBLEM: Some applications attempt to create a file by using the DOS INT 21 call CREATE NEW FILE (function 5B). This call will only succeed in creating the specified file if it does not already exist. If the file does exist, function 5B returns an error code indicating the existence of the file. NetWare 386 erroneously returns an ACCESS DENIED error if function 5B is called to create a file that already exists. This may confuse certain applications, leading to unpredictable results. SOLUTION: Run the patch called CRTFIX found in data library 16 on Netwire. DBASE IV requires that both this patch and the OPENFIX patch be run against SERVER.EXE. SUPPORT TIPS FOR NETWARE 386 VERSION 3.0 This information is included with the README file to help support personnel with installing and supporting NetWare 386. 1. The driver for PS/2 Model 80 machines with an MFM controller/drive is not included in the initial release of NetWare 386. The driver for PS/2 machines with the ESDI controller/disk is available. 2. The ISADISK.DSK driver supports the AT class controller. This driver is designed to work with all standard bus AT class 386 machines that have an AT style controller. You can load this driver a second time to access the secondary controller. The primary controller uses I/O port 1F0 and IRQ-E (14). The secondary controller uses I/O port 170 and IRQ-F (11). The ISADISK.DSK driver supports COMPAQ external drive units including the new COMPAQ dual 650 MB units. The COMPAQ machine has to be configured with its SETUP program prior to use. Currently, COMPAQ is the only known vendor that supports a secondary controller and drive(s). Therefore, only COMPAQs can take full advantage of the ISADISK.DSK driver. 3. When loading the LAN drivers, you must resolve interrupt, memory, and I/O port conflicts. If you don't, your LAN board will not communicate properly with the network. For example, if you have a COM1 serial port installed in the system, and want to use IRQ-4 for your LAN board, you must disable the IRQ-4 for COM1. This should not be a problem unless you cannot disable the interrupt without disabling the port altogether and you later want to use the port for a printer. If the parallel ports in 386A and 386A-E machines are using I/O Port 360, they map into the address space of the NE1000 and NE2000 boards. As a result, your LAN board will not communicate, or the printer attached to the port will not go on-line. 4. NetWare 386 has been tested in-house on the following machines: COMPAQ Deskpro/386 COMPAQ Deskpro/386 20MHz COMPAQ Deskpro/386 25MHz Novell 386A Novell 386 A-E IBM PS/2 Model 80 IBM PS/2 Model 70 In addition, one of our beta test sites is successfully using a Tandy 4000. Remember that all machines MUST have at least 2 MB for a minimal configuration. We will have complete memory specifications at a later date so that you can determine how much memory you will need for your respective configuration. The system will notify you when you are out of memory. 5. NetWare 386 supports a maximum subdirectory tree depth of 100 levels. The default setting is 25. You can use the SET command at the command line or in the STARTUP.NCF file to set the tree depth from 10 to 100. If you have a volume with a tree depth of 100 and your operating system is configured for 25, the operating system will not let you mount the volume. 6. The initial product will support the following LAN interfaces: Novell NE2000 Novell NE1000 Novell RX-Net Novell NE/2 (MCA) IBM Token-Ring (one driver supports all varieties) 7. In NetWare 386, FCONSOLE has more limited functionality. FCONSOLE will indicate which options are not supported by NetWare 386. Some options not supported in FCONSOLE can be viewed by using the MONITOR loadable module. 8. None of our current disk drivers will support the Tandy 5000 MC (Tandy's MCA machine). It requires a special driver that is not presently being developed. 9. If a LAN driver in your file server is not communicating with the network, make sure that all port, interrupt, and memory conflicts have been resolved. If there are no conflicts, see if you have exhausted the amount of "Maximum Packet Receive Buffers." When the server first boots, it allocates 100 buffers. Using the MONITOR loadable module, you can determine if you have reached the limit. If you have exceeded the limit, you can use the SET command at the command line or in the AUTOEXEC.NCF file to add additional buffers. 10. NetWare 386 rights have changed significantly. The new rights are explained in depth in the in the "Security" entry in the NetWare Concepts manual. Please make sure that you study the rights carefully. If you don't have any rights in a path or directory, you will not be able to see that path or directory. The system will tell you that it does not exist. On a Macintosh, you will not even see the directory as a grey folder. 11. Remote Reset will work for NetWare 386 just as it did for NetWare 286. The latest version of the EPROM should be used. If you are using Token-Ring, you must load a Token-Ring module at the server for correct operation. This Token Ring module will not be available with the initial release of 3.0 but will be available on NetWire shortly. Pay special attention to PC terminals and 286 Terminals. To operate correctly with NetWare, they must have the boot code that is the same boot code contained in the 2.68 BIOS version for the 286 Terminal. Source routing drivers for NetWare 386 on the server will be available on NetWire shortly. 12. The NetWare 386 partition editor does not correctly recognize a partition that was set up in a v2.15 installation on a PS/2 Model 70 or 80. The v2.15 ESDI driver does not return the correct number of heads. This should not be a problem unless you want to preserve a 286 partition that is already on the drive. The 386 partition editor will allow you to delete the 286 partition and create a new 386 partition. 13. MACSETUP has been modified for NetWare 386. On a 386 server, MACSETUP will create the desktop directory, assign the rights, and copy the Desk Accessory files. The modified version of MACSETUP will ship with NetWare for Macintosh v1.1. You can work around this problem by completing the following steps: a. Target the NetWare 386 server as a target server for the SPG gateway. b. Manually copy the Macintosh Desktop files from an existing NetWare 286 based target server. c. Rebuild the Macintosh Desk Accessory files. 14. Some non-COMPAQ and non-IBM machines will hang when loading the operating system at high speed. To avoid this problem, complete the following steps: a. Boot the machine with DOS. b. Slow the machine down to the slowest speed (see machine documentation). c. Load the NetWare 386 operating system. d. Once the system comes up, down the server and exit to DOS. e. Set the machine to the highest speed. f. Reload the 386 operating system. This procedure has worked for the Hewlett Packard Vectras and the AST Premium 386. It may work on others as well. Machines based on the Chips and Technology chipset seem to have this problem most often. KNOWN ANOMALIES IN NETWARE 386 VERSION 3.0 REVISION A AS OF AUGUST 14, 1989. 1. The broadcast window has an 80-column limit. This may be too small for some messages sent by the file server. 2. NDIR does not function properly at a subdirectory tree depth of 100 levels or greater. It will indicate that specified file(s) could not be found. Users should exercise caution before establishing deep directory structures. 3. SALVAGE does not function properly at a subdirectory tree depth of 57 levels or greater. It will hang with the message: "You are not attached to server (null)." 4. When VREPAIR is run, the mirroring code does not fix mirrored drives. If a server is downed abnormally, for example, by a power failure, mirrored drives may be left out of sync. The operating system does not detect this problem and will abort mounting the drives when the system is brought back up. If VREPAIR is run, it will treat the mirrored drives as though they are still in sync when they are not. The result is that the volume is not repaired and still cannot be mounted. Unmirror the drives, run VREPAIR, and then mount the volume. The volume will then mount correctly, and the drives can be remirrored. 5. Mirroring does not work on COMPAQ type 17 drives. Mirroring tests that work properly on the other models of COMPAQ drives do not work on the type 17 drives. These drives are primarily found in the original COMPAQ Deskpro/386 16MHz machines. Newer 20 and 25 MHz units equipped with the 130 MB and 300 MB ESDI drives work correctly. 6. INSTALL hangs when creating small partitions. When an attempt is made to create a partition of smaller than 8 blocks, INSTALL.NLM responds with a message saying the number must be between 8 and 966. However, if an attempt is made to create a partition of any size from 8 to 11 blocks, INSTALL hangs. 7. BINDREST for 386 servers will call itself BINDFIX if you attempt to run it on a 286 server. You will get back the following error message: "Error: This Bindfix requires a 386 file system bindery." 8. Attempting to rename a file or directory to 0xFF (ALT-255) puts the file server in an infinite loop. The server must be re-boot to clear this situation. 9. INSTALL allows an invalid character, the period, in volume names during volume creation. This does not create a problem for the operating system, but will cause difficulties for DOS and some NetWare utilities that use DOS paths. 10. The partition editor in the INSTALL module will allow you to delete existing partitions without a warning message that the partition to be deleted contains data. You will not see a confirmation screen once you hit the Delete key. 11. The mirroring shutdown process may take an excessive amount of time. In some cases, the mirroring process has taken up to 25 minutes to detect a failed mirror before resuming operation. The ESDI disk driver takes less time than the ISADISK and the DCB. The worst documented test case for the ESDI driver was 8 minutes. 12. The operating system time does not increment when the operating system takes an excessive amount of time to detect a drive failure. 13. VERSION will sometimes return random ASCII characters when displaying the version of a utility. 14. SMODE cannot reset search mode back to mode 0, the default setting for all executable files. If the user changes from mode 0 to mode 1 through 7, the system will respond properly. If the user tries set the search mode back, SMODE will ignore the request and display the usage screen. 15. FILER will not allow the creation time to be modified on files. 16. Server operation can be unreliable when trying to function at the limits of available memory or disk space. The server failed in an attempt to allocate more semi-permanent memory when the 2 MB of RAM was in use. At this point, two different attempts to go into INSTALL.NLM and change the system configuration both resulted in ABENDs: "ReturnPermanentMemory received a (sic) invalid memory block" and "Block not found with redirection bit set." 17. Power failure to drives causes the server to fail. During mirroring tests, the power cable was disconnected from various drives to simulate power failure at the drive. In the case of the PS/2 Model 80 with 2 ESDI 115 MB drives, disconnecting power from either drive during a copy operation causes the server to hang and the workstation to receive an "error sending Abort/Retry." On the Novell 386AE, the worst case caused a 13-minute delay to failed drive removal, volume SYS to be dismounted, the other (good) drive in the mirrored pair to be removed, the driver to be unloaded, and a subsequent DOWN command to hang the server. This condition occurred when power was disconnected from the primary drive of the pair. Note that this condition was not repeated when the secondary drive of the pair was disconnected. 18. LISTDIR will generate an error if used in a subdirectory tree of 84 or more levels. It will return the message "runtime error null pointer assignment." 19. Print queues occasionally become corrupted. If you are having problems with your print queues, you can delete the queue and recreate it using PCONSOLE. 20. If DSPACE is set with user disk restrictions on and the user deletes a Macintosh file, the space allocation for the resource fork is not returned to the user. 21. If you use FLAG to flag a file in a NetWare 286 based server, all files in the entire tree structure from that point on will be flagged.