Mark, > Thanks, after using all the excellent advice so far, I am **ALMOST** back > up and running, the environment variable problem has been worked around, > and I have taken onboard the memory saving advice (have about 470k of > conventional memory, which should be ample, how much did billyboy say we > wouln't need anything more than?). > > Problem is, now the ghost process is crashing with a read error from the > DVD, which I know don't contain any errors. Could this be related to me > using UIDE.SYS rather than our previous driver (oakcdrom.sys)? Is there > anything I should be aware of? Or any way to help diagnose the error? > > My config and autoexec now look like: > > Config: > > DEVICE=A:\JEMMEX.EXE > SHELL=A:\COMMAND.COM A:\ /E:512 /P > DOS=HIGH,UMB > DOSDATA=UMB > FILES=20 > BUFFERS=4 > LASTDRIVE=Z > > > Autoexec: > > DEVLOAD /H A:\UIDE.SYS /S511 /D:CDROM1 /H > LH A:\RDISK.COM /S10 /:Y > A:\FREEDOS\SHSUCDX /QQ /D:CDROM1,Z
I agree with Bernd Blaauw's comments today, that perhaps a "basic" UIDE will help you resolve your "Ghost" problems. In general, you may want to go back to your "original" CONFIG/AUTOEXEC files, then put in all of our "advice" one line at a time. This may help to positively find the problem. I have never worked with "Ghost", but if it is an "old" DOS program, it may be dependent on exactly WHICH areas of XMS memory are in-use and so available for it. There are two more UIDE switches you can "test", to see if this is so: /R15 and /R63. They "reserve" 15-MB and 63-MB of XMS memory. This will make UIDE load itself after the first 16-MB or 64-MB of memory (the first 1+ MB is the DOS system plus its HMA space). Certain "Sound Blaster" cards did only 24-bit DMA and so cannot use any memory beyond 16-MB. Certain other "game" programs were NEVER updated to the V3.0 XMS Specification (up to 4-GB of memory) and still use only V2.0 XMS logic (64-MB maximum). So, UIDE's /R15 and /R63 switches are intended to "accomodate" such ancient hardware/software! If a line-by-line "re-update" of your CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT fails to determine the "Ghost" problem, do try UIDE with /R15 and /R63 as the last resort. Worth a try! Also, I do not completely agree with Bernd about problems caused by the use of "UMBs" (upper-memory blocks). There are a few drivers not able to "detect" various parts of upper-memory: JEMM386/JEMMEX still do the "old" Microsoft tests for compatibility (newer "odd peripherals" memory sometimes confuses them), and a few of the newer chipsets might not-yet be supported by UMBPCI. But, once "detected" and put into use through JEMM386/JEMMEX/UMBPCI, upper memory should NOT be your problem. > I have a small update on my original email (I haven't had a chance to > try the items below). When I run Ghost, the CD drive is listed twice, > once via it's drive letter and once via it's ATAPI direct access. > Access via drive letter fails repeatably. Access directly works. > I don't know if that sheds any light on things. This late E-Mail MAY be telling me there is a "driver CONFLICT" between UIDE and whatever "Ghost" I-O logic may be present. If so, you should try UIDE with its /N2 switch, which asks UIDE not to run CD/DVD drives. If this eliminates your "Ghost" problem, then (A) you need to disable the "Ghost" I-O logic and run your CD/DVD drives only through UIDE, or (B) vice-versa, i.e. you must load UIDE with /N2 to avoid your "Ghost" errors. NOT any "fun", either way, I know! But, I have never used "Ghost" and do not know what its writers do in running CD/DVD drives! Best wishes, Jack R. Ellis ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Virtualization & Cloud Management Using Capacity Planning Cloud computing makes use of virtualization - but cloud computing also focuses on allowing computing to be delivered as a service. http://www.accelacomm.com/jaw/sfnl/114/51521223/ _______________________________________________ Freedos-user mailing list Freedos-user@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-user
