Category : Alternate Operating Systems - Quarterdeck DesqView, CP/M, etc
Archive   : QWAUG92.ZIP
Filename : STACKER.TEC

 
Output of file : STACKER.TEC contained in archive : QWAUG92.ZIP
ID:ST STACKER: OPTIMIZE/STACKER TROUBLESHOOTING
Quarterdeck Technical Note #214
by Robert Gaustad
Last revision: 1 July 1992

**** IMPORTANT NOTE ****

Recently, Stac Electronics released version 2.01 of Stacker. This update now
detects the presence of OPTIMIZE and allows you to run it without having to
first edit your CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT files.

If you are using SSWAP.COM, it will detect when OPTIMIZE is being run, make
changes to the drive references in the CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT files, then
prompt you to press a key to reboot the machine again for OPTIMIZE. This will
ocurr during the detection and the final phases of OPTIMIZE.

For those who have version 2.0 of Stacker, you may download the new SSWAP.COM
from either the QUARTERDECK or STAC Electronics bulletin boards, as well as
BIX and Compuserve. QUARTERDECK has a forum on Compuserve which is accessible
by typing GO QUARTERDECK. This new version of SSWAP.COM will work ONLY with
version 2.0. If you have a previous release of Stacker, you must contact Stac
Electronics for the update to 2.01.

QUARTERDECK BBS
310-314-3227

Stac Electronics BBS
BBS1: 619-431-4705
BBS2: 619-431-5956
Tech/Voice: 619-431-6712
Tech/Fax: 619-431-1073

The only apparent problem associated with the new version of SSWAP.COM happens
if you are using DOS 5, are not loading it into the HMA and are using the
QEMM-386 LOADHI.COM driver to load buffers into High RAM. During the OPTIMIZE
process, the NUMBER of buffers disappears from the line in the AUTOEXEC.BAT
file. To fix this problem, simply edit the the AUTOEXEC.BAT file after the
OPTIMIZE process is complete and add the number of buffers you want to the
C:\QEMM\LOADHI line.

If you are using the DOS=HIGH command in your CONFIG.SYS file, this problem
does not occur, as DOS then loads all buffers into the HMA, which eliminates
the need for a LOADHI statement in your AUTOEXEC.BAT. If your BUFFERS= number
exceeds the amount available in the HMA, ALL of the buffers will then load
into conventional memory. To be on the safe side, try not to load more than
45 buffers into the HMA. For further information on buffers, you may want to
look at Quarterdeck Technote #226, BUFFERS.TEC.

Finally, you must make sure that the parameter "/SYNC" is appended to the
end of the SSWAP.COM driver line in the CONFIG.SYS file. When you install
Stacker, it automatically places this parameter on the line.

*************************************************************

IF YOU DO NOT HAVE VERSION 2.01 OF STACKER, OR THE NEW SSWAP.COM DRIVER, AND
YOU NEED TO RUN OPTIMIZE OR RECOVER FROM AN OPTIMIZE WITH VERSION 2.00 OF
STACKER, PLEASE FOLLOW THE TROUBLESHOOTING GUIDE BELOW.

*************************************************************

THE OPTIMIZE/STACKER TROUBLESHOOTING GUIDE

This troubleshooting guide is designed to help the individual who has QEMM-386
(or QEMM-50/60 or QRAM) and STACKER installed on his or her machine, and has
run, or wants to run, OPTIMIZE. If you have not yet run OPTIMIZE, please
read the General Information section below, then proceed to Step 4 in the
troubleshooting section.

If STACKER's SSWAP.COM device line in the CONFIG.SYS file has NOT been
disabled, and if all drive names in the AUTOEXEC.BAT file have NOT been
reversed before running OPTIMIZE, OPTIMIZE will become confused by SSWAP.COM
swapping drive names during bootup and fail to perform a complete OPTIMIZE of
the system. If you do not use SSWAP.COM, OPTIMIZE will work without any
special handling, and you do not need to use this technical bulletin. We're
sorry that this feature of STACKER causes trouble with OPTIMIZE, and
Quarterdeck and Stac Electronics are working on ways to make the two products
work together more efficiently.

Throughout this document we will refer to QEMM-386. With the exception of
QEMM-386's Stealth feature, the same solutions presented for QEMM-386 will
also apply to users of QEMM-50/60 or QRAM. The OPTIMIZE program is the same
for all three products. Note that the STEALTH option exists only with
QEMM-386.

To avoid confusion, we will refer to COMPRESSED and UNCOMPRESSED drives
whenever possible. The COMPRESSED drive will always be the one that STACKER
creates to hold most of your programs and data. The UNCOMPRESSED drive will
be the smaller BOOT drive.

The information below is relevant if the following assumptions are true:

A. STACKER is using SSWAP.COM
B. You had a ONE partition drive before STACKER was installed.
C. Your STACKER (COMPRESSED) drive is C: (AFTER bootup - SSWAP does this)
D. Your BOOT (UNCOMPRESSED) drive is D: (AFTER bootup)
E. You have already run OPTIMIZE. If you have NOT run OPTIMIZE, follow the
TROUBLESHOOTING GUIDE instructions below, beginning with Step 5.

*********************************

***** IMPORTANT *****
BEFORE CONTINUING WITH THE FOLLOWING TROUBLESHOOTING GUIDE
READ THE GENERAL INFORMATION SECTION BELOW

*********************************

QEMM-386 AND STACKER GENERAL INFORMATION


I. Your UNCOMPRESSED drive is always drive C: during bootup. When the
STACKER.COM program is activated during bootup, a large COMPRESSED drive is
created. This is usually drive D:. If you are using SSWAP.COM, it is also
activated during bootup. After STACKER.COM has created the COMPRESSED drive,
SSWAP.COM swaps or reverses drive names. Drive C: becomes D: and vice versa.
An easy way to tell which drive is your COMPRESSED drive is to type:

CD\STACKER and then
STACKER

at the DOS prompt. Most likely, one of the lines of information displayed
on your screen will read as follows:

DRIVE C: WAS DRIVE D: AT BOOT TIME [ D:\STACVOL.DSK = X MB ]

This indicates that as you were booting up on the C: drive your UNCOMPRESSED
drive, the COMPRESSED drive was D:. When SSWAP.COM was executed and the
drives swapped names, the COMPRESSED drive became C:. Also, you may type:

VOL

at the DOS prompt to determine what drive, the COMPRESSED or UNCOMPRESSED, you
are currently logged on to.

II. If before you installed STACKER your hard disk had more than one
partition, i.e., a C: and D: partition, then SSWAP.COM swaps drive names
differently. If you had a C: and D: partition, then your drives will be set
up as follows when STACKER is installed:

C: becomes E:
D: becomes F:

If you had 3 partitions, i.e. C:, D: and E:, then they will be as follows:

C: becomes F:
D: becomes G:
E: becomes H:

Similarly, if you have a RAMDISK set up as D:, with a one partition hard disk,
drive names usually change to the following:

C: becomes E:
The RAMDISK is D:

The troubleshooting guide below is based on a one partition drive. If your
drive has multiple partitions, then you must determine what drive C: swaps to
and use the appropriate drive name.

III. If you have installed STACKER 2 on your system, are using the STEALTH
parameter with QEMM-386, and have configured STACKER 2 to use EMS, you MUST
add the parameter "DBF=2" to the QEMM-386 device line in the CONFIG.SYS file.
For example, your QEMM-386 device line might then read as follows:

DEVICE=C:\QEMM\QEMM386.SYS RAM DBF=2 ST:M

NOTE: Quarterdeck recommends using STACKER without the EMS option.

IV. If you are using the STACKER XT/8 Coprocessor card, you will need to
place an exclude statement for the card's RAM address on the QEMM-386 device
line. This is necessary because the card uses an area of HIGH RAM in a way
that QEMM-386 cannot detect at boot-time. To avoid confict with QEMM-386, you
must exclude that area, so that QEMM-386 will not use it. When installing the
STACKER XT/8 coprocessor card, you are prompted, by STACKER, to select a base
address for the card. If you select CC00-CFFF, and complete the coprocessor
installation, you would then edit your QEMM-386 device line to read something
like this:

DEVICE=C:\QEMM\QEMM386.SYS RAM DBF=2 ST:M X=CC00-CFFF

If you are installing STACKER after installing QEMM-386, and are using the
XT/8 card, remove the RAM parameter from the QEMM-386 device line before
selecting the RAM address for the card. This will prevent any problems in
finding the card's address. Once the address has been configured and excluded
on the QEMM-386 device line, replace the RAM parameter.

If you are using the AT/16 coprocessor card or the MC/16 microchannel card, no
exclusion is necessary.

**************************************************
***************************************
******************


THE FOLLOWING INSTRUCTIONS WILL TAKE YOU STEP BY STEP THROUGH
OPTIMIZING WITH STACKER ON YOUR SYSTEM. TO BE SUCCESSFUL, YOU MUST
FOLLOW THE INSTRUCTIONS ONE STEP AT A TIME.

***************************************************

IT IS VERY IMPORTANT THAT YOU FOLLOW THE INSTRUCTIONS (STEP 5) TO
CREATE A BOOTABLE FLOPPY DISKETTE BEFORE RUNNING OPTIMIZE.

***************************************************

POST OPTIMIZE TROUBLESHOOTING WITH STACKER

1. The worst problem that can occur after running OPTIMIZE with STACKER
installed on your system is that, upon bootup, your system cannot find
COMMAND.COM and therefore cannot complete the boot procedure. You will see
the message:

"BAD OR MISSING COMMAND INTERPRETER"

NOTE: IF YOU ARE NOT ENCOUNTERING THIS MESSAGE, PROCEED TO STEP 2.

The above error message is a very rare occurrence and only happens if a couple
of conditions are true:

One, you had placed a line in your CONFIG.SYS file FOLLOWING the SSWAP.COM
line, AFTER installing STACKER on your computer, that reads:

SHELL=C:\DOS\COMMAND.COM /P

Two, if you installed QEMM-386 AFTER installing STACKER, and did not copy
necessary QEMM-386 files to directories on both the UNCOMPRESSED and
COMPRESSED drives. (If you installed STACKER after QEMM-386, it automatically
copied the proper files to the COMPRESSED and UNCOMPRESSED drives for you.)

If the QEMM-386 files are NOT on the UNCOMPRESSED drive, then during OPTIMIZE,
QEMM-386 places a LOADHI statement in front of the STACKER.COM line. When
OPTIMIZE reboots your system, the LOADHI statement cannot find LOADHI.COM and
fails. This prevents STACKER.COM from executing, and therefore the drive that
the SHELL statement is looking for, the COMPRESSED STACKER drive, does not
exist. When the system cannot find COMMAND.COM, the boot procedure fails.

To correct this problem, you must boot your computer with a floppy disk, then
follow the troubleshooting directions below on how to find and edit a
CONFIG.SYS file. In addition to the instructions below, you must place a REM
statement in front of the SHELL statement, i.e.:

REM SHELL=C:\DOS\COMMAND.COM /P

Also, copy COMMAND.COM to the ROOT directory of the UNCOMPRESSED drive.
COMMAND.COM can be found in the DOS directory on the hard disk or on the
floppy disk you have just booted the system with. For example type:

COPY C:\DOS\COMMAND.COM C:\

if copying COMMAND.COM from the hard disk, or

COPY A:\COMMAND.COM C:\ if copying COMMAND.COM from the floppy disk

Only copy COMMAND.COM from the floppy if it is the exact same version of DOS
that you have installed on your hard disk.

2. If you have run OPTIMIZE and rebooted the computer, only to find that you
no longer have a COMPRESSED drive (where most of your files are), a similar
event to the above problem has occurred. The LOADHI.SYS statement in front of
STACKER.COM has prevented STACKER from executing, therefore preventing STACKER
from creating the COMPRESSED drive. The only difference from the above
problem is that you do not have the SHELL statement in your CONFIG.SYS file so
your system, at least, boots up. To correct this problem, you must find a
CONFIG.XXX file that will allow you to boot up your COMPRESSED drive, that
being a CONFIG.XXX that has a QEMM386.SYS line and a STACKER.COM line with no
LOADHI.SYS statement in front of it. You should have at least 2 or 3
different backup CONFIG.XXX files created by either QEMM-386 or STACKER.
These files should be found on the root directory. The names of these files
are as follows:

CONFIG.QDK
CONFIG.STC
CONFIG._SB

Copy one of these files, using the DOS COPY command, to CONFIG.SYS and reboot.
For example:

COPY C:\CONFIG.QDK C:\CONFIG.SYS.

If at any time STACKER prompts you to update the CONFIG.SYS file, press N for
no, otherwise you may replace the usable CONFIG.SYS with an unusable one.
Finish the reboot, then look at the contents of the CONFIG.SYS files on
the root directories of both the COMPRESSED and UNCOMPRESSED drives. The
CONFIG.SYS on the COMPRESSED drive, most likely C:, should have the QEMM-386
device line on it. If so, copy it to the UNCOMPRESSED drive and reboot your
system.

3. Now, find a good AUTOEXEC.BAT file the same way. A good AUTOEXEC.BAT
file will be the same as the one you had before running OPTIMIZE and will have
no LOADHI statements in front of any lines. This file may also be found on
the root directory of either the COMPRESSED or UNCOMPRESSED drive. If you
can't find a good AUTOEXEC.BAT file then look for:

AUTOEXEC.QDK
AUTOEXEC.STC
AUTOEXEC._SB

These files may also be found on the root directory of either drive. Once you
have found the one you like, copy it to AUTOEXEC.BAT. Now, you should have a
good CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT on your C: drive and are ready to proceed.
To avoid complications at this point, you should try doing all of your work on
the C: drive which should be your COMPRESSED drive. BE ABSOLUTELY CERTAIN
THAT YOU KNOW WHICH DRIVE YOU ARE EDITING FILES ON. LATER YOU WILL COPY THOSE
FILES TO THE OPPOSITE DRIVE.

4. Make sure QEMM-386 is installed in a QEMM directory on both the COMPRESSED
and UNCOMPRESSED drives. If this is not the case, you must copy the following
QEMM-386 files to the drive and QEMM directory that does not currently have
it: QEMM386.SYS, OPTIMIZE.COM, LOADHI.SYS, TESTBIOS.COM, LOADHI.COM,
BUFFERS.COM, RSTRCFG.SYS, MCA.ADL (if a microchannel machine), WINHIRAM.VXD
AND WINSTLTH.VXD (if using Windows 3 in enhanced mode). If you do not have
room on the UNCOMPRESSED drive, you must change the size of that drive to
accomodate the QEMM-386 files. This is accomplished by using the program
STAC.COM found in the STACKER directory. Information can be found in your
STACKER manual.

5. At this step, you have a working CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT file.
You have gotten here either by the above steps, or because you have NOT yet
run OPTIMIZE. AT THIS POINT, YOU SHOULD MAKE A BOOTABLE FLOPPY DISK WITH
STACKER AND QEMM-386 ON IT. THIS BOOT FLOPPY IS VERY IMPORTANT IN CASE YOU
MAKE A WRONG MOVE LATER. To do this, format a floppy disk with the DOS system
on it and copy the following files to it: COMMAND.COM, QEMM386.SYS,
STACKER.COM, SSWAP.COM, CONFIG.SYS AND AUTOEXEC.BAT. Edit the CONFIG.SYS
and AUTOEXEC.BAT files and TAKE OUT any path statements from
the device lines. For example change:

DEVICE=C:\QEMM\QEMM386.SYS

to

DEVICE=QEMM386.SYS

This will now allow you to boot up your STACKER system even if you lose your
CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT files on the hard disk. NOTE: If you cannot find
a text editor, proceed to Step 6, below.

6. Now, you have to do a little editing of both the CONFIG.SYS and
AUTOEXEC.BAT files. If you don't have a text editor available to you on
either drive, STACKER 2 includes one in its directory. Since you may not have
a path statement to the STACKER drive, the easiest way to access the text
editor, SEDIT.EXE and edit the CONFIG.SYS file would be to type:

CD\STACKER
SEDIT C:\CONFIG.SYS

Once you have brought up the CONFIG.SYS file, you must cursor down to the line
that reads:

DEVICE=C:\STACKER\SSWAP.COM C:\STACVOL.DSK /SYNC

NOTE: The /SYNC parameter is only for STACKER 2. It does not exist for
earlier versions of STACKER, and makes sure that the CONFIG.SYS and
AUTOEXEC.BAT files are the same on both the COMPRESSED and UNCOMPRESSED
drives. In other words, if you edit a CONFIG.SYS or AUTOEXEC.BAT file, /SYNC
will detect that on bootup and suggest that you let it update the older files
to the ones you just edited. To avoid confusion, this technote will have you
manually copy edited files to both drives.

Once you find the SSWAP line, place a REM and a space BEFORE the line, i.e.:

REM DEVICE=C:\STACKER\SSWAP.COM C:\STACVOL.DSK /SYNC

If you are using a version of DOS earlier than 5.0, you will get an error
message that reads:

"INVALID LINE IN CONFIG.SYS"

when booting up.

If there are any DEVICEs being loaded AFTER the SSWAP line, they must have
their drive designations reversed. For example:

DEVICE=C:\MOUSE\MOUSE.SYS

you must reverse to read:

DEVICE=D:\MOUSE\MOUSE.SYS

NOTE: In the CONFIG.SYS file, only those DEVICE lines that come AFTER the
SSWAP line must have their drive designations reversed. Remember, this is
only a temporary change. Our recommendation is to put the SSWAP line as the
last line in the CONFIG.SYS.

7. Now, save the CONFIG.SYS file by typing:

ESC, Y and to save CONFIG.SYS and exit SEDIT.

Now, load the AUTOEXEC.BAT file into your editor, by typing:

SEDIT C:\AUTOEXEC.BAT

Reverse all drive designations. For example, if a line designates a C:\,
change it to a D:\, and vice versa. This is necessary because once STACKER
with SSWAP has been invoked, the AUTOEXEC.BAT then executes and looks for
files and programs on a certain drive. Once you have disabled SSWAP, the
AUTOEXEC.BAT must reverse the drive names it currently points to. Place a REM
statement in front of any line that invokes a menu program such as DOSSHELL,
PCSHELL, WINDOWS, etc. This will make your optimization of the system go a
lot quicker because you don't have to go in and out of these programs each
time OPTIMIZE reboots the system.

Once you have made these changes, save the AUTOEXEC.BAT file and exit SEDIT.

8. Copy both the CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT files to the other drive. For
example, if you edited the C:\CONFIG.SYS and C:\AUTOEXEC.BAT files, copy both
of them to the D:\ drive, by typing:

COPY C:\CONFIG.SYS D:\
COPY C:\AUTOEXEC.BAT D:\

9. NOW, REBOOT THE COMPUTER. When you get a C: prompt, type:

VOL

on both the C: and D: drives. The C: drive should be the SMALLER UNCOMPRESSED
drive. The D: drive should be the LARGER STACKER drive. This means that you
have successfully disabled SSWAP.COM and are no longer swapping drive names.
Once you have determined this to be true, copy both the CONFIG.SYS and
AUTOEXEC.BAT files to a floppy disk. By doing this, you will always have a
backup of those edited files, and in case a problem develops, you will not
have to go through the editing procedure again.

10. After copying the CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT files to a floppy disk,
rerun OPTIMIZE, by typing:

C:
CD\QEMM
OPTIMIZE

When you receive the message:

OPTIMIZE COMPLETED
The Optimize process has completed successfully.
Hit Enter to Return to DOS

this means that OPTIMIZE has completed its job. After returning to DOS,
the first thing you need to do is type:

COPY C:\QEMM\HINTDATA.OPT D:\QEMM

You might now want to to into Quarterdeck's MANIFEST program by typing:

CD\QEMM
MFT

After entering the program, go to the FIRST MEG PROGRAMS section and see if
all your TSRs and device drivers are loading into HIGH RAM. If some, but not
all, are loading high, it may mean that the TSRs and device drivers that did
not load high are too large to do so. If you are not sure how to interpret
information from the MANIFEST program, a full description can be found in your
QUARTERDECK MANIFEST manual.

Once you have determined that OPTIMIZE has been successful, reverse your
editing procedures as described above in steps 6 and 7. For example, in the
C:\CONFIG.SYS file, remove the REM statement and space before the SSWAP.COM
line and reverse any drive designations you changed AFTER that line. Edit the
C:\AUTOEXEC.BAT file and reverse the drive designations in that file. Copy
both the C:\CONFIG.SYS and C:\AUTOEXEC.BAT files to D:\.

11. Reboot the computer and check to see if the C: drive is the COMPRESSED
STACKER drive and the D: drive is the SMALLER UNCOMPRESSED drive. If you are
prompted to let STACKER change your CONFIG.SYS or AUTOEXEC.BAT files because
changes have been made, say NO and continue the boot procedure. This probably
means that you forgot to copy the C:\CONFIG.SYS and C:\AUTOEXEC.BAT files to
D:\. Since SSWAP.COM has once again been executed, the drive names have been
swapped. After bootup, read the contents of both the D:\CONFIG.SYS and
D:\AUTOEXEC.BAT files and make sure that they are the same ones you edited
after running OPTIMIZE. You will probably see QEMM-386 LOADHI statements in
the files. Also, the REM statement will have been removed from the SSWAP.COM
line in the CONFIG.SYS file. If this is the case, copy both the D:\CONFIG.SYS
and D:\AUTOEXEC.BAT file to C:\. If those files are not correct, check on the
C: drive. After making sure that the correct CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT
files are on both drives, reboot your computer.

After rebooting, everything should be working correctly. That is, your
COMPRESSED drive will be the C: drive and your smaller UNCOMPRESSED drive will
be D:. That's it! You have successfully run OPTIMIZE with STACKER.

************************************************************************
*This technical note may be copied and distributed freely as long as it*
*is distributed in its entirety and it is not distributed for profit. *
* Copyright (C) 1991-2 by Quarterdeck Office Systems *
************************* E N D O F F I L E *************************



  3 Responses to “Category : Alternate Operating Systems - Quarterdeck DesqView, CP/M, etc
Archive   : QWAUG92.ZIP
Filename : STACKER.TEC

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