Create a CMOS emergency rescue disk. Save
your CMOS data for easy retrival if you lose
the setup information. Will operate on a
286, 386, or 486. Registrtion fee $ 10

CMOSFIX.EXE Ver 3.0
A Utility for an emergency rescue disk
**** READ FIRST BEFORE RUNNING ****

If you have an AT, 386 or 486 computer and the CMOS setup
is not automatic, you can be in trouble if you forget the
settings for your setup. Also, some computers have an
additional setup that is cumbersome to set up.

What this program will do, is save the current CMOS setup
to a data file on drive A:

If you get an unwelcome surprise, and find a setup error
upon bootup, then all you need to do is boot up on your
emergency diskette in drive A: It will replace the CMOS
as it was last saved. The date & time will be wrong, but
thats easy to fix. You can set that from the DOS prompt.

There is one problem; Your setup may not know that there
is a drive A: In this case, you will need to enter the
setup program buy pressing the keys to enter the setup.
Tell the setup that there is a drive A. Then exit the
setup. The setup will probably complain, but thats ok.
Just so you can tell it that you have a drive A to boot.
Continue bypassing any other errors. The main thing here
is to just be able to boot up on drive A

Place this emergency disk on drive A: and let it boot up.
Run the CMOSFIX program if it didn't run automatically.

You will be given 3 options.

The 1st is to replace the current setup with the setup that
was saved on your emergency disk. This will copy the saved
data and write it to your CMOS table. The only thing you
need to do now is set the time & date.

The 2nd option is to transfer the operating system (DOS)
to the hard drive. Do this only if needed, or if the drive
will not boot. You should also do this if you suspect that
something is wrong with the current operating system, such
as an infection by a virus.

The 3rd option is to SAVE the current setup to the disk in
drive A. Make sure the setup is correct before doing this.

_______________________________


Why transfer the operating system ??
Good question. Why did the CMOS lose it's setting?
It may just be a weak battery, or possibly a bad CMOS chip.
But then again, it might be a virus that ate it up. If this
is so, it may have infected your operating system.

My computer has spooks in it. It will run perfect for many
months, and when you least expect it, It crashes.
This has happened many times to me. I get tired of looking
for the setup information. The last time this happened,
I could not find my setup information, and could not remember
the settings. So I guessed, and guess wrong. The results
were catastrophic. It somehow wiped out the boot-sector of my
hard drive. Then, it ruined the partition table, and I could
not access anything on drive C. It took quite a while to fix
this without having to re-format the drive, but finally did it.
I had the setup information stored as a text file on drive C
but could not access it.
After all this, I decided this was the program I really needed.


SETUP:
First, format a new diskette for drive A: and put the
operating system in it. ( FORMAT A:/S )
If you later change to a different operating system, then
you need to place the new operating system on this diskette.
MAKE SURE THAT THIS DISKETTE WILL BOOT FROM A COLD BOOT !

Make sure that COMMAND.COM is also present on the diskette.
Then unzip this package to drive A: ( PKUNZIP CMOSFIX3 A: )
It will place on your disk, the files:

CMOSFIX.EXE
CMOSFIX.TXT
CBOOT.COM
ANSI.SYS
CONFIG.SYS
AUTOEXEC.BAT
FILE_ID.DIZ <- the last 2 files are not needed and may
DESC.SDI <- be deleted. These are for BBS description.

Next, if you have enough room on your disk, I suggest you
copy from your operating system onto disk A, the files listed
below just as a precaution.
If you have them, you won't need them. ( Murphy's law )

FDISK
FORMAT
DEBUG
NDD.EXE ( norton disk doctor )

Remember, if your system crashes, you may not be able to access
these files from your hard disk.


Finally, you *MUST* do one important step.
You must save the CMOS information to this emergency disk while
your current setup is correct. Whatever you save, is what you
get when you restore it with this program. If your system has
crashed, and the setup was not saved prior to the crash, then
there is nothing this program can do to help you. The only time
your setup has to be re-saved, is if you make a change to your
hardware and/or setup configuration.

If you have more than one computer, you must save a seperate
copy on a seperate disk for each computer. It is not likely
that different computers will have the same setup.

MAKE SURE THE SETUP IS CORRECT BEFORE SAVING IT.

Make sure you are on drive A: It will write a file CMOS.DAT
This program will NOT operate from any other drive.

If you want to simply replace the operating system & boot
sector, Run this program and select option 2

You may edit the autoexec.bat file on this setup disk and
change the path statement, but it's not necessary. When you
are finished, you will be re-booting from your hard drive.

Although this program has been tested, I will not be liable
for any damage to any computer, or for loss of any data.
The use of this program constitutes an agreement to these terms.

Send me any comments you have about this program.

What's the catch ?
If you don't register this program, it won't let you restore
the saved CMOS data. You can save it, but can't write it back.
(save it now and hope nothing crashes until you get registered)
The cost of registration is only $10
Fill out the registration form and send it in with $10 and a
self addressed, stamped envelope.


Mail to: AL RICHARDS
5201 ASH
SHAWNEE MISSION, Ks. 66205 USA.