Category : Paradox DBMS
Archive   : TECH91.ZIP
Filename : TI793.ASC

PRODUCT : Paradox NUMBER : 793
VERSION : All
OS : DOS
DATE : September 11, 1991 PAGE : 1/1

TITLE : Files too low in CONFIG.SYS




Sometimes Paradox will not start and you will see the message
"File limit too low in Config.sys". The following are two
reasons that could cause this message.

1. CONFIG.SYS FILES statement is actually too low.

Your CONFIG.SYS file should contain the line which states
FILES=20. The number could be higher but should not be
lower. After you make sure the CONFIG file contains this
line reboot your machine. If you fail to reboot, settings
in your CONFIG will not be active.

2. Redirection to the NUL Device.

Many people prefer to hide the screen output of TSR's (like
the opening screen of Sidekick) by starting them in their
AUTOEXEC.BAT like this:

SK > NUL

What this does is send the program output to the DOS NUL device,
suppressing output to the screen. Because of the way DOS handles
TSR programs, redirecting output to the NUL device when starting
a TSR will cause the TSR to *permanently* allocate two file
handles in memory. These file handles will stay allocated until
the machine is rebooted. This makes them unusable by other DOS
programs. When Paradox starts and checks to see if enough file
handles are available it will not see as many as have been
initially allocated by DOS.

If you have: FILES=20

in your CONFIG.SYS and you start a TSR like SideKick with the
line:

SK > NUL

in your AUTOEXEC.BAT you will only have 18 file handles available
to Paradox instead of the original 20. The only way to fix this
is to remove the '> NUL' from every occurrence within your
AUTOEXEC.BAT file.