Category : Tutorials + Patches
Archive   : FASTTIP.ZIP
Filename : PD0746.TXT

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Microsoft(R) Product Support Services Application Note (Text File)
PD0746: MEMMAKER QUESTIONS & ANSWERS
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Revision Date: 4/93
No Disk Included

The following information applies to Microsoft MS-DOS 6.0 Upgrade.

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| INFORMATION PROVIDED IN THIS DOCUMENT AND ANY SOFTWARE THAT MAY |
| ACCOMPANY THIS DOCUMENT (collectively referred to as an |
| Application Note) IS PROVIDED "AS IS" WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY |
| KIND, EITHER EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO |
| THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND/OR FITNESS FOR A |
| PARTICULAR PURPOSE. The user assumes the entire risk as to the |
| accuracy and the use of this Application Note. This Application |
| Note may be copied and distributed subject to the following |
| conditions: 1) All text must be copied without modification and |
| all pages must be included; 2) If software is included, all files |
| on the disk(s) must be copied without modification [the MS-DOS(R) |
| utility DISKCOPY is appropriate for this purpose]; 3) All |
| components of this Application Note must be distributed together; |
| and 4) This Application Note may not be distributed for profit. |
| |
| Copyright 1993 Microsoft Corporation. All Rights Reserved. |
| Microsoft and MS-DOS are registered trademarks and Windows |
| is a trademark of Microsoft Corporation. |
| 386MAX is a registered trademark of Qualitas, Inc. |
| Qemm is a trakemark of Quarterdeck Office Systems. |
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1. Q. How can I free conventional memory on my computer?

A. You can optimize your computer memory use automatically by
running the MS-DOS 6.0 MemMaker program. There are some
restrictions on using MemMaker to optimize your system memory.
MemMaker works on 80386 and 80486 computer systems only; it
does not work on 80286 or 8088 systems. It works with the MS-
DOS HIMEM.SYS and EMM386.EXE memory-management utilities only;
it does not work with third-party utilities, such as Qemm(TM)
and 386MAX(R).

MemMaker reviews your CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT files and
then optimizes them by loading terminate-and-stay-resident
(TSR) programs and installable device drivers into the memory
area between 640 kilobytes (K) and 1 megabyte (MB), which is
called the upper memory area (UMA). Before you run MemMaker,
verify that all device drivers are being loaded properly and
that any hardware they control is also functioning correctly.
To run MemMaker, type "memmaker" (without the quotation marks)
at the MS-DOS command prompt, and press ENTER.

Read each screen and follow the instructions listed. During
this process you are prompted to choose either Express Setup or
Custom Setup. We recommend using the express mode of MemMaker
Setup initially. Setup prompts you to verify that your
applications require expanded memory. If you are unsure, refer
to your software documentation.

MemMaker reboots your machine twice while it determines the
optimal configuration. When it has chosen a configuration, a
screen reports how much memory was available before you ran
MemMaker and how much is available now. If the displayed memory
is not what you expect or need, press the ESC key to undo
changes made by MemMaker.

If you accepted the changes made by MemMaker and now want to
undo them, type "memmaker /undo" (without the quotation marks)
at the MS-DOS command prompt, and then press ENTER.

For more information about MemMaker, please refer to the
"Managing Your System" chapter of the "Microsoft MS-DOS 6
User's Guide."

2. Q. After MemMaker rebooted my computer, the computer stopped
responding ("hung"). How can I correct this problem?

A. MemMaker tries to use UMA locations that it determines are
free. If your machine hangs, note any error messages that are
displayed, then restart your computer. MemMaker detects that
your computer is being restarted before the optimization is
complete and displays a screen listing possible reasons for the
interruption and instructions for resuming or quitting the
optimization. Accept the default options to continue.

For more information regarding MemMaker, please refer to the
"Making More Memory Available" chapter of the "Microsoft MS-DOS
6 User's Guide."

3. Q. After running MemMaker, some programs on my computer no longer
function properly. How can I correct this problem?

A. Some programs and device drivers are not designed to be loaded
into the UMA. If you have such a program, it cannot work
correctly when loaded into the UMA. To correct this problem,
you must change how the program is loaded, thus changing where
it will be loaded in memory. Two procedures for doing this
follow.

If the program is being loaded from the CONFIG.SYS file with a
DEVICEHIGH command, open the CONFIG.SYS file in an ASCII text
editor, such as MS-DOS Editor, and change the line for the
device driver to read device instead of devicehigh. Save the
file, quit the text editor, and then reboot your computer by
pressing CTRL+ALT+DEL.

If the program is being loaded in the AUTOEXEC.BAT file, open
the AUTOEXEC.BAT file in an ASCII text editor and remove the
LOADHIGH (LH) command for that program. Save the file, quit the
text editor, and then reboot your computer by pressing
CTRL+ALT+DEL.

For more information on the LOADHIGH and DEVICEHIGH commands,
refer to the "Microsoft MS-DOS 6 User's Guide" or type "help
loadhigh" or "help devicehigh" (without the quotation marks) at
the MS-DOS command prompt. Also, check the documentation that
comes with your application for details on memory location and
usage.

4. Q. I am using the Multi-config commands and I want to optimize my
system. Are there any special precautions I should take?

A. MemMaker views the CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT files as a
single unit. When you run MemMaker, it removes all references
to memory managers and the FILES, BUFFERS, and DOS commands. It
then adds the following commands to the top of the CONFIG.SYS

file:

device=c:\dos\himem.sys
device=c:\dos\emm386.exe settings
buffers=setting
files=setting
dos=umb
lastdrive=setting
fcbs=setting

Note: The setting values for BUFFERS, FILES, lastdrive, and
EMM386.EXE are determined by MemMaker based on your
configuration.

Because of this design, MemMaker cannot optimize CONFIG.SYS and
AUTOEXEC.BAT files that use Multi-config commands.

To optimize multiple configurations using MemMaker, you must
have separate configuration files for each item on your
multiple configuration menu, and run MemMaker on each set of
files. This is a complex process. Refer to the "Making More
Memory Available" chapter of the "Microsoft MS-DOS 6 User's
Guide" to clarify how to use MemMaker with multiple
configurations.

For more information on the multiple configuration commands,
refer to the "Configuring Your System" chapter of the
"Microsoft MS-DOS 6 User's Guide."

For more information on MemMaker, refer to the "Making More
Memory Available" chapter of the "Microsoft MS-DOS 6 User's
Guide."

5. Q. After optimizing my system with MemMaker, I receive the error
message "Bad command or filename." How can I correct this
problem?

A. This error message indicates that MS-DOS cannot find a file or
program. Check the drive, path, and filenames to verify that
the filenames and locations are accurate. This error may occur
if MemMaker changes programs loaded by a third-party memory
manager. MemMaker does not support the use of third-party
memory managers, and all such references in the AUTOEXEC.BAT
and CONFIG.SYS files should be replaced with the corresponding
MS-DOS memory manager or command.

For more information on MemMaker, refer to the "Making More
Memory Available" chapter of the "Microsoft MS-DOS 6 User's
Guide."