==========
pcpforum/S6_Help! #7766, from PC_Plus, 374 chars, 28-Mar-94  11:27:37
----------
Subject: What to buy next?
Fm: PC Plus 71333,1462
To: Nick Gordon 100346,61 (X)

Certainly not rubbish - but I would also cost selling present PC and
buying something faster - with at least 8Mb of RAM - just to check.

Speed gets cheaper quite quickly, so the replacement is cheap, but the
386SX may just still have a resale value.

David Norfolk, Sysop

There is 1 Reply.

==========
pcpforum/S6_Help! #7777, from Nick_Gordon, 514 chars, 29-Mar-94  00:36:53
Comment to 7766.
----------
Subject: What to buy next?
Fm: Nick Gordon 100346,61
To: PC Plus 71333,1462 (X)

Good point about selling 386SX and buying faster - there are still
plenty of small companies and charities that will pay a good price for
decent recent equipment because they don't need
super-mega-ninja-nuclear power, and a 386 second-hand is better value
to them than a new 486, however "attractively priced" (esp. since
there's no VAT on 2nd hand stuff and charities can't reclaim VAT (or
not all of it).

Nick

There is 1 Reply.

==========
pcpforum/S6_Help! #7782, from Alexander_Benson, 1022 chars, 29-Mar-94  18:22:16
----------
Subject: iomega tape drive
Fm: Alexander Benson 100277,1215
To: all

Help,
                   I have purchased an Iomega 250 insider with Central

Point Backup Software version 7.22 for DOS and Windows.
My problem is that I cannot format any of the tapes that I purchased. I

bought 5 Verbatim tapes and every one I have tried to format either
gives
me the message, "Too many bad blocks", or "Track 0 bad, certification
failed".
I have a Dan 486DX  33 MHZ PC with 8MB ram. The tape drive is connected
to
my
primary controller card which is a Promise DC100 Caching Disk
Controller
with 2MB
ram. I have a S3 1MB video card and a Soundblaster Pro card installed
with
a Sony CDU31A CDROM drive attached.
The tape drive is positioned above my 3 1/2" floppy drive.
I have included copies of my autoexec and config files for you to have
a
look at.

autoexec

@ECHO OFF
PROMPT $p$g
PATH C:\DOS
SET TEMP=C:\DOS

config.sys
DOS=HIGH
FILES=30

Thanks in anticipation,
                                     Alex

There are 3 Replies.

==========
pcpforum/S6_Help! #7836, from John_Neal, 1610 chars, 02-Apr-94  18:47:09
----------
Subject: CD Rom - HELP !
Fm: John Neal 73472,1423
To: All

I have just brought a Philips 206 CD Rom from Tiny computers but cannot
get it to work. After trying every conceivable combination of IRQ and
port settings I gave up and phoned Tiny ( what a name ) who immediately
agreed to replace it and I recieved a replacement the next day (
impressive service ) . Only problem is that this one will not work
either !  I think that it's unlikely that two separate drives would
both have exactly the same fault so I have the feeling that the problem
must lie with my computer - the only problem is what ?
I have carefully checked cables, removed the sound card and modem and
still no luck. The installation proceedure goes smoothly and when setup
checks for the drive it finds it with no problem. Yet when I reboot the
computer it often fails to find the host at all , occasionally finds
the host but reports a 205 drive ( the single speed version ) present
and only rarely finds the host and reports a 206 drive present. Even
when it does MSCDEX (2.2) takes up to 3 minutes to load ( is this
normal ? ) and then any attempt to access drive E gives a drive not
ready reading ( yes I did have a CD in it at the time ) but only after
another two or three minutes of waiting . Audio CD's play though the
soundcard without problems but Data disks just sit there and whirr !

I can't think of anything else to try - can you ?

Computer - VTECH 486SX 25 mhz, using Stacker 3.0 and QEMM 6 with MSDOS
5

        Signed    Desperate <g>

        Suggestions gratefully recieved

        John Neal ( UK )

There is 1 Reply.

==========
pcpforum/S6_Help! #7845, from Andrew_Snaddon, 736 chars, 03-Apr-94  18:35:10
----------
Subject: Windows Help Compiler
Fm: Andrew Snaddon 100047,126
To: sysop (X)

The article in Issue 91 (April) on Windows Help File utilities made
interesting reading, but prompts me to ask why Microsoft should
restrict distribution of the Help Compiler to particular development
environments only.

I am an avid Visual Basic fan and appreciate the professional results
achievable. However I only have the standard edition which does not
have the compiler. This does not make sense as Microsoft obviously
intend standard users to distribute their wares, hence the Setup
Wizard, so why not with a proper help system?

Is the Help Compiler available from any other source? Does anyone have
any other suggestions?

Andy. 

There is 1 Reply.

==========
pcpforum/S6_Help! #7847, from Hermans, 738 chars, 04-Apr-94  09:22:20
----------
Subject: EMM386 looses memory!
Fm: Hermans 100321,272
To: all

Recently I upgraded from 4 to 8MB.
To my asthonishment EMM386 no longer works!
EMM386 says: not installed - insufficient memory!
Windows programs works happily (and faster) with the 8MB; DOS ones
don't.
What on earth is going on?
... Edwin

Specifics: DOS 6.2, EMM386 v 4.48; memory all 70 ns.
System board: ALI-486SX non-cache (MS-4118 version 1.2)
MS diagnostics says: Computer: Acer/American Mega, 486SX
Memory: 640K, 7168k Ext, 1024k XMS.
(with only 4MB this was: 640k, 3072k ext, 3392k EMS, 1568k XMS)
BIOS: American Megatrends, FC 01 00, 07/07/91.

Note: at boot up memory counting goes up to only 7168 k (was: 3072k);
or is this a red herring? 

There are 3 Replies.

==========
pcpforum/S6_Help! #7848, from Hermans, 731 chars, 04-Apr-94  09:22:23
----------
Subject: slow Colorade tape strea
Fm: Hermans 100321,272
To: all

My new Colorado 250 MB Jumbo internal streamer is dead slow!
What's wrong?
... Edwin

Tape formatting (DC2120 cartridge):
Software estimates: 1 hr 58 minutes:
Actual time: 2 hr 55 min 37 sec!
Spec says: 51 min at 1 Mb transfer rate; 101 min at 500k

Backup:
Actual: 7MB in 13 minutes! (no compression)
Spec says: 10 MB in 3 min at 1 MB or 6 min at 500k transfer rate.

Read tape directory: wait for drive 15 sec; read dir 30 sec!

Streamer connected via floppy controller. System 486SX25, 4mb.

Tape operation goes in an endless cycle like: 5 sec slow read/write, 2
sec fast rewind.
Is this normal? it reminds me of those DEC tapes on a PDP-11.

There is 1 Reply.

==========
pcpforum/S6_Help! #7850, from PETER_LEE, 900 chars, 04-Apr-94  09:44:42
Comment to 7836.
----------
Subject: CD Rom - HELP !
Fm: PETER LEE 100265,400
To: John Neal 73472,1423 (X)

I don't know for certain if this will help but for what its worth - I
read somewhere that MSCDEX should be loaded as early as possible and
before memory managers operate. I load all the set commands, followed
by the path and settings for my Sound Blaster, then immediately load
MSCDEX. I use Norton Speed Cache and this gets loaded at this point.
Come to think of it the above advice might have been in the Speed Cache
instructions to enable the Cache to recognise the CD Rom drive - so I
would guess that you should definately load MSCDEX before your memory
managers. Also I would suspect that DOS 5 is not being very helpful - I
have no specific grounds for saying that, but it is a bit old in
relation to CD Roms - I would suggest an upgrade to DOS 6.0 at least or
better to 6.2

Good Luck

Peter

There is 1 Reply.

==========
pcpforum/S6_Help! #7865, from R_J, 495 chars, 05-Apr-94  00:18:29
Comment to 7845.
----------
Subject: Windows Help Compiler
Fm: R J Palmer 100025,1425
To: Andrew Snaddon 100047,126 (X)

The help compiler is available to anyone who wants to download it from
CIX. It is available in the WINDEV forum. I can't remeber the library
number at the moment sorry. If you want a program to help you create
help files - and you have Word for Windows 2 or 6 try CreateHelp also
available there or on CIX

Hope this helps - If you have any further problems EMail me...

Richard

There are 2 Replies.

==========
pcpforum/S6_Help! #7870, from PC_Plus, 326 chars, 05-Apr-94  11:59:14
Comment to 7865.
----------
Subject: Windows Help Compiler
Fm: PC Plus 71333,1462
To: R J Palmer 100025,1425 (X)

But you are only supposed to download it if you already have the
appropriate language package - it is not freely distributable and often
gets pulled from areas which aren't controlled accesss.....


David Norfolk, Sysop

There is 1 Reply.

==========
pcpforum/S6_Help! #7879, from Taz_Higgins, 236 chars, 06-Apr-94  13:04:24
Comment to 7870.
----------
Subject: Windows Help Compiler
Fm: Taz Higgins 71662,270
To: PC Plus 71333,1462 (X)

the shocking this is that is's available on ftp.microsoft.com
softlib/mslfiles/VBHC505.EXE

anonymous ftp to get it.

     Regards,
 -=  The Taz!  =-

==========
pcpforum/S6_Help! #7885, from R_J, 203 chars, 07-Apr-94  00:37:06
Comment to 7850.
----------
Subject: CD Rom - HELP !
Fm: R J Palmer 100025,1425
To: PETER LEE 100265,400 (X)

DOS 5 requires a load of SETVER commands to allow MSCDEX to run DOS 6,2
/ 6.0 includes a new version of MSCDEX

Richard

==========
pcpforum/S6_Help! #7891, from stuart_moss, 757 chars, 07-Apr-94  19:18:09
----------
Subject: HP Vecta C5
Fm: stuart moss 100102,564
To: all

Hi
I have been given a system box with the markings HP Vecra C5 (it looks
nothing like a sinclair C5) Can anyone tell me what it is.
Their is no floppy with it but it has an old RRL type hard drive, What
I think is the Video card is 8 bit and full lenth with another card
piggy-back the connector is only 9 pin as opsosed to 15 pin. I have
powered it up and got it to beep at me a few times but without a screen
I cant see if there is anything happening.
a few Questions
1) what generation of cpu might it be
2) can you still get 8 bit video cards that will run my vga monitor.
3) Is it worth doing anything with it other than resting my feet on
after a hard day.

Cheers
Stuart.

There is 1 Reply.

==========
pcpforum/S6_Help! #7892, from Andrew_Snaddon, 309 chars, 07-Apr-94  19:30:53
Comment to 7865.
----------
Subject: Windows Help Compiler
Fm: Andrew Snaddon 100047,126
To: R J Palmer 100025,1425 (X)

Thanks Richard, I had forgotten about the MS Windows forums. Found it
on the SDK forum. It will probably take me longer to write the Help
system now than it took to do the programming! <g>

Andy.

There is 1 Reply.

==========
pcpforum/S6_Help! #7904, from MARK_STOTHERT, 439 chars, 09-Apr-94  12:17:25
----------
Subject: Ni Cad Batteries
Fm: MARK STOTHERT 100342,1510
To: All

Both batteries on my Notestar NP-925 have ceased working at the same
time.
Obviosly I suspect memory effect, but don'tunderstand it.
Running down / re- charging cycles have had no effect.
What do I do now, other than kicking my much beloved dog, to get the
batteries working again?
Any ideas appreciated, or contacts to assist around Manchester.
CHEERS.

There is 1 Reply.

==========
pcpforum/S6_Help! #7906, from Nick_Lake-Ryan, 762 chars, 09-Apr-94  18:01:29
Comment to 7782.
----------
Subject: iomega tape drive
Fm: Nick Lake-Ryan (UK) 100020,1200
To: Alexander Benson 100277,1215

Sorry, I can't help with the IOMEGA. I too have a Dan but I have a
Future Domain SCSI controller. I couldn't get my Iomega Tape 250 to
work with the SCSI controller and my diskette drive and so ended up
fitting IOMEGAs fast controller for the tape drive leaving the floppy
attached to the SCSI card. This works fine and I have never had
problems with the tapes I have.

The reason I have replied is that I have a question for you. Do you
have the Dan supplied S3 card? If so, what version of the drivers do
you have? I find that version 1.6 that I have use up far too much of
scarce Windows resources and wouldn't mind trying a later version.

Nick Lake-Ryan (UK)

==========
pcpforum/S6_Help! #7907, from Nick_Lake-Ryan, 172 chars, 09-Apr-94  18:01:35
----------
Subject: Future Domain
Fm: Nick Lake-Ryan (UK) 100020,1200
To: All

Does anybody have a contact number for this company in the UK?

Nick Lake-Ryan (UK)

There is 1 Reply.

==========
pcpforum/S6_Help! #7909, from Kevin_Naughton, 250 chars, 10-Apr-94  00:23:18
Comment to 7891.
----------
Subject: HP Vecta C5
Fm: Kevin Naughton 70630,2176
To: stuart moss 100102,564 (X)

Stuart,

        We have an HP *Vectra* manual at work.  No-one knows where it
came from, but I'll have a look on Monday and let you know.

Kevin.

There is 1 Reply.

==========
pcpforum/S6_Help! #7910, from Paul_Graham, 317 chars, 10-Apr-94  00:30:00
----------
Subject: Cache memory
Fm: Paul Graham 100317,536
To: ALL

How do you check how much cache memory is on your motherboard?
I have upgraded to a 486DX2-66 motherboard and requested that 512k
cache be fitted instead of 256k. SI (part of PC Tools) tells me there
is only 128k external cache.

TIA
Paul

There is 1 Reply.

==========
pcpforum/S6_Help! #7915, from Les_Rix, 1681 chars, 10-Apr-94  18:07:21
Comment to 7904.
----------
Subject: Ni Cad Batteries
Fm: Les Rix 100022,3425
To: MARK STOTHERT 100342,1510 (X)

Mark,

Should preface this advice with a skull and crossbones, like in Help
Screen (:)X

It may be charger/mains power-supply failure. BUT

If the batteries ARE NiCd then one cause of failure is the formation of
tiny nickel whiskers which s/circuit the electrodes in a cell and with
a current-limited charger shunt the supply potential without causing
overheating or other problems - other than failure to charge that is.

These whiskers may be zapped with a large current flow but this also
causes gassing -> explosion so watch it !!!

Remove battery from computer - obviously. If possible check with meter
that its output voltage is stuck at some low value or zero indicating
one or more cells have internal short. Extend wiring to battery
connector with two long insulated heavy-gauge wires (car jump-leads).
Cover battery with old coat, sack etc. then momentarily flash the wires
on a source of high current dc supply ensuring +ve to +ve, -ve to -ve
etc. Watch out for "stickywelds" and if fearful put a 30 amp fuse in
the line.

DO NOT S/C YOUR SUPPLY WIRES !

My battery rejuvenation is normally conducted in the garage using a car
battery (12v nominal) to "sort" 1.25 to 9v offenders.

I can give no guarantee that this will work and the method is probably
against all Health and Safety good practice but it has worked over 20
years on everything from rc-car cells to camcorder batts.

If the batteries are Lead-acid, Lithium-Manganese etc. forget it.

Best of luck <<g.d&r>>    Les ,   Leics.

          (Radio amateur/electrical engineer/quite old ie a survivor )

There are 2 Replies.

==========
pcpforum/S6_Help! #7917, from R_J, 363 chars, 11-Apr-94  00:06:17
Comment to 7892.
----------
Subject: Windows Help Compiler
Fm: R J Palmer 100025,1425
To: Andrew Snaddon 100047,126

Have you tried / got the CreateHelp which is in the same forum. This is
a great add in tht makes writing help files very easy. I've writen
several help files in it including graphics, etc.

It is also cheap to register (20) and is UK written...


Hope this helps

Richard

==========
pcpforum/S6_Help! #7923, from Jim_Stancliffe, 335 chars, 11-Apr-94  14:31:48
----------
Subject: Graphtec Plotter
Fm: Jim Stancliffe 100145,435
To: All

I recently purchased a second hand Graphtec X-Y plotter manufactured by
the Graphtec Corp. Tokyo, Japan. Unfortunately I do not have their
address or that of their UK agents. I wish to get hold of a Windows
printer driver and buy some new pens for it. Can anyone help?

==========
pcpforum/S6_Help! #7925, from stuart_moss, 326 chars, 11-Apr-94  20:37:46
Comment to 7909.
----------
Subject: HP Vecta C5
Fm: stuart moss 100102,564
To: Kevin Naughton 70630,2176 (X)

Hi kevin
I believe they still sell vecta's as a 486 ect! but this thing looks
like a 086 or i my have a 286  it has a 16Hzs clock chip on board but i
cannot find a BIOS chip . Hope you can find out what it is from the
manual.

Cheers stuart!

==========
pcpforum/S6_Help! #7926, from Brian_Ashley, 1174 chars, 11-Apr-94  21:06:08
----------
Subject: DODGY VIDEO DISPLAY'S
Fm: Brian Ashley 100341,3210
To: ANY ONE WHO CAN HELP

SYSTEM:-
DELL DIMENSION 466V
486 DX2 @ 66MHz
##9GXE VIDEO CARD
SOUNDBLASTER 16 CARD
CD-ROM DRIVE

TRYING TO ASSIST A COLLEAGUE WITH THE ABOVE TAKING A GOOD 3 MINUTES
LOADING WINDOWS 3.1 AND THEN NOT RUNNING THE CD GAMES SATISFACTORY IT
WAS DECIDED TO COMPLETLY REFORMAT THE HARD DISC AND RELOAD ALL THE
SOFTWARE.

MSDOS 6.2 LOADED 'OK'
MSWINDOWS 3.1 SETUP 'OK'
VIDEO CARD SETUP 'OK'
SOUNDBLASTER CARD SETUP 'OK'
CD-ROM DRIVE SETUP 'OK'

CD ROM PLAYS AUDIO 'OK' WINDOWS WORKS PERFECT

'CRITICAL PATH' VIDEO GAME SETUP WORKS 'OK' SOUND AND VISION
WORKS FROM WINDOWS

'THE SEVENTH GUEST' VIDEO GAME SETUP WORKS 'OK' SOUND AND VISION
WORKS FROM DOS

MSWORKS LOADED AND THE FOLLOWING PROBLEM

TEXT ON SCREEN WHEN USING WINDOWS OR MSWORKS DISPLAYS OK ON STARING BUT
AS SOON AS YOU START TO PAGE UP/DOWN OR MOVE ANYTHING ON SCREEN THE
CHARACTERS TURN INTO STRAIGHT LINES.

WHEN PAGING UP SAY A WRI FILE ONLY THE BOTTOM LINE IS READABLE.

ANY POSSIBLE SUGGESTIONS AS TO THE PROBLEM WOULD BE APPRECIATED.

REGARDS BRIAN ASHLEY

PS NEVER HAD THIS PROBLEM WITH MY 48K SPECCY
   

There is 1 Reply.

==========
pcpforum/S6_Help! #7932, from PC_Plus, 185 chars, 12-Apr-94  12:37:48
Comment to 7907.
----------
Subject: Future Domain
Fm: PC Plus 71333,1462
To: Nick Lake-Ryan (UK) 100020,1200 (X)

I seem to recall that you have to go to your dealer or a main
distributor.

David Norfolk, Sysop

==========
pcpforum/S6_Help! #7934, from PC_Plus, 612 chars, 12-Apr-94  12:58:27
Comment to 7926.
----------
Subject: DODGY VIDEO DISPLAY'S
Fm: PC Plus 71333,1462
To: Brian Ashley 100341,3210 (X)

In order:

PLEASE DON'T SHOUT <grin> - lowercase is more readable

Try to isolate what is responsible - try running in standard VGA using
the drivers with Windows, eg. DOS games, even in dos boxes, may not use
standard Windows techniques to draw the screen <g>

Try excluding a000-efff in SYSTEM.INI- if it helps, change range to
match card addresses used

Check the graphics card driver installation

Get bug-fixed graphics drivers.

The last is most likely IMHO, but takes time... David Norfolk, Sysop

There is 1 Reply.

==========
pcpforum/S6_Help! #7936, from PETER_LEE, 338 chars, 12-Apr-94  20:13:38
Comment to 7910.
----------
Subject: Cache memory
Fm: PETER LEE 100265,400
To: Paul Graham 100317,536 (X)

I have 256K on board cache on a 486 66Mz. On boot up I get a message
very early on stating "256Kb cache activated".

Try watching your screen carefully - you might see a similar message.

I can't find my 256K cache using Norton Utilities.

There is 1 Reply.

==========
pcpforum/S6_Help! #7941, from MARK_STOTHERT, 436 chars, 13-Apr-94  08:10:57
Comment to 7915.
----------
Subject: Ni Cad Batteries
Fm: MARK STOTHERT 100342,1510
To: Les Rix 100022,3425 (X)

Les,

Many thanks for your advice.

So here's off into the garage to have a go.         (d,r,& weaving)

If no further communication, read M/cr Evg News obituries & "For Sale"
- laptop, cheap.    <g>

Seriously tho', ta for advice & warning.

Mark

(builder by profession, computer hobbyist by mistake, survivor by skin
of teeth)


There is 1 Reply.

==========
pcpforum/S6_Help! #7943, from PC_Plus, 378 chars, 13-Apr-94  13:10:17
Comment to 7915.
----------
Subject: Ni Cad Batteries
Fm: PC Plus 71333,1462
To: Les Rix 100022,3425 (X)

There is ABSOLUTELY NO PC Plus endorsement of this <grin>.

Seriously, there are siome nasty chemicals inside nicads and if the
explode, you'll get shrapnel - and car batteries put out 30amps. Be
very careful indeed. And even more careful.....

Cowards-r-us

David Norfolk, Sysop

There is 1 Reply.

==========
pcpforum/S6_Help! #7945, from Brian_Ashley, 386 chars, 13-Apr-94  21:09:38
Comment to 7934.
----------
Subject: DODGY VIDEO DISPLAY'S
Fm: Brian Ashley 100341,3210
To: PC Plus 71333,1462 (X)

Many thanks for your rapid response and ideas

Dell are sending a new set of drivers in case the current ones are
corrupted.

I will try all the other suggestions and if still having trouble may
ask you for further assistance.

I am typing this as quiet as possible

THANKS again

Brian Ashley   

==========
pcpforum/S6_Help! #7946, from tom_anderson, 404 chars, 13-Apr-94  21:31:05
----------
Subject: Power PC
Fm: tom anderson 100121,1741
To: All

Hi everyone,
I am thinking about saving the old pennies to buy a newer faster PC.
But I'm wondering and having serious thoughts about PowerPC.
The advantage to me would be that I could swop my current software at a
leisurely pace rather than all at once.
Anyone have their  own one yet and if so what are they like?

Any tips gratefully received.

==========
pcpforum/S6_Help! #7947, from Tom_Walker, 1257 chars, 13-Apr-94  22:18:36
----------
Subject: Slow graphics card?
Fm: Tom Walker 100043,2404
To: All

        I own an Ambra Hurdla 486DX2 50Mhz with 4MB RAM and I have
noticed that several programs run rather too slowly considering the
machine's processor. This is most noticable with games. In Doom for
instance, I have to shrink the viewing window to make the game barely
playable, and even then it is hard to aim because the display is so
jerky. In Syndicate as well scrolling is very jerky. I expected all
these to run fast and smoothly on a DX2, and after tweaking the memory
configuration no end I have begun to suspect the graphics card. My
technical manual says I have a Western Digital WD90C11 HD SVGA card
integrated onto the motherboard, although for some reason MicroSoft
Diagnostics identifies it as a Paradise VGA card with Western Digital
VESA. The card has 1024k on board. Is this card slow enough to be
causing these problems? I have heard that Windows accelerator cards
actulally slow down DOS performance. Is this such a card? If so, how
much would I have to spend to buy an ISA card that would run these
games smoothly, and can anyone recommend one? Would I be compromising
my Windows performance?

Any replies will be more than gratefully accepted.

There are 2 Replies.

==========
pcpforum/S6_Help! #7953, from Les_Rix, 765 chars, 14-Apr-94  20:47:38
Comment to 7943.
----------
Subject: Ni Cad Batteries
Fm: Les Rix 100022,3425
To: PC Plus 71333,1462 (X)

David,

NO endorsement ?  Where hast the age of adventure gone ? Magellan and
Wilfred Pickles and I are aghast !

Seriously there is a risk which I have underlined and a colleague who
"flashed" the contact hesitantly did need auxiliary apparel BUT this
unsticking scheme does work. If you add a "0" to your 30 amps David
that can be illustrative hence the sacrificial 30A fuse.

BTW just an echo from last year; now I am accustomed to the style
PCPLUS is once again the greatest. Not so sure yet about CD-ROM Today.
Apart from DP there seem to be a lot of arty-crafties in this mm lark.
Long live static databases.
                            So long,   Les   Leics.

There is 1 Reply.

==========
pcpforum/S6_Help! #7954, from Les_Rix, 270 chars, 14-Apr-94  20:47:47
Comment to 7941.
----------
Subject: Ni Cad Batteries
Fm: Les Rix 100022,3425
To: MARK STOTHERT 100342,1510 (X)

Mark,

Take Care, Please - preferably a nice heavy leather overcoat! Also
pleased to note your location, 80-90 miles clearance <<g>>.

                         Regards,   Les   Leics.

==========
pcpforum/S6_Help! #7955, from Jim_Stancliffe, 439 chars, 14-Apr-94  20:49:32
----------
Subject: Graphtec Plotter
Fm: Jim Stancliffe 100145,435
To: Mark Peters 100325,1274 (X)

Mark,
Many thanks for your generous offer of help and for taking the trouble
to reply. However, I was given the telephone number of Graphtec by
another Compuserve member and have been in touch with them. I might add
that the staff in Nantwich were very helpful and they have fixed me up
with my requirements.
                        Jim, Co. Durham

==========
pcpforum/S6_Help! #7956, from Jim_Stancliffe, 515 chars, 14-Apr-94  20:49:54
----------
Subject: Graphtec Plotter
Fm: Jim Stancliffe 100145,435
To: Les Rix 100022,3425 (X)

Les,
Many thanks for your helpful advice. I contacted Graphtec in Nantwich
and, like you I found them friendly and helpful. They have fixed me up
with my requirements but they do not have a windows driver for v.3.1,
although they are working on it.
Thanks for the tip about HP emulation, I haven't tried it yet (because
I don't yet have any pens) but I'll certainly give it a try.
                                Jim, Co. Durham

==========
pcpforum/S6_Help! #7957, from Matt_Burt, 2213 chars, 14-Apr-94  21:26:52
Comment to 7782.
----------
Subject: iomega tape drive
Fm: Matt Burt 100337,1634
To: Alexander Benson 100277,1215

Hi Alex,

I've got a DAN 486DX 33 with an iomega conected to a Promise DC-4030
Local Bus controller. My video card is also S3-based being a Diamond
Stealth 24. I could only afford 4 Megs though, and I haven't got a
CD-ROM (yet). I've got an extra floppy drive and I've also got the
Central Point Backup software.

I've found that the type of DC2120 cartridge that you use with the
drive can make quite a difference. I've got one 3M cartridge that seems
to work very well, and 6 Dysan cartridges that throw up a fair few
errors. I haven't tried a Verbatim with it though. If you clean the
drive, make sure you leave enough time for the cleaning agent to dry
completely before using the drive.

The Central Point Manual (page 7 in mine) recommends that BUFFERS=35 or
greater is present in your CONFIG.SYS. What the manual doesn't say is
that if your're using Windows 3.1, you'll need to load SHARE.EXE as
well, or your font files amongst others may not be backed up correctly.
If you're using Windows for Playgroups 3.11, use VSHARE.386 instead.

Looking at AUTOEXEC.BAT, C:\CPBACKUP should be in the PATH statement,
and you'll also need SET CPBACKUP=C:\CPBACKUP or similar to tell
CPBACKUP where to store its temporary files.

I suggest you get the DOS version working first. If you can't, it's
most likely a hardware fault. Check the power to the tape drive with a
multimeter. I can't remember if you need 12 volts as well as 5, or
whether just 5 is sufficient. The cable is another possible source of
aggro. Check the red stripe matches pin one in all places.  Check that
the 'DSS' jumper is installed on the back of the tape drive. You could
also try disconnecting the floppy and just using the tape drive with
the controller. If you're desperate, take the Soundblaster out and see
if that makes a difference.

If the DOS version is OK and the windows one doesn't work, check
CPBVXD.386 is loaded in SYSTEM.INI. Also try using the windows VGA
driver rather than the S3 one, as 3rd party display drivers can quite
often create havok on the system.

I hope this is of some use to you. Let me know how you get on.

Matt. Burt

==========
pcpforum/S6_Help! #7959, from Anton_Britten, 763 chars, 15-Apr-94  00:01:18
Comment to 7782.
----------
Subject: iomega tape drive
Fm: Anton Britten 100316,3127
To: Alexander Benson 100277,1215

I have a IOMEGA . I had the same problem but have found the following
procedure works!
Set the tape size to 80MB (yes 80), and make sure you've got the FORMAT
ALWAYS option set. Start a backup  so it actually starts the format -
let it format say 80 - 100 blocks - then use the abandon key to abort
the bacup / format (this takes about 10 - 15 mins).

Change your tape type back to 120 and then restart the backup / format
it should then format and bakup OK  -  three hours later.

It seems some headers are similar enough to screw up the header
recognition - writing  routine.  I found this out 'cos I was given a
five pack I wasn't about to give up on!

Regards

Anton

==========
pcpforum/S6_Help! #7961, from PC_Plus, 577 chars, 15-Apr-94  13:36:30
Comment to 7947.
----------
Subject: Slow graphics card?
Fm: PC Plus 71333,1462
To: Tom Walker 100043,2404

ISTR that Paridise is a Western Digital brandname. Motherboard SVGA
should be fast, but no doubt add-on cards can be faster (motherboard
local bus is very fast). Some S3 cards were optimised for Windows and
slow in DOS but I suspect this is no longer true. Any (all?)
cards/drivers can be optimised to do well on benchmarks rather than
real life - but it might be worthwhile getting the latesrt drivers for
your card or trying the latest Microsoft generic superVGA drivers.

David Norfolk, Sysop

==========
pcpforum/S6_Help! #7970, from John_Woods, 2408 chars, 16-Apr-94  13:53:18
----------
Subject: AMI BIOS Setup How?
Fm: John Woods 100331,556
To: All

    I am having trouble locating information on how to set my computers
AMI BIOS to obtain the maximum performance.  I have subscribed to
several computer magazines now for over two years, and in all this time
I have observed that there is a general lack of information on how to
optimise the system BIOS.  I understand that this can be a dangerous
game (data-loss wise) and that just about every OEM customises these
BIOSs to suit their motherboards basic hardware.  My problems stem from
having a motherboard that can be configured for many different
processors and speeds.  It has a larger than basic secondary cache, and
a few plug-in ISA cards with shadowable BIOSs of their own.  The
biggest problem of course, is an irresistible urge to fiddle to obtain
the maximum performance out of my computer.
    Why have a Porche engine in your car and fit a 950cc Mini-Metro
carburettor to it?  This does not sound like the best set-up for the
engine.
    The SIS board that I am currently using is fitted with an Intel
486DX50 and 256K(20ns) cache.  The cache is currently write-through, I
have been led to believe that in most situations write-back caching is
faster.  Is this true?  If so, how can I set it up?  Are there any
in-depth books on hardware/BIOS set-ups on the market?  I have two
books so far- Upgrading and repairing PCs (2nd Ed., Que), and
Troubleshooting and repairing personal computers (2nd Ed.,
McGraw-Hill).  These, quite frankly, are worse than useless, as they
say what can be done but not how to achieve it!  The motherboard user
guide also hints what can be done, but only gives basic examples for
the basic configuration.  If I need any further information, the guide
suggests that I contact my dealer.  I did.  He is quite knowledgeable
when it comes to what software or hardware package does what, but ask
him anything seriously technical and he draws a blank, he appears to
know less than I do!    Someone somewhere out there knows the
information I require.  Please dont tell me to let sleeping dogs lie.
If I dont ask, I cant learn.  If you cant tell, Ill have to fiddle
(again).  There must be an easier way!!

AMI BIOS No:-   40-0100-428028-00101111-050591-SIS486-M

    Any help or polite suggestions gratefully received, thanks,
                                                    John

There are 2 Replies.

==========
pcpforum/S6_Help! #7975, from Richard_Foxcroft, 236 chars, 17-Apr-94  01:19:39
----------
Subject: W/Perfect on floppies?
Fm: Richard Foxcroft 100326,2451
To: All

Is it possible, please, to run WordPerfect 5.1 on an 8086-class PC with
twin 360K floppy discs but no hard disc?

Thanks, RichardF Telford, Shropshire, England


==========
pcpforum/S6_Help! #7976, from Richard_Foxcroft, 328 chars, 17-Apr-94  01:54:26
Comment to 7777.
----------
Subject: What to buy next?
Fm: Richard Foxcroft 100326,2451
To: Nick Gordon 100346,61

Nick,

I suggest that anyone selling 386SX or better equipment might contact
local schools, especially in areas where they use PCs. Thy may well
have staff or pupils who would be interested.

Regards, RichardF Telford, Shropshire, England


==========
pcpforum/S6_Help! #7981, from Paul_Graham, 217 chars, 17-Apr-94  23:29:21
Comment to 7936.
----------
Subject: Cache memory
Fm: Paul Graham 100317,536
To: PETER LEE 100265,400 (X)

Peter

Either it flashes on and off the screen too quickly or it isn't
displayed on my system.

Cheers anyway

Paul G

There is 1 Reply.

==========
pcpforum/S6_Help! #7982, from Kelvin_Fay, 415 chars, 17-Apr-94  23:49:17
Comment to 7970.
----------
Subject: AMI BIOS Setup How?
Fm: Kelvin Fay 100346,151
To: John Woods 100331,556 (X)

John,

Can't help you with your basic question but as for........ <<I
understand that this can be a dangerous game (data-loss wise>> Why
should you lose data? Note the bios's original settings, make a decent
backup of data and fiddle to your hearts content!

Regards, Kelvin  (UK)   17-Apr-94 at 23:32:18 GMT

There is 1 Reply.

==========
pcpforum/S6_Help! #7984, from Muhammad_M, 957 chars, 18-Apr-94  14:40:56
----------
Subject: Need Help in printing?
Fm: Muhammad M Kashem 100136,2010
To: All

Hello:

I have a computer project due end of this week, all the menu screens of
my program are in graphics mode and the rest in crt(ascii) mode, in
approximately 5 different colours.

For the report I need colour screen dumps while the program is running,
the question is where can I get them done easily and cheap?  I called a
few of the places(in London) advertised at the back of magazines but
they seem to charge around 7 per page!! And they don't have the
facility to simply press Print Screen and do the job, I could convert
the graphics screens in to printable files using something like
Neograb, but how do I grab the screen in crt(ascii) mode?

Please answer to this message if you have any idea.....I'm really don't
want all that hard work on graphics to go wasted. It would be easy for
me if I can find a place to print the stuff in central London.

Regards,
Muahmmad.

==========
pcpforum/S6_Help! #7985, from PC_Plus, 865 chars, 18-Apr-94  17:16:58
Comment to 7953.
----------
Subject: Ni Cad Batteries
Fm: PC Plus 71333,1462
To: Les Rix 100022,3425 (X)

yes, 300 amps is more like it. However, its not amps or volts what
kills , its getting the current flow exactly right to switch your heart
off - so the danger here is burns or poisoning, not electrocution.

No spirit of adventure? Weeeel, some sysops might have pulled the whole
thread <grin>. Seriously, we're probably responsible for what you say
and, anyway, I worry personally about anyone suffering because of
something I've written or even allowed to be read, even if it is their
fault for not reading any caveats.

I'm sure that your process works, but the person reading about and
trying your experiment may not be the person you were writing to, so I
felt that underlining the warnings did no harm.

Glad you like the new format now!

David Norfolk, Sysop



There is 1 Reply.

==========
pcpforum/S6_Help! #7988, from John_Woods, 622 chars, 18-Apr-94  21:45:54
Comment to 7982.
----------
Subject: AMI BIOS Setup How?
Fm: John Woods 100331,556
To: Kelvin Fay 100346,151 (X)

Kelvin,

Thanks for replying.

The <<data loss>> bit came from one of my fiddles- setting the ISA bus
rate higher than my Adaptec card could cope with.  Since remedied.
I've fiddled with my works machines, but it seems that the BIOS in my
home machine has more whistles and knobs than most of the current
machines I can get my hands on.  I wonder if this really is to
discourage fiddling, I doubt it.  I just would like to know what I'm
fiddling with, if you'll pardon the expression.

        Thanks again, John

There are 2 Replies.

==========
pcpforum/S6_Help! #7989, from Philip_Morley, 1232 chars, 18-Apr-94  21:53:09
----------
Subject: HelpScreen 2 Book
Fm: Philip Morley 100273,3634
To: Sysop,All (X)

I'm pretty fed up Mr. Pc Answers man.  I bought the HelpScreen2  book
and disk .

This book is not a patch on Helpscreen Book 1 but I  thought I'd try
The speaker driver and  little sound utility " Excuses" on the disk. My
speaker on my Elonex Pc 333 is a bit feeble and this utility is not up
to much either so after about 2 or 3 minutes I deleted both the
Microsoft driver and the "excuses" utility off my hard disk.

I now find my much loved WinPost alarm no longer works except for a
"woodpecker" pip pip,  instead of the theme from Dixie which it should
be.
I am worried other sound things will be affected by a missing "Default
Win" setup sound thing? whatever that is.

I would be greatful if you could get me back  to where I was sound wise

(Default Windows Setup) before I met these unpleasant utilities.
I have all my original Win 3.1 Disks and manuals but don't know what I
have deleted so I can't put it back.

Do I re-run Setup or something?

Can I have a simple list to get back to Default i.e no fancy bits that
are no use
1. Do This
2. Do That
3. Do the other

Ta in advance

Phil Morley of Whittlesey\Peterborough UK


There is 1 Reply.

==========
pcpforum/S6_Help! #7990, from Rupert_Halliday, 673 chars, 18-Apr-94  22:10:50
----------
Subject: WinFax
Fm: Rupert Halliday 100043,3701
To: ALL

Does anyone know why my WinFax always hangs before making a connection.
It goes through initialisation, dialling and waits when the remote fax
answers, but hangs without connecting.

All works well when I use BitFax but I'm keen to use the WinFax
Ultralite I got bundled with PFSWindowWorks.  I've recently upgraded to
a 486 DX33 with 4MB of RAM.

The fax modem however is of uncertain make (but identifies itself as
ASKEY SRFAX 112496) salvaged from an old 286 made redundant and about
to depart this earth.  However it is a 2400/9600 and works fine for
everything else.

Thanks for any help

There are 2 Replies.

==========
pcpforum/S6_Help! #7992, from Wilfred_Sullivan, 505 chars, 19-Apr-94  01:23:32
Comment to 7990.
----------
Subject: WinFax
Fm: Wilfred Sullivan 100112,3636
To: Rupert Halliday 100043,3701 (X)

I have a similar problem with Winfax in that it does not recognise the
fax side of my laptops fax/modem. There is no conflict on the comms
port as windows terminal program will access the modem and the fax side
works with Bitfax for dos.  A friend of mine has the same problem and
its a real pain.  I wish Delrina would sought out the program so that
it can be used with internal laptop fax/modems.

There is 1 Reply.

==========
pcpforum/S6_Help! #7998, from PC_Plus, 404 chars, 19-Apr-94  14:12:29
Comment to 7992.
----------
Subject: WinFax
Fm: PC Plus 71333,1462
To: Wilfred Sullivan 100112,3636

Delrina don't promise to support all modems ISTR. If yours isn't in the
compatible list, you may be stuck. I'd try Delrina tech support - if
they don't like supporting Winfax Lite (which your modem supplier
should support), ask them whether your modem is compatible with Winfax
Pro for when/if you upgrade.


David Norfolk, Sysop

==========
pcpforum/S6_Help! #7999, from Richard_Morris, 244 chars, 19-Apr-94  14:29:20
----------
Subject: Forum Messages
Fm: Richard Morris 100342,1520
To: David Norfolk 71333,1462 (X)

I have WinCIM 1.2.
How the heck do you send a Forum Message to All?
At the moment (as you can tell <g>) i have to send them to you!

There are 3 Replies.

==========
pcpforum/S6_Help! #8000, from PC_Plus, 1347 chars, 19-Apr-94  15:24:20
Comment to 7989.
----------
Subject: HelpScreen 2 Book
Fm: PC Plus 71333,1462
To: Philip Morley 100273,3634 (X)

Sorry you don't like the book. As for the utilities, I'm afraid that
you've hit one of Microsoft's little featurettes - there is no standard
way for unravelling installations provided, short of re-installing
windows.

My problem with helping you is that I don't know what changes WinPost
makes, exactly what you've done - or even what messages you got. The
only sure way out of these things is to take a snapshot of WIN.INI and
SYSTEM.INI before and after installation.

However, a clean installation should have <<SOUND.DRV=mmsound.drv>>
(without < and >) in SYSTEM.INI in the [boot] section and
<<SystemDefault=ding.wav, Default Beep>> in WIN.INI in the [sounds]
section. My guess is that these lines will currently point to something
you've deleted.

If you *backup* these files (in case of finger trouble) and use Notepad
to make these changes, you should get back to normal Windows behaviour.
If Winpost doesn't work, it probably changes these lines itself - you
might have to reinstall it.

An uninstall facilty would make little utilities much bigger. Our
utilities should perhaps have uninstall routines - but even Wordperfect
which makes 2 pages of changes to your INI files makes no provision for
undoing them.

Hope that helps.

David Norfolk, Sysop

==========
pcpforum/S6_Help! #8002, from Mark_Peters, 387 chars, 19-Apr-94  21:27:22
Comment to 7990.
----------
Subject: WinFax
Fm: Mark Peters 100325,1274
To: Rupert Halliday 100043,3701 (X)

Rupert

I got WinFax Lite with a Supra Fax Modem recently.

When I send a fax from WP6.0 under WFW 3.11 it also hangs unless I tell
it to send at a later time, then after it has queued it go into winfax
and change the time to now.

A friend of mine thinks it could be memory.

Mark, UK

There is 1 Reply.

==========
pcpforum/S6_Help! #8004, from PC_Plus, 415 chars, 20-Apr-94  12:09:16
Comment to 7999.
----------
Subject: Forum Messages
Fm: PC Plus 71333,1462
To: Richard Morris 100342,1520 (X)

Well, I only have WigWam in front of me but I think that it accepts All
as an address - but the address book may give problems. I remember
getting it to accept ALL, remember that it wasn't quite obvious and
can't remember what I did. Sorry.

The best place to ask this is the WINCIM forum.

David Norfolk, Sysop

There is 1 Reply.

==========
pcpforum/S6_Help! #8008, from Mark_Peters, 464 chars, 20-Apr-94  20:09:21
----------
Subject: Adobe Type Manager
Fm: Mark Peters 100325,1274
To: all

At some time I seem to have acquired the Adobe Type Manager. I believe
it was installed into windows whilst installing another package and it
loads automatically on entering windows.

I don't know what it does but having just loaded Word Perfect 6.0 I now
get a msg saying that it is a too earlier version every time I load
WP6.

Where can I get the latest version?

Mark, UK

There are 3 Replies.

==========
pcpforum/S6_Help! #8009, from Roland_Bourne, 949 chars, 20-Apr-94  22:39:10
----------
Subject: Help Screen solution?
Fm: Roland Bourne 100014,3424
To: SYSOP (X)

Just read HELP SCREEN in Issue 92, May 94. I think F Jacobs of
Darlaston may have a similar problem to one which has been bugging me
for some time. SYSing the hard disk doesn't cure it. The clue was in
the fact that he had just had a CD ROM fitted which presumably meant
fiddling about in the innards of the PC. In my case the problem
happened every time I moved the PC to connect something to the COM port
or install a new card and was eventually traced to a poor and sloppy
connection between the ribbon cable and the hard disk I have now used
insulating tape to hold the cable connector in place and the problem
seems to have gone away. I think he should check the controller card is
seated properly and the ribbon cables are making a good connection.
Otherwise the problem is exactly as described - Missing Operating
System and running out of memory. Hope this helps.

==========
pcpforum/S6_Help! #8010, from Kelvin_Fay, 319 chars, 20-Apr-94  23:09:41
Comment to 7988.
----------
Subject: AMI BIOS Setup How?
Fm: Kelvin Fay 100346,151
To: John Woods 100331,556

John,

Your AMI sounds a bit like mine. I set the date/time and HDD params but
a lot of the rest is double dutch! The book, of course, assumes a
masters in computer science. Good luck.

Regards, Kelvin  (UK)   20-Apr-94 at 20:22:25 GMT

==========
pcpforum/S6_Help! #8013, from Mike_Williams/UK, 259 chars, 21-Apr-94  06:32:10
----------
Subject: Phonetic symbols
Fm: Mike Williams/UK 100332,1476
To: All

Does anyone know of a simple, relatively inexpensive way of getting the
international phonetic alphabet into one's word processing (in this
case MS Word 2.0 for Windows)?

There is 1 Reply.

==========
pcpforum/S6_Help! #8014, from PETER_LEE, 171 chars, 21-Apr-94  07:21:04
Comment to 7981.
----------
Subject: Cache memory
Fm: PETER LEE 100265,400
To: Paul Graham 100317,536 (X)

Oh, shucks! Well that's computers for you - the latest user friendly
technology <G>

Peter

==========
pcpforum/S6_Help! #8015, from PETER_LEE, 206 chars, 21-Apr-94  07:21:08
Comment to 7999.
----------
Subject: Forum Messages
Fm: PETER LEE 100265,400
To: Richard Morris 100342,1520 (X)

I just type in "all" in the TO box - seems to work on other forums. I
am using WinCim ver 1.1

Peter

There is 1 Reply.

==========
pcpforum/S6_Help! #8017, from David_Hodgkins, 224 chars, 21-Apr-94  21:02:11
Comment to 7970.
----------
Subject: AMI BIOS Setup How?
Fm: David Hodgkins 100346,164
To: John Woods 100331,556

Remember the old saying- If it ain't broke don't fix it! <G>

 Dave.

 - David Hodgkins, 100346,164
  @ 21-Apr-1994, 21:01:56 (BST)

!N3

==========
pcpforum/S6_Help! #8022, from Richard_Foxcroft, 311 chars, 21-Apr-94  23:02:42
Comment to 8008.
----------
Subject: Adobe Type Manager
Fm: Richard Foxcroft 100326,2451
To: Mark Peters 100325,1274 (X)

 Mark,

Adobre Systems Europe B V Office Centre Jozef Israelskade 48c 1072 5B
Amsterdam, Netherlands

or consult adverts in (eg) PC Plus, PC World, PC Today etc. etc.

Regards, RichardF Telford, Shropshire, England


==========
pcpforum/S6_Help! #8023, from Rupert_Halliday, 258 chars, 21-Apr-94  23:20:27
Comment to 8002.
----------
Subject: WinFax
Fm: Rupert Halliday 100043,3701
To: Mark Peters 100325,1274 (X)

Mark

Thanks for the tip....I'll try telling it to send later.  I've also
been told I might need more memory (but 4Mb should be enough I'd
thought!)

Rupert

There is 1 Reply.

==========
pcpforum/S6_Help! #8024, from Mark_Peters, 342 chars, 22-Apr-94  07:51:21
Comment to 8023.
----------
Subject: WinFax
Fm: Mark Peters 100325,1274
To: Rupert Halliday 100043,3701 (X)

Rupert,

re Upgrade of Memory from 4mb

I don't wish to bragg but I'm running on Ndos7 on a 486Dx with 16mb of
ram and still have problem with WinFax.

True though that an upgrade will help generally in running windows. 4mb
is recognised as minimum.

Mark, UK

==========
pcpforum/S6_Help! #8026, from PC_Plus, 590 chars, 22-Apr-94  09:25:05
Comment to 8008.
----------
Subject: Adobe Type Manager
Fm: PC Plus 71333,1462
To: Mark Peters 100325,1274 (X)

ATM lets you use type 2 postscript fonts with Windows - basically,
equivalent to True Type, but you may find more fonts and they may be
better crafted. If WP wants True Type, its probably on the WP install
disks. If not, the latest version is 2.6 - you can buy it, but (better)
it comes with the Acrobat Reader, available on CIS somewhere as a
special offer around 20 quid ISTR. Acrobat is a universal document
exchange facility - son of Postscript and then some.

David Norfolk, Sysop

There is 1 Reply.

==========
pcpforum/S6_Help! #8029, from Andy_Wilson, 396 chars, 22-Apr-94  12:24:07
----------
Subject: WinFAX, Word and DDE
Fm: Andy Wilson 73171,3627
To: ALL

Aaaaggghhh! My MD has discovered DDE!
Does anybody know a way to use it to load Word with a document and
trigger a
macro, supplying Fax number and Recipient name, which will then send
the doc
through to WinFAX via another DDE link (we already have a WordBasic
macro to
do something like this)
Save me from being lynched, please!

==========
pcpforum/S6_Help! #8034, from Hugh_Wyn, 500 chars, 22-Apr-94  20:13:59
Comment to 8008.
----------
Subject: Adobe Type Manager
Fm: Hugh Wyn Griffith UK 100112,2056
To: Mark Peters 100325,1274 (X)

Earlier this year you could download ATM 2.6 from a special US forum
for Tax Forms <g>

ISTR there are two files: DISK1 & DISK2 and that DISK2 contains ATM2.6.
(DISK1 contains some example files of ACROBAT, the portable font system
and two MMM fonts but I don't think you can use them creatively unless
you invest in a different ACROBAT module.

You could GO ADOBE and ask.

 Hugh


There is 1 Reply.

==========
pcpforum/S6_Help! #8045, from Jeff_Green, 309 chars, 23-Apr-94  01:58:50
Comment to 7947.
----------
Subject: Slow graphics card?
Fm: Jeff Green 100025,3163
To: Tom Walker 100043,2404

ISTR that DOOM requires no memory managers, other than himem and
dos=high,umb. It has its own built in. Using emm386, 386MAX or Quemm
will only slow it down. This is getting to be quite common on games.
Hope this helps
Jeff

==========
pcpforum/S6_Help! #8046, from Jeff_Green, 538 chars, 23-Apr-94  01:58:52
Comment to 7988.
----------
Subject: AMI BIOS Setup How?
Fm: Jeff Green 100025,3163
To: John Woods 100331,556

386MAX comes (well it used to)  with a useful little program called
ASK. This gives some general information on bios setups with 386MAX. As
a general rule just change one thing at a time, then try some
benchmarks. If it helps leave the change in, if it doesn't then revert.
I used at utily called windsock to "optimise" WinOS\2. The ratings
improved from a 3MHz DX chip to 33MHz as fitted. It seemed to make
little difference to real Widows though.
Jeff

==========
pcpforum/S6_Help! #8047, from Jeff_Green, 341 chars, 23-Apr-94  01:58:53
Comment to 7999.
----------
Subject: Forum Messages
Fm: Jeff Green 100025,3163
To: Richard Morris 100342,1520 (X)

Go to Mail on the top menu line, then to Create Forum Message, To the
right of the button which says TO there are two boxes, in the first
type all and then press <return>
This should move the cursor to the message entry section.
Jeff

There is 1 Reply.

==========
pcpforum/S6_Help! #8054, from Richard_Morris, 149 chars, 23-Apr-94  15:19:54
Comment to 8004.
----------
Subject: Forum Messages
Fm: Richard Morris 100342,1520
To: PC Plus 71333,1462 (X)

Thanks, David, I'll try the WinCIM (winsome?<G>) Forum!

Richard

==========
pcpforum/S6_Help! #8055, from Richard_Morris, 138 chars, 23-Apr-94  15:20:42
Comment to 8015.
----------
Subject: Forum Messages
Fm: Richard Morris 100342,1520
To: PETER LEE 100265,400 (X)

Thanks, Peter, I'll have to give it a try.

Richard

==========
pcpforum/S6_Help! #8056, from Richard_Morris, 170 chars, 23-Apr-94  15:21:59
Comment to 8047.
----------
Subject: Forum Messages
Fm: Richard Morris 100342,1520
To: Jeff Green 100025,3163 (X)

Thanks - I'll try this method too! (see my replies to other
suggestions)

Richard

==========
pcpforum/S6_Help! #8059, from Les_Rix, 1208 chars, 23-Apr-94  16:08:40
Comment to 7985.
----------
Subject: Ni Cad Batteries
Fm: Les Rix 100022,3425
To: PC Plus 71333,1462 (X)

David,

I totally agrre with your sentiments on safety and indeed risky
processes conducted by the unwary. Professionally also I could not do
otherwise.

That said, I conclude all life and its living are a hazardous business;
one can but pick up a newspaper and read of the latest threat to health
or safety. However why we should so pamper ourselves when millions
don't have the option - Gorazde, Rwanda, Sudan raises moral issues.

My problem is that whilst concerned for the above examples of hapless
victims, "interested" in ozone depletion, caring about traffic
pollution I also hanker after the old days of Chevvy V8s, no crash-hats
on sickles, big garden bonfires, music at a level to flutter the
curtains, amateur rocketry, shooting etc. etc.

I worked in pollution-control and health-and-safety for a while and the
conclusion reached was that with protective equipment and legislation
it would ultimately become impossible to work AND the safest factory is
the one that closed!

Apologies. Soap-box mode off. Maybe we should have stayed in our caves
<<vbg>>.

            Best Wishes,     Les  Leics.

There is 1 Reply.

==========
pcpforum/S6_Help! #8065, from YARKESS, 347 chars, 23-Apr-94  21:28:21
----------
Subject: Canon Bubblejet
Fm: YARKESS 100043,603
To: All 71333,1462 (X)

I have been using a Canon BJ-10 EX with excellent results until
changing the print cartridge, after a couple of months the print
quality dropped quite sharply.  Am I right in thinking that the jets
can become clogged?  And if so how can this be cured?

There are 3 Replies.

==========
pcpforum/S6_Help! #8074, from john, 424 chars, 24-Apr-94  01:26:24
----------
Subject: 3 button windows mouse
Fm: john 74140,2512
To: all

I have a Windows application that can make use, if detected, of my
mouse's middle button. My problem, as I (mis)understand it, is that my
copy of Windows 3.1 doesn't, by default, acknowledge the middle button,
thus, my application doesn't see it either.

What can I do to make the middle button 'visible' to my application?
Thanks to all.


There are 2 Replies.

==========
pcpforum/S6_Help! #8077, from Jeff_Green, 444 chars, 24-Apr-94  02:32:14
Comment to 8074.
----------
Subject: 3 button windows mouse
Fm: Jeff Green 100025,3163
To: john 74140,2512 (X)

This is only a guess, but windows uses its own mouse driver for your
mouse, whatever you have written in autoexec.bat. I suspect that if you
substituted the mouse driver that came with your mouse into either
win.ini or system.ini you could use the middle button. On the other
hand your system might crash completely. SO BACK UP FIRST.
Jeff

There is 1 Reply.

==========
pcpforum/S6_Help! #8079, from Bruce_Tisler, 347 chars, 24-Apr-94  06:36:11
----------
Subject: HELP W/NEC MONITOR
Fm: Bruce Tisler 72002,2767
To: SYSOP (X)

Hi, can you help me with this,

Have you ever gotten this: 8024  gate 20 error  System halted ?

I put my old nec multi mate monitor and nec card in to a new 486 mother
board.

when I turn on the power I get this message. If I hit reset it boots
fine. Any thoughts ?

Bruce 

==========
pcpforum/S6_Help! #8080, from David_Wilson, 1131 chars, 24-Apr-94  09:32:32
----------
Subject: WinFax Lite not working
Fm: David Wilson 100044,3254
To: All,

Dear All,
Am I glad to discover that I have not been alone in coming to terms
with the various idiosyncrasies of WinFax Lite. Has anyone else noticed
that when sending faxes, unless the recipients details are added to the
phone book then their name is always printed in lower case on the
outgoing fax? Not necessarily good for one's image!  Yesterday I had
cause to send 3 different faxes in succession. Luckily I spotted from
the remote ID dialog that the third of these had been sent to the first
recipient in error and was able to cancel it quickly. Nearly ordered a
dovecote from my bank manager! Have Delrina never issued fixes for
these and other bugs?
Now that I've discovered CompuServe I can feel a new modem coming on,
but need to know if this is also going to mean new fax software as this
could influence who I buy from. I've had a quick look at Delrina's
forum and it would appear that even WinFax Pro 4 is having problems
with 14400 BPS judging by the patches on offer. Will WinFax Lite cope
with such a beast?
Any advice appreciated.
Dave


 

==========
pcpforum/S6_Help! #8081, from David_Crowe, 460 chars, 24-Apr-94  10:23:20
Comment to 8013.
----------
Subject: Phonetic symbols
Fm: David Crowe 100047,136
To: Mike Williams/UK 100332,1476

There are three TrueType fonts containing IPA symbols available as
shareware created by SIL (can't remember what it stands for, but I
think it's some American linguistics institute).

I could upload them here, but I imagine they exist elsewhere on CIS. If
you can't find them, let me know.

Alternatively, switch to WordPerfect 6, which has an IPA set in
TrueType format.

==========
pcpforum/S6_Help! #8086, from ROBIN_CANDY, 291 chars, 24-Apr-94  20:13:08
Comment to 8065.
----------
Subject: Canon Bubblejet
Fm: ROBIN CANDY 100331,434
To: YARKESS 100043,603 (X)

Don't know if the jets can get blocked but all the refill packs work by
blowing air through the side of the cartridge. This maybe worth a try
if the problem is blocked jets.


Robin Candy. Telford. Shropshire.

==========
pcpforum/S6_Help! #8090, from Mike_Phillips, 1293 chars, 25-Apr-94  01:25:45
----------
Subject: lost files on hard disc
Fm: Mike Phillips 100273,44
To: Forum Sysop SYSOP (X)

I have a schoolteacher friend who has lost a whole directory of
important Wordperfect files on his hard disk.He has a 486/25-SX.

(He reports he has been having Parity Errors when the machine has been
on for a long time, previous to this event)

When requesting this directory by using the DIR command in the parent
directory, a short string of unintelligible characters appeared as the
directory title, similarly in dosshell. (he has DOS 5).

The contents of this dir showed as only a few of the original files and
these were not accessible anyway.("bad command or file name")

I thought the FAT had been corrupted by a filesave being interrupted by
a parity error, but when I used PC Tools "Diskfix" it found nothing
wrong with the FATS and nothing else wrong either. I also used CHKDSK
and found two lost clusters, but they appeared to be a couple of odd
chunks of data.

CHKDSK also asked "convert directory to file", which it did when I used
CHKDSK/f

This "file" when viewed is only a tiny fraction of the full contents of
the dir, and is scrambled text.

How can I recover the lost files for him? I figure they must still be
on the hard disk somewhere

Mike Phillips England

There are 2 Replies.

==========
pcpforum/S6_Help! #8091, from John_H., 522 chars, 25-Apr-94  05:46:14
----------
Subject: Laptops
Fm: John H. Delventhal 74223,534
To: Sysop (X)

Hi,
I purchase a Packard Bell Statesman laptop. I'm not happy with the
unit, nor am I very pleased with the Tech. Supp. My needs are general
usage W/P and programming two-way radios. The unit I have is a 486SLC2
50 mhz, 4 mb ram and a 200 mb H/D it came with DOS and Windows. My cost
was about $ 1600.00. I am able to spend about $2100.00. Is there an IBM
laptop in my $$$ range. If so at what price and where would I get the
best deal???

Thank you,
John

==========
pcpforum/S6_Help! #8092, from Brian_Mackenzie, 518 chars, 25-Apr-94  12:11:18
----------
Subject: EMM386
Fm: Brian Mackenzie 100103,12
To: All

I have upgraded a Mitac 386DX 2Meg from Dos 5.0 to 6.2 and MemMaker
produced 1728K of expanded with 192K Free at the C prompt. When 123 rel
3.1 is loaded there seems to be no spare memory and files will
therefore not load. Why is the memnory manager not allocating memory as
required. I am not running windows on the laptop. All other programs
run as before using extended memory but I have only 123 using expanded.

Your help appreciated.

There are 2 Replies.

==========
pcpforum/S6_Help! #8093, from Richard_Smith, 899 chars, 25-Apr-94  14:26:54
----------
Subject: Win 3.11 Perm Swap Files
Fm: Richard Smith 100070,1321
To: All

I'm Running a 386DX 40 with 4 meg Ram and 200 meg hard drive. When I
originally set windows up on this drive it gave me a Permanent Swap
File of circa 12 meg. At one point before having a ruthless clearout of
the Cr*p I had got down to only 4 meg of free disk space (having
adjusted the Swapfile size in 386 enhanced down to circa 1.5 meg). Now
I have a respectable 25 meg of disk space I want to increase the size
of the swap file to around 4 meg but, Control Panel will only allow
around 2.5 meg. I am running MS Office 4.2 Professional and Winfax Pro
4, so with only 4 meg of Ram things have got even more pedestrian <g>.
Because I like using the 32bit disk and file access I don't want to go
back to a temporary Dynamic Swapfile. Is there a way to force the
Permanent Swapfile size above this seemingly imposed limit.   

==========
pcpforum/S6_Help! #8096, from Jim_Lafferty, 237 chars, 25-Apr-94  15:26:36
Comment to 7847.
----------
Subject: EMM386 looses memory!
Fm: Jim Lafferty 76247,2333
To: Hermans 100321,272 (X)

Have you tried to run the MEMMAKER? I ran into the same problem when I
upgraded the memory on my laptop.  This seemed to solve the problem.

-*Jim*-

==========
pcpforum/S6_Help! #8098, from John_Hole, 343 chars, 25-Apr-94  19:28:04
Comment to 8065.
----------
Subject: Canon Bubblejet
Fm: John Hole [UK] 100022,2243
To: YARKESS 100043,603 (X)

PCPlus covered this in issue 92,May 94.

They suggest using boiling water or just blowing through the hole in
the cartridge.

They also warn that you have to be careful that you don't end up with
an ink-splattered shirt <g>.

John [of Enfield,Middlesex,UK].

==========
pcpforum/S6_Help! #8099, from John_Hole, 1214 chars, 25-Apr-94  19:28:13
----------
Subject: PDC Video Recording
Fm: John Hole [UK] 100022,2243
To: All

All,

This message concerns the Teletext/video programming system called PDC,
Programme Delivery Control,or Startext which is available on Channel 4
and ITV via Teletext pages 301 and 601 respectively.

I would be interested in knowing if anybody reading this message has a
video recorder that uses this system.

I have one,and while I have no problem with programmes transmitted by
Channel 4,the ones on ITV do not seem to be recorded properly using
this system.

I find that,with ITV,my machine does not react to the signals
transmitted but that it switches on and off at the actual times that
the programmes should start and end at instead of the times they
actually do start and end.

I have had somebody at the rental company look at it but he just said
that if one channel is OK then he couldn't see why the other one
shouldn't be OK.

Has anybody,any suggestions as to what is wrong and what I should do
about it,or any experience of the same problem.

I am getting to the point where,very soon now,I am going to chuck the
video out of the nearest window the next time I lose the end of a
programme <g>.

John [of Enfield,Middlesex,UK].

==========
pcpforum/S6_Help! #8101, from Steve_Pritchard, 861 chars, 25-Apr-94  19:44:53
Comment to 8090.
----------
Subject: lost files on hard disc
Fm: Steve Pritchard 100341,2464
To: Mike Phillips 100273,44 (X)

Mike,

Your best bet is to use something like Norton's UNERASE, and get it to
search for text, the likelyhodd of being able to pick up an intact
WordPerfect file is nil going on b*gger all!  The one thing you might
be able to do is retrieve the text of the documents will a few rogue
characters knocking about, this will save having to type it in again,
but you will have lost the formatting.

I once had to go through a similar exercise for a friend who didn't
realise that if you highlight everyting in Windows (to change the font,
say), then start typing, you lose everything!!!!  I ended up having to
scan the whole disk for keywords, and managed to find more or less all
of it from the temporary files the Windows creates.

Hope you are successful.

Steve.

==========
pcpforum/S6_Help! #8102, from Steve_Pritchard, 2845 chars, 25-Apr-94  19:44:57
Comment to 8092.
----------
Subject: EMM386
Fm: Steve Pritchard 100341,2464
To: Brian Mackenzie 100103,12 (X)

Brian,

>>I have upgraded a Mitac 386DX 2Meg from Dos 5.0 to 6.2 and MemMaker
produced 1728K of expanded with 192K Free at the C prompt. When 123 rel
3.1 is loaded there seems to be no spare memory and files will
therefore not load. Why is the memnory manager not allocating memory as
required. I am not running windows on the laptop. All other programs
run as before using extended memory but I have only 123 using
expanded.<<

I work for a large corporate, and spent two years in the their PC
support area, and let me tell you something for nothing - the memory
management in 123 r3.1 sucks so bad, it's in danger of imploding.
Having said that, let's concentrate on your problem.

You say that you have got 1728K of expanded memory available - I think
this is *highly* unlikely on a 2Mb box.  And I am a little confused at
the 192K free at the C prompt - is this conventional memory, 'cos if
this is all you've got then frankly you're going nowhere.

I think that the 192K of memory is most likely to be Upper memory, and
this is not to be confused with Expanded memory (but both are provided
by EMM386).

My guess is that, assuming you are not connected to a network, and you
are not loading *loads* of TSR (terminate and stay resident programs)
you are likely to get about 600K of conventional memory, 192K of upper
memory (although this is pretty generous), and about 1000K (1Mb) of
extended memory, that you can use as expanded if you feel the urge to.

I have tried all sorts of configs with 123r3.1, and this is a brief
summary of what I have found:

1.  It works best without EMM386 at all - even HIMEM.SYS can be done
without, 123 has it's own built in memory manager

2.  If you have over 150K of stuff loaded high, then it can throw a
pink fit (I got this direct from Lotus gold support - so it must be
true)

3.  Make sure that you provide expanded memory with EMM386 if you are
going to use it (i.e. use the RAM parameter, *not* the NOEMS).  123
looks to see if there is an Expanded memory manager available, EMM386
chirps up, and says that it is available, 123 asks for some expanded
memory, and if you've got NOEMS set (which is my preferance), then
EMM386 has to say "oops, I misled you a bit, and although I am an
expanded memory manager, I haven't got any expanded memory to manage!".
123 consequently gets the huff, and gives up (same problem with
DataEase version 4.2 - can't remember about the lastest versions).

If you want to post up (or directly to me) your Autoexec.bat &
Config.sys, then I (or others) will be able to give advice.

If any of this seems like complete gobble-de-gook, then let me know and
I'll try and put it a little differently (my chatty style doesn't suit
everybody).

Hope this helps.

Steve.

There is 1 Reply.

==========
pcpforum/S6_Help! #8108, from David_Hazelgrove, 258 chars, 25-Apr-94  21:46:44
Comment to 7847.
----------
Subject: EMM386 looses memory!
Fm: David Hazelgrove 100316,3340
To: Hermans 100321,272 (X)

The fact that your memory count on boot-up only goes to 7168k suggests
that you might have a damaged RAM chip somewhere, which is mapped into
the upper memory area.

==========
pcpforum/S6_Help! #8125, from PC_Plus, 288 chars, 26-Apr-94  15:51:49
Comment to 8059.
----------
Subject: Ni Cad Batteries
Fm: PC Plus 71333,1462
To: Les Rix 100022,3425 (X)

No, I agree with your points too, but I have to promote the counter
view <g>. Its like security - getting a PC so secure that you can't use
it is easy, keeping it usable is the hard bit.

David Norfolk, Sysop

==========
pcpforum/S6_Help! #8126, from PC_Plus, 699 chars, 26-Apr-94  15:51:54
Comment to 8090.
----------
Subject: lost files on hard disc
Fm: PC Plus 71333,1462
To: Mike Phillips 100273,44 (X)

Norton's DISKEDIT is not the easiest program to use, but it will let
you search the physical disk for sectors containing your information
and copy it to a file. You have to remember search keys from what you
typed and it's slow, if the files are fragmented. I couldnt work out
(at 3am) how to get the write to file to work last time I tried, so
ended up transcribing the data off the screen.

Or, you can ask S&S Enterprises (0442 877877) to recover your data
using their 'no data, no fee' service.

If you write to this disk, you may/will overwrite what is left.


David Norfolk, Sysop

There are 2 Replies.

==========
pcpforum/S6_Help! #8127, from Mark_Peters, 116 chars, 26-Apr-94  19:24:47
Comment to 8026.
----------
Subject: Adobe Type Manager
Fm: Mark Peters 100325,1274
To: PC Plus 71333,1462 (X)

Thanks for your help

Mark, UK

==========
pcpforum/S6_Help! #8128, from Mark_Peters, 130 chars, 26-Apr-94  19:24:49
Comment to 8034.
----------
Subject: Adobe Type Manager
Fm: Mark Peters 100325,1274
To: Hugh Wyn Griffith UK 100112,2056 (X)

Thanks for your help

Mark, UK

==========
pcpforum/S6_Help! #8130, from Dermod_Moore, 600 chars, 26-Apr-94  20:14:34
----------
Subject: Microsoft at Work PCFAX 
Fm: Dermod Moore 100340,2013
To: ALL

I am running Windows for Workgroups 3.11 standalone. I am using
Microsoft at Work PC Fax quite happily, but when I started Mail first,
I entered only my first name when prompted. Now that I am getting into
the swing of it, and using the fax quite a lot, I want to change my
name from first name only to my full name as it appears on the Cover
Page of faxes. I have tried everything I can think of, even
re-installing Windows, but to no avail. Formal faxes still say that
they come from "Dermod".  Any ideas?

There is 1 Reply.

==========
pcpforum/S6_Help! #8133, from Steve_Pritchard, 638 chars, 26-Apr-94  23:04:17
Comment to 8092.
----------
Subject: EMM386
Fm: Steve Pritchard 100341,2464
To: Brian Mackenzie 100103,12 (X)

Brian,

I had another think about your problem, and I think that it might be
related to an environment variable 123MEMSIZE.

Assuming that 123 will load okay, but you haven't got any memory to
load sheets with, then this is probably the problem.

Simply put a line in your AUTOEXEC.BAT that reads...

SET 123MEMSIZE=1000

The 1000 can be increased, but I think it will start to use disk space
as memory (which is slow) if you specify more memory than you have RAM.

Hope this helps.

Steve.

P.S.  Get version 3.4, it's memory handling is *much* better.

==========
pcpforum/S6_Help! #8138, from Steve_Pritchard, 289 chars, 26-Apr-94  23:30:05
Comment to 8126.
----------
Subject: lost files on hard disc
Fm: Steve Pritchard 100341,2464
To: PC Plus 71333,1462 (X)

David,

>>Norton's DISKEDIT is not the easiest program to use<<

I agree, but I would have thought that Norton's UNERASE would have been
a better bet in this instance?

Steve.

There is 1 Reply.

==========
pcpforum/S6_Help! #8139, from Steve_Pritchard, 693 chars, 26-Apr-94  23:30:08
Comment to 8130.
----------
Subject: Microsoft at Work PCFAX 
Fm: Steve Pritchard 100341,2464
To: Dermod Moore 100340,2013 (X)

Dermod,

I am not in a position to try this - who has got two phone
lines/modems/PCs at home?  But have you checked that your alias etc has
your full name?  I think it unlikely that it is using your postbox name
on faxes, it's more likely to be your name/alias.

From Mail on your Mail menu, pick Address Book, then select your name,
then details, and check out your name/alias details.

Failing this, just set up a new user ID with the proper details, and
use that instead (try deleting the old one, but I don't know what
happens to the administration privileges).

Hope this helps.

Steve.

==========
pcpforum/S6_Help! #8141, from Martin_Smulian, 511 chars, 27-Apr-94  00:42:25
----------
Subject: Board with Chips + Speed
Fm: Martin Smulian 70374,3076
To: David Norfolk

I am confused. I had thought that any 486 chip could be combined with
any 486 board, but in recent articles I have noticed reference to the
clock speed of the board. Does this mean that boards are chip specific?
I am further confused as many of the ads in your magazine are for
boards with no processors, does this mean that they can run at
different speeds?  All help gratefully received.
Thank you.
Martin

There is 1 Reply.

==========
pcpforum/S6_Help! #8142, from Mike_Phillips, 239 chars, 27-Apr-94  00:58:56
Comment to 8126.
----------
Subject: lost files on hard disc
Fm: Mike Phillips 100273,44
To: PC Plus 71333,1462 (X)

Thanks for the reply re using DISKEDIT David. It's a good job its not a
(full) one-gigabyte hard disk ! It's a mere fifty megs to search thro..
Mike

==========
pcpforum/S6_Help! #8144, from steve_lowe, 848 chars, 27-Apr-94  06:21:57
Comment to 7848.
----------
Subject: slow Colorade tape strea
Fm: steve lowe 100277,565
To: Hermans 100321,272 (X)

Colorado offer customer support in section 4 of the IBM hardware forum,
GO IBMHW, I think someone called Stacy is their support tech on that
forum.

Colorado re-located their European support centre from Bracknell to
Amsterdam a few months ago the number is 31 20 6822628.

They will probably suggest you obtain a FC10 controller card for the
Jumbo rather than using the floppy controller, we have a Jumbo 250 with
a FC10 on our main network server at the office, and a full backup of
about 230 Mb takes just over an hour to Backup and Compare.

Also which version of their software do you have we obtained a free
upgrade to version 4.03 from the Amsterdam office.

Also try the software option of concurrent mode.

Regards,  Steve Lowe.



There is 1 Reply.

==========
pcpforum/S6_Help! #8148, from john, 182 chars, 27-Apr-94  13:32:25
Comment to 8077.
----------
Subject: 3 button windows mouse
Fm: john 74140,2512
To: Jeff Green 100025,3163 (X)

Well... if there aren't any more positive solutions, I'll try yours.
Thanks for the reply, Jeff.

==========
pcpforum/S6_Help! #8151, from Brian_Mackenzie, 1470 chars, 27-Apr-94  17:33:55
----------
Subject: EMM386
Fm: Brian Mackenzie 100103,12
To: Steve Pritchard 100341,2464 (X)

Many thanks for the reply. I am trying the 123MEMSIZE suggestion but
have included my Autoexec,bat and Config.sys files as I am no expert on
this and the DOS installation seems to have changed a great deal. With
regard to my comments on memory available this comes from the MEM
command at the C prompt and then at a C prompt under worksheet system
when 123 is loaded. Clearly there is very little expanded mem available
hence the loading problem. I did run MemMaker after loading the DOS.

Autoexec.bat

LH /L:0;1,45456 /S C:\DOS\SMARTDRV.EXE
@ECHO OFF
PROMPT $p$g
PATH C:\DOS
SET TEMP=C:\DOS
C:\DOS\MODE CON CODEPAGE PREPARE=((437) C:\DOS\EGA.CPI)
C:\DOS\MODE CON CODEPAGE SELECT=437
LH /L:1,16656 C:\DOS\KEYB UK,,C:\DOS\KEYBOARD.SYS
C:\DOS\DOSSHELL

Config.sys

DEVICE=C:\DOS\HIMEM.SYS
DEVICE=C:\DOS\EMM386.EXE RAM
BUFFERS=15,0
FILES=40
DOS=UMB
LASTDRIVE=E
FCBS=4,0
DEVICEHIGH /L:1,12048 =C:\DOS\SETVER.EXE
DOS=HIGH
COUNTRY=044,,C:\DOS\COUNTRY.SYS
DEVICEHIGH /L:1,15792 =C:\DOS\DISPLAY.SYS CON=(EGA,,1)
SHELL=C:\DOS\COMMAND.COM C:\DOS\  /p
DEVICEHIGH=C:\DOS\DBLSPACE.SYS /MOVE

In the longer run I am thinking of moving to Excel 5 on my 386DX
desktop so that I can paste directly into WFW. It may be my ignorance
but I can only paste a white on black bitmap graphic using the
clipboard when running 123 in a DOS window under 3.1. Is this correct?

thanks

Brian

There are 2 Replies.

==========
pcpforum/S6_Help! #8153, from Terry_Love, 1295 chars, 27-Apr-94  19:00:40
Comment to 8151.
----------
Subject: EMM386
Fm: Terry Love [UK] 70007,5430
To: Brian Mackenzie 100103,12 (X)

Brian,

Assuming you are in the UK and using British Englisg rather than a
European language that uses accented characters you can get yourself a
bit more free memory by removing the Code Page rubbish from you
Autoexec and Config files.

 Autoexec.bat

 LH /L:0;1,45456 /S C:\DOS\SMARTDRV.EXE
 @ECHO OFF
 PROMPT $p$g
 PATH C:\DOS
 SET TEMP=C:\DOS
 REM
 REM ** remove this ** C:\DOS\MODE CON CODEPAGE PREPARE=((437)
C:\DOS\EGA.CPI)
 REM **  and   this ** C:\DOS\MODE CON CODEPAGE SELECT=437
 REM
 LH /L:1,16656 C:\DOS\KEYB UK,,C:\DOS\KEYBOARD.SYS
 C:\DOS\DOSSHELL

Also, do you need DOSSHELL, I've never really seen much use for it and
it will take up memory but if you like it, fine.

 Config.sys

 DEVICE=C:\DOS\HIMEM.SYS
 DEVICE=C:\DOS\EMM386.EXE RAM
 BUFFERS=15,0
 FILES=40
 DOS=UMB
 LASTDRIVE=E
 FCBS=4,0
 DEVICEHIGH /L:1,12048 =C:\DOS\SETVER.EXE
 DOS=HIGH
 COUNTRY=044,,C:\DOS\COUNTRY.SYS
 REM
 REM ** remove this ** DEVICEHIGH /L:1,15792 =C:\DOS\DISPLAY.SYS
CON=(EGA,,1)
 REM
 SHELL=C:\DOS\COMMAND.COM C:\DOS\  /p
 DEVICEHIGH=C:\DOS\DBLSPACE.SYS /MOVE

I don't know off-hand how much extra removing that stuff will give you
but if you need every byte you can get it's worth it.

Terry



There is 1 Reply.

==========
pcpforum/S6_Help! #8154, from Mark_Peters, 205 chars, 27-Apr-94  19:19:00
----------
Subject: IDE cohabit with RLL ??
Fm: Mark Peters 100325,1274
To: All

I have an Amstrad 386DX with 65Mb RLL HD. Can I run an IDE drive at the
same time or will they conflict?

Mark, UK

There is 1 Reply.

==========
pcpforum/S6_Help! #8155, from Dermod_Moore, 1005 chars, 27-Apr-94  19:53:43
----------
Subject: Microsoft at Work PCFAX 
Fm: Dermod Moore 100340,2013
To: Steve Pritchard 100341,2464 (X)

Thanks a lot Steve, but no joy. On opening my Address Book, I have a
list of names, but not my own.
What I would like to know is what file stores the user ID? It's not
MSMail.ini, I've tried that- it kicks back if I try and change the
login name. I've set up (unecessary) passwords and public keys, to see
if I can do it that way, but it won't allow me to rename my own public
key. My Public key is named Dermod@phonenumber.
I want it to be Dermod Moore@phonenumber.

Perhaps I should make it clearer- I can't get to the "Enter Personal
Details" dialog box.  I suspect that it is available easily enough if I
am running this in a network- the Administrator simply allocates a new
name to the computer, with a new private address book and personal
details. But when running standalone, The Post Office is disabled. I
need to be my own administrator, really.

Sounds like real life.

D.

There is 1 Reply.

==========
pcpforum/S6_Help! #8157, from Steve_Pritchard, 5425 chars, 27-Apr-94  20:38:17
Comment to 8151.
----------
Subject: EMM386
Fm: Steve Pritchard 100341,2464
To: Brian Mackenzie 100103,12 (X)

Brian,

I would whole-heartedly agree with Terry's comments about removing the
codepage rubbish - it's the first thing I would do.

The numbers you get when you run the MEM command in Worsheet/System are
very much distorted - since this is DOS running inside 1-2-3 inside
DOS, rather than you running MEM under straight DOS (hope that's clear
<g>!).

The best indication of memory under 1-2-3 is (and bear with me here, I
haven't supported 1-2-3 for about 6 months!) under
Worksheet/Global/Status (?) - the "status" bit is right I think, this
will give you an indication of how much memory 1-2-3 has got for
worksheets, you really want a minimum of 1000K (1Mb) I guess (loading
things like WYSIWYG addons will eat into this though).

Memmaker is okay, I must admit that I ripped out all the rubbish that
it put in there, and was no worse off (I am fortunate in that I have a
lot of Upper memory to load things high into).

>>In the longer run I am thinking of moving to Excel 5 on my 386DX
desktop so that I can paste directly into WFW.<<

Good idea, but I would get some more memory first - 2Mb is going to get
you nowhere.  I would aim for 8Mb if your config/pocket allows.

>>It may be my ignorance but I can only paste a white on black bitmap
graphic using the clipboard when running 123 in a DOS window under 3.1.
Is this correct?<<

Afraid so.  Cutting and pasting from DOS boxes to Windows works in one
of two ways:

If your application is a character based app. (Like 1-2-3 r2.01,
DataEase, etc.), then Windows will recognise this, and put the actual
text of the screen onto the clipboard.

If your Application is graphically based (Like 1-2-3 r3.x), even though
you see characters, Windows just sees pixels, and treats it just as a
graphic bitmap image.  You may be able to alter the colours, but they
may be unpredictable because of the difference in the two palettes.
However, you could use paintbrush as a crude method of
inverting/changing the colours.

If you are trying to transfer graphs (or data - possibly), then maybe
this is of use, I got it straight out of Word 6's help, under the graph
section:

"You can also insert data from other applications such as Microsoft
Excel, Works, and Multiplan, as well as from Lotus 1-2-3 and symphony.
To import data from another source, open Graph and click in the
datasheet.  Choose Import Data from the file menu, select the file that
contains the data you want to use, and then choose the OK button."

The reason I say Data possibly, is that this might work - it did for
me, but only with WK1 files, not WK3 files (although I was using Excel
5 to create them - I don't have 1-2-3).  Follow the above steps to load
the data into one of Word's datasheets, then cut and paste the data
from there.  For some reason the WK3 file format was not recognised on
my machine, but then again, it might have been one of the filters I
didn't bother installing.

The more I think about your problem, the more I am convinced it's the
123MEMSIZE environment variable you are missing.  You can put the
following line anywhere in your AUTOEXEC.BAT as long as it is before
the last line:

SET 123MEMSIZE=1000

The rest of your config files look okay (although do you need
SETVER.EXE? - this is only useful if you use an old piece of software
that doesn't like DOS 5/6), with the possible exception of SMARTDRV.

I notice that you are using a write cache in SmartDRV (if you don't
know what one of these is, then ask me, and I'll explain), unless you
are using DOS 6.2 (I think, *read* caching is the default in 6.2).  In
short, it means that if you lose power to your PC, you have the
potential to lose more data than if you are using only a read cache - I
suspect this is the cause of most of the DoubleSpace 'problems'
reported.  To turn this feature off just put the letter(s) of your hard
disk(s) in the parameter line (this is assuming that you used Drive H:
for your DoubleSpace host drive - it's the default)

LH /L:0;1,45456 /S C:\DOS\SMARTDRV.EXE H

The 'H' being the drive letter - you don't need a colon.  For neatness,
you could make this line two, so the first line becomes:

@ECHO OFF

but that's not necessary, just personal preference.  If you are using
Windows on your machine (how do you manage with 2Mb!?), then why isn't
Windows in your PATH statement.  However, if it is your intention to
install Windows (or it's already installed), then change the TEMP line.
At the moment, anything that want's to create TEMP files will dump them
in your DOS directory, I prefer to stick them in a TEMP directory
(mines under Windows, i.e. C:\WINDOWS\TEMP, but it could just as well
be off the root, or even DOS), then you can do flash things like this -
this is a segment from my AUTOEXEC.BAT:

if not exist c:\windows\temp\*.* goto NoTempFiles
echo Deleting Temp Files...
attrib c:\windows\temp\*.* -r
echo y | erase c:\windows\temp > nul
:NoTempFiles

My AUTOEXEC.BAT is quite ordered, and let's me know what it's doing as
it goes along, hence the "echo Deleting Temp Files...", I use this
segment to clear out unwanted files that get left behind by accident
(or system crashes! <G>).

I hope you have found this useful (sorry it's so long), if you (or
anybody else reading this) have any questions, then drop a note in this
forum - I'm more than happy to help.

Steve.



There is 1 Reply.

==========
pcpforum/S6_Help! #8158, from Brian_Mackenzie, 288 chars, 27-Apr-94  20:42:41
Comment to 8153.
----------
Subject: EMM386
Fm: Brian Mackenzie 100103,12
To: Terry Love [UK] 70007,5430 (X)

Thanks I'll try that - Yes I'm in Derby. I think the root of the
problem must be more fundamental as I could easily load 5-600k files
under DOS 5 and cannot believe 6.2 + MemMaker only leaves 197k.

Brian

==========
pcpforum/S6_Help! #8159, from Steve_Pritchard, 369 chars, 27-Apr-94  20:58:23
Comment to 8155.
----------
Subject: Microsoft at Work PCFAX 
Fm: Steve Pritchard 100341,2464
To: Dermod Moore 100340,2013 (X)

Dermod,

It's the MSMAIL.MMF file.  But beware, deleting this is will remove all
messages etc that you may have saved.  When you fire the msmail up
again, it will ask if you have an account, say no, and take it from
there.

Hope this helps.

Steve.

There is 1 Reply.

==========
pcpforum/S6_Help! #8160, from Steve_Pritchard, 1008 chars, 27-Apr-94  20:58:25
Comment to 8074.
----------
Subject: 3 button windows mouse
Fm: Steve Pritchard 100341,2464
To: john 74140,2512 (X)

John,

Aaaaargh, no!  Jeff is probably almost right, but in real terms is a
million miles off!!!!

WIN.INI and SYSTEM.INI are *NOT* batch files, and any 'drivers' used in
them are *NOT* related to anything you will find in AUTOEXEC.BAT.

The only time Windows will pay a blind bit of notice to the mouse
driver that is in your AUTOEXEC.BAT is in a DOS window.  Windows has
it's own mouse driver, and it is this, if anything, you will have to
change (it really has nothing to do with the MOUSE.COM or whatever in
your AUTOEXEC.BAT).

If your Mouse Software includes a driver for Windows, then this is the
one you need to use.  You should be able to add it via the Windows
Setup icon in your Main group, then choose 'Change System Settings' -
maybe even one of those in there by default might work (I think the
Genius/Mouse Systems mice have 3 buttons, you could try them).

Hope this helps.

Steve. 

There is 1 Reply.

==========
pcpforum/S6_Help! #8165, from Richard_Foxcroft, 423 chars, 28-Apr-94  00:10:50
Comment to 8154.
----------
Subject: IDE cohabit with RLL ??
Fm: Richard Foxcroft 100326,2451
To: Mark Peters 100325,1274 (X)

Mark,

I have the same. As I understand it, you would at least need a second
controller card, and the two cards would *probably* not get on. But I
haven't tried it.

I know someone who might have a second 65Mb RLL drive for sale, if
you're interested.

Regards, RichardF Telford, Shropshire, England


There are 2 Replies.

==========
pcpforum/S6_Help! #8169, from PC_Plus, 263 chars, 28-Apr-94  11:40:08
Comment to 8102.
----------
Subject: EMM386
Fm: PC Plus 71333,1462
To: Steve Pritchard 100341,2464 (X)

I spent some time in PC support a couple of years ago and my reaction
to 123 r3.1 is 'buy EXCEL' - or the latest 123 4 Win - and use Windows
memory management <g>.

David Norfolk, Sysop

==========
pcpforum/S6_Help! #8172, from PC_Plus, 287 chars, 28-Apr-94  13:21:40
Comment to 8144.
----------
Subject: slow Colorade tape strea
Fm: PC Plus 71333,1462
To: steve lowe 100277,565 (X)

When I looked at Jumbos, their fast card was super - but Norton Desktop
for Windows only supported the floppy diskette controller option.

Has this changed?

David Norfolk, Sysop

There is 1 Reply.

==========
pcpforum/S6_Help! #8173, from PC_Plus, 517 chars, 28-Apr-94  13:21:43
Comment to 8138.
----------
Subject: lost files on hard disc
Fm: PC Plus 71333,1462
To: Steve Pritchard 100341,2464 (X)

I tried that - but all the erased files I recovered contained nothing
useful. The application I used had copied an older version on top of a
newer working copy (a bugette, IMHO), not done an erase old file,
create new file.

Certainly, however, try UNERASE first - I should have said that, but
having just stayed up to 3am fighting Diskedit because UNERASE let me
down, it didn't occur to me <grin>.

David Norfolk, Sysop


==========
pcpforum/S6_Help! #8174, from PC_Plus, 698 chars, 28-Apr-94  13:21:48
Comment to 8141.
----------
Subject: Board with Chips + Speed
Fm: PC Plus 71333,1462
To: Martin Smulian 70374,3076 (X)

Yes, boards are speed-rated - the componants on a board which can cope
with 25 Mhz operation may not be suitable at 66 MHz - not just heat
dissipation but also radio frequency interference at higher speeds.

However, I don't know for sure, but it is quite possible that it is
more economic to make all boards 66MHz and not offer a slow version.

Also, remember that clock doubling, tripling etc leaves the motherboard
speed unchanged, which is why its so popular - a 99Mhz DX4 uses a cheap
old 33Mhz board rather than a horribly expensive and scarce 100MHz
board.

David Norfolk, Sysop

There is 1 Reply.

==========
pcpforum/S6_Help! #8175, from PC_Plus, 251 chars, 28-Apr-94  13:21:52
Comment to 8157.
----------
Subject: EMM386
Fm: PC Plus 71333,1462
To: Steve Pritchard 100341,2464 (X)

Thanks for that erudition - I'm sure you're right about 123MEMSIZE,
although I forgot all about it until you mentioned it. What a way to
manage memory!

David Norfolk, Sysop

==========
pcpforum/S6_Help! #8180, from R_J, 258 chars, 28-Apr-94  17:41:26
Comment to 8165.
----------
Subject: IDE cohabit with RLL ??
Fm: R J Palmer 100025,1425
To: Richard Foxcroft 100326,2451 (X)

It IS possible to put both RLL and IDE in the same system - I've done
it! admittedly with a 8 bit RLL Card but that's beside the point!


There are 2 Replies.

==========
pcpforum/S6_Help! #8181, from John_Forgan, 1344 chars, 28-Apr-94  19:29:28
----------
Subject: RAM problem
Fm: John Forgan 100332,115
To: ALL

I've recently upgraded my GENOA TurboExpress motherboard from 8Mb ram
and have hit a problem:

The board has 2 banks of 9 bit SIMMS and should work (according to the
manual) with 20 Mb if 4 Mb is put in bank 0 and 16 Mb in bank 1. With
my syatem however this is not possible as the machine reboots when the
RAM counter reaches 16Mb on boot-up. It works fine, however, if only 16
Mb are used in bank 0.

Something makes me suspect my graphics card. If one of the links on it
is changed the machine will refuse to boot at all with 20 Mb and beeps
a processor
exception error from the BIOS. Unfortunately I don't know what the link
does as it is not mentioned in the documentation! Again the operation
is fine with 16Mb.

I seem to remember reading somewhere of certain machine having problems
with > 16Mb, but I can't remember any details.

The graphics card is a CARDEX Tseng ET4000-W32 and my processor is a 33
MHz 486Sx.

Regards

John Forgan.

(p.s. I phoned GENOA in the States only to be told they weren't
interested in the problem because I had a SX chip (even though the
manual says it works with the board) and only problems on DX fitted
boards would be checked out !!. The guy on technical support agreed
with me when I suggested that I shouldn't buy any more GENOA
products!!)

==========
pcpforum/S6_Help! #8183, from Dermod_Moore, 1224 chars, 28-Apr-94  19:48:33
Comment to 8159.
----------
Subject: Microsoft at Work PCFAX 
Fm: Dermod Moore 100340,2013
To: Steve Pritchard 100341,2464 (X)

Steve,

Many thanks for taking all this time.

This is beginning to really intrigue me, because your suggestion seemed
so sensible I thought it must be it. But no, it is not to be.

Deleting the MSMAIL.MMF file was fun. Windows File Manager refused
point blank to let me rename, copy, or delete it. I had to go do DOS.
On restarting Windows, and Mail, I was told that my MSMAIL.MMF file was
missing. It prompted me to find it, and showed me the backup
msmail2.mmf that I had made. I refused, and it advised me against
keeping other *.MMF files around, and told me  that my new message file
would be found in C:\WINDOWS\MSMAIL.MMF.

Gee, thanks, I thought.

I then repeated everything, altering the MSMAIL.INI file, removing my
login name and the whereabouts of the MSMAIL.MMF file.
It went through exactly the same routine when I started Mail, and when
I checked up on the MSMAIL.INI file, it had dutifully filled in my
Login name and where the new MSMAIL.MMF file was to be found.

This is obviously security at work, but it's a bit Group 4-ish  if you
can copy and delete the files from DOS.

La-di-dah.

Thanks,

Dermod

==========
pcpforum/S6_Help! #8187, from Steve_Pritchard, 1090 chars, 28-Apr-94  22:20:07
Comment to 7847.
----------
Subject: EMM386 looses memory!
Fm: Steve Pritchard 100341,2464
To: Hermans 100321,272 (X)

Hermans,

David Hazel grove said...

>>The fact that your memory count on boot-up only goes to 7168k
suggests that you might have a damaged RAM chip somewhere, which is
mapped into the upper memory area.<<

but infact, you were right...

>>Note: at boot up memory counting goes up to only 7168 k (was: 3072k);
or is this a red herring?<<

Yep.  7168K is just the extended memory, with your 640K of Conventional
Memory you have 8Mb.  Any mathmatical discrepancy here is probably due
to:

1.  the upper memory block is/is not being included
2.  the definition of what a Mb is (i.e. 1024x1024 or 1000x1024)

Believe me, you have 8Mb of RAM.

As for your problem, I suspect you might not have 64K of upper memory
for a page frame - are you using EMM386 for expanded memory emulation
(i.e. using the RAM parameter)?  If so, did you alter any of the
parameters when you put the new memory in?

If you think you have any more pertinent info, then let me know.

Hope this helps.

Steve.

There is 1 Reply.

==========
pcpforum/S6_Help! #8190, from Richard_Foxcroft, 694 chars, 28-Apr-94  22:30:57
Comment to 8180.
----------
Subject: IDE cohabit with RLL ??
Fm: Richard Foxcroft 100326,2451
To: R J Palmer 100025,1425 (X)

>>It IS possible to put both RLL and IDE in the same system - I've done
it! admittedly with a 8 bit RLL Card but that's beside the point!<<

Thank you for the VERY useful piece of information. If you've done it
and it works, so much for any theory that it can't!

Would you envisage any problems with 16-bit RLL? On the face of things
it ought to be more straightforward, since an IDE card would be 16-bit,
wouldn't it?

I've got an old machine lying around with a 40Mb IDE drive in it, so
I'll get hold of a card and try it!

Regards, RichardF Telford, Shropshire, England



There is 1 Reply.

==========
pcpforum/S6_Help! #8192, from A_J, 523 chars, 29-Apr-94  00:21:09
----------
Subject: Bad simms?
Fm: A J Conti 100332,2054
To: ALL

I am having problems with upgrading my MJN 486sx computer from 4MB to
8MB.  I put in the 4 chips (30 pin - 3chip) last week and DR-Dos ran
fine but windows kept giving me a memory parity error, system halted
message.  I exchanged the simms for 4 more and now both Dos AND windows
lock up for the same reason.  My screen has also acted strangely but I
think it is due to my fiddling about.

Any ideas to correct this problem would be greatly appreciated!

TIA,
Andrea

==========
pcpforum/S6_Help! #8193, from steve_lowe, 554 chars, 29-Apr-94  06:48:15
Comment to 8172.
----------
Subject: slow Colorade tape strea
Fm: steve lowe 100277,565
To: PC Plus 71333,1462 (X)

When I looked at Jumbos, their fast card was super - but Norton Desktop
for Windows only supported the floppy diskette controller option.

Has this changed?

David Norfolk, Sysop

Hi David,

I'm not aware of Norton's Desktop for Windows support for the FC-10,
but I do know that with the controller card the performance of the
Jumbo is greatly increased under DOS, I've only tried Colorad's Backup
Lite for windows, but that worked OK with the FC-10.

Steve Lowe.


==========
pcpforum/S6_Help! #8194, from john, 145 chars, 29-Apr-94  14:51:20
Comment to 8160.
----------
Subject: 3 button windows mouse
Fm: john 74140,2512
To: Steve Pritchard 100341,2464 (X)

Thanks for the idea. I'll contact my mouse mfgr (ATI).

==========
pcpforum/S6_Help! #8199, from PC_Plus, 349 chars, 29-Apr-94  17:43:17
Comment to 8174.
----------
Subject: Board with Chips + Speed
Fm: PC Plus 71333,1462
To: PC Plus 71333,1462 (X)

David's right. Most of the models I've seen have jumpers which allow
you to select 25 or 33MHz (which gives 50 or 66MHz with DX2s or
OverDrive chips). A few of the newer ones do 40MHz, and the better ones
can do a real 50MHz, too.

Dave Pearman (Editor, PC Plus)

==========
pcpforum/S6_Help! #8201, from Mark_Peters, 333 chars, 29-Apr-94  20:05:00
Comment to 8165.
----------
Subject: IDE cohabit with RLL ??
Fm: Mark Peters 100325,1274
To: Richard Foxcroft 100326,2451 (X)

Richard

Thanks for the reply. I have a spare ide drive [120mb] but at the right
price may be interested in the 65 you mention. Problem will be in
trying to physically fit it in as they are rather bulky.

Mark, UK

There is 1 Reply.

==========
pcpforum/S6_Help! #8202, from Mark_Peters, 124 chars, 29-Apr-94  20:05:01
Comment to 8180.
----------
Subject: IDE cohabit with RLL ??
Fm: Mark Peters 100325,1274
To: R J Palmer 100025,1425 (X)

Thanks for the info

Mark, UK

==========
pcpforum/S6_Help! #8215, from Hermans, 144 chars, 30-Apr-94  21:21:02
Comment to 8187.
----------
Subject: EMM386 looses memory!
Fm: Hermans 100321,272
To: Steve Pritchard 100341,2464 (X)

Steve,
thanks, problem was faulty memory.
... Edwin

==========
pcpforum/S6_Help! #8219, from Jim_Fowl, 272 chars, 01-May-94  18:45:27
Comment to 8065.
----------
Subject: Canon Bubblejet
Fm: Jim Fowl 100137,3106
To: YARKESS 100043,603 (X)

Hi!

You can run the Bubblejets internal cleaner by holding down the rev adj
and fwd adj keys together until you hear a beep, then the printer will
start cleaning itself!

Hope this helps

Jim

==========
pcpforum/S6_Help! #8224, from Richard_Foxcroft, 323 chars, 02-May-94  10:16:17
Comment to 8201.
----------
Subject: IDE cohabit with RLL ??
Fm: Richard Foxcroft 100326,2451
To: Mark Peters 100325,1274 (X)

Mark,

My son in Birmingham has two 65Mb RLL drives and a controller card and
will sell all for 80 pounds. I'll put you in touch if you want to
negotiate.

Regards, RichardF Telford, Shropshire, England


There is 1 Reply.

==========
pcpforum/S6_Help! #8226, from Michael_Morris, 1041 chars, 02-May-94  21:13:39
----------
Subject: Hard Disk problems
Fm: Michael Morris 100121,2175
To: all

I've recently been having trouble with my second hard disk.... it's a
250Mb IDE disk made by Samsung.

Over the past two weeks or so I've noticed the drive light staying on
during certain operations. To give an example, when I launch File
Manager it reads so far and then 'sticks'. The result of this is either
a GPF or a successful launch.... there doesn't seem to be any pattern
to this though.

The first indication of any trouble came when there were errors reading
the FAT. I ran Norton Disk Doctor and that screwed the situation up no
end. The only solution was to 'Fdisk' and reformat. Since then, bad
blocks keep showing up on the disk and I keep getting lost clusters,
etc. I've ran NDD and moved the good sectors in the bad blocks to other
locations but the number of bad blocks keeps increasing virtually every
time I turn the damn PC on. Two weeks ago I had two bad blocks, now
I've got thirteen!

Any advice greatly appreciated,

Mike.


There are 3 Replies.

==========
pcpforum/S6_Help! #8229, from Paul_Ellis, 645 chars, 02-May-94  22:07:29
----------
Subject: Amstrad 2386, CDROM
Fm: Paul Ellis 100334,1470
To: all

I have an Amstrad 2386 and would like to get a internal CDROM. Anyone
know the
best one to get, 150-250. I would have got one for myself but the
Amstrad is not a standard machine and you have to be careful? The
set-up  of the machine is Com1 modem DMA 4, Com 2 a mouse on an Acer
IDE card DMA 3,  Sound Blaster 2 card DMA 1.  If I get a internal drive
will it fit in my machine and would the controller card be alright.
The controller card would have to go behind the IDE card, would the
lead be easy to put around the IDE card. Please could anyone help me.

There is 1 Reply.

==========
pcpforum/S6_Help! #8243, from Mark_Peters, 287 chars, 04-May-94  01:04:16
Comment to 8224.
----------
Subject: IDE cohabit with RLL ??
Fm: Mark Peters 100325,1274
To: Richard Foxcroft 100326,2451 (X)

Richard

I maybe interested in one at the right price but in no need of another
controller card I think as I shd be able to run 2 hd's from one card.

Let me have your son's telno.

Mark

==========
pcpforum/S6_Help! #8244, from Mark_Peters, 229 chars, 04-May-94  01:04:18
Comment to 8226.
----------
Subject: Hard Disk problems
Fm: Mark Peters 100325,1274
To: Michael Morris 100121,2175 (X)

Michael

Sounds terminal. Sounds like the surface is flaking off.

How old is the drive? Guarantee cover??

Mark, UK

There is 1 Reply.

==========
pcpforum/S6_Help! #8245, from Andrue_Cope, 215 chars, 04-May-94  08:10:18
Comment to 8226.
----------
Subject: Hard Disk problems
Fm: Andrue Cope 100125,2643
To: Michael Morris 100121,2175 (X)

Just get rid of the drive. Failing drives are like failing car brakes -
you *don't* put up with them! 

There is 1 Reply.

==========
pcpforum/S6_Help! #8247, from R_J, 322 chars, 04-May-94  17:25:06
Comment to 8190.
----------
Subject: IDE cohabit with RLL ??
Fm: R J Palmer 100025,1425
To: Richard Foxcroft 100326,2451 (X)

I can't see it being any different in theory, but I've never tri tried
a 16 bit card. I keep meaning to get one but never get round to it!

Let me know of any problems and how it works!

Thanks

Richard.

There is 1 Reply.

==========
pcpforum/S6_Help! #8250, from Steve_Pritchard, 609 chars, 04-May-94  19:34:49
Comment to 8226.
----------
Subject: Hard Disk problems
Fm: Steve Pritchard 100341,2464
To: Michael Morris 100121,2175 (X)

Michael,

>>Any advice greatly appreciated,<<

I'm not a hardware expert, but have worked on a Corporate Support Team
for two years, and I have heard of this sort of thing before.  My
advice is to copy all your data off this drive, dig a nice little hole
in the back garden, and bury it - make sure to say a few appreciative
words as it makes it's way to Silicon heaven.

If nothing else, it might give archeologists in the future a bit of a
laugh.

Sorry, I couldn't be more helpful.

Steve.

There is 1 Reply.

==========
pcpforum/S6_Help! #8251, from Paul_Ellis, 869 chars, 04-May-94  20:00:29
----------
Subject: Amstrad 2386 CDROM
Fm: Paul Ellis 100334,1470
To: PC Plus 71333,1462 (X)

I am new to the forum and posted this message to ALL, on the 5th. Is it
best to post the message for help address to PCPLUS.  I address it to
all first hopeing that someone who has a Amstrad 2386 with a CDROM
would read the message and have a answer.

I have an Amstrad 2386 and would like to get a internal CDROM. Anyone
know the
best one to get, 150-250. I would have got one for myself but the
Amstrad is not a standard machine and you have to be careful? The
set-up  of the machine is Com1 modem DMA 4, Com 2 a mouse on an Acer
IDE card DMA 3,  Sound Blaster 2 card DMA 1.  If I get a internal drive
will it fit in my machine and would the controller card be alright.
The controller card would have to go behind the IDE card, would the
lead be easy to put around the IDE card.  

==========
pcpforum/S6_Help! #8252, from Malcolm_Everall, 504 chars, 04-May-94  22:15:00
----------
Subject: Low level Format
Fm: Malcolm Everall uk 100142,101
To: All

I've a Sanyo notebook where the Hard Drive has started,I think to
collapse.It has now over 25% of bad sectors appear from nowhere.It has
been suggested I use Norton Spinrite or Calibrate to reformat. Is this
likely to solve the problem, or is the HD shot. My guarrantee is up in
three weeks time so if I do as suggested I would want it to be a
permanent repair. The other problem is I do not have either programme.

There is 1 Reply.

==========
pcpforum/S6_Help! #8254, from Richard_Foxcroft, 234 chars, 04-May-94  22:58:00
Comment to 8247.
----------
Subject: IDE cohabit with RLL ??
Fm: Richard Foxcroft 100326,2451
To: R J Palmer 100025,1425 (X)

Richard,

Could be a while before I get round to it, but when I do I'll let you
know,

Regards, RichardF Telford, Shropshire, England


==========
pcpforum/S6_Help! #8257, from Richard_Foxcroft, 564 chars, 05-May-94  00:01:31
Comment to 8229.
----------
Subject: Amstrad 2386, CDROM
Fm: Richard Foxcroft 100326,2451
To: Paul Ellis 100334,1470 (X)

Paul,

Sorry, I can't answer your question, but I have a caveat for you. i too
have an Amstrad 2386 - they run at 20MHz, don't they. Depending on what
you plan to do - especially if it involves high-quality music or moving
video - suggest you check it's fast enough.

Why? I'm having problems getting a 25MHz 486SX at the school where I
teach to get data off a CD-ROM fast enough for a SoundBlaster Pro under
Windows...

Regards, RichardF Telford, Shropshire, England


==========
pcpforum/S6_Help! #8258, from Richard_Smith, 656 chars, 05-May-94  00:39:56
Comment to 8252.
----------
Subject: Low level Format
Fm: Richard Smith 100070,1321
To: Malcolm Everall uk 100142,101 (X)

Dear Malcolm,
Although you do not state what type of Drive it is ie SCSI, IDE, RLL,
etc, I am almost certain that it will be an IDE drive, in which case
you cannot lowlevel format it.  As you say the machine is still under
warranty I strongly advise that you claim on that as any tampering you
may do may invalidate your guarantee. in which case your in for a hefty
repair.  That said if your are running MSDOS 6.2 you might try Scandisk
this will sometimes free up sectors  that have been incorrectly flagged
as bad.

Best of Luck Richard 

There is 1 Reply.

==========
pcpforum/S6_Help! #8259, from Malcolm_Everall, 270 chars, 05-May-94  08:39:56
Comment to 8258.
----------
Subject: Low level Format
Fm: Malcolm Everall uk 100142,101
To: Richard Smith 100070,1321

Richard
Trouble is I spoke to Sanyo who passsed me back to my supplier who
suggests I try Nortons Spinrite first to see if it will solve the
problem.
Malcolm.

There is 1 Reply.

==========
pcpforum/S6_Help! #8260, from Michael_Wright, 431 chars, 05-May-94  17:13:44
----------
Subject: Anti-Tel Virus
Fm: Michael Wright 100045,1533
To: All

I recently had a problem with my comms system which seemed to be due to
the modem not connecting to the phone line. (an engaged tone was all I
could get).
The problem has since gone away, but I have discovered a virus called
"Anti-Tel" in the partition table of the hard drive, which has now been
removed. Does anyone have any info on this virus.

There is 1 Reply.

==========
pcpforum/S6_Help! #8261, from Michael_Morris, 578 chars, 05-May-94  17:28:43
Comment to 8244.
----------
Subject: Hard Disk problems
Fm: Michael Morris 100121,2175
To: Mark Peters 100325,1274 (X)

Mark

Yup, it was terminal alright. I bought the drive last September from
Escom in Chester. I rang them up and explained the situation and after
the usual "Have you checked it for viruses, sir?" they said, "OK, bring
it in and we'll replace it, no problem". I was expecting a bit of grief
but lo and behold, I've got a nice shiny new drive to play with!

Full marks to Escom.... I can think of a few others who wouldn't do
*anything* unless you put a bomb under 'em.

Regards, Mike.


==========
pcpforum/S6_Help! #8262, from Michael_Morris, 540 chars, 05-May-94  17:28:47
Comment to 8245.
----------
Subject: Hard Disk problems
Fm: Michael Morris 100121,2175
To: Andrue Cope 100125,2643

Andrue,

I agree completely..... I just wondered whether this was a common
problem with hard drives. Someone else has suggested that the surface
may be flaking off. I must admit I've never heard of this before but
thinking about it, it sounds perfectly feasible. You'll be pleased to
know that the drive has gone back to where it came from (Escom in
Chester) and it's been replaced with a new one..... no quibbling from
them, either!

Regards, Mike.


==========
pcpforum/S6_Help! #8263, from Michael_Morris, 411 chars, 05-May-94  17:28:50
Comment to 8250.
----------
Subject: Hard Disk problems
Fm: Michael Morris 100121,2175
To: Steve Pritchard 100341,2464 (X)

Steve,

Ha! I'd have liked to have done that but it's been replaced under
guarantee. Still, I've no doubt that in the future I'll have the
opportunity. I often wonder why PC hardware in general isn't as
reliable as it should be, and - more to the point - why we put up with
it!

Regards, Mike.


There is 1 Reply.

==========
pcpforum/S6_Help! #8265, from Steve_Pritchard, 2149 chars, 05-May-94  19:37:06
Comment to 8263.
----------
Subject: Hard Disk problems
Fm: Steve Pritchard 100341,2464
To: Michael Morris 100121,2175 (X)

Mike,

>> I often wonder why PC hardware in general isn't as reliable as it
should be, and - more to the point - why we put up with it!<<

As I mentioned in my first reply to your original question, I work for
a large corporate.  We buy *loads* of PCs, and as a member of the PC
support team, I came across one or two of them <g>.  As a corporate we
tend to buy 'branded' PCs, but my personal opinion is that these
probably cause more problems than they are worth.

In general PCs are very reliable, most problems with a PC are likely to
manifest themselves very early on in their life, i.e. something was
wrong with them when they were made, rather than something going wrong
with tham through prolonged use.  The exceptions to this rule are the
moving parts, and the power supplies.

Moving parts, i.e. disk drives, do tend to die after a while, and it
seems to be random - until recently we had a couple of XTs with 10mb
(yes 10!!!) hard disks still working, yet, 120Mb SCSI disks can go
belly up after a year or two.  These things are built to such fine
tolerances (try taking one apart, put it back together again - It won't
work, so don't do it really! <g>).  We have a machine which is left on
all the time, and the disk in that makes occasional grinding noises -
I'm sure it's about to die, but it's owner says it's fine, and won't
call an engineer out - more fool her!

Power supplies can go pop too - my main machine at home has just died,
I think this is due to a design flaw in the PSU, but the constant
switching on/off can cause problems to some components.

The point of all this rambling I guess is to point out that PCs are
very reliable, but buying a branded one is not always the best idea.
If something goes wrong in a bog standard clone, then you can go and
buy a replacement part cheaply from any PC shop, and replace it, in a
branded PC, they mess about with the parts and make them non-standard,
which means you have to pay big bucks for a standard part (183 + VAT
for a PSU for my PC - it should be no more than 50).

Steve.

==========
pcpforum/S6_Help! #8266, from Jonathan_Edwards, 494 chars, 05-May-94  21:16:30
Comment to 8260.
----------
Subject: Anti-Tel Virus
Fm: Jonathan Edwards 100337,2222
To: Michael Wright 100045,1533

Anti-tel was written by someone with a grudge against the Spainish
telephone people. There are different versions, 2 of which infect COM
files, 1 EXE and COM files and the 4th infects the boot sector. I think
only the boot sector version is intentionally harmful - it can format
the hard disk but I can't remember what will trigger it to do so.  All
the anti virus products will deal with it.

Jonathan.

==========
pcpforum/S6_Help! #8268, from Ian_Smith, 625 chars, 05-May-94  22:41:55
Comment to 8259.
----------
Subject: Low level Format
Fm: Ian Smith 100114,2307
To: Malcolm Everall uk 100142,101

Malcom,

If you back up your data, reformat the drive using Dos and you still
have 25% bad sectors, then the drive is on the way out - in this case,
go back to your supplier and insist that they change the drive under
guarantee. If it's *suddenly appeared, though, are you sure the drive
hasn't been knocked/dropped, etc? If so, then they may be less helpful.

I do feel that it's unreasonable of them to expect you to just conjure
up diagnostic/repair software, particularly as it's more likely to be a
hardware problem.

Regards,

Ian

