AJ@KL.SRI.COM (Almon J. Bate) (10/21/88)
Each time I use the SD Norton program I get a message that says "Invalid COMMAND.COM cannot load COMMAND, system halted" when it is finished. If I try it once again it works fine with no such message. I am using the program on a Compaq + 2. Any suggestions?
root@gsy1.UUCP (Scott Yates ) (10/23/88)
In article <12440034836014@KL.SRI.COM>, AJ@KL.SRI.COM (Almon J. Bate) writes: > Each time I use the SD Norton program I get a message that says > "Invalid COMMAND.COM cannot load COMMAND, system halted" when it is > finished. If I try it once again it works fine with no such > message. I am using the program on a Compaq + 2. > Any suggestions? I believe the reason that you're getting this message is that Speed Disk will frequently move files to make them contiguous. If your Command.Com was fragmented (such as a dos upgrade), and especially if you were using a program like fastopen, which memorizes the locations of the 'n' most frequently opened files, or a disk cache program, or even a reasonable number of buffers in your config.sys file, when SD prepares to exit to dos, naturally command.com would be loaded at a certain cluster location, which may no longer be correct. I once used SD while fastopen was running, and after exiting, ran chkdsk, to be informed the 2397 cluster were not found. A warm boot fixed all. Beware disk cachers that save writes. This type situation could cause alot of frustration. -- Scott Yates, N4BBB o o DOMAIN: gsy@deincr.UUCP || gsy@raider.UUCP Yates Pest Control \ / UUCP: ...!{ames,rutgers}!killer!mjbtn!deincr!gsy Rockvale, Tennessee (OO) FIDO: Scott Yates at Net/Node 1:116/12 / 1:116/9 "Bugs are MY life!" <> VOICE: (615) 274-2156 / (615) 459-2636
bob@acornrc.UUCP (Bob Weissman) (10/25/88)
This past Friday evening, Norton Speed Disk completely trashed my
Seagate ST-238R 30MB disk.
It was merrily compacting along, when it suddenly beeped, said "error
writing to FAT", and left me with absolutely no way to recover; all you
can do at that point is hit any key to give up.
Well, my FAT was demolished. I tried reconstructing it with NU's FAT
editor, but to no avail. FR and CHKDSK/F (the last resort) didn't help
either.
Unfortunately, my last backup was made at the end of August. I had to
restore from that backup and manually reconstruct everything newer than
that, with the exception of a few directories which,luckily, seemed
unaffected.
Moral: perform a backup before running SD.
--
Bob Weissman
Internet: bob@acornrc.uucp
UUCP: ...!{ ames | decwrl | oliveb | pyramid }!acornrc!bob
Arpanet: bob%acornrc.uucp@ames.arc.nasa.govhollombe@ttidca.TTI.COM (The Polymath) (10/25/88)
In article <12440034836014@KL.SRI.COM> AJ@KL.SRI.COM (Almon J. Bate) writes: }Each time I use the SD Norton program I get a message that says }"Invalid COMMAND.COM cannot load COMMAND, system halted" when it is }finished. If I try it once again it works fine with no such }message. I am using the program on a Compaq + 2. }Any suggestions? Sorry, no help here, but I did see the same message under very different circumstances. Maybe that will provide a clue. I was trying to bring up Windows 286 v2.10 on an IBM PS/2-50z running DOS 4.0 with a Logitech Series 2 mouse. When I tried to install the mouse as a PS/2 mouse -- as recommended by both IBM and Logitech -- the installation failed with the same message. After a few more tries, and some fiddling around, the message changed to something about "Invalid File Access Table" and the installation quit without halting the system. The FAT appears to be undamaged and all other applications run normally. (BTW, installing the mouse as a Logitech mouse allowed the installation to complete and I could bring up Windows, but it ignored the mouse. It was probably looking at the serial port, while the PS/2 has a dedicated mouse port). After a morning of phone calls to IBM, Logitech and Microsoft it turned out the version of Windows 286 I have is incompatible with DOS 4.0. Microsoft is sending out an updated set of disks. Now I'm wondering what will happen if/when I upgrade to DOS 4.01. )-: -- The Polymath (aka: Jerry Hollombe, hollombe@ttidca.tti.com) Illegitimati Nil Citicorp(+)TTI Carborundum 3100 Ocean Park Blvd. (213) 452-9191, x2483 Santa Monica, CA 90405 {csun|philabs|psivax}!ttidca!hollombe
josephs@ttidca.TTI.COM (Bill Josephs) (10/25/88)
Are you running FASTOPEN and is the system having trouble finding COMMAND.COM in its new location?
cc@rayssd.ray.com (Charles R. Coday) (10/26/88)
I had the identical problem happen to me with an IBM AT. I only use PCTOOL's compress now, but I have no guarantee it wouldn't do the same.
dalegass@dalcs.UUCP (Dale Gass) (10/26/88)
In article <4374@rayssd.ray.com> cc@rayssd.ray.com (Charles R. Coday) writes: >I had the identical problem happen to me with an IBM AT. I only use >PCTOOL's compress now, but I have no guarantee it wouldn't do the same. Watch out for PCTOOL's compress. I had a friend using PCTOOL's compress on a badly fragmented disk, and it popped out with some bizarre error number, leaving his hard disk hopelessly scrambled (of course, he neglected to do a backup of vital information). I use DOG (disk organizer) and have never had a problem with it; I find it to be the most efficient, reliable and flexible optimizer around. Takes a bit longer to learn how to use, but it's worth it. It allows you to place files exactly where you want for optimum performance (I place all directories at the beggining, for lightning fast chkdsk's and dir's, and file opens; then I put small frequently accessed programs, then big static applications, then dynamically changing programs, then data; it really improves performance better than a straight SD or COMPRESS.) -dalegass@dalcsug.uucp {watmath | uunet}!dalcs!dalcsug!dalegass
rkl1@hound.UUCP (K.LAUX) (10/28/88)
In article <3057@dalcs.UUCP>, dalegass@dalcs.UUCP (Dale Gass) writes: | | I use DOG (disk organizer) and have never had a problem with it; I find it to | be the most efficient, reliable and flexible optimizer around. Takes a bit | longer to learn how to use, but it's worth it. It allows you to place files | exactly where you want for optimum performance Where might I obtain a copy of DOG and what company is it from? --rkl
jhom@f20.n135.z1.uucp (Joaquim Homrighausen) (10/28/88)
> I use DOG (disk organizer) and have never had a problem > with it; I find it to be the most efficient, reliable > and flexible optimizer around. Takes a bit longer to > learn how to use, but it's worth it. It allows you to > place files exactly where you want for optimum performance Golden Bow's VOPT program is among the fastest disk optimizers available for the MS/PC-DOS environment. It doesn't allow you to specify locations etc as DOG, but it's lightning fast. I do not trust much software that fiddles with my disk (on a rawer level), so I had to try VOPT, I made a backup and executed VOPT and every time after it had been running for about 10 seconds, I'd shut off the machine and then back on again.. I repeated this about 10-15 times and I didn't have any problems reading any of the files on my disk (PRI45MB).. regards, joaquim -- Joaquim Homrighausen - via FidoNet node 1:135/3 Medical Software Exchange BBS (305) 325-8709 UUCP: ...uunet!gould!umbio!medsoft!20!jhom
jhom@f20.n135.z1.uucp (Joaquim Homrighausen) (10/28/88)
> Are you running FASTOPEN and is the system having trouble > finding COMMAND.COM in its new location? One thing that VOPT will do for you if it detects FASTOPEN is that it will re-boot after the optimization is completed.. -- Joaquim Homrighausen - via FidoNet node 1:135/3 Medical Software Exchange BBS (305) 325-8709 UUCP: ...uunet!gould!umbio!medsoft!20!jhom
jcmorris@mitre-bedford.ARPA (Joseph C. Morris) (10/28/88)
In article <11@gsy1.UUCP> root@gsy1.UUCP (Scott Yates ) writes: > I once used SD while fastopen was running, >and after exiting, ran chkdsk, to be informed the 2397 cluster were not >found. A warm boot fixed all. The new (4.01) release of Norton Utilities has changed the SD program so that it warns you before starting the compress that there will be problems if you have FASTOPEN or some similar cache program. When SD is finished, if you exit with any character *other* than ESC, it forces a reboot to protect the integrity of the system. If you *know* that you don't have a cache program, you can still exit to DOS by hitting the ESC key.
lane@dalcs.UUCP (John Wright/Dr. Pat Lane) (10/28/88)
For what it's worth, Computer Shopper magasine, several months ago (forget
which issue and I'm not at home to look it up...sorry), feature an article
reviewing disk de-fragger's. It compared Norton's SD, Paul Mace Utilities,
and several others (did *not* include DOG as I recall). They had problems
with Norton's SD and recommened against using it until Norton brings out a
revision which successfully fixes the problems. They gave top marks to
Mace. It was by far the slowest but also by far gave the best performance
and seemed the most robust (I forget the details of the testing procedures).
They cautioned against using a de-fragger with any TSR's or installed device
drivers which could potentially interfere with with the de-fragger...and this
was not limited to disk cache's and the like but also to other seemingly
innocuous programs which could alter timing considerations or cause missed
interrupts and the like (...I don't really know what I'm talking about there,
that's just how I remember it). This was, in fact, related to the problems
with SD and most de-fraggers warn you about it anyway (some refuse to op-
erate if they detect any).
If anyone likes, I can easily look up the issue and provide further details.
Cheers...JW
.
--
John Wright ///////////////// Phone: 902-424-3805 or 902-424-6527
Post: c/o Dr Pat Lane, Biology Dept, Dalhousie U, Halifax N.S., CANADA B3H-4H8
Cdn/Bitnet: lane@cs.dal.cdn Arpa: lane%dalcs.uucp@uunet.uu.net
Uucp: lane@dalcs.uucp or {uunet,watmath,utai,garfield}!dalcs!lane dalegass@dalcs.UUCP (Dale Gass) (10/28/88)
In article <2723@hound.UUCP> rkl1@hound.UUCP (K.LAUX) writes: >In article <3057@dalcs.UUCP>, I write >| I use DOG (disk organizer) and have never had a problem with it; I find it to >| be the most efficient, reliable and flexible optimizer around. Takes a bit >| longer to learn how to use, but it's worth it. It allows you to place files >| exactly where you want for optimum performance > Where might I obtain a copy of DOG and what company is it from? >--rkl Dog is available on SIMTEL20, I believe. Most decent PC archives should have a copy. It is shareware (pay what you think it is worth to you), or $20 for commercial/governmental use. The author's address is: G. Allen Morris III 1141-10th Avenue Oakland, CA 94606 I have no relationship to the author; I am just a satified user. {watmath|uunet|utai}!dalcs!dalcsug!dalegass
michael@ddsw1.MCS.COM (Michael Duebner) (11/03/88)
In article <3060@dalcs.UUCP> lane@dalcs.UUCP (John Wright/Dr. Pat Lane) writes: > >For what it's worth, Computer Shopper magasine, several months ago (forget >which issue and I'm not at home to look it up...sorry), feature an article >reviewing disk de-fragger's. It compared Norton's SD, Paul Mace Utilities, >and several others (did *not* include DOG as I recall). They had problems >with Norton's SD and recommened against using it until Norton brings out a >revision which successfully fixes the problems. > >They cautioned against using a de-fragger with any TSR's or installed device >drivers which could potentially interfere with with the de-fragger...and this >was not limited to disk cache's and the like but also to other seemingly >innocuous programs which could alter timing considerations or cause missed >interrupts and the like (...I don't really know what I'm talking about there, >that's just how I remember it). This was, in fact, related to the problems >with SD and most de-fraggers warn you about it anyway (some refuse to op- >erate if they detect any). We have been using Norton's SD for some time on two Televideo '386 systems. Both use an ST-251 and 2MB of RAM, 1MB of RAM is used for the Microsoft Window SmartDrive disk caching utility. Both system run heavy desktop publishing as their mainstay. Lots of files are created and deleted every day. We use SD on both systems at least once a month and have never lost a file or trashed a disk. Am I waiting to be bit? Michael Duebner UUCP : michael@ddsw1.MCS.COM Tech Svc, Buffalo Grove, IL 312/541-6550