cyze@uwovax.uwo.ca (11/25/90)
My AT computer does not seem to like (some) Microsoft software.
I have recently acquired both Windows 3.0 and QuickC with QuickAssembler 2.51,
and both programs are driving me batty. Often when I am in either the
Windows or QC environment my computer will just hang after about 10 minutes of
normal use.
I have a 100% clone AT, w. math co-processor, SVGA (STB EM16) card, Logitech
mouse, working with DOS version 3.30, and incorporate GenStar 3.03 286
modular bios.
QUICKC:
Normally I would initialize my mouse with a line in my autoexec,
and the driver would stay resident. However, if I do this and then try
to use QC, the instant I touch the mouse the computers _dies_. I read
in the documentation that unpredictable results may be expected when
not using the Microsoft mouse.com driver (versions 6.1 or later) so
I removed the mouse initialization stuff from the autoexec to see what
would happen. OK, it works fine but only _most of the time_ and not
_always_! As mentioned earlier, occasionally I will be working
in the QC environment and either the computer will completely hang, or will
spit garbage onto the bottom half of the screen every time I PageUp or
PageDown and then hang. In the second instance the C program I have
in memory appears as garbage when I page up and is replaced by
different gibberish when I page down immediately after. Sometimes
the garbage won't reappear and my original C program will miraculously
come back to life - although soon afterwards the C is revived it inevitably
dies in a computer hanging. I did _not_ have this problem with QuickC 2.0.
WINDOWS:
Windows dies in a subtly different way. I have installed the included
Logitech mouse driver in Windows. This seems to work fine. Again, though,
every so often I will be working with Coreldraw! or any other Windows
application and the computer will go kaput - the screen remains the same
(although the menus become a little messy (not with garbage, just disorganized))
but the keyboard and mouse do not appear to respond. I also had this
problem with Windows 2.0.
I of course have already harassed Microsoft's product support. After
a small fortune in long-distance telephone calls (most of the time
spent on hold) the support people figured the Diskmanager driver I
was using to split my 40Meg drive into two 20's was the culprit. This
made sense to me, so I went through the trouble of reformatting my
drive and partitioning it with FDISK. That is what Microsoft said to do.
I still experience the exact same problems I mentioned above.
I presently keep my autoexec in bare bones condition:
PROMPT $P $G
PATH .....
My config.sys is just as sparse:
FILES = 30
BUFFERS = 25
DRIVER = RAPIDBIOS.SYS (effectively speeds up my EM16 card - I
have tried not including this driver)
I program a fair bit in QuickC so I consider it crucial that I get
it working right. It is not as important that I get Windows working
perfectly, however I feel a little stupid using such
(at least on my computer) unstable software. I also have a couple
hundred bucks invested in these programs.
Any help would be very much appreciated.
Mike Cyze
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UNIVERSE OF WESTERN ONTARIO
Department of Geophysics
CYZE@UWOVAX.UWO.CA