[comp.sys.ibm.pc.misc] 4DOS 3.03 AND WINDOWS 3.0 PROBLEMS

pcampb@brahma.trl.oz.au (Peter Campbell) (04/23/91)

raedgari@uokmax.ecn.uoknor.edu (Robert Allen Edgar II) writes:
>     I have a couple of problems with 4dos 3.03 and windows 3.0.
>     I have a 386SX with 4dos 3.03, dos 4.01, and windows 3.0.
>     My config.sys file contains the line :
>          SHELL=C:\4DOS.COM /P /E:512
>     My autoexec.bat file contains the line :
>          SET COMSPEC=C:\4DOS.COM

>1.  While running a communications program which is minimized I get a
>    warning when I try to run a non-windows application at the same
>    time.
>    It says something to the effect that something is using the comm port,
>    which it is, and that I may loose characters if I run the application
>    now.  It also gives me a choice, that is yes run it or no don't.  Is 
>    this a problem I should worry about?  Can it be fixed?  Should I 
>    just live with it?  

>2.  The other problem is that it seems I can't run a non-windows app. in
>    a window as I could before installing 4dos.  Alt+Enter doesn't seem
>    to do anything when 4dos is initialized before windows.  Is there
>    a parameter that needs to be set in my config.sys or autoexec.bat
>    files that is not already set.

Well, Bob, I've been having very similar problems since I changed 3.02a
into 3.03.  The problems occur when I have one of two setups.  The first
setup started when I read a flyer sent out with my registered copy of
4DOS that said for standard and real mode windows shells you should use
the "/v" flag when you call 4DOS, as it can cause problems when you
don't.  Although I nearly always use enhanced mode for Windows 3.0 I put
it in just in case, and this worked OK.

However, when I got the new version it had a similar story but said to
put in a new environment variable 4DSHELL which should have the "/v",
i.e. have "set 4DSHELL=/v" in your autoexec.bat.  So I put in this as
well, and, just to be on the safe side, put "set COMSPEC=4dos.com /v" in
their as well

At this point I got the problem you did in #2 - when I tried to start up
a non-windows application it just wouldn't let me.  I got rid of the
comspec line - after all, 4dos effectively puts "COMSPEC=4dos.com" in
your environment automatically anyway, and this time I got a different
error - it would start up the shell/non-windows application OK, but then
it would give the error:
	4DOS server error -- swap in failed due to I/O error
which I thought was a lot of help, as this error was NOT in the document
file - although there were a few like it (none of which helped).  I got
this error whenever I made a shell - e.g. if I was in DOS, ran XTreeGold
and executed a program (which means Xtree makes a new shell) the same
thing would happen.  The big trouble was this appeared to be
intermittent - it wouldn't happen if I didn't have network connections,
and sometimes it wouldn't even if it did, so I thought it was network
troubles.

After a few hours of toing and froing I finally worked out that it
wasn't my network, but the fact that when I put the network stuff in it
increased the size of my environment.  Despite the fact that I had an
environment set at 1024 bytes, the error consistently occurred whenever
I took up over 512 bytes (i.e. less than half a K free) and tried
opening a shell.

I thought OK, this is it, and increased the size of my environment to
1536 bytes, just to be on the safe side, and this worked - I haven't
have any problems since - I just need to make sure there is a free 512
bytes in the environment of my Primary 4DOS shell, and everything is OK.

HOWEVER, a bit later I thought "what if it was the 4DSHELL" that was
doing it?  So, I took out this line, and lo & behold, this worked as
well!  I could cut my environment back to 1024 (or even 550) bytes, and
then EVERYTHING would work properly.  As soon as I put back the
	set 4DSHELL=/v
in my autoexec.bat all the problems started again - whether I had 
	SHELL=C:\4dos.com /v /E:1024U /P /U
or
	SHELL=C:\4dos.com /E:1024U /P /U
in my config.sys.

So, my suggestion is to IGNORE THE COMMENT ABOUT PUTTING 
	set 4DSHELL=/v
in your autoexec.bat file, REMOVE THE
	set COMSPEC=4dos.com
from here as well, and if you haven't done so already put the "/v"
switch in the SHELL command in your config.sys file.

If this doesn't work then try increasing the size of your environment by
512 bytes - e.g. 512 to 1024 in this case.

Has anyone else had this problem?  If so can you work out why it
disappears when you EITHER remove the 4DSHELL line OR increase the
environment size (or both)?

Also, could someone outside of Australia (e.g. you, Bob) please do a
follow-up article on this or else post me email saying that they have
seen this article, as we have been having trouble with sending news
articles, and I don't know if it is still happening.  If I haven't had
any replies/follow-ups within a week I'll try sending this article
again.

Peter K. Campbell
p.campbell@trl.oz.au

My opinions are my own, so don't sue.

traub@rtf.bt.co.uk (Michael Traub) (04/24/91)

In article <3419@trlluna.trl.oz> pcampb@brahma.trl.oz.au (Peter Campbell) writes:
>raedgari@uokmax.ecn.uoknor.edu (Robert Allen Edgar II) writes:
>>     I have a couple of problems with 4dos 3.03 and windows 3.0.
>>     I have a 386SX with 4dos 3.03, dos 4.01, and windows 3.0.
>>     My config.sys file contains the line :
>>          SHELL=C:\4DOS.COM /P /E:512
>>     My autoexec.bat file contains the line :
>>          SET COMSPEC=C:\4DOS.COM
>
>So, my suggestion is to IGNORE THE COMMENT ABOUT PUTTING 
>	set 4DSHELL=/v
>in your autoexec.bat file, REMOVE THE
>	set COMSPEC=4dos.com
>from here as well, and if you haven't done so already put the "/v"
>switch in the SHELL command in your config.sys file.
>
>If this doesn't work then try increasing the size of your environment by
>512 bytes - e.g. 512 to 1024 in this case.
>
>Has anyone else had this problem?  If so can you work out why it
>disappears when you EITHER remove the 4DSHELL line OR increase the
>environment size (or both)?
>
>Also, could someone outside of Australia (e.g. you, Bob) please do a
>follow-up article on this or else post me email saying that they have
>seen this article, as we have been having trouble with sending news
>articles, and I don't know if it is still happening.  If I haven't had
>any replies/follow-ups within a week I'll try sending this article
>again.
>
>Peter K. Campbell
>p.campbell@trl.oz.au
>
>My opinions are my own, so don't sue.

Well your article got to the UK at least!

I suggest you try:
	set 4DSHELL=/v/e:1024


Michael Traub
BT Customer Systems, Brighton Systems Centre. traub@rtf.bt.co.uk