THIS DOCUMENT CONTAINS GENERAL TECHNICAL AND TROUBLESHOOTING INFORMATION FOR THE FOLLOWING AREAS: 1. MOUSE 2. PRINTERS 3. MODE STATEMENT FOR SERIAL PRINTER 4. INSTALLATION 5. "VENETIAN BLIND" PRINTING PROBLEM 6. MEMORY 7. WINDOWS * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * MOUSE Many programs need to detect a mouse driver in memory for the mouse to work. Some programs supply their own mouse drivers (like Windows) and do not need to detect one in memory. If you experience mouse problems, i.e., there is no movement of the pointer, the mouse is erratic, etc., please follow the instructions outlined below BEFORE calling Technical Support. These problems are usually resolved by loading the mouse driver into memory. FOLLOWING ARE INSTRUCTION FOR DOS 5.0 and DOS 6.0 USERS TO LOAD A MICROSOFT MOUSE DRIVER. These are common DOS commands. Please refer to your DOS manual if further explanation is needed. The documentation that you got when you purchased the mouse should also explain how to install it. Should you not have a Microsoft driver, the mouse.com file may be called gmouse.com (for a Genius mouse) or imouse.com (for an Info mouse), etc. Replace the mouse.com file in the instructions below appropriately. NOTE: Be sure that your autoexec.bat file resides in the root directory; NOT the DOS subdirectory. 1. Locate your mouse.com file. This file will typically reside in the root directory or in its own subdirectory (usually called MOUSE). 2. To put your mouse driver into memory you must edit your autoexec.bat file Type: cd\ (enter) edit autoexec.bat (enter) 3. You will get a new screen showing the contents of your autoexec.bat file. 4. Create a blank space by putting your cursor on the first letter of the first word and pressing enter. Arrow back up to the blank space and type mouse (or c:\mouse\mouse if the mouse.com files resides in a MOUSE subdirectory). 5. Press Alt + F, then X, then press enter to confirm the save. 6. This should leave you at your root directory again (the c:> prompt) 7. Reboot the computer by pressing the Ctrl + Alt + Del keys simultaneously. 8. Your mouse driver is now loaded into memory. FOLLOWING ARE INSTRUCTIONS FOR USERS WHO ARE NOT USING DOS 5.0 or 6.0. These are basic instructions derived from a DOS manual. Refer to your DOS manual for further assistance. 1. Locate your mouse.com file. This file will typically reside in the root directory or in its own subdirectory (usually called MOUSE). 2. To put your mouse driver into memory you must edit your autoexec.bat file. Type: cd\ (enter) edlin autoexec.bat (enter) 3. "End of input file" should now be on your screen. (If you get a "Bad command or filename" message be sure that you've typed EXACTLY what is shown above, and that the edlin.exe and the autoexec.bat file both reside in the root directory.) 4. Press "L" (for list) and you will get numbered lines of information, followed by an asterisk (*) at the left-hand margin. 5. Type the number 1, and the letter "i" and press enter. You will now be on line number one. Type "mouse" (or c:\mouse\mouse if the mouse.com files resides in a MOUSE subdirectory), and press enter. 6. You should be back at the * at the left-hand margin. 7. Type "end" and you will be left at the C prompt. 8. Reboot the computer by pressing the Ctrl + Alt + Del keys simultaneously. 9. Your mouse driver is now loaded into memory. NOTE: Much of the newer software written will require more current versions of device drivers. The latest version of the Microsoft mouse driver as of August, 1992, is 8.2; the Logitech is 6.02; the Genius 8.08; the ATI 2.3; the Packard Bell 8.0 NOTE: If your mouse driver is more than one year old, you should contact the manufacturer to check on the availability of an updated driver. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * PRINTERS If you are having problems getting printouts from the program, here are some important things to check BEFORE you call Technical Support: 1. What type of printer emulation does you printer support? When a program sends information to the printer, it needs to send it in a form the printer can understand. The types of data the printer will understand are known as "emulation" modes. For example, a Canon BubbleJet 300 will emulate both the IBM Proprinter X24e and an Epson LQ-850. It is important to know what types of data your printer can accept. This information can usually be found in your printer's manual. 2. Is the software setup for an appropriate driver? Once you know what type of information your printer will accept, you need to make sure the software is sending it in the proper form. The part of the program that does this is known as a "printer driver". You need to choose the driver that is appropriate to your printer. In our example above, if the BubbleJet 300 is set for Epson LQ-850 mode, you need to choose an Epson driver from the program. If the printer is printing "garbage", make sure your driver and emulation mode match. Many printers will let you change their emulation mode using dip switches or a control panel. Your printer's manual will have a listing of the switches and what their settings do. If your printer is in a mode that does not have a corresponding driver in the program, see if you can change the switch settings to a mode the program will support. Again, if our BubbleJet is in IBM Proprinter mode and the software only supports an Epson, change the dip switch settings on the printer to put it into Epson mode.* *Note: This may affect other software you have set for a Proprinter. From time to time, a printer will list emulation for a type of printer, but not fully support it in all modes. This can be a very frustrating situation. In this instance, you can try some of the other drivers that are similar to the one recommended. For example, if the printer works as a 24 pin printer, but has problems with that driver, try using a similar 9 pin driver instead. In many instances this will solve the problem. It may just be that you printer is not in graphics mode. Another problem you may encounter is a "Venetian blind" effect. This is where the printout looks like the graphics are printed out as bands down the page with white space in between. The causes for this vary: 1. On very old printers (~1983), the problems lies with the printer itself, not being able to support the newer software. The program won't be able to print to these printers. 2. Some printers have an auto-linefeed mode that will cause this. This will be listed in your printer manual's settings options. This feature should be off. 3. Lastly, the printer may have a physical problem with the way the linefeed motor advances the paper. This is something a service center must adjust. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * SERIAL PRINTERS The following are instructions for adding a MODE statement for serial printer support. NOTE: Be sure that your autoexec.bat file resides in the root directory; NOT the DOS subdirectory. THE FOLLOWING INSTRUCTIONS ARE FOR DOS 5.0 or 6.0 USERS: 1. To put your MODE statement into memory you must edit your autoexec.bat file Type: cd\ (enter) edit autoexec.bat (enter) 2. You will get a new screen showing the contents of your autoexec.bat file. 3. Create a blank space by putting your cursor on the first letter of the first word and pressing enter. Arrow back up to the blank space and type MODE COM1:9600,n,8,1,p 4. Press Alt + F, then X, then press enter to confirm the save. 5. This should leave you at your root directory again (the c:> prompt) 6. Reboot the computer by pressing the Ctrl + Alt + Del keys simultaneously. 7. Your MODE statement is now loaded into memory. FOLLOWING ARE INSTRUCTIONS FOR USERS WHO ARE NOT USING DOS 5.0 or 6.0. These are basic instructions derived from a DOS manual. Refer to your DOS manual for further assistance. 1. To put your MODE statement into memory you must edit your autoexec.bat file. Type: cd\ (enter) edlin autoexec.bat (enter) 2. "End of input file" should now be on your screen. (If you get a "Bad command or filename" message be sure that you've typed EXACTLY what is shown above, and that the edlin.exe and the autoexec.bat file both reside in the root directory.) 3. Press "L" (for list) and you will get numbered lines of information, followed by an asterisk (*) at the left-hand margin. 4. Type the number 1, and the letter "i" and press enter. You will now be on line number one. Type MODE COM1:9600,n,8,1,p 5. You should be back at the * at the left-hand margin. 6. Type "end" and you will be left at the C prompt. 7. Reboot the computer by pressing the Ctrl + Alt + Del keys simultaneously. 8. Your MODE statment is now loaded into memory. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * INSTALLATION During installation of multiple-disk programs, you will get a message prompting you to enter the next numbered disk and press any key to continue. If you swap disks and press any key, and you are still being prompted to insert the disk, check the following: 1. Are you, in fact, putting in the right numbered disk? 2. Sometimes disk caching software/hardware will cache the floppy drive and can cause the directory to be read from the cache and not the new disk. If you have disk caching software installed, remove it from memory and try the installation again. (This may involve editing your autoexec.bat and re-booting your computer.) 3. Sometimes the DOS program SHARE can cause this. If you are loading SHARE, edit your autoexec.bat to prevent SHARE from loading, then re-boot your pc and try the installation again. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Information from Epson on "Venetian blind" printing problem Currently there seem to be four types of venetian blind problem: 1. Auto-linefeed control set to on Symptoms: Very pronounced venetian blind effect. Lots of space between the graphics lines, about the size of a full line of text. Printout will be twice as long as should be. Particularly common with Tandy systems. This will happen in any software, text or graphics, unless the software has a specific option. Cause: The printers auto-linefeed mode is active. It automatically adds a linefeed when the carriage returns. This was a feature for older software that did not specifically advance the printer. Solution: Need to turn off the auto-linefeed mode. This is either through dip-switch settings (the most common), a front printer control panel, or occasionally through switches set through printer control software. 2. Older printers Symptoms: Gets spaces between lines, but only about 1/16". The printout is elongated, but only by about a quarter of its size. This won't happen with text based output or older graphics software with old print drivers, but will probably happen with newer graphic programs. Cause: This happens only with old printers, about 1980-1984. Problem lies in the way they set up the bit-mapped graphics on the old systems. These are typically 8 pin printers. Solution: Not really a lot that can be done. Sometimes you can select the MX Compatibles driver which was a printer from that time. Other than that, the software just won't work with that printer. 3. "9 pin stretch" Symptoms: Makes the printout look like it getting an extra 1/2 line feed. This will be a very uniform problem down the whole printout. The printout will be elongated. It will only happen on certain graphics programs, and not with text. Cause: The problem comes from selecting a 9 pin driver on a 24 pin printer. The program sends the graphic info in 9 pin resolution and the printer is supposed to translate it into a 24 pin space. This usually stretches the print Certain printers will only double the bits giving 18 pin information. The remaining 6 pins don't fire giving the space. Solution: This is a difficult one. The problem usually lies in the printers emulation, they'll emulate the 24 mode, but not the 9 pin entirely. Unfortunately, they are probably only selecting the 9 pin driver because the 24 pin didn't work. Not really a fix, just try having them check emulation, or try setting for a different mode (e.g. Proprinter mode). 4. Physical problems with the printer Symptoms: Looks like a very pronounced banding problem, almost as if one or two pins aren't firing. The problem will be quite inconsistent, the gaps will vary in size. This is only noticeable on high resolution graphics output, and won't show up on text output. The printout may or may not be elongated, if so, only slightly. Cause: Mechanical problem in the interaction of the platen and the line feed motor. It happens only on push-tractor printers which are all of their newer printers. It doesn't happen on their older friction feed printers. Sounds like a fairly common problem that happens with older printers or ones that get substantial use. Epson is aware of the problem. Solution: They need to have a service center do a physical adjustment to the printer. They need to have a backlash adjustment and a platen adjustment. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * How to configure your memory: You try to run a program, but the system says it doesn't have enough memory to run, but that can't be true because you've got 4M of RAM. Sound familiar? This is actually quite a common problem and really relates to the way your memory is arranged and being used rather than how much you actually have. This document is meant to shed some light on this often confusing problem, and give you some tips on how you can better make use of your memory. Here's the scoop: your memory is actually divided into several different sections, each of which has a very specific role. The most important of these is the conventional memory. This is the only memory immediately available to DOS programs, and all the memory DOS will recognize without a memory manager. All the DOS programs you've ever used, need to use this main memory. Above this block there are a variety of memory areas: upper memory, expanded memory, and extended. When DOS programs say they don't have enough memory to run, they're saying there isn't enough conventional memory free for them to operate. Why isn't it available is the next question. This happens because there are programs that load when your machine starts up that take up part of your conventional memory. These are known generically as memory resident programs. These include drivers for special equipment like mouse, CD-ROM and sound drivers, system enhancements like caches and compression programs, and other types of system additions. There are two files which control which of these programs are loaded and run and they are called the CONFIG.SYS and the AUTOEXEC.BAT. If you'd like to know how much memory you currently have free, you can type CHKDSK at the DOS prompt and the last line of that report (BYTES FREE) will tell you how much conventional memory you have available to run DOS programs. How to get your program to run? Basically, what you need to do is free up your conventional memory to make room for your program. You can do this in two ways. The first is to not load any memory resident programs in the first place. The second involves using a memory management system to load those programs into the other sections of memory. The easiest way to keep memory resident programs from interfering with your program is to make a DOS SYSTEM disk which will start your system up, but doesn't load any of your additional drivers. To do this, put a blank disk in the A: drive (it needs to be blank because this operation will erase anything on it!) and type the following: FORMAT A: /S Once it's done formatting, you can restart your machine with this disk in the drive and it will bypass any memory resident programs and you'll be able to run your program fine. While this is an excellent method to allow certain programs to run, you need to be aware that it does this by keeping drivers from loading, and what that really means for your system. Because the mouse driver doesn't load, you won't be able to use your mouse in the program. If you're using Stacker or SuperStore, because their drivers aren't loaded, you won't be able to access any compressed drives. To correct this situation, you may need to create a minimum system that loads just enough of your drivers to allow the system to run, but not so many that your memory is used up. For more information about this, refer to your DOS manual for Customizing Your System (chapt. 11 in the DOS 5.0 manual). The other method to free more memory is to load some of your resident programs into the other types of memory, out of your main 640K. In order to do this, you must either have DOS 5.0 or another type of commercial memory manager and at least 1M of RAM. You will also need a 386 system to use these program's more advanced features. This procedure, and the restrictions and cautions associated with it, is outlined in chapter 12 of the DOS 5.0 manual, Optimizing Your System. It is highly recommended that you read this material before making these changes. If you have a commercial memory manager, simply follow the instructions provided with that program. If you would like to use DOS 5.0's tools, the basic memory management tool is HIMEM.SYS, and it is activated by having the following lines in your CONFIG.SYS file: DEVICE=C:\DOS\HIMEM.SYS DOS=HIGH The first line activates DOS's high memory manager, and the second loads DOS itself into that section of memory. This alone may give you enough memory to run your programs, again, you can check to see with the CHKDSK command. If this still isn't enough, then you will have to use EMM386 to free up additional memory. This will involve loading the EMM386 driver, then using the DEVICEHIGH and LOADHIGH commands for your CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT files to load your individual drivers into high memory. This procedure, while not terribly difficult, does involve quite a few steps, and you will have to refer to your DOS manual in order to configure the files properly. We hope this helps you in setting up your system to run your programs. If you are still having problems, see if you can find the answers in the manuals that accompanied your system. You can also contact Microsoft's technical support for help on using their memory management tools (HIMEM.SYS & EMM386) at (206)454-2030, or our technical support team for other problems related to our programs at (602)893-8481. We want you to be able to enjoy our programs, and thank you for your support of our company. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * WINDOWS General Protection Faults (GPF) The most common cause of GPFs is improper memory access. Windows manages all the memory on your system, and if a Windows application, Windows itself or a device driver accesses memory not assigned to it, a GPF usually occurs. The error message that accompanies the GPF can provide information as to the type of problem, based on where the fault occurred. There are three core files that make up the part of Windows that runs Windows applications: KRNL386.EXE, GDI.EXE and USER.EXE. If a GPF occurs in one of these three files, the area governed by that file should give direction toward discovering the cause of the GPF. KRNL386.EXE (KRNL286.EXE on a 286 system): This file loads and executes Windows applications, and handles their memory management. GDI.EXE This file manages graphics and printing. USER.EXE This file controls user input and output, including keyboard, mouse, sound driver, timer, communications ports, and window management. 1. Is Windows correctly configured for your hardware? The Windows Setup detects the type of machine you have, although in some cases, may not correctly identify your machine. To verify that Windows is configured correctly for your computer, you need to run SETUP outside of Windows, at the DOS prompt. To do this, exit Windows, change to your Windows directory, and type SETUP . After a moment, the Windows Setup screen is displayed. In the System Information section, make sure that the correct machine type appears in the Computer text box. If it does not, move the highlight to that text box, press Enter, and then select the correct machine type from the resulting list. If your machine type is not specifically named, choose MS-DOS SYSTEM. If you are connected to a network, verify that your network is properly listed in the Network text box in the same manner. 2. Is the GPF reproducible? GPFs caused by applications are reproducible, making it relatively easy to document when and where the GPF will occur. Random GPFs at different times usually indicate a memory conflict or hardware problem. Eliminating these GPFs requires you to examine your system carefully. 3. Where does the GPF occur? You will get an idea of what may be involved in the GPF by noting what module it occurs in. KRNL386 has to do with memory GDI deals with graphics and printing USER deals with user input and output (keyboard, mouse, sound driver, communications ports 4. If the GPF is random, usually a memory conflict or hardware problem is to blame. Check for TSR conflicts or device drivers by removing all unnecessary commands from the Autoexec.bat and Config.sys files. Reduce the Config.sys to the following commands: DEVICE=C:\WINDOWS\HIMEM.SYS FILES=60 BUFFERS=20 SHELL=C:\DOS\COMMAND.COM C:\DOS /E:2048 /P (If your drive and directory differ from the ones in this example, change them to match your system.) Reduce the Autoexec.bat to the following commands: PROMPT $P$G PATH=C:\WINDOWS;C:\;C:\DOS SET TEMP=C:\WINDOWS\TEMP Reboot your machine and load Windows as usual. If you are now able to run without the GPF occurring, you probably have an incompatible TSR or device driver. Now the tedious part will be adding commands back to your Autoexec.bat and Config.sys files one at a time, to determine which one caused the GPF. 5. Check for bad sectors in the permanent swap file If your system reports occasional read or write errors when accessing the hard drive, there may be bad sectors in the permanent swap file. If Windows accesses a corrupted area of the permanent swap file, it may wrongly report that an application caused a GPF. This is probably the leading cause of seemingly random GPFs caused by several applications. First remove the permanent swap file (Control Panel, 386 Enhanced, Virtual Memory). Next, run Norton Disk Doctor or PC Tools Disk Fix (or other hard drive utility) to find and mark the bad sectors on the hard drive. Finally, re-create the permanent swap file. 6. Check third-party device drivers for conflicts If you use a third-party device driver for your video graphics card, mouse, or network, you should configure Windows to use its own device drivers when you troubleshoot for GPFs. To do so, select Main, Windows Setup, Change System Settings and then configure Windows for a VGA display, no mouse and no network. If you choose to leave the mouse driver installed, you must realize that it can be a source of conflict. Restart Windows for your changes to take effect. If the GPF no longer occurs, you can use a process of elimination to discover which device driver causes the problem to occur. 7. If a specific device driver or application causes a GPF, you should re-install it. If any of the files a device driver or application uses becomes corrupted or damaged, re-installing the software may correct the problem. 8. Check Windows INI files for additional third-party device drivers. Using SysEdit or Notepad, open your SYSTEM.INI file. In the [boot] section, check to see if any of the following settings differ from these defaults: SHELL=PROGMAN.EXE SYSTEM.DRV=SYSTEM.DRV KEYBOARD.DRV=KEYBOARD.DRV MOUSE.DRV=MOUSE.DRV DISPLAY.DRV=VGA.DRV If any of your settings differ from these, you will need to comment out the differing settings, and add the respective default setting. To comment out a setting, place a semicolon (;) at the beginning of the setting's line. This tells Windows to ignore that line in the INI file. After making changes, choose FILE-SAVE. Next open your WIN.INI file, and locate the following settings: LOAD= RUN= If these settings don't appear as these defaults, comment them out and add the default settings on a new line. After making changes, choose FILE-SAVE. Now, restart Windows, and if the GPF no longer occurs, you can use a process of elimination to discover which setting causes the GPF to occur. 9. Page Mapping Conflicts A page-mapping conflict occurs when Windows (in 386 Enhanced) and a device driver or application attempt to use the same UMB in the UMA. (The UMA - also known as the adapter segment - is the area of memory between 640K and 1MB on your system.) Fortunately, Windows 3.1 inherits the UMA mapping info from an expanded memory manager, such as EMM386, keeping it from trying to use a UMB that the expanded memory manager is already using. However, a device driver or application may be using UMBs that the expanded memory manger isn't using, and if Windows tries to use one of those UMBs, a page-mapping conflict occurs. To test for a page-mapping conflict, start Windows with the following command line: WIN /3 /d:x The /3 command line switch forces Windows to run in 386 Enhanced mode. The /d:x command line switch tells Windows not to use the UMA. This switch is equivalent to adding the setting EMMExclude=A000-EFFF to the [386Enh] section of the SYSTEM.INI file. If the GPF no longer occurs, you probably have a page-mapping conflict. To further pinpoint where the page-mapping conflict occurs, you can add EMMExclude= settings to the [386Enh] section of your SYSTEM.INI file. To do so, use SysEdit or Notepad to open your SYSTEM.INI file. Next, move to the [386Enh] section and add the following five settings: EMMExclude=A000-AFFF ;EMMExclude=B000-BFFF ;EMMExclude=C000-CFFF ;EMMExclude=D000-DFFF ;EMMExclude=E000-EFFF Note the semicolon at the beginning of the last four EMMExclude= settings, instructing Windows to ignore these lines. Now, when you save your changes and restart Windows, it will exclude only the UMA area from A000-AFFF. If the GPF no longer occurs, then the page-mapping conflict involves the area A000-AFFF. If the GPF continues to occur, you will need to use a process of elimination to locate where the conflict occurs. Simply edit the SYSTEM.INI file to exclude only one area of the UMA at a time.