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Text File | 1994-01-01 | 37KB | 736 lines

█▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀ █ HOW TO USE THIS TROUBLE-SHOOTING GUIDE █ █──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────█ █ █ █ This guide is contained in the file SAPPHTS.DOC. You can print it out, but █ █ it works best if you view it via the SYSOP menu, which uses our SEE program. █ █ To do that, enter SYSOP at the DOS prompt, select INFO, then select TROUBLE. █ █ This lets you search the guide for keywords whenever you have a problem. █ █ █ █ Each problem described in this file is preceded by a list of keywords, each █ █ of which is preceded by a slash character (/). Thus, if you had a modem █ █ problem, you could press "F" (for Find) then search for /MODEM. By repeat- █ █ edly searching for /MODEM (press F3 after the initial search) you can █ █ quickly scan the file for any related problems. █ █ █ █ When in doubt about which keyword to choose, use the shortest one that can █ █ describe your problem. For example, if a user has trouble connecting, look █ █ for /CONNECT rather than /CONNECTION PROBLEM, since /CONNECT would match on █ █ /CONNECT or /CONNECTING or /CONNECTION and so on. Most important, avoid any █ █ plurals: search for /MODEM, not /MODEMS. █ █ █ █ You can also search major categories. See the INDEX section, below. █ █▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄ ████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████ █ █ █ == INDEX == █ █ █ ████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████ Major categories in this guide are presented in alphabetical order, as follows: ■ COMMANDS (STANDARD) ■ COMMANDS (SYSOP) ■ DISPLAY ■ DOORS ■ EVENTS ■ FILE TRANSFER ■ FRONT END ■ INPUT ■ MAINTENANCE ■ MESSAGES ■ MODEM ■ NOISE ■ PROGRAM FAILURE Specific headings are preceded by two equals signs and a blank (see INDEX heading, above). Thus, to find the NOISE section, press F for Find, type "==", then a blank, then "NOISE". ████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████ █ █ █ == COMMANDS (STANDARD) == █ █ █ ████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████ KEYWORD: /COMMANDS/SET/NAMES/TEXT PROBLEM: How do SET, NAMES or TEXT work? These commands "tune" other commands to restrict or control what they report. SET controls them by time, NAMES by the name of the person or file being referenced, and TEXT by any text (apart from name-oriented text) that might be presented by the command. ████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████ █ █ █ == COMMANDS (SYSOP) == █ █ █ ████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████ KEYWORD: /COMMANDS/USERS/CLEAN/CLEAN-UP/CLEANUP PROBLEM: How do I access clean-up mode? To clean up the user list, you have to be in UltraMode (turned on and off with Alt-F10). Once you're in UltraMode, select the USERS command. ████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████ █ █ █ == DISPLAY == █ █ █ ████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████ KEYWORD: /SEE/VIEW/43/50/EGA/VGA PROBLEM: When viewing text files with SEE, I no longer switch to 43- or 50-line mode The version of SEE that accompanies Sapphire is a custom version designed for Sapphire. If you find a more recent version of SEE, don't install it in your Sapphire directory. ████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████ █ █ █ == DOORS == █ █ █ ████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████ KEYWORD: /DOORS/OTHER BBS/INTERFACE PROBLEM: How do I use doors that weren't specifically designed for Sapphire? Several interface programs are available which will interface doors for one BBS to another BBS. For example, the shareware programs SP2QBBS and DOORMASTER can be used. Both of these programs may be obtained from our support system. If you use them, please support the author's efforts by registering them. ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── KEYWORD: /DOORS/REMOTE PROBLEM: The door comes up but the users don't see anything Here are a few things to check out: 1. Are you running a "FOSSIL" driver? If so, why? Does the door NEED the fossil? Can you disable the fossil when it's not being used? If the door documentation doesn't explicitly say that it needs a fossil driver, try removing the fossil COMPLETELY before trying the door (i.e. reboot and don't install it). Then, if that proves that the fossil was the cause of the problem, read the fossil documentation to see if there is some way to disable the fossil when it is not needed. 2. Does the door know which port it is supposed to be using? You may have to use a door interface program (described above) to let it know. 3. Some programs (such as Pinnacle Software's Pyroto Mountain program) can accept the port information on the command line, in which case you should make sure that you are not pointing at the console. Taking Pyroto as an example, if the command line specifies a port of 0 (zero), it means the console. If it specifies a port address, it means the serial port. ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── KEYWORD: /DOORS/RETURN PROBLEM: How does Sapphire know we are coming back from a door? When Sapphire creates the batch file EXTERNAL.BAT, it writes the part where it starts itself back up as follows: SAPPHIRE DOOR This lets Sapphire know that it should not initialize the modem. ████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████ █ █ █ == EVENTS == █ █ █ ████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████ KEYWORD: /EVENTS/RETURN PROBLEM: How does Sapphire know we are coming back from a event? When Sapphire creates the batch file EXTERNAL.BAT, it writes the part where it starts itself back up as follows: SAPPHIRE EVENT This lets Sapphire know that it should not initialize the modem. ████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████ █ █ █ == FILE TRANSFER == █ █ █ ████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████ KEYWORD: /DOWNLOAD/UPLOAD/ABORTS PROBLEM: File transfer aborts immediately Here are a few things to check out: 1. Are you running a "FOSSIL" driver? If so, see the discussion of fossils in the DOORS section. 2. If you are running on COM3 or COM4, you must tell DSZ this by specifying the DSZPORT parameter. For example, if you are on COM3, you would have to enter the DOS command SET DSZPORT=3. The DSZ manual explains more. ████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████ █ █ █ == FRONT END == █ █ █ ████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████ KEYWORD: /FRONT END/FIDO/NETWORK PROBLEM: Does Sapphire support Fido or other networks? Not at the moment. We are looking into the possibility of creating a truly maintenance-free network. We have heard from some Fido sysops that they spend up to 3 hours a week keeping their Fido system up to date. This is not in keep- ing with the "install and forget" design of Sapphire. ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── KEYWORD: /FRONT END/INSTALL PROBLEM: How do you install a front-end program (to answer the modem)? Another program can call Sapphire with the command: SAPPHIRE FRONT <baudrate> This will start up Sapphire without touching the modem. If the baudrate is 0 (zero) or omitted, it means that the user is at the console. ████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████ █ █ █ == INPUT == █ █ █ ████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████ KEYWORD: /USER/ENTER/INPUT/FREEZE PROBLEM: User has to press Enter twice after each input. The symptom is that the user will type some input, hit Enter, and the cursor will "freeze" in column one -- before doing a linefeed -- and will not move on until he hits another character. This happens when the user sets his terminal program to send a CTRL-S whenever he presses Enter. For some reason, some Macintosh terminal programs seem to come pre-configured this way. Over the phone, it is very difficult to explain to a user how to solve this problem. In brief, however, he should look through his terminal program's configuration section for something labelled "handshaking" or "ASCII protocol", or something like that, and disable handshaking there. ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── KEYWORD: /USER/INPUT/CHARACTERS/MISSING PROBLEM: Some of the characters the user types are lost. Sapphire can have problems with multi-tasking software such as DesqView. The Sapphire serial routines are poll-driven rather than interrupt-driven. What this means is that, if you're running multi-tasking software, your users may lose characters when they type. Poll-driven I/O offers total port compatibility with all hardware platforms upon which Sapphire is likely to be run, but it does make it inappropriate for multi-tasking machines. ████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████ █ █ █ == MAINTENANCE == █ █ █ ████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████ ╔══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╗ ║ SEE ALSO: COMMANDS (SYSOP) ║ ╚══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╝ KEYWORD: /FILE LIST/FULL/DISK/SPACE PROBLEM: File list is full In most cases, the file list is self-maintaining, but if ALL of the files have been on the list for less than 14 days, auto-maintenance is disabled. When this happens, you can manually delete some files, using the FILES command (when logged in at user level 8), or you can wait for a few days for some files to time out. ████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████ █ █ █ == MESSAGES == █ █ █ ████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████ KEYWORD: /MESSAGES/READING/MISSING/NEW PROBLEM: The number of "new" messages reported is different from what is actually shown. 1. If the message just before the first one in that message base is yours, yours will be diplayed, in order to put the replies in context. This is not, however, a "new" message, so it isn't counted. 2. Messages with no viewable text (or just the summary line viewable) due to use of <<privates>> or ><exclusives>< are not displayed, though they are counted in the "new" messages. (It would take too long for Sapphire to look at each message in the message base, in advance, to see which ones are visible.) 3. If you physically delete message files (instead of using the ERASE command), Sapphire will keep them listed in the message file, but won't be able to open the file when it is time to display it. ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── KEYWORD: /MESSAGES/READING/MISSING/NEW/MINE/MOVE PROBLEM: When I send a message, I can't see it, even if I use the MOVE command to move it to a date ahead of my read date. In normal reading, Sapphire avoids showing you your own messages unless they serve to put other messages in context (see the previous item). You can see your own message if you do a Temporary SET, however. But since SET can't be entered before you logon, this means that you never see your own logon messages (unless somebody else is also writing logon messages). If you wish to check your messages, use the REVIEW or CHANGE command. ████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████ █ █ █ == MODEM == █ █ █ ████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████ This categories is divided into the following sub-categories: ■ CONNECTING ■ DISCONNECTING ■ MISCELLANEOUS ▄█▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀█▄ █ = CONNECTING = █ ▀█▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄█▀ KEYWORD: /MODEM/ANSWER/CONNECTING/CALL PROBLEM: Modem doesn't answer incoming calls. This happens if the modem is not configured correctly, either in hardware or modem settings. Check all of the following suggestions; one of them may solve your problem. ∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙ HARDWARE PROBLEMS ··············································································· 1. If, when you start up Sapphire, it does NOT have an error-free dialog with the modem (i.e. if it complains about a carrier, or modem not ready, or if the modem never responds "OK"), refer to the trouble- shooting section concerned with those problems (do a keyword search for (slash)CARRIER, (slash)NOT READY or (slash)OK). 2. If you have an external modem (a box outside your computer, as opposed to a card inside your computer), check the following: A. Is your modem plugged in? (Are lights glowing on the front panel?) B. Is the modem plugged into the phone line? C. Is the phone line plugged into the CORRECT plug on the modem? (Some modems have one plug for the line and one for a handset) 3. As an aid to understanding the problem, try calling the modem on a voice phone. Does it pick up the line? If it does pick up the line, do you hear a carrier? ∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙ MODEM SETTINGS ··············································································· 1. If you have an external modem, it may have some lights which indicate how it is set, or what signals it is receiving. Check these lights and settings, and compare them with the informatin in your modem manual. LIGHT USUALLY AFFECTED LABEL MEANING BY MODEM COMMAND RELATED ITEMS IN THIS GUIDE ───── ────────────── ──────────────── ─────────────────────────── AA Auto-Answer ATS0=1 Search for (slash)DIP MR Modem Ready AT&D1 Search for (slash)DIP TR Terminal Ready N/A OH Off-hook ATH0 Should be OFF, not on. LIGHT LABEL MEANING COMMENTS ───── ────────────── ──────────────────────────────────────────────── SD Send Should flash when modem receives your commands RD Read Should flash when modem replies to your commands 2. If you have an internal modem, you still have to make the settings correctly, but you won't see any lights to indicate if your commands have been accepted. ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── KEYWORD: /MODEM/ANSWER/CONNECTING/SPEED/9600/V32 PROBLEM: Modem answers incoming calls okay at some speeds but not at others. 1. In configuring your modem, you must take care to set the X setting (i.e. the ATX command) properly. For example, some settings may not show the baud rate properly. In general, use the highest X setting supported by your modem. 2. If you are having trouble at baud rates of 9600 or more, you will have to consult your modem manual. A sample problem: the other person might be trying to connect an HST at 9600 to a V32 modem at 9600; the two methods are not compatible. 3. Some modems, when initialized at one speed, will not jump to higher speeds. In such case, try initializing the modem at the highest speed it supports. 3A. If you are using a 9600+ baud modem, and you have a machine that runs at 8 Mhz or faster, try initializing it at 9600 baud. If that works, AND you have a V32bis modem AND you have a machine that is 16 Mhz and faster, you can try initializing it at 14400. Do a search on <slash>HIGH SPEED for some additional notes on this topic. 3B. If your machine is slower than 8 Mhz, you will probably have to initialize at 2400 baud. On some modems, this will make it impossible to receive calls at 9600 baud because the modem assumes that your initializing baudrate is the maximum you can attain. This is a flaw in the design philosophy of the modem, and there is nothing that Sapphire can do about it. ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── KEYWORD: /MODEM/ANSWER/CONNECTING/SPEED/HIGH SPEED/9600/V32/DTE/LOCKING/BAUD PROBLEM: People get nothing but noise when they connect to my high-speed modem. The new high-speed modems have a very large number of settings. In 99% of Sapphire installation, your best bet is to TURN OFF all the fancy features such as port speed locking, buffering, renegotiation, handshaking, flow control, and so on. These features are important when on-the-fly compression (MNP 5 and V42bis) is required. But since: (A) Nobody can read at 9600 baud and... (B) File transfers are generally compressed in archive (e.g. ZIP) files the on-the-fly compression is usually more trouble than it's worth. A V32 modem can not go faster than 9600 baud under any circumstances. Only compression makes its throughput faster. A V32bis modem is faster, so you can configure it at 14400 (if your machine is fast enough). By the way, some "Fax Modems" claim to support 9600, but the 9600 may refer to their fax function, not its data rate (caveat emptor). Moreover, not all 9600 bps modems are compatible. A "non-dual standard" V-Hayes, Telebit PEP or CompuComm modem will communicate with a different model at 2400 baud, but can attain higher speeds when talking to the same kind of modem. If you're thinking about getting a high-speed modem, get a V32 or V32bis model, as this has become the accepted standard. (Nevertheless, not all V32 modems are created equal and sometimes different brands refuse to communicate at more than 2400 baud.) High speed modems support something called "locked baud rates". This means that no matter what speed the caller dials in at, the modem will talk to Sapphire at a specific speed. When a modem is advertised as supporting more than 14400 baud, it usually means that it is connected to the remote system at a lower speed, hooked up to the local computer at the higher speed, and uses compression to try to achieve the higher baudrate (throughput). But as mentioned earlier, this rarely produces the expected benefits. Your modem should be set to have a "floating" or "unlocked" baud rate (different manufacturers use different words), so that when a 2400 baud call comes in, the modem says "CONNECT 2400", and when a 1200 baud call comes in, it says "CONNECT 1200". With a locked baud rate (sometimes called a locked DTE rate), the modem will always report the same connect speed. Unless you are very sure of what you are doing, you best bet is to turn off this feature (and other fancy features). With all these settings, you might wonder how you can get all the configuration information into one Sapphire setup command. Fortunately, most new modems have "stored profiles" so that a simple command (e.g. ATZ1) can load a particular configuration. Most modems use the commands AT&V, AT&W and AT&F to support stored profiles. Your modem manual will provide you with the details. ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── KEYWORD: /MODEM/ANSWER/CONNECTING/SPEED/300 PROBLEM: Modem doesn't work properly on 300 baud calls Some 9600 baud modems can't support the higher baud-rates and 300 baud at the same time. Under some circumstance, the Telebit T1600 exhibits this behaviour. There is no way to fix this problem except to experiment with the modem's internal settings. Be sure to record your modem's present settings before you start experimenting. ▄█▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀█▄ █ = DISCONNECTING = █ ▀█▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄█▀ KEYWORD: /MODEM/HANG UP/ECHO PROBLEM: When user hangs up, modem endlessly echoes back to Sapphire. Some modems don't have time to drop the carrier while characters are being sent. For this reason, you have to configure the modem not to echo command characters. This can cause an echoing loop when somebody hangs up. ┌·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·┐ | The solution given here applies to most modems, but check your modem manual | └·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·┘ ┌·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·┬·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·┐ | MODEM HAS | | | DIP SWITCHES? | ACTION TO BE TAKEN | ├·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·┼·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·┤ | YES | Set switch 4 to NOT echo characters | ├·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·┼·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·┤ | NO | Include E0 - not E1 - in your modem initialization command | └·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·┴·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·┘ ▄█▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀█▄ █ = MISCELLANEOUS = █ ▀█▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄█▀ KEYWORD: /MODEM/CARRIER PROBLEM: Sapphire says that the modem is presenting a carrier. You must set your modem so that it does NOT present a carrier -- unless some- body has dialed in and is connected. ┌·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·┐ | The solution given here applies to most modems, but check your modem manual | └·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·┘ ┌·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·┬·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·┐ | MODEM HAS | | | DIP SWITCHES? | ACTION TO BE TAKEN | ├·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·┼·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·┤ | YES | Set switch 6 to use CD line | ├·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·┼·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·┤ | NO | Try including &C1 in your modem initialization command | └·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·┴·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·┘ ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── KEYWORD: /MODEM/NOT READY/READY PROBLEM: Sapphire says that the modem is not ready. 1. If you have an external modem, are all wires of the modem cable connected properly? A. If you have a "null modem cable" (pins 2 and 3 cross-connected) Sapphire won't answer. B. Using some wire, a flashlight battery, and a flashlight bulb as a simple continuity tester, check that the important pins are connected end-to-end: Pin 1 (or Pin 7) Pin 2 Pin 3 Pin 8 Pin 20 The pin numbers are usually written in tiny letters on one of the connectors, or pin 1 is marked with a little arrow. ··············································································· 2. Make sure that the modem is configured to use the Terminal Ready line. ┌·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·┐ | The solution given here applies to most modems, but check your modem manual | └·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·┘ ┌·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·┬·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·┐ | MODEM HAS | | | DIP SWITCHES? | ACTION TO BE TAKEN | ├·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·┼·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·┤ | YES | Set switch 1 to use DTR line | ├·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·┼·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·┤ | NO | Try including &D1 or &D2 in modem initialization command | └·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·┴·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·┘ ··············································································· 3. Make sure the modem's DSR behaviour is configured properly. Some modems allow the selection of the behaviour of the Dataset Ready (DSR) signal. The proper setting is "always on", but some modems let DSR indicate whether or not there is a carrier. On modems without DIP switches, you can usually set DSR behaviour with the &S setting. For example, on most Hayes modems, &S0 sets the corrects behaviour. ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── KEYWORD: /MODEM/OK/AT COMMANDS PROBLEM: The modem seldom or never responds "OK" to the commands I send it. 1. Try configuring the modem at a lower baud-rate -- it may be missing some of the responses. The initialization baud-rate is set via SYSOP:CONFIG: BASIC:MODEM:SETTINGS. 2. If the problem happens only after you've used another modem-oriented program, turn the modem off and on before starting Sapphire. The method by which some modems figure out their command baudrate may make it impossible for Sapphire to reset the modem. Technical explanation: Modems determine their command baudrate by looking for an "AT" after a reset. Some modems reset on a DTR transition; some don't. In such case, the easiest way to do a reset is to turn the modem off and on. 3. Your modem may be responding slowly. Sapphire waits 1.5 seconds for a modem response to begin, but for some commands (especially the ATZ reset command), it may take your modem longer than that. You might be able to solve the problem by modifying the Command Pacing value in SYSOP:CONFIG: BASIC:MODEM:SETTINGS. If that does not solve your problem, watch the process carefully to deter- mine if your modem is, in fact, accepting the command -- but that for some reason Sapphire is simply unable to obtain the response. If everything else works fine (i.e. users can call in), then you may decide to simply put up with the fact that Sapphire will attempt each command three times. ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── KEYWORD: /MODEM/DIP SWITCHES PROBLEM: Modem has DIP switches. Older modems have tiny DIP (dual-inline-package) switches (sometimes you have to open the modem to find the bank of switches). In most cases, they are set as follows: ┌·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·┐ | The solution given here applies to most modems, but check your modem manual | └·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·┘ Switch 1 UP: Computer should use the Data Terminal Ready (DTR) line Switch 2 UP: Result codes sent as words Switch 3 DOWN: Result codes are sent to the computer Switch 4 UP: Echo incoming characters Switch 5 DOWN: Don't answer incoming calls Switch 6 UP: Computer should use the Carrier Detect (CD) line These modems may also have switches 7 and 8; check your manual to see how they should be set. ████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████ █ █ █ == NOISE == █ █ █ ████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████ KEYWORD: /NOISE/RANDOM/CHARACTERS/GARBAGE/CONNECTING PROBLEM: Users see some random characters when they connect. 1. If only one user has this problem, ask him to try on a different modem, or to try from another location. 2. If everybody has this problem, disconnect ALL phones at your house (even those on other lines) except the modem. If this cures the problem, it may indicate the problem. Some conference phones, for example, cause leakage between lines, which causes line noise. 3. If you have this problem during early testing, make sure that the other person has called other BBS's before, at the baud rate being attempted, and that the baud rate being attempted is within the capabilities of both modems. 4. See also the CONNECTING items in the MODEM section. ████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████ █ █ █ == PROGRAM FAILURE == █ █ █ ████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████ KEYWORD: /PROGRAM/FAILURE/ERROR CODE/RUNTIME ERROR/IO ERROR/BUG PROBLEM: Program fails with an Run-time error code. The following table may help you determine the cause of the error: ┌·─·─·─·─·┐┌·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·┐ | ERROR # || COMMENTS | ├·─·─·─·─·┤├·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·┤ | 2 and 3 || File/Path not found. Are all file paths in SYSOP:CONFIG valid? | ├·─·─·─·─·┤├·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·┤ | 4 || Too many open files. Increase your FILES= value in CONFIG.SYS. | | || See your DOS manual for an explanation of the CONFIG.SYS file. | ├·─·─·─·─·┤├·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·┤ | 5 || File access denied. For some reason, Sapphire is trying to write | | || to a read-only file or a directory. Check SYSOP:CONFIG carefully. | ├·─·─·─·─·┤├·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·┤ | 100 || For some reason, a file is shorter than Sapphire thought it would | | || be. Check your Sapphire directory for any zero-length files. If | | || you find one, and it is a file that Sapphire creates (i.e. it is | | || obviously a Sapphire data file but did not come in the original | | || Sapphire package), back up your Sapphire directory, delete the | | || suspect file, and run Sapphire again to see if it creates the | | || file correctly. | ├·─·─·─·─·┤├·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·┤ | 101 || Your disk is full. Clear some space before restarting Sapphire. | ├·─·─·─·─·┤├·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·┤ | 150 || Your disk is write-protected, so Sapphire can not write to it. | ├·─·─·─·─·┤├·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·┤ | 152 || Disk drive not ready -- may be a hardware malfunction. | ├·─·─·─·─·┤├·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·┤ |154 - 162|| Probably a hardware malfunction. Have your computer checked for | | || proper operation by qualified service personnel. | └·─·─·─·─·┘└·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·─·┘ If the table above does not help you solve your problem, dial in to our BBS at 514-345-8654 and have a look around; we may have a copy of SAPPHTS.DOC that covers your problem or a new version of SRUN.EXE that solves it. If that doesn't help, call our voice support line at 514-345-9578. If you think you've spotted a bug in Sapphire, the most helpful thing you can do is learn how to make it happen on demand. That is to say, before you report a problem, try to understand it well enough to make it happen on purpose. Here's a checklist to help you assess the problem: 1. What do you think causes the problem? 2. How often does it happen? 3. Does it happen to everybody or just certain people? 4. Did it start just recently or has it always happened? 5. If it just started, what changed just before it started? 6. What have you done to try to solve the problem?