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Text File  |  1993-03-26  |  10KB  |  123 lines
  1.                                                                                 
  2. PRINT SELECTION FOR APAR - II06067 92/07/14                                     
  3. APAR= II06067  SER=                            DD DOC                           
  4. QUESTIONS TO ASK ABOUT DOSAP PROBLEMS                                           
  5. OS2INFOAPAR                                                                     
  6. STAT= INTRAN       FESN5NFO000-000  CTID= II0000 ISEV= 4                        
  7. SB92/06/04  RC          CL          PD           SEV= 4                         
  8.                        PE=                       TYPE= I                        
  9. RCOMP= INFOPCLIB    PC LIB INFO ITE RREL= R001                                  
  10. FCOMP=                              PFREL= F     TREL= T                        
  11. ACTION=             SEC/INT=                     DUP/                           
  12. USPTF=              PDPTF=                       DUPS 0                         
  13. DW92/06/04  RT          SC          FT                                          
  14. RE          PT          UP          LP                                          
  15. PV          AP          EN          FL                                          
  16. LC92/06/13  RU92/06/04                                                          
  17.                              CUST INST LVL/SU=                                  
  18. FAILING MODULE=              FAILING LVL/SU=                                    
  19. SYSROUTE OF:          RET APAR=             PS=                                 
  20. COMP OPER ENV=                                                                  
  21.                                                                                 
  22.                                                                                 
  23. SYSRES=      SYSIN=      SYSOUT=      CPU=             RE-IPL=                  
  24. OPTYPE=                 SPECIAL ACTIVITY=          REGRESSION=                  
  25. PRE-SCREEN NO.=          RSCP= RS000                                            
  26. ERROR DESCRIPTION:                                                              
  27. Keywords:  OS2INFOAPAR OS2DOSAP OS2QUESTIONS                                    
  28. When DOS applications experience problems running under OS/2,                   
  29. our main goal is to determine whether the problem is with the                   
  30. operating system or not.  Even though the error received is from                
  31. OS/2, the error could be due to the application not following                   
  32. standards or it could be a usage problem (usually corrected by                  
  33. DOS settings).                                                                  
  34. Steps to take to analyze a DOSAP problem:                                       
  35. 1.  Gather the information on the 857 form by entering 'FA 857'                 
  36.     from the PMR.                                                               
  37. 2.  We want to know first if the problem is with the DOS session                
  38.     or specific to certain applications.  If the customer can                   
  39.     open a DOS full screen prompt and get a prompt, there is                    
  40.     no problem creating the DOS environment in OS/2.  In                        
  41.     addition, if he can open a DOS window and get a prompt, his                 
  42.     problem is most likely not video related.                                   
  43. 3.  Once the prompt is received, ask the customer if he can                     
  44.     access files from the prompt with 'dir', 'type', and similar                
  45.     DOS commands.  If this is true, he probably doesn't have                    
  46.     a disk or file system problem.                                              
  47. 4.  Now, let's see what applications are failing.  If the                       
  48.     customer is receiving an out of memory error of some sort,                  
  49.     there are two prime candidates.  If the error is from OS/2                  
  50.     and contains the text "heap space is full", the customer is                 
  51.     out of swapper space.  In general, this is something that                   
  52.     should always be checked.  It is very important that this                   
  53.     information be included in the 783 form (swapper on: field,                 
  54.     and "free" field for that partition).  If the error is                      
  55.     something generated by the application, expanded memory                     
  56.     is usually the cause.  Please see APAR II06047 about EMS                    
  57.     problems.                                                                   
  58. 5.  If you are not familiar with the application, ask if the                    
  59.     app requires any hardware other than the base system.  If                   
  60.     it requires a modem, get the COM port settings (COM port                    
  61.     number, IRQ, etc.).  You may want to use form insert 864                    
  62.     for this use.  Record any hardware required in the PMR.                     
  63. 6.  IS THE PROBLEM REPRODUCABLE?  If it is not readily repro-                   
  64.     duced, have the customer stop all other running applications                
  65.     and check whether it will fail WHEN RUNNING ALONE.                          
  66. 7.  If the problem occurs when switching sessions, it's probably                
  67.     NOT due to DOS emulation.  Please reconsider what other                     
  68.     subsystem may be at fault.                                                  
  69. 8.  If the machine is a clone, ask the customer if he has                       
  70.     altered any DOS settings.  If you bring up help for the                     
  71.     DOS settings and scroll down to the bottom, you will find                   
  72.     a hypertext link to "DOS and WIN-OS/2 Settings,                             
  73.     Descriptions".  Double-click on this to bring up categories                 
  74.     for the different DOS settings.  By choosing a category,                    
  75.     all pertinent DOS settings are listed, and descriptions of                  
  76.     them can be viewed.  The following gives a list of general                  
  77.     problems, and what DOS settings should be checked:                          
  78.     Memory problems:                                                            
  79.         EMS_MEMORY_LIMIT                                                        
  80.         MEM_INCLUDE_REGIONS                                                     
  81.         EMS_PAGE_FRAME                                                          
  82.         XMS_MEMORY_LIMIT                                                        
  83.         DPMI_MEMORY_LIMIT                                                       
  84.         DOS_RM_SIZE                                                             
  85.     Video problems:                                                             
  86.         all VIDEO_* settings                                                    
  87.                                                                                 
  88.     Communications problems:                                                    
  89.        COM_HOLD                                                                 
  90.        DOS_BACKGROUND_EXECUTION                                                 
  91.        IDLE_SECONDS                                                             
  92.        IDLE_SENSITIVITY                                                         
  93.        also check CONFIG.SYS parameters on DEVICE=COM.SYS line                  
  94. 9.  If the problem "hangs the system" it is important to                        
  95.     determine if the system is REALLY hung.  Rule #1-- if the                   
  96.     mouse moves, the system is not hung.  Have the customer use                 
  97.     repetitve Ctrl-Esc's to cancel the session.  A pop-up should                
  98.     appear indicating that a particular program is not respond-                 
  99.     ing.  It can then be ended.  Insure that "FI 778" is                        
  100.     performed for a TRAP or IPE and ALL register information is                 
  101.     entered.  Just the location or type of trap provides no                     
  102.     useful information in almost all cases.                                     
  103. 10. Ask the customer if he has tried the application in a VMB                   
  104.     (virtual machine boot).  Refer the customer to the online                   
  105.     help on "Starting specific DOS version" in the master help                  
  106.     index and the VMDISK command in the command reference.  If                  
  107.     using VMDISK to create an image file, remind the customer                   
  108.     that he must have a DEVICE=FSFILTER.SYS statement in his                    
  109.     config.sys in the image.  If OS/2 was installed on an HPFS                  
  110.     partition, FSFILTER.SYS must be copied from the  OS2 MDOS                   
  111.     directory onto the diskette BEFORE the image is created.                    
  112.     Specific DOS sessions are often needed to run network                       
  113.     requestor programs such as Novell Netware and Banyan Vines.                 
  114. LOCAL FIX:                                                                      
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