QEMM 97 README FILE ==================== This file includes last-minute information that did not make it into the manual as well as possible compatibility problems that you may find while running QEMM 97. For that reason alone, it is worthwhile reading! If you want to print this file for future reference, be sure you are in the QEMM directory and type "COPY README.TXT PRN:" at the DOS prompt. Alternatively, you may print this file from the Windows Notepad by clicking on the File menu, then Print. This file may contain information that is NOT in QEMM Setup's Help ReadMe sections. INSTALLATION AND COMPATIBILITY NOTES ==================================== QEMM TECHNOTES There are several helpful technical notes in the TECHNOTE subdirectory under the QEMM installation directory. All of the QEMM technotes may be viewed by running QEMM Setup (QSETUP) either from DOS or from Windows; QEMM Setup incorporates a file viewer that allows you to read these notes easily. The Windows version of QEMM Setup features a Windows Help file that also incorporates versions of these notes. PRODUCTS.TEC contains a list of compatibility issues between QEMM and other hardware and software products. Please read this technote before beginning any troubleshooting. Other online documents, including QEMMUTIL.TEC, TESTPRGS.TEC, and QPI.TEC, describe utility programs and technical information for programmers and advanced users of QEMM. Still others provide background information, compatibility notes, or tips and tricks related to various types of hardware and software. SAVING DISK SPACE FOR WINDOWS-ONLY USERS If you work exclusively in Microsoft Windows, you can delete the contents of the QEMM\TECHNOTE subdirectory, at a savings of about 400K of disk space. All the QEMM technotes are also included in the Windows Help file, and can be read by selecting Technotes from the QEMM Setup Help menu. OPTIMIZE'S CONVENTIONAL MEMORY REQUIREMENTS It is possible to load so many TSRs and device drivers on your system that you may run out of memory during the OPTIMIZE process! Please refer to the technical note MAXMEM.TEC in your QEMM\TECHNOTE directory for suggestions on improving your pre-OPTIMIZE configuration. In cases where OPTIMIZE does not complete successfully, you may wish to try taking advantage of expanded memory by skipping the hardware detection phase. To do this, start OPTIMIZE from the DOS command line with the /NH parameter as follows: OPTIMIZE /NH OPTIMIZE, DOS-UP AND BUFFERS In versions of MS-DOS up to 6.22, up to 48 DOS BUFFERS could be loaded into the High Memory Area (HMA) along with the DOS kernel. In MS-DOS 7 (the version of DOS that accompanies Windows 95), it is possible for other parts of DOS to be loaded into the HMA, reducing the amount of space available for BUFFERS, and causing them to be loaded below the HMA. This may result in a conflict during the OPTIMIZE Software Detection Phase, such that not enough memory is available to determine accurately the memory needed by DOS-Up to load BUFFERS above 640K. If you are using Windows 95 or the underlying version of DOS that accompanies it, and if you are using the DOS=LOW setting in CONFIG.SYS, Quarterdeck recommends that you set your BUFFERS= value to 30 or less. WINDOWS 95 AND PREVIOUS DOS VERSIONS If your Windows 95 system is set up to allow you to boot to a previous DOS version, the names of multiple configuration paths must be unique for both your Windows 95 CONFIG.SYS and your MS-DOS CONFIG.SYS. For example, if you have a multiple configuration path labelled "GAMES" in your Windows 95 CONFIG.SYS, you must not have a path labelled "GAMES" in your MS-DOS CONFIG.SYS; instead, you could have a path labelled "GAMES95" in the Windows 95 CONFIG.SYS, and one labelled "GAMES622" in the MS-DOS CONFIG.SYS. QEMM'S STEALTH D*SPACE AND DRIVESPACE QEMM's Stealth D*Space feature supports all versions of DoubleSpace or DriveSpace that accompany MS-DOS version 6.00 through 6.22. Stealth D*Space does not currently support the version of DriveSpace that comes with Windows 95 (or DOS 7), nor the DriveSpace that comes with the Microsoft Plus Pack. BATCH FILES AND OPTIMIZE The OPTIMIZE process requires that batch files be CALLed, rather than run directly. That is, any batch file in AUTOEXEC.BAT (or in a batch file CALLed from AUTOEXEC.BAT) must take the form CALL MYBATCH.BAT rather than MYBATCH.BAT This is especially important at the end of AUTOEXEC.BAT. In order to monitor the boot process properly, OPTIMIZE must regain control of the system at the end of AUTOEXEC.BAT. Thus the OPTIMIZE process will fail if the last line of your AUTOEXEC.BAT file is a batch file that is not "CALLed" (that is, a batch file without a CALL command in front of it); such batch files never return control to AUTOEXEC.BAT, and thus OPTIMIZE is unable to regain control. If the last line of AUTOEXEC.BAT is a batch file, make sure to CALL it as shown in the example above. OPTIMIZE AND PROGRAMS THAT LOAD THEMSELVES HIGH If you receive a message during the OPTIMIZE process that a program is failing to load high, it is probable that a program that loads itself high is interfering with OPTIMIZE's analysis. The simplest solution to this phenomenon is to remove any DOS=UMB line from CONFIG.SYS (or change DOS=HIGH,UMB to DOS=HIGH), and to make sure that the line DOS=NOUMB appears in your CONFIG.SYS file. OPTIMIZE'S STEALTH TESTING PROCESS OPTIMIZE's Stealth Testing process is the best way to ensure both maximum memory and maximum compatibility with your system. To take advantage of this feature, make sure that you're starting from a stable, bootable QEMM configuration. Typically the line DEVICE=C:\QEMM\QEMM386.SYS ON will allow you to boot your system safely. From this, you may run OPTIMIZE's Stealth Testing procedure in the following way: 1) At the DOS prompt, type OPTIMIZE /REMOVEALL This will remove LOADHI commands and parameters from all of the lines in CONFIG.SYS, AUTOEXEC.BAT, and any batch files called from AUTOEXEC.BAT. 2) Edit CONFIG.SYS and remove all parameters except ON from the QEMM386.SYS line in CONFIG.SYS. 3) At the DOS prompt, type OPTIMIZE /ST The Stealth Testing process provides maximum compatibility with your system. QEMM386.SYS AND 3COM NETWORK CARDS QEMM's QuickBoot feature may conflict with a quirk of 3Com Etherlink III network cards with 3C59X drivers. These cards and drivers may require the BOOTENABLE:N (BE:N) parameter to be specified on the QEMM386.SYS line in CONFIG.SYS. QEMM386.SYS AND WINDOWS 95'S ADD NEW HARDWARE FEATURE The automatic hardware detection process in Microsoft Windows 95's Add New Hardware feature may require a clean system for stable operation, including disabling QEMM386.SYS temporarily at boot time. When installing new hardware, you may easily disable QEMM temporarily by holding down the Alt key as soon as you see the "Starting Windows 95" message at boot time. Disable DOSDATA.SYS and QEMM386.SYS, ignore messages from LOADHI that QEMM is disabled, and allow your system to continue booting; install your new hardware and reboot. INSTALLATION AND UNINSTALLATION =============================== Install will default to installing QEMM to the C:\QEMM directory. If you have a previous version of QEMM that is not in the C:\QEMM directory, we recommend installing to the same directory as your previous version. On some systems, it is possible that you may receive a report of a Fatal exception 0D @012F:BFF767D7 as INSTALL copies SCHANNEL.DLL. In such cases, there is a copy of SCHANNEL on your system already. Pressing the space bar at this point will allow installation to continue normally. Uninstallation does not remove QEMM from the PATH statement in AUTOEXEC.BAT. Uninstallation on Windows 95 systems will leave OPTIMIZEd MS-DOS program's PIFs in an OPTIMIZEd state. If you wish to remove QEMM from your system, and if you have OPTIMIZEd MS-DOS mode PIFs, you should restore the backup of your PIF, or right-click on the PIF shortcut, choose Properties, the Program tab, and the Advanced button; then edit the CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT manually. Uninstallation may not remove QEMM-related statements from CALLed batch files that are not in the DOS path, unless you have supplied a fully-qualified path to the CALLed batch file. If you install from DOS on a Windows system, you may receive error messages the first time you start Windows after installation. QEMM's Windows components will be installed immediately after this, and the messages should subsequently disappear. QEMMWIN USER INTERFACE Under Windows 95, on video cards that use the Cirrus CL-GD5434 chipset with the video BIOS v1.24 (you may determine your chipset through Manifest's Adapters / Video report), you may experience a system crash when you attempt to display QEMMWIN's Details / Memory screen. To resolve this problem, obtain the updated video drivers that are part of the Direct/X 3.0 distribution. Contact Cirrus Logic for details. ERRATA AND OMISSIONS IN THE DOCUMENTATION ========================================= QEMM's PNP:(Y/N) PARAMETER QEMM provides special support for Plug and Play BIOSes. When Stealth is active, QEMM does not map High RAM over the Plug and Play signature; this allows programs to scan the system ROM and to find the Plug and Play signature and entry points. QEMM also does some patching to make sure that the machine's state is setup properly during P&P calls. QEMM's default behavior is to set PNP:Y internally to perform this work. PNP:N suppresses the patching that we do to leave the Plug and Play signature exposed and leaves the machine's native Plug and Play support in place. PNP:N is generally a bad parameter to use, since Windows 95 makes Plug and Play calls as it starts, and those calls will fail if QEMM is active without its Plug and Play support. PNP:N might change the behavior of a system failure, but should not be used as a troubleshooting parameter unless the system is utterly failing to start up. QEMMWIN DRIVE ALERTS The online help for the QEMMWIN User Interface suggests that QEMMWIN will monitor drive space on network drives, and will provide alerts in low-disk-space conditions. QEMMWIN reports only on local hard drives.