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3 ============================================================================== PCBoard Call Waiting Screen Command Line Parameters Environment Switches While A User Is Online Local Logins BOARD.BAT Errorlevels Troubleshooting To load PCBoard, type BOARD at the DOS command prompt. This will execute the BOARD.BAT that is installed in your \PCB directory. When PCBoard is loaded, it will present the call waiting screen to you. The first part of this chapter discusses the call-waiting screen. The rest of the sections in this chapter discuss the command line parameters and switches you can use to load PCBoard, the status line, and potential problems that you can run into while attempting to load PCBoard. Call Waiting Screen The call waiting screen is shown only to you, the SysOp. From this screen, you can access all of the important PCBoard configuration utilities and modify some of the ways that PCBoard operates. There are fifteen buttons on the call-waiting screen that define the action that will be taken. Navigating When the call waiting screen is displayed, you will notice that the Sysop - Busy button is highlighted. You can move the highlight bar around the call-waiting screen by using the following keys: Left Left. Move the highlight bar one button to the left. If the highlight bar is at the left-most button on the row, the highlight bar will not move. Right Right. Move the highlight bar one button to the right. If the highlight bar is highlighting the rightmost button on the row, the bar will not move. Down Down. Move the highlight bar one button down. If the highlight bar is on the bottom button, the bar will not move. Up Up. Move the highlight bar one row up. If you are at the top of a column of buttons, the highlight bar will not move. ENTER Execute option. The button that is currently highlighted will be executed. For example, if the Sysop - Busy button is highlighted when you press R, you will log in as the SysOp and the phone will be made busy. Options Explained The following describes each of the buttons available on the call-waiting screen: User - Busy Selecting this button or pressing 2 enables you to login locally as a user.. The display will change to approximate what would be viewed if you called in using a modem. The only difference is that the status line is visible. In addition, the phone line for this node will be made busy (if a COM port has been selected). User - Not Busy This button is identical to the User - Busy button, except that the phone line will not be made busy. If someone calls while you are logged in, PCBoard will make a ringing sound and print a notice on the status line to let you know that you should log off. Sysop - Busy This button allows you to log in locally to PCBoard as the SysOp. The graphics, name, and password prompts are all skipped to allow for quicker logins. PCBoard will make its best attempt to approximate the display that a remote caller would see on their screen. The only difference is that the status line is visible. In addition, the phone line for this node will be made busy (if a COM port has been selected). Sysop - Not Busy This button is identical to the Sysop - Busy button, except that the phone line will not be made busy. If someone calls, while you are logged in, PCBoard will make a ringing sound and print a notice on the status line to let you know that you should log off. DOS - Busy Selecting this button or pressing 1 will exit PCBoard and return to DOS. The phone line will be made busy preventing users from being able to login to the node. DOS - Not Busy This button will exit PCBoard and return to DOS. The phone line will not be busy meaning that callers will hear the phone continually ring. If you prefer to use keyboard short-cuts, you can press 0 or E instead of selecting this button. Printer Selecting this button or pressing 3 will toggle the printer status. Off The information that is written to the caller log will not be sent to the printer port. On Anything that is written to the caller log will also be written to the printer port defined in PCBSetup | Node Configuration. Page Bell Selecting this button or pressing 4 will toggle your chat status to be either on or off. Off Users will be told that the SysOp is not available for chat if they use the O user command. Instead, they are asked if they would rather leave a comment to the SysOp. On When the page bell is turned on, users will be able to page you for chatting if they attempt to page between the hours defined in PCBSetup | Configuration Options | Limits. If paged, you will be beeped for 30 seconds. You can then choose to answer the page by pressing M or to ignore the page. If you do not answer, the user will be asked if they wish to leave a comment to the SysOp. Alarm Selecting this button or pressing 7 will toggle the alarm status to be either on or off. While a caller is online (either local or via modem), PCBoard will beep when an invalid command is entered, at the beginning of the call, and when the automatic logoff for inactivity is about to occur. The setting of the alarm will determine if the beeps will be heard on the local computer only -- remote callers will always be sent beeps. Off The beeps will not be heard on the local computer but they will be heard on the remote computer. On The beeps will be heard on both the local computer and the remote computer. PCBSysMgr Pressing this button or ALT-S will load System Manager. See the System Manager chapter for further details. As long as you use BOARD.BAT to load PCBoard, you will return to the call waiting screen when you exit System Manager. PCBFiler Pressing this button or ALT-D will load PCBFiler. See the PCBFiler chapter for further details. As long as you use BOARD.BAT to load PCBoard, you will return to the call waiting screen when you exit PCBFiler. PCBSetup This button will load PCBSetup. As long as you use BOARD.BAT to load PCBoard, you will return to the call waiting screen when you exit PCBSetup. Statistics The call waiting screen keeps track of the last caller, and number of calls, messages, and file transfers since being reset by the Reset Stats switch. This button toggles the statistics that are displayed on the call waiting screen between local and system status. Local All statistic totals refer to the current node only. System All statistic totals refer to all of the nodes in your system. NOTE: The statistics will not be updated on local logins if the Exclude Local Logins from Stats option is enabled in PCBSetup | Configuration Options | Switches. PCBMoni When this button is selected or you press ALT-M, PCBMoni will be loaded. See the Utilities chapter in this manual for further details. PCBoard shells to PCBMoni so you will always be returned to the call waiting screen when you exit. Reset Stats Selecting this button will reset the last caller, and the number of calls, messages, and file transfers. If you are displaying LOCAL statistics, only that node's statistics will be reset. If you are viewing SYSTEM statistics, all nodes will be reset. You may want to do this on a regular basis to help keep tabs of how active your system is. Additional Keyboard Commands In addition to the buttons on the call waiting screen, there are two keyboard commands that are available: F8 Recycle node. Using this keyboard command will cause PCBoard to recycle the node and re-initialize the modem. F9 Toggle screen display. This keyboard command will toggle the status of the screen. When the screen is off, no information is printed on the screen (leaving the entire screen black). Otherwise, the normal information you would see is displayed on the screen. Command Line Parameters Command line parameters give you the ability to modify certain ways that PCBoard will behave. The following is a brief listing of what some of the command line parameters do: Automatically assume a local login and skip the call-waiting screen. Assume that the call has already been answered by a front-end program and continue with the connection. Usually, you will modify your BOARD.BAT file to include the command line parameters that you want to use. Use a text editor to modify the PCBOARD line in the batch file. To add one or more command line parameters, specify them after PCBOARD as shown in the following: if exist endpcb del endpcb PCBOARD /LOCALON /KEY:y;q^M if exist remote.bat remote Notice that two command line parameters were specified on this line. To separate the parameters, a space is used after PCBOARD and also after the first parameter. /C:[carrier speed] If you run a front-end program that answers the call, you need to inform PCBoard that the call has already been answered by using this parameter. When this parameter is used, the carrier speed of the connection must be supplied. If you do not specify a valid carrier speed, PCBoard will print Invalid use of /C: switch Exiting to DOS! and return back to DOS. When a valid carrier speed is specified, PCBoard will check the port to make sure that carrier is detected on the serial port that PCBoard is defined to use before allowing the user to login. If carrier cannot be found, PCBoard will notify you and then exit. Example PCBOARD /C:14400 /ERR This parameter tells PCBoard that the connection that has been established by a front-end program is an error-correcting session. Users who have error-correcting sessions are able to select file transfer protocols that require error-correcting sessions. You must use this parameter in conjunction with the /C parameter to have any effect. Example PCBOARD /C:14400 /ERR /EVENT:[minutes to event] If you have a front-end program answer all of the calls, PCBoard will not be in control of running events. Instead, it is up to your front-end program to run all of your events for you. To help insure that all callers have logged off by the time your front-end program is ready to run the event, PCBoard uses this parameter You must specify the number of minutes after the user has connected that the event is scheduled to run. Most front-end programs will set an environment variable with this value. Example Assuming that your front-end program sets an environment variable called EVENTIME with the number of minutes until the next event occurs, you would use the following line in BOARD.BAT: PCBOARD /EVENT:%EVENTIME% NOTE: If you are unfamiliar with using environment variables in batch files, refer to your DOS manual for a detailed description. /FILE:[location of PCBOARD.DAT] By default, PCBoard will assume that its configuration file (PCBOARD.DAT) is located in the current directory. If you attempt to load PCBoard from a directory that does not have a PCBOARD.DAT, you will receive this message: Unable to open PCBOARD.DAT Exiting to DOS! In some setups, it is desirable to share the same PCBOARD.DAT file for several nodes. A good example of this would be if you have several users on a network that will be logging into your nodes. The /FILE parameter, enables you to specify where the PCBOARD.DAT file can be found for the node you are trying to load. After the /FILE:, you must specify where the PCBOARD.DAT. If you specify an incorrect location or forget to specify the filename, you will see the following error message: Unable to open PCBOARD.DAT Exiting to DOS! Example PCBOARD /FILE:C:\TEMP\PCBOARD.DAT /KEY:[text to stuff] When used in conjunction with the /LOCALON parameter, you can automatically send the keys specified with the /KEY parameter. This would allow you to setup a batch file that may automatically answer the graphics, name, and password questions for you -- saving you from entering this information each time you want to log in locally. When specifying the keys to use on the command line, you need to be aware of the some special conditions: To send a carriage return, enter ^M on the command line. See the examples for this section for additional details. If you need to send a space, you must surround the entire /KEY parameter in quotes to make sure that DOS treats it as one single command line parameter. See the examples for this section. If you need to send a %, you will need to enter two % characters in a row. This character has a special meaning when used in batch files and it will be stripped unless you specify two of them together. If you would rather send the contents of a file instead of specifying the keys to send on the command line, you would enter an @ followed by the filename you want to use after the /KEY: parameter. By sending the contents of the files, you would not have to worry about the special conditions outlined earlier in this section. For a sample of using the contents of a file, see Examples. Examples To automatically answer the graphics and name questions, you could modify your BOARD.BAT to read: PCBOARD /LOCALON /KEY:y;q^mFirst^mLast^m Using the previous example and stacking your name (instead of answering each prompt individually) would require that you use a space. As mentioned previously, you will need to surround the entire /KEY parameter with quotes if you want to send a space. PCBOARD /LOCALON "/KEY:y;q^mFirst Last^m" Finally, if you want to specify that the contents of LOGIN.TXT be sent to the local login session, then you would modify your BOARD.BAT to read: PCBOARD /LOCALON /KEY:@LOGIN.TXT or PCBOARD /LOCALON /KEY:@C:\LOGIN\BOB.TXT /LOCALON Not all users have to connect with a modem to login to PCBoard. In fact, the ability to let users login from remote with a modem or locally is one of PCBoard strong points. You could have all of your users login locally from the call waiting screen using the User - Busy or User- Not Busy buttons but this would introduce some serious and unnecessary risks to your system. Instead, you should use this command line parameter. When this parameter is used, PCBoard bypasses the call-waiting screen and automatically performs a local login similar to selecting the User - Not Busy button. The following conditions are in effect when the /LOCALON parameter is used: The status line is changed to a one line status line, displaying a minimal amount of information. This status line more closely resembles the status line that one might see in a regular modem terminal or communications program. With the exception of ALT-F, ALT-I, ALT-P, ALT-T, and 5, all SysOp functions keys are disabled to prevent potential security risks. Descriptions of these function keys can be found in the While A User Is Online section of this chapter. The function keys that are defined in PCBSetup | Configuration Options | Function Keys still remain active. Users may upload and download files using any protocol that is internal to PCBoard. For additional information about setting up local logins for multiple users, please refer to the Multiple Nodes chapter in this manual. Example PCBOARD /LOCALON /NOENV Normally PCBoard will create environment variables to aid the setup of doors in a multiple node environment. If you do not want the PCBDAT, PCBDRIVE, PCBDIR, and PCBNODE environment variables to be created, use this parameter. Example PCBOARD /NOENV /READSYS This parameter will search the current directory for a USERS.SYS file. If found, the user file will be updated with the information in the file. Once the update is completed, PCBoard will immediately exit to DOS. This parameter is useful for third party applications that want to update the user file. Example PCBOARD /READSYS /USERSYS;[first];[last];PWRD:[password];TPA:[application] This command line switch is designed to be used by developers of third party applications. It generates a USERS.SYS file for the user specified and then returns back to DOS. The USERS.SYS file will be found in the directory where PCBoard was run from. The text surrounded in brackets must be replaced with the following information: first The user's first name for whom the USERS.SYS file will be generated. last The user's last name for whom the USERS.SYS file will be generated. password The user's password. If the password is incorrect, the USERS.SYS file will not be generated. application The name of the application that TPA information should be included for. This is optional and should only be used if TPA is specified. NOTE: The ;TPA:[application] is purely optional and should only be specified if the USERS.SYS file should contain the information of a particular TPA. Examples PCBOARD /USERSYS;John;Doe;PWRD:anyoldthing PCBOARD /USERSYS;John Doe Jr.;PWRD:anyoldthing;TPA:mail Environment Switches Environment switches are similar to command line parameters because they modify the way that PCBoard behaves. Instead of specifying the switches on the command line, PCBoard will look for these switches to be specified in the PCB environment variable. If you look at your BOARD.BAT file, you will notice that towards the top is this line: SET PCB= It is on this line that you will specify any of the environment switches that are discussed in the section. Note that the = character immediately follows PCB. If it does not, PCBoard will not recognize the environment variable. Specifying more than one switch can be done by entering them one after another on the same line as shown in this example: SET PCB=/NODE:99 /COM2: This example shows each switch separated by a space. In reality, it is not necessary to sperate each switch with a space but it does make it clearer to read. NOTE: If you get an out of environment error when loading PCBoard, refer to your DOS manual on how to use the Shell command in your CONFIG.SYS file to increase the default environment size. /BASE:[hex address] This switch overrides the com port base address that is specified in PCBSetup | Modem Information | Modem Setup with the value that you use with this switch. The base address under the same conditions that the /IRQ switch would be used. The value that you enter for the base address must be in hexadecimal and may not comprise no more and no less than 3 digits. Example SET PCB=/BASE:3f8 /BAUD:[opening port speed] This switch overrides the opening port speed that is defined in PCBSetup | Modem Information | Modem Setup. In order for your modem and PCBoard to communicate properly, you must specify a value that your modem is capable of communicating at. Example SET PCB=/BAUD:57600 /COLOR PCBoard attempts to automatically determine if your system is capable of color display or not. Using this switch will force PCBoard to assume that your system is capable of color display. Example SET PCB=/COLOR /COM[number]: This switch will enable you to override the Comm Port that is defined in PCBSetup | Modem Information | Modem Setup. If an invalid port number is specified, PCBoard will revert to the port defined in PCBSetup. Example SET PCB=/COM2: /CONNECT:[carrier speed] If you want to override the carrier speed that PCBoard uses for estimating how long it will take to download a file, use this switch. This switch is ideal if you are operating in a packet switching network which is capable of high speeds whereas the users accessing the system through the network may not be capable of the same speeds. NOTE: For this switch to have any effect, you must answer Y to the Packet-Switch Network question in PCBSetup | Modem Information | Configuration Switches. Example SET PCB=/CONNECT:2400 /IRQ:[number] If you are using a serial port which uses a non-standard IRQ setting, you can use this switch to override the value defined in PCBSetup | Modem Information | Modem Setup. The only time you really need to even worry about non-standard IRQs is when you are using COM3 and/or COM4 for which no world-wide standards exist. Example SET PCB=/IRQ:5 /MONO PCBoard attempts to automatically determine if your system is capable of color display or not. Using this switch will force PCBoard to assume that your system is not capable of color display. Example SET PCB=/MONO /NMT PCBoard is capable of automatically detecting when Novell's NetWare is running. If you are running NetWare and you experience lockups when attempting to load PCBoard, you may want to use this switch. If PCBoard fails to automatically detect NetWare it may think that it erroneously determined that a multitasker is present. This condition would eventually cause your system to lockup. Example SET PCB=/NMT /NODE:[node number] This switch will override the node number that PCBoard finds in the PCBOARD.DAT file that it uses. If you specify a node number which exceeds what you have purchased a license for, PCBoard will revert to 1 as the node number. Example SET PCB=/NODE:3 /OLDINDEX This version of PCBoard is capable of maintaining V14.x style message index (.NDX) files. You may need to maintain these index files if you are using third party programs which access the message base index files but are not yet able to read the newer IDX index files. If so, use this switch which will force all of your conferences to maintain the older style index files as well as the newer style. Example SET PCB=/OLDINDEX While A User Is Online Status Line When a user is logged into the system, a 2-line status bar is displayed at the bottom of the screen. You can refer to this status bar to determine information about the caller that is online. There is far too much information about the user to display it all in two lines. To accommodate all of the information that is displayed, there are several views of the status line that you can rotate between by pressing ALT-H. The original view is referred to as the default view. Default View There is a lot of information displayed on this screen. To help explain the various components of this status line, it will be broken into two segments that will be explained in detail. 1 Node number. This area of the status line displays the node number of the screen that you are viewing. 2 Carrier speed. This area displays the carrier speed that the caller connected to the system at. If there is an E after the carrier speed, the caller has established an error-correcting session. 3 Name of user. This region of the status line displays the full name of the user. 4 City / location. In this area, the contents of the City field in the user's record will be displayed. 5 Graphics mode indicator. One of four indicators will be displayed: N, A, G, or R. N - CTTY mode. Color graphics is disabled. A - ANSI sequences are sent to speed up cursor positioning. G - ANSI sequences are sent to color the screen and to move the cursor. R - The user has selected RIPScrip mode. 6 Last date online. The date that the current user called the system is displayed in this region of the status line. 7 Current conference. The number between the parentheses displays the current conference that the user is in. 8 Current security level. In this area of the status line, the security level of the caller is displayed. This level will take into account any additional security that is assigned by joining the conference or other temporary security level adjustments. 9 Call waiting screen indicators. From the call-waiting screen you can see the status of the page bell, printer, and alarm. Between the parentheses a P, A, or B will be displayed if the printer, alarm, or page bell is turned on. Times On This region of the status line displays the total number of times that the user has called the system. This information can be found in each user's record too. Up:Dn Refer to this area of the status line to see how many files the current user has uploaded and downloaded. The number to the left of the colon is the number of files that have been uploaded while the number to the right is the number of files that have been downloaded. 10 Minutes used. In this region of the status line, the total number of minutes that the user has been online is displayed. This value is obtained by looking at the current time and comparing it with the time that the user logged in. 11 Logon time. The time that the caller logged into the system is displayed in 24 hour format in this region. 12 Last file handle number. The value that is displayed in the area is the last file handle number that DOS returned to PCBoard You should use this number to estimate the number of files that are open by this copy of PCBoard. Using this number, you will know if you need to increase the number of files allocated in your CONFIG.SYS file. 13 Total free memory. The value displayed here tells you how much memory is left. The number is displayed in kilobytes (1024 bytes per kilobyte). 14 Minutes left. In this region, the number of minutes that the user has left for this session or day is displayed. Remember that it is possible for the user to achieve time credits by uploading files. 15 Current time. In this region, the current system time is displayed in 24 hour format. In addition to the information shown on the status line there are blinking characters that may appear at the bottom of the screen near the Logon and Current time fields. The following describes the significance of the blinking characters: N This node has been marked to make the SysOp the next user to login. X This node is set to exit to DOS after the caller disconnects. R This node is set to recycle after the caller disconnects. S Software flow control is turned on. The remote caller must press CTRL-Q to begin sending data again. Unlike the other indicators, this one does not flash or blink. p The caller attempted to page you, but you did not answer the page. PCBoard is scanning the USERNET.XXX file. View #2 The second page of the status line briefly lists the SysOp function keys that are available while a caller is online. Refer to Keyboard Commands in this section for a detailed description of each. View #3 In the upper left hand corner of this view, the user's business/data and home/voice phone numbers are displayed. The two numbers are separated by a / character. The following describes the rest of the fields in this view: E/D Expiration date. This field shows the expiration date of the user. If 00-00-00 is displayed, then either subscription mode is not enabled, or the user has been setup to not have an expiration date. P/W Password. This field displays the login password of the caller. C1 Comment 1. The contents of the Comment1 field in the user's record is displayed in this field. C2 Comment 2. The contents of the Comment2 field in the user's record is displayed in this field. View #4 To quickly display the user statistics for file transfers and messages, you should switch to this view. The following information is available: Msgs Left Displays the total number of messages that the user has entered. Msgs Read Displays the total number of messages read by the user. Files U/L Displays the number of files uploaded to the system. Files D/L Displays the number of files downloaded from the system. Bytes U/L Shows the number of bytes that the user has uploaded to the system. Bytes D/L Shows the number of bytes that the user has downloaded. Today Displays the total number of bytes that have been downloaded by the user today. A negative value means that the user has uploaded files and had received byte credits. View #5 This view presents information about the serial port that PCBoard uses. If you have defined PCBoard to use port 0, this view will not be available to you. The following explains the fields in this view: PC-Modem The speed that is used between the computer and the modem. This is commonly referred to as the DTE speed. Carrier The speed that the caller connected to the system at. This speed is also known as the DCE speed. Overrun Displays the number of overruns you have experienced. This value should always be 0. If it is not, then you are receiving data faster than your current system is setup to handle. Framing Displays the number of framing errors that have occurred. If this value is not 0, your system is having problems receiving data. Parity Displays the number of parity errors that have occurred. If this value is not 0, your system is having problems receiving data. ErrCorr Based on the information that the modem provides to PCBoard at login, this field will show whether or not an error-correcting session has been detected. InBuf The total number of bytes that are currently in the input buffer. This value should normally be 0. OutBuf Displays the total number of bytes in the output buffer. This value you should normally be 0. CTS Shows the status of the CTS signal on the serial port. The signal will either be up or dn. In addition to the rest of the fields in this view, PCBoard will display the type of UART that it detects in the lower right hand corner of the status line. The possible value are: 8250 OLD An older 8250 UART has been detected. 8250A/16450 An 8250A or 16450 UART has been detected. 16550 An older 16550 UART chip has been detected. This chip has a bug which prevents the 16 byte buffer from working correctly. 16550 FIFO An older 16550 UART chip has been detected. PCBoard determined that this chip is capable of using the 16 byte buffer. 16550A FIFO A 16550A UART chip has been detected. PCBoard will take advantage of the 16 byte buffer of this UART chip. COMM-DRV PCBoard is communicating with the modem using the multiport driver. FOSSIL PCBoard is communicating with the modem using a FOSSIL driver. Keyboard Commands This section details the keyboard commands that are available to you while a user is online. You may only use these from the local keyboard -- not while you are logged in from remote. F1 SysOp privileges. Use this keyboard command to temporarily upgrade a user from a non-SysOp security level to the SysOp security level defined in PCBSetup | Security Levels | Sysop Commands. To return the caller to their original security level during the same call, press 1 again. Once the caller logs off, their security level will be returned to the original value. F2 Lock out. This keyboard command will allow you to automatically lock out the current users from the system. If you choose to lock the caller out, their security level will be dropped to 0, and they will be immediately disconnected from the system. F3 Toggle printing caller log. Use of this keyboard command will toggle the printer status. Anything that is written to the caller log will also be written to the printer port defined in PCBSetup | Node Configuration. You will know that the printer status is on when a P is printed in the parentheses found on the lower right-hand corner of the status line. F4 Toggle page bell status. Use of this keyboard command will toggle the page bell status. When the page bell is turned on, users will be able to page you for chatting if they attempt to page between the hours defined in PCBSetup | Configuration Options | Limits. If paged, you will be beeped for 30 seconds. You can then choose to answer the page by pressing M or to ignore the page. If you do not answer, the user will be asked if they wish to leave a comment to the SysOp. You will know that the page bell status is on when a B is printed in the parentheses found on the lower right-hand corner of the status line. F5 Shell to DOS. As long as you have not disabled local shells to DOS in PCBSetup | Configuration Options | System Control, this keyboard command will cause PCBoard to shell to DOS. F6 Modify current user's record. Essentially, this keyboard command will enable you to edit the same fields that you can edit by using the C subcommand of the 7 SysOp command. The difference being that the current user's record will be edited instead of you making an attempt to find the proper record. If the user does not have a record on disk yet, this keyboard command is disabled. F7 Toggle alarm status. Use of this keyboard command will toggle the alarm status. While a caller is online (either local or via modem), PCBoard will beep when an invalid command is entered, at the beginning of the call, and when the automatic logoff for inactivity is about to occur. The setting of the alarm will determine if the beeps will be heard on the local computer. You will know that the page bell status is on when an A is printed in the parentheses found on the lower right-hand corner of the status line. F8 Disconnect current caller. To force a user to immediately disconnect from the system you may use this keyboard command. Before the caller is disconnected, you are asked to confirm that you do indeed want to disconnect the caller. F9 Toggle screen display. This keyboard command will toggle the status of the screen. When the screen is off, no information is printed on the screen (leaving the entire screen black). Otherwise, the normal information you would see is displayed on the screen. F10 Chat with caller. To break into chat with the caller, use this keyboard command. When in chat mode, both you and the user can type interactively with one another. When you finished chatting with the user, press E to return to PCBoard. ALT-B Send a bell to the caller. When this keyboard command is used, a beep will be sent to the remote caller. This beep is useful for attempting to get their attention. For you to hear this beep locally, the alarm status must be on. ALY-D Run PCBFiler. PCBoard shells to DOS and runs PCBFiler. If a caller is online, they will be informed that you have exited to DOS and that they should remain online. ALT-F Capture text to a file. Use this keyboard command to capture the text that PCBoard displays on the screen to a file on disk. When you turn on capture mode, you will be prompted to enter the filename you wish to capture the information to. To turn off capturing, press ALT-F again. ALT-I Import text from a file. This keyboard command can be used to import a text file directly into PCBoard's buffer. If PCBoard finds the filename that you specify, the contents of that file will be used as if you typed in the information at the keyboard. ALT-M Run PCBMoni. PCBoard will shell to DOS and execute PCBMoni. ALT-N Reserve node for the SysOp. After the caller disconnects, PCBoard will automatically select the Sysop - Busy button from the call waiting screen rather than wait for the next call to come in. ALT-P Capture text to the printer. Use this keyboard command to capture the text that PCBoard displays on the screen to the printer defined in PCBSetup | Node Configuration. When you turn on capture mode, a P will appear next to the last file number opened on the status line. To turn off capturing, press ALT-P again. ALT-R Recycle the node. This command will mark the current node to be recycled after the caller disconnects. For additional information on recycling a node, refer to the 15 SysOp command in the PCBoard Commands chapter of this manual. ALT-S Run System Manager. System Manager is executed by shelling to DOS. ALT-T Send a top of form to printer. This keyboard command sends a form feed to the printer defined in PCBSetup | Node Configuration. ALT-X Drop to DOS after current call. This keyboard command will automatically select the DOS - Busy button after the current caller is disconnected. The phone will be busy, and PCBoard will exit. ALT-F1 Decrease available time. When this keyboard command is used, the caller's available time online will be reduced. If the user's available time is under 10 minutes, it will be decreased by one minute. Otherwise, their time will be decreased by 5 minutes. ALT-F2 Increase available time. When this keyboard command is used, the caller's available time online will be increased. If the user's available time is under 10 minutes, it will be increased by one minute. Otherwise, their time will be increased by 5 minutes. ALT-F9 Decrease security level. Using this keyboard command will reduce the caller's current security level. The new security level will be the next lowest entry in the PWRD file (PCBSetup | File Locations | Configuration Files). Once the security level has been adjusted, the user will adopt the characteristics of the new security level (including the time and bytes available). ALT-F10 Increase security level. Using this keyboard command will increase the caller's current security level. The new security level will be the next entry in the PWRD file (PCBSetup | File Locations | Configuration Files). Once the security level has been adjusted, the user will adopt the characteristics of the new security level (including the time and bytes available). Local Logins Anytime you access the system locally rather than through a serial device, you are performing a local login. All information is displayed to you on your local machine and you are actually running PCBoard on your machine. There are several methods you can use to log into the system in local mode. Methods To Login Locally Perhaps the most frequently used method of logging into the system locally is via the call-waiting screen. On the call-waiting screen, you will notice the following four buttons: The two buttons on the left will log you into the system asking you for your name, etc. In essence, this is identical to accessing the system via modem or serial port except everything is on your local screen. If you use the two buttons on the right, then you will be logged into the system as the SysOp (as defined in record #1 of the users file). You may also use the /LOCALON command line parameter of PCBOARD.EXE. If you use this parameter on the command line, then the call-waiting screen will be bypassed and the user will be immediately logged into the system. This method would be identical to selecting User - Not Busy from the call-waiting screen. For example, if you wanted a node to be configured to bypass the local login screen and immediately login, you could modify your PCBOARD line in your BOARD.BAT file to read: PCBOARD /LOCALON Differences in Operation Normally everything behaves/displays the same whether you are logged in locally or over a serial connection. However, when you are logged in locally, there are a few items that you may want to be aware of: Perhaps the most noticeable difference between remote logins and local logins is when you transfer files. PCBoard behaves differently when you are logged in locally. Refer to the File Transfers section in the SysOp's Guide chapter of this manual for additional details.. When a user is logged in locally, the COM port is defined as 0 in the setup. This means that if you have any door or utility applications that reference PCBoard to see what COM port is being used, be sure that they are able to discern that COM 0 means that the user is on locally. The speed of a caller when they are online is set to what you have defined as the Opening Baud Rate in PCBSetup | Modem Information | Modem Setup. Additional Features While a user is logged in locally some additional keystrokes are available. They are as follows: Scrl-Lck Scroll-back Buffer. Access text that has scrolled off of the screen. The number of lines that are stored in the scroll-back buffer is defined in PCBSetup | Configuration Options | Limits. F5 Shell to DOS. Enables you to shell to a DOS prompt while in PCBoard. You can disable or enable this option in PCBSetup | Configuration Options | System Control with the Allow Local SHELL to DOS. ALT-I Import a text file. You may need to import or stuff a text file while in PCBoard. Perhaps you need to include a file into a message. While entering the message you can press ALT-I. You will then be asked for the filename to import. If the file is not found, nothing will be done. If the file is found, the text will be imported into PCBoard just as if you had typed the information. ALT-F Capture screen output to file. If you would like to capture the text that PCBoard displays on your screen, you can press ALT-F. If you do not already have a capture file open, then you will be asked for the filename you wish to capture to. If you do have a capture file open, then pressing ALT-F will close the capture file. You will know if a capture file is open because you will see an F on the status line. ALT-P Capture screen output to printer. Capturing text to the printer is almost identical to capturing text to a file however, you are never asked or a filename. PCBoard looks at the printer port you defined in PCBSetup | Node Information. All information that PCBoard displays (with the exception of More prompts and such) will be sent to the printer. Like capturing to a file, you will see a P on the status line to signify that you are capturing output to the printer. ALT-T Send a form feed to the printer. If you need to send a form feed to the printer, you may do so by pressing ALT-T. BOARD.BAT For PCBoard to function normally, you need to use BOARD.BAT to load each node on your system. This batch file provides the logic that allows PCBoard to exit out of memory, load a door application or event, and return where the caller left off from. Sample The BOARD.BAT that came with your copy of PCBOARD probably resembles this example: @echo off c: cd\pcb set PCB= set dszlog=pcbdsz.log if exist remote.bat rename remote.bat remote.sys if exist door.bat del door.bat if exist endpcb del endpcb pcboard if exist remote.bat remote if exist door.bat door if exist event.bat event if exist endpcb goto end board :end Detailed Explanation To help better understand the flow and structure of the BOARD.BAT file, this section breaks it down into three sections. Each section shows a portion of the batch file and proceeds to explain each line in detail. Preparing To Executing PCBoard @echo off c: cd\pcb set PCB= set dszlog=pcbdsz.log if exist remote.bat rename remote.bat remote.sys if exist door.bat del door.bat if exist endpcb del endpcb This DOS batch file command will prevent each line from displaying on screen as it is executed. Changes to the C: drive. Changes to the PCB subdirectory. Defines the PCB environment variable. If you want to use any of PCBoard's environment switches you must add them to this line. Defines the DSZLOG environment variable. Several external protocols will read this environment variable to determine where to log the files that are transferred. Considering that PCBoard also reads this environment variable on external batch transfer protocols it is very important to have this variable properly defined. Checks the current directory to see if REMOTE.BAT exists. If it does, delete it to prevent it from accidentally being executed by another caller. This file is created by PCBoard from your REMOTE.SYS file. Because the REMOTE.SYS file remains on disk, this file can be deleted. Checks the current directory to see if DOOR.BAT exists. If it does, delete it to prevent another caller from executing it. PCBoard creates the DOOR.BAT file from your batch file for your doors. This file is used as a temporary file so that DOS can execute your door application. When PCBoard exits, it creates an ENDPCB file in the current directory. This file does not contain any useful information. Instead, it is used later in your BOARD.BAT to determine if PCBoard should reload, or jump to the end label. Executing PCBoard pcboard This line serves one purpose -- to load PCBoard. If you want to use any of PCBoard's command line parameters, you need to specify them on this line. After PCBoard Exits if exist remote.bat remote if exist door.bat door if exist event.bat event if exist endpcb goto end board :end Checks the current subdirectory to see if a file called REMOTE.BAT exists. If it does, execute it. It is the responsibility of this batch file to reload BOARD.BAT when finished. Checks the current subdirectory to see if a file called DOOR.BAT exists. If it does, execute it. It is the responsibility of this batch file to reload BOARD.BAT when finished. Checks the current subdirectory to see if a file called EVENT.BAT exists. If it does, execute it. It is the responsibility of this batch file to reload BOARD.BAT when finished. Checks the current subdirectory for a file called ENDPCB. If this file exists, goto the end label in the batch file which returns to DOS. This line is a catch-all that will reload PCBoard if no ENDPCB file is found (which should always exist when PCBoard exits). Defines a batch label called end. Errorlevels When PCBoard exits to DOS, it will set an errorlevel based on why it exited to DOS. Using DOS batch commands, you may check the errorlevel that is returned from the program that was last run and take appropriate actions. Checking An Errorlevel To test an errorlevel you need to use the IF batch file command. If you were to insert the following line somewhere after the PCBOARD line in your BOARD.BAT IF ERRORLEVEL 0 ECHO No Errors the message No Errors will be printed to the screen if PCBoard exits with an errorlevel of 0. For additional information on checking errorlevels, refer to your DOS manual. NOTE: Due to the way DOS errorlevels, you should check for higher numbered errorlevels first before checking lower errorlevels. PCBoard may exit with an errorlevel HIGHER than 7, yet DOS will treat an IF ERRORLEVEL 7 as being true. Therefore, if you will be using FAX software you should probably write your batch file like this: pcboard if errorlevel 8 board <-- test for all higher levels if errorlevel 7 fax <-- if 7 is still found, run fax ... etc Errorlevel 0 This errrorlevel will be returned anytime that PCBoard exits to DOS and expects no other action to take place. The only time that this will really occur is by selecting DOS - Busy or DOS - Not Busy from the call waiting screen. Errorlevel 1 This errorlevel will be returned if PCBoard is exiting to run an event. At this point, the door batch file has been copied to EVENT.BAT in the current directory. The BOARD.BAT that is included with you package uses an if exist event.bat line to determine when the event should be run instead of testing the errorlevel. Errorlevel 2 This errorlevel will be returned if PCBoard is exiting to run a door. At this point, the event file has been copied to DOOR.BAT in the current directory. The BOARD.BAT that is included with you package uses an if exist door.bat line to determine when a door should be run instead of testing the errorlevel. Errorlevel 3 This errorlevel will be returned if PCBoard is exiting to run a door. At this point, the REMOTE.SYS file has been copied to REMOTE.BAT in the current directory. The BOARD.BAT that is included with you package uses an if exist remote.bat line to determine when REMOTE.BAT should be run instead of testing the errorlevel. Errorlevel 4 This errorlevel is no longer used by PCBoard. Errorlevel 5 If you have answered Y to the Exit to DOS After Each Call option in PCBSetup | Configuration Options | Switches, PCBoard will exit with this errorlevel after each disconnect. By adding a line to your BOARD.BAT that tests for this errorlevel, you can determine the difference between a caller disconnecting and exiting via DOS - Busy or DOS - Not busy on the call waiting screen. The following BOARD.BAT shows an example of what your BOARD.BAT might look like after you have added the ability to test for errorlevel 5: @echo off c: cd\pcb set PCB= set dszlog=pcbdsz.log if exist remote.bat rename remote.bat remote.sys if exist door.bat del door.bat if exist endpcb del endpcb pcboard if errorlevel 99 board if errorlevel 5 loggedof.bat if exist remote.bat remote if exist door.bat door if exist event.bat event if exist endpcb goto end board :end Two lines have been added in this example. The first line checks for critical errors while the second checks to see if the caller disconnected. If the caller has disconnected, a batch file called LOGGEDOF.BAT will be executed. Errorlevel 6 If PCBoard is exiting because the node was marked to be recycled, this errorlevel will be returned. In your BOARD.BAT, you can add a statement which checks to see if the node is recycling. If so, run a batch file which does some special processing. The following illustrates the change that would need to be made to BOARD.BAT: @echo off c: cd\pcb set PCB= set dszlog=pcbdsz.log if exist remote.bat rename remote.bat remote.sys if exist door.bat del door.bat if exist endpcb del endpcb pcboard if errorlevel 99 board if errorlevel 6 call c:\update.bat if exist remote.bat remote if exist door.bat door if exist event.bat event if exist endpcb goto end board :end The two lines that were added to the batch file are highlighted in bold. The first line checks to see if the errorlevel returned by PCBoard is 99. If so, a critical error has occurred and this line will cause BOARD.BAT to be run again. If a critical error did not occur, the second line will run UPDATE.BAT found in the root directory of drive C. Notice that the call batch command is used. This will make sure that control is returned back to PCBoard after the UPDATE.BAT runs. For more information on the call command, refer to your DOS manual. Errorlevel 7 If PCBoard answers the call and the modem returns FAX or +FCON instead of CONNECT or CARRIER, PCBoard will immediately exit with an errorlevel of 7. A simple check for this errorlevel in your BOARD.BAT will tell you if you need to load your fax software of not. A modified BOARD.BAT may resemble the following: @echo off c: cd\pcb set PCB= set dszlog=pcbdsz.log if exist remote.bat rename remote.bat remote.sys if exist door.bat del door.bat if exist endpcb del endpcb pcboard if errorlevel 99 board if errorlevel 7 c:\fax\recvfax [params] if exist remote.bat remote if exist door.bat door if exist event.bat event if exist endpcb goto end board :end Notice that two lines were added to the batch file. The first checks to see if PCBoard exited due to an errorlevel of 99 while the second checks to see if a FAX call has been detected. You should be aware that the fax connection has already been established. You should use a program to receive the fax that assumes the connection has already been made. Refer to your modem manual to see if such a utility was shipped with your modem. NOTE: Modems which require TSR software to be loaded ahead of PCBoard, and which do not let PCBoard control the answering of the call, are a risk to PCBoard's security and are not supported. In addition, modems that do not issue a FAX or +FCON message are not currently supported. Errorlevel 99 If PCBoard is unable to load because a critical error has been detected, it will exit with this errorlevel. For a list of messages that will be printed by PCBoard if it is unable to load, refer to the Trouble Shooting section of this chapter. Each message is thoroughly explained. Troubleshooting PCBoard Will Not Load - Gives Error Message If PCBoard is unable to safely load, you will receive an error message in the upper left portion of your screen. This error message gives you information about why PCBoard could not load. The following lists each possible error that can occur as PCBoard loads and an explanation of how to fix the problem. ALL NODES ARE BUSY AT THIS TIME PLEASE TRY LATER In order for you to see this message, then you must have set the Float Node Number option in PCBSetup | Node Configuration to Y. A user has attempted to log into the system but there is not a free node on the system for them to log into. Remember that PCBoard will only begin scanning for free nodes from the node number that is specified in PCBSetup | Node Configuration up to your software license limit. In order to check if a node is free, the USERNET.XXX file is scanned. The only cure for this problem is to free up a node for new users to login or to upgrade your software license limit. If you check your system and you see that PCBoard thinks people are logged in locally when in reality you know that they are not (because they rebooted their system from the local connection or otherwise improperly exited PCBoard), you need to manually clear out their entries using PCBMONI.EXE. Load PCBMONI and cursor down to the node number. Next, press the M bar to access the Edit User Net Status screen. In the status field, enter Z for Node is offline. This will clear the entry for that node. The node will then be free for other users to log in to the system. Can't create caller log: PCBoard attempted to open the caller log. The log file could not be opened, so an attempt was made to create the file. However, the file could not be created. Since there is no way for to keep track of the calls to the system, the system is not brought online. The following are all valid reasons as to why the caller log could not be opened/created: The path specified in PCBSetup | File Locations | System Files does not exist. Since the path does not exist, PCBoard cannot create the caller log file. If your system is on a network, you may have lost your connection to the server which contains the caller log files. This would mean that the path where your files are normally stored would not exist and consequently the log could not be created. You do not have enough file handles to open up the caller log. Make sure that you have at least 25 files defined in your CONFIG.SYS (FILES=25) for each node that the machine runs. In addition, also make sure that your server (if you are running on a network) has at least 25 file handles for each node that you are running. Cannot open system PCBTEXT file PCBoard attempted to open the default PCBTEXT file defined in PCBSetup | File Locations | System Files but could not open the file. This may mean that you have an invalid path specified in the PCBTEXT field or the path is correct, but there is no PCBTEXT file in the directory. It could also mean that you do not have enough file handles available. Make sure that each node on the computer has at least 25 file handles available via CONFIG.SYS and that your server also has at least 25 file handles for each node that you are running. Error initializing comm port You should only see this message if you are using the /M version of PCBoard. It means that the communications port specified in PCBSetup | Modem Information | Modem Setup could not be opened via COMMDRV. A number will be displayed after the error message. To get more information why the port could not be opened, call technical support and give the technician the error message and error number. Error obtaining FOSSIL information Only the /M version of PCBoard will report this error and only if you have configured PCBoard to communicate through the FOSSIL driver (PCBSetup | Modem Information | Modem Setup). PCBoard has attempted to communicate via a FOSSIL driver. However, the information that was returned from the FOSSIL driver was invalid. Make sure that your FOSSIL driver is installed properly. ERROR! Need to update User Info File Conference Allocations Anytime that you increase the Number of Highest Conference Desired in PCBSetup | Configuration Options | Messages, you need to update your conference allocations. To do this, you need to load System Manager, select User Info File Maintenance, and finally select Change Conference Allocation. You will be shown some information about your USERS.INF file. If you do need to upgrade the file to accommodate the increased number of conferences you are told that the file needs to be updated and then are asked if you wish to update the file. By updating the USERS.INF file,. the size of the file on disk will be increased so that information about the new conferences can be stored. ERROR! PCBML.DAT does not contain a default (blank extension) entry. PCBoard uses the language that is defined without a filename extension (usually the default language) to determine the text that should be written to the caller log files. If a language is defined without an extension, PCBoard cannot determine the text that should be written to the log files. If you receive this error, you need to modify your PCBML.DAT file (PCBSetup | File Locations | Configuration Files) to include a language that has a blank extension. You may have to change the definition of one of the currently defined languages or you may have to install a brand new language to meet this requirement. Until the requirement is met, PCBoard will not load. ERROR! System is setup for SHARE access... If you have answered Y to the Running a Network / Multitasker System in PCBSetup | Node Configuration PCBoard checks to make sure that SHARE is loaded and functioning properly before accepting calls. If you receive this error message, SHARE.EXE is either not loaded or is not functioning properly. Without SHARE, file access cannot be relegated properly leading to potential corruption of files. Rather than risk data corruption, PCBoard will display this error message and return to the DOS prompt. Check your configuration to make sure that SHARE.EXE is being loaded in AUTOEXEC.BAT. Error! USERNET.XXX filename is blank. In order for PCBoard to be able to operate properly in a multinode configuration it must be able to read and write to the USERNET.XXX file. If you get this error, the location of this file is blank in PCBSetup | File Locations | System Files. Specify a valid path and filename and the error should not reoccur. HEADER ERROR IN USERS.INF - OR UNABLE TO READ USERS.INF FILE The USERS.INF file has been damaged or corrupted in some manner. This may signify a possible file corruption problem on your system (e.g., faulty disk cache, etc.) or a utility may that accesses the USERS.INF file may have damaged the file in some fashion. About the only thing that you can do (as an immediate fix) is to recreate the USERS.INF file by selecting Create User Info File from System Manager | User Info File Maintenance. insufficient memory for comm buffers PCBoard determined that you did not have enough memory to create the buffers that it uses for communication buffers. You need to increase the amount of conventional memory that is available before you load PCBoard. insufficient memory for conference strings You do not have enough conventional memory available for PCBoard to store the conference strings. You need to increase the amount of conventional memory that is available before you load PCBoard. insufficient memory for conference flags There is not enough conventional memory for PCBoard to store the conference flags. Before PCBoard can be loaded, you need to increase the amount of conventional memory that is available before you load PCBoard. insufficient memory for message pointers PCBoard determined that you did not have enough conventional memory available to store the message pointers. Before you can load PCBoard, you must increase the amount of conventional memory that is available. Invalid comm port - COMMDRV access not found PCBoard attempted to open the communications port specified in PCBSetup | Modem Information | Modem Setup but determined that you do not have COMMTSR loaded. In order for the /M version of PCBoard to run properly, you must have COMMTSR loaded as per the installation instructions in the Multiple Nodes chapter of this manual.. Along with the error message, you will be given an error number. When you call for technical support, please have the error number handy so that the technician will be able to help you solve your problem faster. Invalid comm port - FOSSIL driver not found You have specified that PCBoard should communicate via the FOSSIL driver that you have installed. However, the FOSSIL driver could not be identified. Make sure that your driver is installed properly. Invalid comm port or UART not functioning The COM port that you have specified in PCBSetup | Modem Information | Modem Setup does not exist, or the UART for the COM port is malfunctioning. Check the hardware for your COM port to make sure that it is functioning properly and replace it if necessary. Invalid use of /C: switch You have used the /C: command line switch with PCBOARD.EXE but you have not specified a valid port/connect speed for the option. Make sure that your use a valid port speed such as /C:19200, /C:14400, etc. Output buffer must be configured for at least 2048 bytes This error only occurs when using the /M version of PCBoard. In the DAT file that is used to load COMMTSR, there is a setting for the output buffer size. PCBoard determined that the size of the output buffer was less than 2K. Re-run DRVSETUP.EXE to make sure that the settings are correct and save a new DAT file. PCBoard is already loaded! Type 'EXIT' to return You have attempted to load PCBoard, but is already loaded. This is usually caused when you press 5 to shell out to DOS and then execute BOARD.BAT while you are in the shell. To return to PCBoard, type EXIT at the DOS prompt. PCBTEXT is unavailable PCBoard attempted to open the PCBTEXT file but determined that it could not be opened. This could be due to any of the following reasons: The path you specified in PCBSetup | File Locations | System Files is invalid or does not exist. Therefore, the PCBTEXT file(s) could not exist in that directory let alone be opened for access. If you are running in a network configuration, you may have lost your connection to the server thereby making the files on the server unavailable for access. Reconnect to the server (if your PCBTEXT file(s) are stored on the server) and the problem will be corrected. You may not have enough file handles available to open another file. Make sure that you have allocated enough file handles in your CONFIG.SYS statement. For one node on the machine you should have FILES=25. If you are running 3 nodes on the one machine then you need to have at least FILES=75. If you are in a network configuration, make sure that you have allocated at least 25 file handles for each node. PCBTEXT is the wrong version! Run MKPCBTXT to convert it. The default PCBTEXT file that PCBoard loads at startup was determined to be the wrong version. To fix the file, load MKPCBTXT.EXE. When prompted for the filename to edit, specify the full path and filename of your PCBTEXT file. You will then be guided on the steps necessary to fix the file. PCBTEXT needs to be upgraded! Run MKPCBTXT. Your default PCBTEXT file is an older version which was not designed to run with the version of PCBOARD.EXE that you are running. If you run MKPCBTXT.EXE and specify the filename of your default PCBTEXT file, it will be upgraded. Unable to open PCBPROT.DAT file PCBoard attempted to open the PCBPROT.DAT file but could not locate it, or it could not be opened. The following are some reasons why the file could not be opened: The file you specified in PCBSetup | File Locations | Configuration Files is invalid or does not exist. If you are running in a network configuration, you may have lost your connection to the server thereby making the files on the server unavailable for access. Reconnect to the server (if your PCBPROT.DAT file is stored on the server) and the problem will be corrected. You may not have enough file handles available to open another file. Make sure that you have allocated enough file handles in your CONFIG.SYS statement. For one node on the machine you should have FILES=25. If you are running 3 nodes on the one machine then you need to have at least FILES=75. If you are in a network configuration, make sure that you have allocated at least 25 file handles for each node. UNABLE TO OPEN USERS FILE - RUN PCBSM TO CREATE IT PCBoard attempted to load the USER file but could not do so. The file may not exist or the location specified in PCBSetup | File Locations | System Files is incorrect. Other possibilities include not having enough file handles specified in CONFIG.SYS to open the file or having lost your connection to the server (if running a network) where the USERS file exists. If you do not have a USERS file and need to create it then you should use System Manager to create a new USERS file. If you have a USERS.INF file but no USERS file, then delete the USERS.INF file that remains behind. Next, load System Manager, and select Users File Maintenance and then select Edit Users File. You will be informed of an error and that you need to create the User Info File this is to be expected. Next, return to the Main Menu and select Users Info File Maintenance and select Create User Info File. You will be asked if you wish to create the file. Answer Y to the question and a new USERS.INF file will be created. You should now have one record in the USERS file which is the SysOp record. UNABLE TO OPEN USERS.INF - RUN PCBSM TO CREATE IT The USERS.INF file could not be opened. If you know that you have a USERS.INF file then this error could be caused by any of the following reasons: The location of the USERS.INF file specified in PCBSetup | File Locations | System Files is incorrect or invalid. Specify the correct location of the USERS.INF file or make sure that the entry is valid. If you are using a network then make sure that you have not lost your connection to the server. If you have lost your connection then of course you will not be able to access the USERS.INF file that is stored there. Make sure that you have enough file handles available. You should allocate at least 25 file handles for each node on the computer and on your server you should allocate 25 handles for each node on your system. This can be done using the FILES= statement in your CONFIG.SYS. If you need to create a new USERS.INF file then you may do so by loading System Manager, selecting User Info File Maintenance, followed by Create User Info File. USERNET.XXX: create error PCBoard attempted to create the USERNET.XXX file used to maintain what each user is doing on the system but was unable to. The file location in PCBSetup | File Locations | System Files may point to an invalid subdirectory or if you are running under a network you may have lost your connection to the server. Another possibility is that you may not have enough file handles available to open the file. Make sure that each session on your computer has 20 file handles available and that your server has 20 file handles allocated for each node in the system. USERNET.XXX: format error PCBoard has determined that the format of the USERNET.XXX file is invalid. It could be that you are using an older version of the USERNET.XXX or it has been corrupted excessively. If you delete the file, PCBoard will recreate the file using the proper format. USERNET.XXX: memory error When PCBoard attempted to load the USERNET.XXX file into memory there was not enough conventional memory to do so. You need to increase the amount of conventional memory that is available before you load PCBoard. USERNET.XXX: open error The USERNET.XXX file could not be opened. It could be that the path to your USERNET.XXX file is incorrect (PCBSetup | File Locations | System Files). Another possibility is that you have lost connection to the server or you may have insufficient file handles available to open the file. USERNET.XXX: read error When PCBoard attempted to read the USERNET.XXX file it could not do so or encountered an error of some sort. If you have had disk access problems in the past it may cause this type of error. You could delete the USERNET.XXX file since PCBoard will recreate it and see if that clears anything up. However, it may turn out that this is a symptom of hardware failure on your system. PCBoard Does Not Answer Nothing can be more frustrating than setting up your system and then realizing that it is not accepting any calls. This sections details some reasons why your system may not be properly answering phone calls. Phone Rings But PCBoard Does Not Recognize The Call Normally when a call comes in, PCBoard will display Ring Detected followed by a number which counts down. When you see this message you know that a call was detected and that the two modems are attempting to establish a connection. What if you do not see this message but you know a phone call is coming in? There are two common reasons why this may occur: Your modem is not properly configured to send RING whenever a call is detected by the modem. Without the modem returning that response code, PCBoard does not know if the phone is ringing or not. Make sure you used PCBModem to configure you modem. It will setup both your hardware and your software to work as PCBoard expects it to work. You have purchased the /M version of PCBoard but you are running the regular version of PCBoard. The /M version stores the configuration in PCBOARD.DAT as PORTx whereas the normal software stores it as COMx. Because the normal version of PCBoard does not know how to handle the PORTx, it will report No Modem Selected as the communications port. Of course, since no communications port is selected, PCBoard cannot answer the phone. PCBoard Recognizes Call, Counts Down to 0 And Recycles When a call is detected, PCBoard counts down from the value you entered in Seconds to wait for carrier located in PCBSetup | Modem Information | Modem Setup. As soon as you see the Ring Detected message, PCBoard sends an ATA to the modem signaling that it should answer the call. At this point, it is up to your modem to answer the call properly. If your countdown goes to 0 for every phone call without getting a connection established then it could be caused by the following reasons: You have not given the modem enough time to answer the phone. Increase the Seconds to wait for carrier so that your modem has enough time to answer the call. If your RS-232 cable is not wired correctly then the PCBoard may never realize that the connection has been established. In order for a connection to be realized as valid, PCBoard waits for the CONNECT message from the modem and also checks the CD (carrier detect) line to make sure that connection really exists. If your CD line is not wired properly (or not wired at all) in your RS-232 cable then the connection may never be considered valid. The easiest solution to this problem is to make sure that your cable has all 25 pins wired straight through. Modem Reset Errors Anytime PCBoard cannot send the initialization string at the call-waiting screen you will receive a Modem Reset Error which is signified by a low-tone beep and a message. Before ever sending the initialization string though, an AT is sent to the modem. PCBoard then expects an OK to be returned from the modem. If that OK is not received within approximately 25 seconds then PCBoard will report that there was a modem reset error. Error Occurs When You Load PCBoard If the error occurs when you load PCBoard for the first time, this usually signifies that your hardware and software are not configured properly. First, make sure the right communications port is being opened. If that all checks out, then it may mean that you have an IRQ conflict in your system which will prohibit communications with the devices that are using the same IRQ. Another possibility is that your initialization string contains a command which is not recognized by your modem. Check your initialization string in PCBSetup to make sure that all commands in your initialization string are valid. Error Occurs When Recycling After A Call If you get modem reset errors after users have logged into your system, it could be caused by any of the following reasons: You have loaded another application which access the same COM port as the node that is giving you the errors. You may have also accessed a port which uses the same IRQ. That would mean the other application stole away the IRQ -- meaning PCBoard would not be able to communicate with the modem. Your modem may be malfunctioning. It is not uncommon for modems to malfunction. One solution may be to turn your modem off and back on again to see if that has any effect on the situation. Aside from that, there is not much you can do but to have your modem checked. Date Not Changing A common question among SysOps is why did my date not change at midnight the night before? You may be inclined to blame PCBoard for not changing the date, but in reality PCBoard has nothing to do with changing the date at midnight. The responsibility of changing the system date lies with the the software that reads the BIOS clock ticks. PCBoard does not read the BIOS clock ticks, therefore it is not responsible for changing the date. It is quite common for some TSRs to monitor time in this fashion and to not properly update the date. Therefore, you may want to begin by systematically removing the TSRs on your system to see if any of them may be the cause of the problem. Because something else is reading the BIOS clock ticks the CPU may be too busy to change the system date. That is the real reason your system date is not changing at midnight.