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DOS3BUGS.ZIP
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DOS3BUGS.TXT
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1987-03-03
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I The following documents are about DOS 3.00, 3.10, & 3.20.
Each of the following documents had the disclaimer
"This modification or recommendation has not been subjected to exhaustive
testing and may not, in all circumstances, provide a complete solution."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
DB10075 Problems with Enhanced Keyboards and DOS 3.10 & 3.20
10/30/86
Disk operating system (DOS)
Personal computer XT system unit/keyboard
Personal computer AT system unit/keyboard
When using an IBM PC XT or AT with an enhanced keyboard and DOS 3.2 or
3.1, DOS will not recognize certain keys, or will mis-interpret keys.
There is a patch diskette, called the DOS 3.2 keyboard utility, which
corrects this problem for both DOS 3.2 and 3.1. This is a separate and
distinctly different diskette from the DOS 3.20 patch diskette. This
patch is for use ONLY with the enhanced keyboard, since it will cause
problems when installed on systems with the original keyboards.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
DB10064 DOS 3.2 - Fatal Stack Error
07/10/86
Disk Operating System (DOS)
Some users have encountered the following message while running under
DOS 3.20: "Fatal Stack Error / System Halted". This message is caused by
the fact that DOS has not provided enough stack space to handle the number
of interrupts encountered.
This error can be produced by initiation a long disk operation, such as
CHKDSK or DIR, and striking keys on the keyboard rapidly. The first
sixteen (16) keystrokes are buffered normally. The next 8 keystrokes,
after the keyboard buffer is full, produce a beep indication that the
buffer is full; this also is normal. The 25th keystroke will result in
the error message because the previous 8 keystrokes have produced
interrupts which were pushed onto the stack, filling it up.
This error can be circumvented by using the STACKS command in the
CONFIG.SYS file to increase the number of stack frames available. This
command, which is new to DOS 3.20, is documented in Appendix B of the
DOS 3.2 manual. Refer to this appendix for the syntax of the STACKS
command.
There is also a new COMMAND.COM for DOS 3.2 which corrects this problem.
The IBM National Support Center has a patch diskette for DOS 3.20 which
contains, among other things, the COMMAND.COM update.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
DB10077 DOS Version 3.2 known bugs
10/31/86
Disk Operating System (DOS)
The following items have been identified and verified as bugs in DOS 3.2.
There is a patch diskette available to correct there problems.
1. DISKCOPY gives a "Drive types or diskette types not compatible" message
when copying from a 48 Track Per Inch (TPI) diskette to a 48 TPI diskette
in a 96 TPI drive.
2. DISKCOPY incorrectly allows a diskcopy from a 5.25" diskette to a 3.5"
diskette. This produces a 40 track 3.5" diskette which cannot be read on
the IBM PC Convertible.
3. BASIC and BASICA do not provide proper cursor control with the Enhanced
keyboards.
4. COMMAND.COM - Some users have encountered the following message while
running under DOS 3.20: "Fatal Stack Error / System Halted". This message
is caused by the fact that DOS has not provided enough stack space to
handle the number of interrupts encountered. This error can be
circumvented by using the STACKS command in the CONFIG.SYS file to
increase the number of stack frames available. This command, which is new
to DOS 3.2, is documented in Appendix B of the DOS 3.20 Manual. Refer to
this appendix for the syntax of the STACKS command. This problem is
corrected by the patch.
5. When using an IBM PC XT or an IBM PC AT with an enhanced keyboard and
DOS 3.2, DOS will not recognize certain keys, or will mis-interpret keys.
There is a patch diskette, called the DOS 3.20 Keyboard Utility, which
corrects this problem. This is a separate and distinctly different
diskette from the DOS 3.20 patch diskette. This patch is for use ONLY
with the enhanced keyboard, since it will cause problems when installed on
systems with the original keyboards.
Please note that this patch will only resolve problems with the enhanced
keyboard for those programs which follow IBM's recommended programming
conventions. Only those programs which use DOS function calls to access
the keyboard buffer will work properly after application of this patch.
Those programs which access the keyboard buffer directly, bypassing DOS
function calls, will NOT work properly with the enhanced keyboard.
6. A very slow serial printer with a small print buffer may cause DOS to
return a false "Out of paper" error message. A new program, I17.com is
distributed on this patch diskette to resolve this problem. Place the
command <I17> in you AUTOEXEC.BAT file, then reboot your system.
7. SHARE may return on of the following errors in a network environment:
Share: internal error
RMS: sft lck fields not 0
This module must be copied to all subdirectories on the server machine
which contain the SHARE.COM module. You can use the DOS REPLACE command
to do this automatically after you have completed the installation of this
patch diskette.
8. FORMAT with the /4 or /8 options, when used with a 360Kb diskette on a
High Capacity diskette drive would not work properly. The only systems
affected are the PC-AT 339, and the PC-XT 286a. The driver FMTDRVR.SYS
included on this patch diskette corrects this problem.
The installation program places the following command in your CONFIG.SYS
file. It will create the CONFIG.SYS file if one is not already present.
DEVICE = \FMTDRVR.SYS
The device driver will be placed in the root directory of your disk. The
next time you boot your system the driver will display a message informing
you whether it has actually loaded or not. It will determine which system
it is on and only install itself if it is on one of the affected systems.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
The following items have been identified as valid problems, but for which
there is currently no fix. Where there is a circumvention, it has been
included.
1. DOS Date does not increment properly. The date will increment
correctly during the first 24 hour period as the time passed 2400 hours.
If there is no activity on the system during the next 24 hour period, as
in a situation where the system is running unattended over a weekend, the
date will not increment. The circumvention is to press at least one key
during and 24 your period; this generates and interrupt and causes the
date to increment at midnight. Alternatively, reset the date on Monday
morning with the DOS DATE command.
2. When attempting to format 360Kb diskettes on an IBM PC AT Model 339,
if you do not use the /4 option (format 360Kb) the system will attempt to
format the diskette as a High Capacity (HC) diskette. DOS should issue a
message "Invalid media type", but it does not. The diskette has many bad
sectors. The circumvention is to always use the /4 parameter when
formatting 360Kb (Double Density) diskettes.
3. Under certain unique and infrequent sets of circumstances, if the
diskette in a drive is replaced with another diskette and you do a
directory, the directory of the first diskette is displayed. There is no
circumvention. This can also be caused by a defect in the High Capacity
Diskette Drive. Refer to the Service Support Guide, Service Information
section "Diskette Drives/Fixed Disk Drives" for additional information.
4. Interrupt 21H, Function call 36H returns an incorrect value after an
ASSIGN command. Prior to ASSIGN, the DX register contains 0943H on
return, which is the free space in clusters on the HC diskette. After
ASSIGN, even with no parameters, 0901H is returned in the DX register;
this is an incorrect value. Similar results occur with DD diskettes on a
PC-XT or a PC-AT. This occurs only when the disk is not the default
drive. Results are as expected when the drive is the default drive.
Therefore, the circumvention is to make the desired drive the default
drive prior to issuing this function call.
5. String formula too complex (error 16) when using a string variable as
the name of a file to open it. The OPEN function works properly for 9
iterations and an error 16 occurs on the 10th iteration of opening the
file. The circumvention for this problem is to use the long form of the
OPEN statement i.e. OPEN filespec FOR mode AS #1.
An alternative circumvention would be to use error trapping. The first
line of your program would be as shown below:
ON ERROR GOTO XXXXX
Where XXXXX is the line number of your error handling routine. Somewhere
in your error handling routine you should place the following line:
IF ERR = 16 AND ERL = YYYYY THEN RESUME
Where YYYYY is the line number of the OPEN statement. The RESUME
statement resets the error condition. Since this is a false error,
resetting it does not create any problems. An error 16 which occurs at
any other line of the program will not be handled by this statement, and
should be handled with a separate statement in the error handling routine.
Refere to the ON ERROR and RESUME statements in the BASIC reference manual
for additional details of there commands.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
The following items have been identified as potential problems in DOS 3.20
They have NOT been confirmed as yet. The IBM National Support Center is
attempting to confirm whether these items are, in fact, bugs or not.
1. When using DOS V#.10or V3.20 BACKUP, you may encounter a "File Sharing
Error". If this occurs, the circumvention appears to be to use diskettes
which have been freshly formatted, and do not have any data recorded on
them.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
RE10021 AT Fixed Disk, Undetected Write Fault Condition
07/15/86
DOS Disk Operating System Ver. 3.0 & 3.1 (6024180,6024211)
PC AT 20MB Fixed Disk Drive (6450205)
Personal Computer AT System Unit/Keyboard (5170068,5170099)
Some fixed disk drives for the Personal Computer AT 5170 may in rare
situations experience a write fault condition and not be detected by DOS.
Only fixed disk drives that have "b143"as the first four digits of the
11-digit barcode, located on the right side of the drive's front bezel,
are affected.
This error could result in a loss of data in the record being written when
the condition occurs. A software patch for DOS 3.0 and 3.1 addressing
this problem is available through the National Support Center. This patch
will enable DOS to correctly handle the condition by retries or posting an
error to the display.