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TITLE: Trouble Shooting Lockup (Hanging) Problems
DOCUMENT ID#: FYI.P.6086
DATE: 26Jan93
PRODUCT: NetWare Lite
PRODUCT VERSION: All versions
SUPERSEDES: FYI.P.6074
SYMPTOM: NA
ISSUE/PROBLEM
Trouble Shooting Lockup (Hanging) Problems
While using a networking system problems may be encountered, and locking up could be one of them. This document, which is divided into two areas, hardware and software, is intended to help diagnose and resolve lockup problems.
Hardware
1) Most Local Area Network (LAN) cards come with the ability to change the IRQ, base I/O address and, in some cases, memory address settings. This is done by either setting switches located on the Network Interface Card (NIC), or through a software setup utility. When NetWare Lite is installed it must be told what the IRQ, base I/O and the memory address settings are on the card. If the card does not agree with the settings that the network is looking for it could cause lockups. This usually happens when the NIC driver is loaded, when server.exe is loaded, when client.exe is loaded or when the net utility is used.
The solution for this type of problem is straight forward. The settings on the card need to be determined by checking the switches and sometimes cross referencing it with the documentation provided with the NIC. Once they are found the install process is repeated for NetWare Lite and the correct options chosen to correspond to the hardware.
2) Another lockup problem may occur when the IRQ, base I/O address and/or memory address conflict with another device in the same machine. Each of these settings must be unique to the NIC. Devices that may conflict include modems or mice. Lockup in this case can show up anytime after the network has been loaded. A reference list is provided that contains the IRQ and Base I/O address for many devices. For more information on interrupts see document #212 on the Netware Lite automated FAX system. Call 1-800-NET-WARE and press the * key during the initial recording. The computer will then switch over to the FAX system. It will prompt for some information, when it asks for the FAX document number enter 212.
After hanging up, the computer will call up your fax machine and send you the document(s) requested.
Note: document #100 is an index to other documents available on the fax system.
Options IRQ Base I/O
Com1 4 3F8-3FF
Com2 3 2F8-2FF
LPT1 7 378-37F
LPT2 5 278-27F
VGA 2 3C0-3CF
EGA 2 3C0-3CF
CGA 3D0-3DF
Hercules 3B4-3BF
Mono 3B0-3BF
AT controller 14 1F0-1F8, 170-177
Floppy controller 6 1F0-1F8, 3F0-3F7
Tape controller 5 280-28F
XT controller 5 320-32F
NOTE: In addition to the above mentioned I/O address conflicts, address 360 should be avoided. This address may overlap with beginning address 378 which is used in LPT1 processes. (this is hardware defined and may depend on the particular NIC used) The best solution for this is to configure the NIC I/O address at 300, 320 or 340. These settings will work for most systems.
3) The switch settings on the card aren't the only things that can cause problems. Some NIC's, when not fully compatible with Novell certified cards, can also cause problems. When locking problems do not seem related to any of the settings on the card, try using a different card to see if it does clear up. Occasionally a bad card is encountered.
Software
1) Some software can cause a lockup when it is simply not compatible with NetWare Lite. These programs usually use protocol that tries to print, gain access to RAM or gain access to the hard drive with out going through DOS. Because NetWare Lite is written to work with DOS these programs can not be used.
2) NetWare Lite is a memory resident program and occupies part of RAM. This limits the amount of room allowed for other programs. When conventional memory is too low it can cause applications to crash. One solution for this is to load as much as possible into upper memory. Out of the files loaded through the startnet.bat file, all but server.exe can be loaded high. This is done in MS-DOS 5.0 by putting "loadhigh" before the file name to be loaded and in DR-DOS 6.0 by putting "hiload" before the file name to be loaded. (third party memory managers may also be used but not loaded at the same time with other memory managers ) Note that many memory resident programs can be loaded high, but others can't. If you load a particular program high and find that your system locks up more frequently, load it back into conventional memory again.
Example for loading most of startnet.bat high using MS-DOS format:
loadhigh lsl
loadhigh ne2000
loadhigh ipxodi a
loadhigh share
server
loadhigh client
3) Some NIC's use upper memory for their own processes which range from C000h to E000h. If this is the case they do not require a memory manager to control them. Furthermore this area in upper memory should be excluded from the memory manager's control. To do so insert the following in CONFIG.SYS:
For MS-DOS 5.0 use:
device=c:\dos\emm386.exe x=mmmm-nnnn
For DR-DOS 6.0 use:
device=c:\drdos\emm386.sys /exclude=mmmm-nnnn
(mmmm is beginning and nnnn is the ending address.)
Note: Most NIC drivers occupy about 8-16K of memory. Check the references for your specific device.
4) CONFIG.SYS also has a parameter which can be changed that may cause computers to lockup. That is "files=xx" where xx is the number of files that machine can have open at one time. Suggested is 10 files per client plus 30 more.
5) Along the same line as the above paragraph, the number of client tasks could have the same effect. To change the client tasks you must run the NET utility, go to "supervise the network", then "server configuration". Normally set between 5 and 10 per client.
6) Terminate-Stay-Resident (TSR) programs can also cause lockups. They can show up in several ways of which most commonly is when the TSR is functioning. It can also happen when the TSR seems inactive.
The easiest way to find out if a TSR is causing the lockup is by renaming autoexec.bat and config.sys and then putting in config.sys the following:
FILES=30
LASTDRIVE=G
If the problem no longer persists, add each component back into autoexec.bat and config.sys one by one until you find the one that is causing the problem. Modifications may be necessary to make the conflicting TSR work properly or it may even be incompatible with the network environment.
7) Some incompatibilities have been found with certain hardware and software configurations. NetWare Lite has made some modification to adapt to these systems. These modifications come in the form of a patch which is applied once to each machine in the network. More specifics on these patches can be faxed to you through NetWare Lite's automated fax system document #263.
