(Note: The origin of this information may be internal or external to Novell. Novell makes every effort within its means to verify this information. However, the information provided in this document is FOR YOUR INFORMATION only. Novell makes no explicit or implied claims to the validity of this information.)
TITLE: Netware Lite Patch Release
DOCUMENT ID#: FYI.P.6087
DATE: 04Dec92
PRODUCT: NetWare Lite
PRODUCT VERSION: All versions
SUPERSEDES: FYI.P.6041
SYMPTOM: NA
ISSUE/PROBLEM
Netware Lite Patch Release
Novell has released eleven patches that address various NetWare Lite issues. These patches can be obtained through Compuserve or through Novell directly.
Compuserve
A free Compuserve membership can be obtained by dialing (800)848-8199 in the U.S. and (614)457-0802 outside the U.S. (ask for Representative 200). Compuserve will provide NetWare Lite customers with fifteen dollars worth of credit toward on-line services at no charge.
To get the files from Compuserve, follow this procedure:
GO NOVLIB
Once you are in NOVLIB, enter into library one or library ten.
Download NWL005ZIP (This ZIP file contains the NWLITE patches.)
Note that you must have PKUNZIP.EXE to unzip NWL005.ZIP. If you do not have PKUNZIP.EXE, you can get it from Compuserve. It is located inside of PKZ110.EXE, which is another file which must be downloaded.
To download PKZ110.EXE, create a directory called PKZIP (either on floppy or on your hard drive). Go to library 15 of NOVLIB and download PKZ110.EXE. Then, move PKZ110.EXE into the PKZIP directory. Type PKZ110. PKZ110.EXE will create PKUNZIP.EXE (and other programs which can be used for archiving functions).
Once you have PKUNZIP.EXE, you can unzip NWL005.ZIP. Put NWL005.ZIP into the PKZIP directory. Next, type the following:
PKUNZIP NWL005.ZIP <path where you want the files to be copied to>.
The patch files will be copied to the directory that you specify. We recommend that you copy them to a floppy diskette. This way, you will have a copy of the patches in a distinct and identifiable place.
Novell
If you want the patches, but cannot access Compuserve, call Novell at (801)429-5483 and request the Netware Lite Patch Disk. It will be sent to you through US Mail and will take from four to seven days.
The following is a list of the files that will be sent to you. (Note that these are the same files that are contained in the NWL005.ZIP file.)
5E03 PAT 877 11-26-91 5:55p
CGADSPLY PAT 1173 01-27-92 2:30p
KEYCLOCK PAT 2537 01-17-92 10:40a
LOSTRESP PAT 1747 11-26-91 1:36p
NWL005 DOC 20475 07-13-92 3:20p
PBIOS17 PAT 1474 12-17-91 1:57p
PCPS PAT 316 01-27-92 3:03p
PCPS ZIP 6460 02-06-92 10:38a
PRNLPT1 PAT 1705 01-08-92 5:08p
PTIMEOUT PAT 1170 11-22-91 3:37p
RDCACHE PAT 1052 11-22-91 3:18p
UPATCH EXE 19690 01-16-92 9:35a
WRBEHIND PAT 1178 11-22-91 3:37p
TASKFIX PAT 890 06-11-92 9:45a
General Information
The files listed below are previous patches to NetWare Lite. All of them are superseded by the patches contained in NWL005.ZIP.
NWL004.ZIP
NWL003.ZIP
NWL002.ZIP
NWL001.ZIP
Four of the patches contained in NWL005.ZIP (PBIOS17.PAT, PRNLPT1.PAT, 5E03.PAT, and CGADSPLY.PAT) may not improve the performance on your system, but will not decrease the performance either. These four patches are for specific hardware or applications. Review the corresponding section of this document to determine if you would benefit from any of these four patches.
Installation
Please be sure to backup your old SERVER.EXE and CLIENT.EXE before you attempt to apply the patch. Backing up your data files would also be wise.
To install the patches, place the disk where the patch files reside into drive A: and type UPATCH. This must be done to all of the machines on your network. Please read the documentation which accompanies NWL005.ZIP for details on the installation.
The following information is contained in the NWL005.DOC file, and is included in its original form. Included are the patch name and date, and the file that is affected by the patch (i.e. server.exe). Also included are problems (with accompanying symptoms) that each patch deals with.
5E03.PAT NetWare Lite Client DOS 5E03 invalid parm patch.
Patch Date: November 26, 1991
File: CLIENT.EXE
Checksums: 55F, 509, 57
Problem: When DOS interrupt 21h, function 5E03 (Get Printer Setup String) is used on a disk device, the client returns an error code of 1 (invalid function). Software from Computer Associates International, Inc. expects an error code of 87 (invalid parameter).
Symptoms: If you are running software from Computer Associates, you may note that networking features do not work. CAI software expects a different error code on function 21, 5E03 than NetWare Lite currently returns.
CGADSPLY.PAT NetWare Lite Server CGA display patch.
Patch Date: 1/27/92
File: SERVER.EXE version 1.00
Checksums: 410, 4D1, 3FF, 49F, 1B0, 1B0
Problem: Any PC with a CGA adapter running a NetWare Lite version 1.00 SERVER. If you press CTRL ALT DEL or ALT SHIFT N you should see a popup display with options. Instead you see a blank screen. The functions as expected, but the display is blank.
Symptoms: This problem is specific to CGA display adapters. It is only experienced when a user presses CTRL ALT DEL or ALT SHIFT N or one of the popup display screens is encountered.
Problem: While typing at the server keyboard the server pauses. This is most likely to occur when the server is under heavy load, such as a client performing an xcopy to and from the server.
Symptoms: You may have this problem if you see the server pause for 70 seconds or longer. Most people may think the server is hung because no foreground activity is occurring and the server is not answering requests from clients. However, the server does eventually return; the foreground activity resumes; no time is lost on the system clock; if the client retries its request, the response is sent. The slower your hardware, the more likely you are to see this problem and the longer the pause is likely to last.
LOSTRESP.PAT NetWare Lite Server lost response patch.
Patch Date: November 26, 1991
File: SERVER.EXE
Checksums: D4D, 17B8, 416, 3A3, D4D, 17B8
Problem: The last function result is not saved correctly in the server's connection table. This results in non-reproducible functions (like OPEN FILE) being reproduced at the server when a server response packet is lost. This ends up exhausting the server's resources after a long period of sustained activity.
Symptoms: You may have this problem if DOS or your application reports the error "Too many open files" after running continuously for several hours/days. Another symptom is that, after continuous operation, one of the machines freezes, or reports a DOS function failure.
PBIOS17.PAT NetWare Lite Server printer BIOS get status patch.
Patch Date: December 17, 1991
File: SERVER.EXE
Checksums: 18F0, 19A8, 18F0
Problem: The ROM BIOS for some computers destroys the contents of a register when the server read the status of the printer. When the server attempts to print a character, null or other invalid characters appear instead of the desired file.
Symptoms: Print job does not print or is printed in garbled form. This problem can only happen if the Server Port is a parallel port.
PCPSxxxx.PAT NetWare Lite Network Printer chars per second patch.
Patch Date: 1/17/92
File: NetWare Lite Server printer port configuration file Checksums: 55, CA, C9, 92, 24, 47
Problem: The NET utility does not allow Network Printers to have characters per second set any higher than 2048.
Symptoms: Large print jobs take considerably longer (up to four times) when printed using a Network Printer than when using a local printer. Foreground processing at the server may be slowed during printing after applying this patch.
NOTE: The NET Utility does not properly calculate the changes this patch makes. Therefore, any display of the characters per second will not be accurate. To view the current setting, run the appropriate batch file, read the value, then select option 7 to make no change.
Problem: Applications that intermingle writes to the printer using both prn: and lpt1: produce incorrect printouts. This is because the NetWare Lite Client treats the captures of prn: and lpt1: as separate captures. This patch forces the two captures into a single capture. This is a known problem with the Lacerte Tax Application version 11.0322.
Symptoms: You may have this problem if you see corrupt printing.
PTIMEOUT.PAT NetWare Lite Client printer (PRN) timeout patch.
Patch Date: November 22, 1991
File: CLIENT.EXE
Checksums: 1166, 50B, 1166
Problem: Client program fails to imply a print job timeout on a PRN port capture.
Symptoms: If you print from an application, but the job does not start printing at the server until you exit the application, you may have this problem. Check to see if the banner page on the delayed print job indicates that the "Client printer port or filename" is "PRN capture". If so, this is an indication that the application is using PRN and not LPT1 for its printing. Programs compiled under Clipper are known to print through PRN, and thus are affected by this problem.
RDCACHE.PAT NetWare Lite Server read-ahead cache patch.
Patch Date: November 22, 1991
File: SERVER.EXE
Checksums: BF0, 3EF, BF0
Problem: The server makes an invalid entry in the read-ahead cache when a read is issued past the end of the file. The invalid entry contains no data, and could be returned after the file is extended and a subsequent read is made to the same area of the file in a short period of time.
Symptoms: If you have a database program which incorrectly reports that the end-of-file has been encountered, or exhibits problems reading or updating the index file for a database, you may have this problem. Programs compiled under FoxBase and Clipper are known to make I/O call sequences which result in the error.
WRBEHIND.PAT NetWare Lite Server write behind patch.
Patch Date: November 22, 1991
File: SERVER.EXE
Checksums: D1E, 3B0, D1E
Problem: The server write-behind offset is corrupted when a packet is lost on the wire. This results in data being written in the wrong place in a file when the underlying network drops a packet. This only occurs with certain combinations of buffer sizes, application write sizes, and write offsets.
Symptoms: If you have file data corruption under particularly heavy load, or if you have a particular machine or particular application which appears to corrupt data when it is used, you may have this problem.
TASKFIX.PAT NetWare Lite Client DOS task count patch.
Patch Date: June 11, 1992
File: Client.exe
Checksums:3 6F, 2D9, 120
Problem: When running certain applications on a NetWare Lite client, the DOS End of Task command is missed and never sent to the server. This results in having dangling tasks on the server that cannot be removed until the client does a "net logout" or "net login" to clear the connection. In most cases, this bug should not cause serious problems if the task count on the server is set to the maximum (200). Some applications, however may continually create tasks that are not released upon completion which will eventually max out the tasks on the server. At that point, no other applications will be able to run.
Symptoms: The task count on the net server status screen increases when an application is run but does not decrease back to the initial count when the application exits back to DOS.
NOTE: The first time each client makes a request of the NetWare Lite server to open a file, a task is created on the server for the DOS shell (command.com) on the client. This task will remain open on the server until a client disconnects from the server by typing "net logout" or "net login" to reinitialize the connection.
Novell, Inc. makes no representations or warranties with respect to any NetWare software, and specifically disclaims any express or implied warranties of merchantability, title, or fitness for a particular purpose.
Distribution of any NetWare software is forbidden without the express written consent of Novell, Inc. Further, Novell reserves the right to discontinue distribution of any NetWare software.
Novell is not responsible for lost profits or revenue, loss if use of the software, loss of data, costs of re-creating lost data, the cost of any substitute equipment or program, or claims by any party other than you. Novell strongly recommends a backup be made before any software is installed. Technical support for this software may be provided at the discretion of Novell.
