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Text File | 1989-11-07 | 33.9 KB | 767 lines

ERRWAS (last command) version 1.0 (c) copy right 1989 All Rights Reserved Have you had a softwares just say "file creation error" or doesn't even beep to say that something did not read or write properly? As we shift the mixture of softwares used on shifting computers, these seem to become more common. This program remembers the last ten disk errors and tells you exactly what the error was caused by. You can set it to beep and/or display DOS and BIOS disk errors as soon as they occur or look at them all later at your discretion. The DOS errors which will be displayed are in the ERRWAS file. If you don't want some false warnings displaying or beeping to distract you, use an ascii editor or word processor to put a "x" to overwrite the "o" where needed. When you software does not indicate that there was an error, then ignore the displayed messages of ERRWAS.EXE. Your software was probably checking to see if a file or a subdirectory existed or not, and it didn't exist. The set up of this document is as follows: Explanations of various in-line command parameters. How ERRWAS.EXE works. The format of the ERRWAS file. Chat. Prompts and messages generated by ERRWAS. Disclaimer, contribution $/address, info for sysops and shareware distributors. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= If you simply type ERRWAS<ntr> then you get the help page built into this program for quick reference. The help page, as well as most of this program does not waste memory when this program becomes memory resident. Because this program is not written in Basic, it does not require any expanded or extended memory to run. If you want help on the BIOS disk error values, type ERRWAS H<ntr> =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= To run this, simply type ERRWAS RUN<ntr> and end it with an <ENTER> or <ntr> or <cr> or anything else you want to call the carriage return. All documents in my programs use the <ntr> format. This will run this program with the default settings: To be active. Deallocate the environment area before becoming memory resident. Display messages on row one, column one. Display message and beep on every defined DOS error. Display message and beep on every BIOS error. You can NOT type just the "R" in "RUN" to run ERRWAS.EXE, because R by itself is taken as the word "Row", followed by the row number value. At least "RU" are required, but may be in capital "RU" or small letter "ru". Any other line command after the "RUN" parameter is ignored, so if you want to mix other line commands, they must be placed before this. -------------------------------------------------------------- ERRWAS.EXE itself and all programs hence forth lost the self-wipe feature, the ability to wipe any and all other memory resident programs loaded after this program. (unless I start hearing otherwise) -------------------------------------------------------------- =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Normally, the environment area used by ERRWAS.EXE is deallocated before ERRWAS.EXE becomes memory resident. This causes softwares which tell you how your system memory is being used from displaying the names of the utilities using your system memory. To prevent ERRWAS.EXE from deallocating the environment area, type ERRWAS E<ntr> This only works when you first make ERRWAS.EXE memory resident. It cannot let you retrieve the environment area after you ran it without the environment area. Attempts to do so simply tells you that ERRWAS.EXE is already in memory. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= If you don't want ERRWAS.EXE which is already in memory to display or remember any more DOS or BIOS disk errors for a while, then it can be turned OFF, such that it will act as if it is no longer in memory. Type ERRWAS OFF<ntr> Any other TSR utility loaded before/after ERRWAS.EXE will behave as before. If you typed both "F"s in "OFF" as in ERRWAS OFF<ntr> then it is accepted as correct. If you typed only one "F" as in ERRWAS OF<ntr> then this is also acceptable. But if you typed something like ERRWAS OFC<ntr> This is accepted as "OF" and another option which begins with "C". The copy of ERRWAS.EXE in memory will be turned OFF, but because "C" for Column location was not followed by the column value, ERRWAS.EXE will report this as an error. The +/- options, ON/OFF and R/C can be used at any time to change the settings of ERRWAS.EXE already in memory. The +/- and R/C may be used when first becoming memory resident or later when a copy of ERRWAS.EXE is already in memory. In order to turn this program back ON, -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= ERRWAS ON<ntr> =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= By default, ERRWAS.EXE will display the DOS disk errors as soon as it occurs. To turn off the DOS Display, ERRWAS -DD<ntr> There must be no space between the minus sign and the letters "DD". The +/- options, ON/OFF and R/C can be used at any time to change the settings of ERRWAS.EXE already in memory. You can type the capital or small letter "D", of course. To turn OFF the DOS Beeping, ERRWAS -DB<ntr> Replacing the minus sign with a plus sign "+" will turn them back on again. Many softwares, including COMMAND.COM which controls the DOS prompt, relies upon DOS errors to control itself so that some false display and beeping will occur from time to time. You can edit the ERRWAS file by replacing some "o" with "x", or you can use the minus sign options to turn off the features. When your software itself does not tell you that something is wrong, ignore ERRWAS.EXE's warning, unless your software is the type which never gives you a warning when something is wrong. Even when turned off, you call see the last ten errors by using the All option when in the DOS prompt such as A>, C>. If you use Hercules card in other than 25 rows mode, only the top parts of text may display. This is a deficiency of the card itself. There is no such trouble with EGA/VGA cards. If you have difficulties, use the All option after you go back to DOS. ERRWAS.EXE will overwrite whatever your software was writing, when displaying its messages. There is no restriction when you are using a graphic display (except Hercules monochrome graphic display, which this program does not recognize, and Framework/Xywrite, which are designed not to accept any TSR utilities such as this) and will display anyway, though it may not look appropriate when in 40 column mode. Your software can still overwrite on top of the displayed message. (Except Framework which may lock up when any TSR utilities try to take over. Many Ashton-Tate softwares do not follow standard protocols and suffer from milliard bugs which appear to be "features"?.) =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= By default, ERRWAS.EXE will display the BIOS disk errors as soon as it occurs. To turn OFF the display, ERRWAS -BD<ntr> There must be no space between the minus sign and the letters "BD". To turn OFF the BIOS Beeping, ERRWAS -BB<ntr> Similarly, using the plus sign will turn them back on again. The BIOS errors are very rare, so it will display whether the error is a floppy diskette drive error or a hard disk error, and the error number associated with the error. To find out what the error numbers stand for, type ERRWAS H<ntr> Some softwares do rely upon BIOS generated errors to control themselves so that some false error display and beeping is possible. The display will normally blink three times and beep three times, and the All option will show the same message repeated three times. This is caused by your software repeating the same operation three times to make sure that the error was not caused by start up problem: When a read/write is attempted while the diskette was not spinning at the correct speed, it can, in theory cause erroneous problems. (In actuality, most diskette drives of any quality on the market now-a-days should not cause you start up errors, but everyone follows it because IBM suggested it in 1981.) When your software itself does not tell you that something is wrong, ignore ERRWAS.EXE's warning, unless your software is the type which never gives you a warning when something is wrong. (Some softwares which tell you exactly what happened may take over control of BIOS/DOS errors and do not let programs such as this from working.) The error 128 on the diskette error normally means that you forgot to close the diskette flip down when you inserted a 5-1/4" diskette or you forgot to push in the diskette on a 3-1/2" diskette. The error 32 indicates that the diskette controller chip (a very complicated and sophisticated chip) is not working properly. Actually, if your computer is a few years old, chances are that one of the contact legs has a small amount of rust which is preventing the signals from travelling to the other parts in the diskette drive. If you can open the computer and the drive and locate the diskette controller chip (usually made by NEC) and use an insertion tool to remove it and then insert it back in, it will scrape off enough of the rust on either the leg or the socket to make it work again. You may not be able to see any rust, but a very thin layer is probably there. The error 16 can happen with older diskettes, cheaper brands (or no-name brand) diskettes or with single sided diskettes which you formatted as a double sided. Eventually, poor quality diskettes wear out and causes this. While you can usually copy most of your files to a newer diskette and reformat this bad diskette so that it will work as new, it is best to throw it away because it will act the same way very soon as other sections start wearing out. The error 3 happens whenever you try to write to a write-protected diskette. Some softwares do not check when they write to such a diskette and gives you a message that the data is now written, when in fact nothing was written. The other error types should not occur if you are using most softwares which are well written. Many softwares written in Basic or C, however, may cause them. The reason why these languages can cause them is because many variations of these (and Cobol and many other high level programming languages) do not have facilities to explain what type of disk error happened. Programmers and companies with experienced people usually must write special routines to handle such errors. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= To find out if ERRWAS.EXE is active and to see what options are presently active, use the enquiry option like this ERRWAS ?<ntr> If ERRWAS.EXE was in memory, then it will display the status report like this STATUS REPORT ON ERRWAS IN MEMORY ===============STATUS================ |ERRWAS is turned ............ ON | |DOS: (+DD/-DB to turn it ON/off) | |Display right after error ... ON | |Beep right after error ...... ON | |BIOS: (+BD/-BB to turn it ON/off) | |Display right after error ... ON | |Beep right after error ...... ON | ===================================== The word "off" will display in small letters. If you rely upon a speech synthesizer to assist you visually, then make sure that its software is set for case insensitivity. (both capital and small letters are accepted as same) If ERRWAS was not in memory, then it will simply tell you so. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Normally, the immediate disk errors are displayed on row one, column one, which starts on the very left top row on the screen. If you want the display to start on row 25 the first time you run ERRWAS.EXE, or for the ERRWAS.EXE already in memory, type ERRWAS R25<ntr> and the display will now appear on row 25, column one. The range is R 1 - R 60. If your screen is 80/90 columns wide, do not change the column setting. If not, you can set the display to start on column 10 by typing ERRWAS C 10<ntr> =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= If you turned off immediate display or beep on disk error, ERRWAS.EXE still remembers the ten last disk errors. To see what all of them are, type ERRWAS A<ntr> If BIOS related errors were present, they will display first The first line has the most recent disk error, the next line has the next most recent disk error and so on. If you used the +/- options, ON/OFF and R/C, along with this, then this copy of ERRWAS.EXE will set the copy in memory to the new values. Most BIOS errors will be repeated three times because your software tries them three times to make sure that it is not caused by your diskette drive not spinning at the correct speed. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= HOW ERRWAS.EXE WORKS To run ERRWAS.EXE, type from the DOS prompt ERRWAS RUN<ntr> ERRWAS.EXE will check to see if it is already in memory or not. While doing this, if it is already in memory, it will check to make sure that the one in memory is in working order. If not, it will put it back into working order. If ERRWAS.EXE is already in memory, then it will check to see what options you want changed for the copy of ERRWAS.EXE already in memory. If no option was used, then ERRWAS.EXE will tell you that it is already in memory and exits. If options such as "-DD" or "+BD ON" were present, then these options are set accordingly for the copy of ERRWAS.EXE already in memory. If not in memory, then the default drive and subdirectory where you are is first searched for the ERRWAS file. If not present here, then the PATH is searched for the ERRWAS file and the DOS subfunctions to be checked are read to memory. The next section explains them. If the ERRWAS file cannot be found anywhere, then this aborts. Now the environment area which has the PATH data is no longer needed, so the area is deallocated and becomes memory resident, provided that you did not use the E option keep the environment. Once in memory, ERRWAS.EXE will intercept all DOS and BIOS requests for file operations and note any which do not take place. By default, ERRWAS.EXE will display and beep everytime there is a DOS or a BIOS disk error. You can modify the settings with various options already explained above. If you keep getting too many false DOS error messages, you can edit the ERRWAS file with an ascii editor or a word processor and replace the "o" with "x" at the location which causes the error. Normally, as long as your software does not indicate that there was an error, you can ignore the error message this program displays. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= THE FORMAT OF THE ERRWAS FILE The first line has the version number of the ERRWAS file. This allows this program ERRWAS.EXE to tell that this file will work correctly with this. Do not change this. The rest contain the DOS subfunctions which will be intercepted. The first three locations contain the decimal subfunction number which each line signifies. The numbers are skipped over. If you type the numbers on the very left columns with some other numbers, it does not affect ERRWAS.EXE. ERRWAS.EXE does not look at these numbers to decide which subfunction is to be intercepted. It counts the number of lines of text present to decide which subfunction is intercepted. The numbers are merely for your reference only. After the first three locations is a space, followed by either the letter "x", "o" or the period ".". The "x", which can be capital "X" as well, indicates that this subfunction will not be intercepted and checked. Anything which follows will be treated as a comment. The ERRWAS file already have most of the "x" where there is no error produced anyway, as well as those which will cause large numbers of false error displays. The "o", which can be capital "O" as well, indicates that this subfunction will be intercepted and that the text to follow (up to 30 characters) will be displayed by ERRWAS.EXE on the display. If some of these constantly cause display and beeping by ERRWAS.EXE, replace the letter by an "x" and the next time you run ERRWAS.EXE, this subfunction will not cause display or beeping.* The "." indicates that this subfunction will not be intercepted, even if you replace this with the "o". These consist of those which changes with DOS version or which control non-disk functions which may be too critical to allow you to take control. SOME FALSE DISPLAY MESSAGES While in the DOS prompt (such as A>, B>, C>), ERRWAS.EXE may display strange error numbers or no error when you expected one. One example will be when renaming one file to another, or checking the presence of a file by using the "DIR name" which may cause ERRWAS.EXE to display a "no such path" error. This is caused by DOS assuming that the file name is really the name of a subdirectory and trying to change to that subdirectory. Various DOS versions may behave differently. No error will display if your ERRWAS file had the "x" to suppress error checking for that subfunction. DOS subfunction 191 is the last number this version of the program can be set to intercept, assuming that DOS will every have such a subfunction number which need to be intercepted. If you have your computer in a LAN (local area network), you may want to have some of the numbers after #87 defined as well. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= CHAT in a HAT Sure we do consultation, from training to big projects, which don't mean much: Many people who don't know much about PC, are writing newspaper columns and (non-computer) magazine articles about PC. Do editors want to keep you ignorant? My offer to be a writer for one still stands, no matter how small a publisher, whether you're its editor or a guy who decided to apply me to the personnel office of one. I dare it. (It'll fall on deaf ears.) People talk about how the powerlines may cause leukemia. Many years ago, I published a paper on how plain visible light can harm life, but not the results of one using the effect of electric wires because it was inconclusive. Darn. I don't see why some computer magazines say that a 286 CPU is brain dead, as if people who buy them are stupid. I've seen some softwares which are DEADLY slow on 8088/80286. They are SO slow because they were written using 33MHz 386, where it was so-so. Are these programmers somehow smart? A recent issue of Nature blamed software as the cause of many cost overruns and fiascos, including a Cdn cancer treat ment synchrotron which killed people. It had some solutions to the problems, which looked like a line out of a file I once gave out with another shareware. Whether they copied it from me or not is irrelevant, but the Cdn machine's fault does not lie solely in software: Older machines had a metal plate which prevented operators from overriding software warnings. The new ones didn't, allowing the operators to kill people. Sounds like nuclear power station accidents? =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= PROMPTS AND MESSAGES =-=-= Unknown parameter on the command line =-=-= Something not recognized was found on the line when you ran the program. If you ran this program from a batch command file, error messages are followed by errorlevel = 1 so that you can have your batch file take appropriate actions. =-=-= You don't have to do it, ERRWAS.EXE is already in memory =-=-= You tried to run ERRWAS.EXE when a copy was already in memory. Since you did not specify options such as "-DD" or "OFF", you were not trying to set or reset the options of ERRWAS.EXE already in memory so this is an error. All such error will set errorlevel = 1 when this program exits. =-=-= ERRWAS is now turned OFF =-=-= ERRWAS.EXE is no longer working. If you want to know what the status of ERRWAS features active at the moment are, use the status option parameter ERRWAS ?<ntr> =-=-= ERRWAS is now turned ON. Working. =-=-= ERRWAS is active again. =-=-= ERRWAS is not in memory. =-=-= You used the ON/OFF, Row/Column or the +/- options, but ERRWAS.EXE was not in memory yet. =-=-= ERRWAS in memory is not compatible with this ERRWAS =-=-= ERRWAS is already in memory and you tried to set or reset options in it using another version of ERRWAS. Because the two are not compatible, this prevents the corruption of the one already in memory. =-=-= You must follow "-" with B to turn off Beep or D for Display =-=-= The command line had a minus sign "-", indicating that you wanted to turn something OFF, but you did not follow it with BB, BD, DB or DD. Do not place a space after the "-". =-=-= You must follow "+" with B to turn ON Beep or D for Display =-=-= The command line had a plus sign "+", indicating that you wanted to turn something ON, but you did not follow it with BB, BD, DB or DD. Do not place a space after the "+". =-=-= Bad column value. Only values 1 - 50 are allowed =-=-= The Column value must be followed by 1 - 50 only. If you had a column value of 100, then it means to display the error message starting on column 100, which is not possible unless your computer supports a screen 180 columns wide, which this program does not support. (even if your video card supports it) =-=-= No BIOS error was found so far =-=-= You used the All option to see all the disk errors so far. This just says that there was no BIOS error, though there may still be a DOS disk error to follow. =-=-= No disk error was found so far =-=-= You used the All option to see all the disk errors so far, but not even DOS error was noted by ERRWAS.EXE yet. =-=-= Something cause ERRWAS.EXE to be deactivated. It is now working. =-=-= When you tried to reset something in the copy of ERRWAS.EXE which is already in memory, this ERRWAS.EXE noticed that the copy already in memory was not in a working order for some reason. This tells you that whatever the cause, it is now working. WHEN READING THE ERRWAS FILE =-=-= I was not allowed to read ERRWAS =-=-= Something prevented the file from being read, though it existed. =-=-= The ERRWAS file is less than 100 bytes in length =-=-= The ERRWAS file was found and read, but the length was less than 100 bytes, indicating that it did not contain sufficient information to control the program. =-=-= The ERRWAS file is more than 10,000 bytes in length =-=-= The ERRWAS file was found and read, but the file was more than 10,000 bytes. This version of ERRWAS.EXE will not read such a big file. =-=-= Incorrect version number of ERRWAS =-=-= The ERRWAS file exists and was read, but the first line of the text file should have contained "00" as the version number to work with this program, but didn't. You may have accidentally renamed another file to this name. =-=-= The ERRWAS file not found anywhere. =-=-= The file was not found. The program aborts. =-=-= The ERRWAS.EXE in memory is a different version than this =-=-= A copy of ERRWAS.EXE was already in memory, but you tried to reset or set its options to something else using a different version of ERRWAS.EXE. Since the two are incompatible, this prevents the corruption of the one in memory. =-=-= I was expecting "HH A" where "HH" is hex number, "A" is "xo." =-=-= The ERRWAS file did not have the number followed by "x", "o" or "." where expected. Look at the original ERRWAS file and you notice that the first three character locations are for the number or a space, followed by the controlling character "x", "o" or ".", space, then the display message itself. =-=-= Too much text. Will overwrite itself. Exiting. =-=-= This program overwrites the program to place the data text from the ERRWAS file and then shrinks itself in memory according to the amount of text extracted from the file. At the time this part of the document was written (excluding spelling corrections and other editing which may have taken place much later), there was room for defining about 45 DOS display messages at 30 characters each. If you needed more subfunction interceptions, either make each display message in the ERRWAS file shorter or ask us for one which has no such limitations. =-=-= Too many subfunctions defined. =-=-= Subfunctions 0 - 191 can be defined, which is more than enough for now and for the foreseeable future, but you tired to define more than that. If you need more, please request it from us. All these checking and double checking may seem to you like Goldilock's "This is too hot, this is too cold, this is too big and this is too small." (i.e. very picky), but it is an essential part of a good program which will not cause your system to crash on you without any warning. And you're not paying a penalty in making this program very large, nor in slowing this program so much that you need a 33MHz 80386 with a 64KB cache memory. And the amount of system memory which this uses once in memory is not changed, due to the procedures which we use. The pain of adding all these checking stays with us only. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= All products and names mentioned are Trademarks or Registered Trademarks of their respective corporations or companies. That includes my group or any other group's programs, of course. Some products may be protected by patent protection as well. All enclosed programs, documents and other files are provided AS IS, without any warranty, expressed or implied, including but not limited to fitness for a particular purpose. A contribution of $5 US/Canadian is appreciated if you find this useful, or $10 for an improved one as it comes out. ($10 Cdn if you're in Canada and $10 U.S. for U.S & others,) Unless you specify otherwise, you will get a 5-1/4" 360 kb diskette. In some countries, some of these programs may not be a shareware. NAME OF THE PROGRAM: ERRWAS.EXE ($5-$10) PURPOSE OF THIS PROGRAM: This program remembers the last ten disk errors and tells you what the error was caused by, in case your software only flashes it for a moment, or doesn't display errors when it need to. You can set it to beep and/or display DOS and BIOS disk errors as soon as they occur or look at them all later at your discretion. Dr. Masaaki Sawada Lady Davis Institute for Medical Research, 3755 Chemin Cote Ste-Catherine, Montreal, Quebec, Canada H3T 1E2 The institute name is given instead of home address(es) to lower the chances that any mail is delivered to a wrong address (a common occurrence). However, no institute time nor equipment was used to write this program or document. +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+ For a shorter, more permanent address, try: c/o Dr. Masaaki Sawada LCS P.O. Box 956 Outremont, Quebec Canada H2V 4R8 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+