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8/29/91 Using MS-DOS 5.0 with Windows and HP NewWave 3.0 Introduction ============ HP NewWave 3.0 is fully compatible with MS-DOS 5.0. When an occasional installation problem is reported, the cause has always been isolated to improper configuration of the PC's CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT files. The problems can be resolved by "cleaning up" the configuration files. The following information has been compiled by the HP NewWave Hotline support staff to assist you in configuring your PC for best performance and minimal problems when using NewWave with MS-DOS 5.0. It is important to stress that the majority of the information in this article relates to proper configuration for using Windows 3.0 with MS-DOS 5.0. Sections on networks and memory management are also included. Occasional references will be made to NewWave specific issues. Table of Contents ================= I. Quick Start: Suggested minimum configuration parameters for CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT II. Specific information about different memory managers that can be used with Microsoft Windows and MS-DOS 5.0 III. Configuration settings that are known to CAUSE problems IV. Network specific information V. A note on disk caching Appendix A: A summary of CONFIG.SYS commands, their meanings and their impact on PC performance and memory. I: QUICK START: Recommended Configuration File Settings ======================================================= An example for a properly configured MS-DOS 5.0 PC is shown below. Please note that this is a MINIMUM known good configuration, and is to be used as a guideline. It is quite probable that your specific PC will need additional device drivers to function as you desire it to. This configuration should work on any 286, 386, or 486 PC with at least 2MB of extended memory available. NOTE: Explanations of memory terms such as UMB, EMS, etc, are explained in the next section. Basic Configuration using Extended memory only: ----------------------------------------------- CONFIG.SYS AUTOEXEC.BAT DEVICE=C:\DOS\SETVER.EXE @ECHO OFF FILES=50 VERIFY OFF BUFFERS=20 SET TEMP=C:\TEMP STACKS=0,0 PROMPT $P$G SHELL=C:\COMMAND.COM /P /E:512 PATH=C:\DOS;C:\WINDOWS;C:\ DEVICE=C:\DOS\HIMEM.SYS VER DEVICE=C:\DOS\SMARTDRV.SYS 1024 256 DOS=HIGH If you are running on a 386 or 486 based PC, you can use the MS-DOS 5.0 memory manager EMM386.EXE to provide expanded memory (EMS) and/or Upper Memory Block (UMB) support. On most standalone PC's, expanded memory is NOT needed, but may be required by networking software or some DOS-based applications prior to loading Windows. Use the examples below as a guideline: UMB support without EMS support: -------------------------------- CONFIG.SYS AUTOEXEC.BAT DEVICE=C:\DOS\SETVER.EXE @ECHO OFF FILES=50 VERIFY OFF BUFFERS=20 SET TEMP=C:\TEMP STACKS=0,0 PROMPT $P$G SHELL=C:\COMMAND.COM /P /E:512 PATH=C:\DOS;C:\WINDOWS;C:\ DEVICE=C:\DOS\HIMEM.SYS VER DEVICE=C:\DOS\EMM386.EXE NOEMS DEVICEHIGH=C:\DOS\SMARTDRV.SYS 1024 256 DOS=HIGH,UMB UMB Support with 256KB of EMS Memory: ------------------------------------- CONFIG.SYS AUTOEXEC.BAT DEVICE=C:\DOS\SETVER.EXE @ECHO OFF FILES=50 VERIFY OFF BUFFERS=20 SET TEMP=C:\TEMP STACKS=0,0 PROMPT $P$G SHELL=C:\COMMAND.COM /P /E:512 PATH=C:\DOS;C:\WINDOWS;C:\ DEVICE=C:\DOS\HIMEM.SYS VER DEVICE=C:\DOS\EMM386.EXE RAM FRAME=E000 256 DEVICEHIGH=C:\DOS\SMARTDRV.SYS 1024 256 DOS=HIGH,UMB NOTE: On IBM PS/2 Microchannel PCs (and some PCs using video RAM shadowing) do not use the FRAME=E000 parameter II. Memory Types and Memory Managers ==================================== There are three major types of memory in a PC-AT class computer, conventional, extended (XMS), and expanded (EMS). Conventional memory, also known as base memory, is located from 0 to 640KB. Extended memory is managed by XMS memory managers that conform to the extended memory specification. Extended memory is used by Windows when running in standard or 386 enhanced mode. Simply stated, XMS memory consists of: UMB (Upper Memory Blocks) - Unused memory between 640KB and 1 MB HMA (High Memory Area) - The 1st 64KB of memory above 1 MB XMB (Extended Memory Blocks) - Extended memory above the HMA area Expanded memory managers conform to the LIM 3.2 or LIM 4.0 expanded memory specification (EMS), and are used by programs designed to utilize expanded memory. Programs or data in EMS memory are bank switched into a 64KB page frame area usually between the video adapter and the system ROM space, although EMS can use unused memory areas below 640KB. Windows 3.0 in standard or enhanced modes does not require that EMS memory be present. Windows 3.0 in real mode requires EMS memory. Memory Manager Differences -------------------------- There are 4 memory managers commonly used with MS-DOS 5.0. 1) HIMEM.SYS 2) HIMEM.SYS and EMM386.EXE 3) QEMM 4) 386Max/BlueMax HIMEM.SYS: ---------- HIMEM.SYS converts extended memory (memory above 1MB) into memory that provides the high memory area (HMA) and extended memory blocks (XMBs). Advantages: - Using HIMEM.SYS is simple, just include it as a device driver in CONFIG.SYS. - HIMEM.SYS provides good performance. - Works on 80286, 80386, and 80486 based PCs. Disadvantages: - Cannot load device drivers and TSR (programs that terminate and stay resident in memory) programs into UMB memory. - Does not provide expanded memory. Nuances: - Some PC's require that optional parameters be passed to the HIMEM.SYS device driver statement to run properly. The following 3 memory managers can be used to simulate expanded memory on 386 and 486-based PCs, and will allow you to load device drivers and TSR programs into Upper Memory Blocks (UMBs). EMM386.EXE: ----------- Advantages: - Comes with DOS, nothing additional to buy. - Somewhat of a standard, as every MS-DOS 5.0 PC will have it. Disadvantages: - Can only use one contiguous area of Upper Memory Blocks. - Cannot run Windows in Standard mode. - Requires that you have HIMEM.SYS loaded first. - You have to manually configure EMM386.EXE and its load high statements. Nuances: - To use EMM386.EXE, the following conditions must be met: 1) You have HIMEM.SYS loaded. 2) You must load EMM386.EXE with the optional parameters RAM or NOEMS to use UMBs. 3) You have the line DOS=UMB, or DOS=HIGH,UMB in CONFIG.SYS to load device drivers and TSRs into upper memory. 4) You have unused space in the 640KB-1MB space. QEMM: ----- Advantages: - Can manage several areas of UMB memory, allowing you to load more device drivers and TSR programs into upper memory. - Comes with Manifest, a memory management mapping program. - Can run Windows in standard mode. - Provides a single pool of extended and expanded memory. - Provides OPTIMIZE, a program that will configure QEMM and load device drivers and TSR programs into UMB memory. - Provides XMS support, so you do not need to load HIMEM.SYS. Disadvantages: - Sometimes you must hand-hold the OPTIMIZE program to prevent it from loading certain drivers high. Nuances: - If EXT, EXTMEM, or MEM parameters are specified on the QEMM386.SYS configuration line, you cannot run Windows in enhanced mode when using the CONFIG.SYS parameter DOS=HIGH. - Should use 5.12 or higher version when using MS-DOS 5.0. - Versions prior to 5.12 may need a patch from QuarterDeck to work with Windows standard mode. - Need rev 1.01 of Manifest to work with MS-DOS 5.0. This version ships with QEMM 5.13 and higher. - BUFFERS.COM program no longer works for loading buffers high, but isn't a problem since buffers load into extended memory when using CONFIG.SYS parameter DOS=HIGH. 386Max/BlueMax: --------------- Advantages: - Allows you to load device drivers into more memory areas than either EMM386.EXE or QEMM. - Provides FLEXFRAME option to allow programs that temporarily use large amounts of memory to load in limited UMB areas. - Provides ASQ, a memory analysis/tutorial program. - Provides 386Cache, an OEM version of Multisoft's Super PC-Kwik disk caching program, which offers better performance than MS-DOS 5.0's SMARTDRV.SYS. - Provides MAXIMIZE, a program that will configure 386Max and load device drivers and TSR programs into UMB memory. - BlueMax version provides much more UMB area for IBM PS/2 Microchannel PC's than either QEMM or EMM386.EXE. - 386MAX.SYS configuration parameters can be in separate file. - Provides XMS support, so you do not need to load HIMEM.SYS. Disadvantages: - Cannot run in standard mode. - Sometimes MAXIMIZE requires hand-holding to prevent it from loading high certain device drivers. - Amount of extended or expanded memory desired must be pre-configured in your 386Max profile file. Nuances: - Should use version 5.12 or later with MS-DOS 5.0, or configure the 386LOAD.SYS and 386LOAD.COM programs in MS-DOS 5.0's SETVER table. - You must specify how much extended OR expanded memory you need in your 386MAX.PRO file. If you do not specify memory allocation, all memory will default to expanded. III. Configuration Settings that are Known to Cause Problems ============================================================ 1) Do not load SETVER.EXE high. If you load SETVER.EXE into UMBs, or after other device drivers, you run the risk of making your PC unstable. Since SETVER.EXE uses less than 500 bytes of memory, it is recommended that you place it at the top of your CONFIG.SYS file. 2) Avoid setting FILES= too low in CONFIG.SYS. Having too few FILES configured in CONFIG.SYS can cause NewWave installation to fail, or contribute to Unrecoverable Application Errors (UAEs) when running applications. It is recommended that you set FILES=50 (or higher). 3) Configure a SHELL statement in CONFIG.SYS. It is recommended that you expand the DOS environment space in CONFIG.SYS. This is done with the SHELL= command. A suggested SHELL statement is: SHELL=C:\COMMAND.COM /P /E:512 Many users have reported UAE problems go away when they set /E:1024. 4) With DOS=HIGH, buffers load into XMS memory, so don't use BUFFERS /X Starting with MS-DOS 5.0, if you have the statement DOS=HIGH in CONFIG.SYS, your buffers will automatically be loaded (along with most of MS-DOS) into the High Memory Area (the 1st 64KB of extended memory). Since buffers no longer consume base memory, it is recommended that you set buffers to 20. You should NOT use the /X parameter on your BUFFERS= line. 5) Don't use the wrong versions of HIMEM.SYS, EMM386, and SMARTDRV.SYS You should use the versions of HIMEM.SYS, EMM386.EXE, and SMARTDRV.SYS that come with MS-DOS 5.0. You should NOT use the versions that come with Windows 3.0 or previous versions of MS-DOS. The older EMM386 driver was EMM386.SYS, not the current EMM386.EXE, and should not be used with MS-DOS 5.0. 6) Don't install SHARE.EXE when you no longer need to. MS-DOS 4.01 required that you load SHARE.EXE when you were using DOS volumes that were larger than 32MB. This was to prevent a potential disk corruption problem with older applications that use File Control Blocks (FCBs). This is no longer necessary when using large volumes with MS-DOS 5.0. Only load SHARE if you have an application that requires it for proper operation. SHARE sometimes causes problems when accessing floppy drives, and consumes about 6KB of memory. 7) Avoid loading FASTOPEN, APPEND, PRINT, GRAPHICS The FASTOPEN program provides for file extents caching to speed up file access. If you are loading a disk cache program such as SMARTDRV.SYS, you do not need FASTOPEN. FASTOPEN has been known to cause problems when used with Windows, and when running disk compaction programs. APPEND can be used to make certain directories appear as if their files are in your current directory. APPEND is a TSR program that consumes memory and has been known to cause problems with Windows. PRINT provides for background queuing and printing. This TSR consumes memory and can hang your PC if you try to do certain things while your print job is spooling. Since NewWave has its own spooler, you shouldn't be using PRINT. GRAPHICS is a TSR program that allows you to perform DOS screen dumps to a pre-defined printer. This program consumes DOS memory, and may cause problems when used with Windows. 8) On 386/486 systems, create a Windows permanent swap file. HP NewWave will attempt to install in standard mode if you do NOT have a Windows permanent swap file on your system. Occasionally, on systems using the EMM386.EXE or 386Max memory managers, this may cause the NewWave install procedure to drop back to a DOS prompt after you see the message "Starting HP NewWave A.03.xx" . If this occurs, you can simply type "NEWWAVE" at the DOS prompt, and NewWave will continue the installation in 386 enhanced mode. 9) Don't delete the file WINA20.386 from your root drive if you want to run in 386 enhanced mode. MS-DOS 5.0 Setup process places this read-only file in the root directory on your hard disk, and it is required to run Windows in 386 enhanced mode. 10) You must have a writable disk drive (real or network) at C: NewWave installation needs to have a C: disk to write any possible installation errors to. If you are running a PC without a hard drive on a network, make sure that you have a network disk with write access assigned to drive C:. With Novell NetWare, it may be necessary to set LASTDRIVE=A in CONFIG.SYS. This will make your LOGIN drive B:, and you can then MAP a personal drive to C:. 11) Be sure to have a SET TEMP statement in AUTOEXEC.BAT Make sure that the SET TEMP statement points to a directory on a disk with enough non-fragmented space to accommodate large print files. 12) Make sure that you have configured an active printer in Windows Setup. If there is no printer configured, NewWave Write or Text Note objects may report "out of memory" conditions. 13) Don't use DEVICEHIGH, LOADHIGH (LH), or DOS=UMB if you are not using EMM386.EXE. The DEVICEHIGH and LOADHIGH (LH) commands only work with the EMM386.EXE memory manager. 386Max and QEMM have their own unique high loading commands. DOS=UMB is only needed for EMM386.EXE, and shouldn't be used with QEMM or 386Max. 14) Avoid memory manager conflicts with I/O cards. If you use an I/O card that occupies memory in the 640KB-1MB range, you must exclude that memory in your memory manager configuration line. Common examples are scanner cards, HPIB cards, IBM Token Ring and Western Digital Ethernet cards. It may be necessary to use the SYSTEM.INI parameter EMMEXCLUDE with some systems (refer to your Windows documentation regarding EMMEXCLUDE). IV. Network Specific Information ================================ Novell NetWare -------------- If you are running Novell NetWare, be sure to obtain and use the latest version of the NetWare Shells (IPX and NET5.COM or NETX.COM). These files can be downloaded from Novell's download forum on CompuServe (GO NDD). Make sure that you have configured your network type in Window's Setup as "Novell Netware 2.10 or above, or Novell Netware 386". If you have allowed MS-DOS 5.0 to load itself into the HMA area (via the DOS=HIGH statement in CONFIG.SYS), you will NOT be able to use the XMSNET5.EXE shell. It is recommended that you: 1) load NET5.COM (or NETX.COM) into UMB's with the appropriate commands for your UMB memory manager. 2) load NET5.COM or NETX.COM into regular memory. 3) use expanded memory with the EMSNET5.EXE or EMSNETX.EXE shells. If you are running in a diskless configuration, and you change the COMSPEC parameter during your NetWare LOGIN process, you may get an error indicating that your PC cannot find COMMAND.COM. You should obtain a new version of LOGIN.EXE from Novell, OR remove any secondary directory references in your SHELL= statements. Specifically, if your shell looks similar to this: SHELL=C:\DOS\COMMAND.COM C:\DOS\ /P /E:512 you need to remove the C:\DOS\ from the configuration file, so that your shell statement looks like this: SHELL=C:\DOS\COMMAND.COM /P /E:512. Also, it is preferable to reference the COMMAND.COM in the root directory, rather than the one in \DOS. When installing NewWave to a network file server, be sure to read the file \DOCUMENT\NETWORKS.DOC on the NewWave A.03.04 disk #1. If you are installing NewWave from a NetWare file server, be sure to set the following parameters on the NetWare Console (as outlined in the file \DOCUMENT\NETWORKS.DOC on NewWave A.03.04 disk #1): SET MAXIMUM OUTSTANDING NCP SEARCHES = 1000 HP LAN Manager -------------- You must have the SETVER.EXE driver loaded in CONFIG.SYS. Official support for MS-DOS 5.0 begins with HP LAN Manager version A.01.20. You should be able to use MS-DOS 5.0 with version A.01.10, providing you replace the redirector software as outlined in the MS-DOS 5.0 update guide. Note that this version cannot automatically load LAN Manager software into UMB memory with EMM386.EXE (you need A.01.20 to do this). You must configure Windows Setup to reflect a network type of "LAN Manager 1.x (or 100% compatible)". When installing NewWave to a network file server, be sure to read the file NETWORKS.DOC file in the \DOCUMENT directory on NewWave A.03.04 disk #1. When configuring memory for HP LAN Manager, you should configure about 256KB of Expanded Memory, and maximize the amount of UMB memory space. The following are suggested memory manager settings for EMM386.EXE, QEMM, and 386Max. These configurations should work about 90% of the time, however, some PCs may require memory exclusions or different EMS page frame settings. Consult the manuals that come with your memory manager. EMM386.EXE DEVICE=C:\DOS\HIMEM.SYS DEVICE=C:\DOS\EMM386.EXE RAM FRAME=E000 256 386Max DEVICE=C:\386MAX\386MAX.SYS PRO=C:\386MAX\386MAX.PRO 386MAX.PRO PROFILE FILE (for above CONFIG.SYS entry) USE=B000-B800 USE=C800-E000 FRAME=E000 SHADOWRAM <consult your 386Max manuals to see if your PC needs this) EMS=256 QEMM DEVICE=C:\QEMM\QEMM386.SYS RAM I=B000-B7FF I=C800-DFFF FRAME=E000 V. A Note on Disk Caching ========================== Avoid using disk write caching when using HP NewWave. Write caches provide great performance when used with Windows and NewWave, but if your PC were to hang before posting an update to NewWave's OMF (Object Management Facility), you run the risk of corrupting NewWave's internal file tables. Instances of this happening are rare, but if it were to happen, you may be forced into a reload of NewWave. HP NewWave Technical Support has a tool that may be able to recover your objects, but that CANNOT be counted on if the damage is severe. If you must run a cache program that uses write caching (SMARTDRV.SYS does not cache writes), HP NewWave Technical Support recommends that you do not use excessively long write delays, and that you develop and maintain an aggressive backup strategy. APPENDIX A: CONFIG.SYS Commands for MS-DOS 5.0 ============================================== BREAK This command forces your computer to do additional checking for CONTROL-C. Since this command is often overridden by application programs, and actually slows down your computer, it is recommended that this command NOT be used unless necessary. BUFFERS This controls the number of DISK buffers that DOS allocates for buffering disk read and write operations. Each buffer typically consumes 532 bytes, but can grow larger depending on disk partition size. If you are loading DOS into the High Memory Area (DOS=HIGH in CONFIG.SYS), it is recommended that you use 20 buffers, as these buffers will also load into the HMA (and will not affect base memory usage). If you are NOT loading DOS in to the HMA, use 20 buffers if you are NOT loading a disk cache program, and 8 buffers if you are using a disk cache program (such as SMARTDRV, Norton, Super PC-Kwik, PC-Tools cache, etc). COUNTRY This command configures DOS to use international time, dates, currency, case conversions, and decimal separators. MS-DOS 5.0 uses United States as its default settings, so DO not use the country command unless you need to. DEVICE The device command allows you to install a device driver into MS-DOS. Use this command to load device drivers into conventional memory, or to load 3rd party high memory loader's device statements (such as QEMM or 386Max). DEVICEHIGH This command is used in conjunction with the EMM386.EXE memory manager to load device drivers into Upper Memory Blocks (rather than in conventional memory). To use this command, the following conditions must be met: 1) You have HIMEM.SYS loaded 2) You have EMM386.EXE loaded, with the optional parameters RAM or NOEMS. 3) You have set DOS=UMB, or DOS=HIGH,UMB in CONFIG.SYS 4) You have unused space in the 640KB - 1MB space. 5) You are running on a 386 or higher processor. DOS This command allows you to specify where in memory you load DOS. If you choose: DOS=HIGH - Most of DOS is placed into the High Memory Area DOS=LOW - DOS fully loads in conventional memory (below 640KB) DOS=UMB - Allows you to load device drivers and TSR programs into upper memory blocks (you must be running EMM386.EXE to be able to use this command). DRIVPARM This command allows you to change the parameters of an existing physical drive. Typically this is used to specify parameters for 3-1/2" disk drives that are capable of running in multiple densities. FCBS This allows you to specify the number of File Control Blocks that MS-DOS can have open at any time. FCBs are data structures that store information about a file. FCBs should not be specified in your config files unless you are using an older program that requires it. Some PC manufacturers may recommend that FCBs be configured for their PC. FILES This specifies the number of files that MS-DOS can access at one time. For a PC running Windows and NewWave, a value of 50 is recommended, but a range from 40 to 60 is usually acceptable. Each file specified in CONFIG.SYS takes up an additional 48 bytes. If you run with too few files, Unrecoverable Application Errors (UAEs) may occur. INSTALL Used to load memory-resident programs in CONFIG.SYS rather than in AUTOEXEC.BAT. The advantage of doing this is that a program loaded with INSTALL does not have a DOS environment created for it, which will save some memory. LASTDRIVE This specifies the maximum number of drives that you can access. This should not be set any higher than needed, as each configured drive letter takes up about 60 bytes. NOTE: LAN Manager Enhanced Workstations may require that LASTDRIVE be set to Z. Novell NetWare works a little differently. The FIRST Novell drive is the first drive letter AFTER the value configured by LASTDRIVE. REM Enables you to include comments in your CONFIG.SYS file. This is typically used to temporarily disable a CONFIG.SYS entry. SHELL Setting a SHELL statement in CONFIG.SYS allows you to specify the name and location of the command interpreter you want MS-DOS 5.0 to use. The shell command is usually used to expand the DOS environment space from its default of 168 bytes (the environment is used to store variables such as your DOS path, anything defined by a SET statement, etc). The following is an example of a recommended SHELL statement: SHELL=C:\COMMAND.COM /P /E:512 Since we are specifying the absolute location of COMMAND.COM, DOS automatically sets the COMSPEC variable to C:\COMMAND.COM (so it is not necessary to set COMSPEC in AUTOEXEC.BAT). The /E:512 expands the environment space to 512 bytes, and the /P tells DOS that this command interpreter and its settings are the permanent settings, and for DOS to NOT unload this shell. STACKS Stacks are used to support the dynamic use of data stacks to handle hardware interrupts. If the stacks parameter is not specified in CONFIG.SYS, this defaults to 0,0 on a PC class machine (8088/8086), and to 9,128 on an AT class (80286 or higher) PC. Since most application programs handle interrupts directly, STACKS can almost always be set to 0,0 on an AT class machine with no problems. Setting STACKS=0,0 will recover about 3KB of memory. If, however, your PC becomes unstable with STACKS=0,0, simply remove this statement from CONFIG.SYS. SWITCHES This command allows an enhanced keyboard to behave like a conventional keyboard. ------------------------------------------ NewWave is a registered trademark of Hewlett Packard Company HP LAN Manager is based on Microsoft OS/2 LAN Manager and on 3+Open. 3+Open is a trademark of 3Com Corporation. Novell and NetWare are registered trademarks of Novell, Inc. MS, MS-DOS, Microsoft Windows and Microsoft are registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation. IBM, PS/2, and Microchannel are registered trademarks of International Business Machines Corporation. Norton and Norton Utilities are registered trademarks of Symantec Corporation. PC-Tools is a registered trademark of Central Point Software. QEMM-386 and Manifest are registered trademarks of Quarterdeck Office Systems. 386MAX, ASQ, and BlueMax are registered trademarks of Qualitas, Inc. 1-2-3 is a registered trademark of Lotus Development Corporation. Super PC-Kwik is a registered trademark of Multisoft Corporation. Western Digital is a registered trademark of Western Digital Corporation.