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- Newsgroups: comp.os.ms-windows.setup
- Path: sparky!uunet!cs.utexas.edu!csc.ti.com!tilde.csc.ti.com!mksol!mccall
- From: mccall@mksol.dseg.ti.com (fred j mccall 575-3539)
- Subject: Re: Still can't use a swapfile!!!
- Message-ID: <1992Sep14.172056.15428@mksol.dseg.ti.com>
- Keywords: microsoft, adaptec, scsi, windows, swapfile
- Organization: Texas Instruments Inc
- References: <14SEP199209444769@summa.tamu.edu>
- Date: Mon, 14 Sep 1992 17:20:56 GMT
- Lines: 65
-
- In <14SEP199209444769@summa.tamu.edu> kbm8572@summa.tamu.edu (BRYAN MILLIGAN) writes:
-
- > Thanks to everyone for the suggestions on how to get my setup running;
- >however, I had already tried most of them. I DO load the ASPI driver first
- >into conventional memory. I DO have the VirtualHDIRQ=off in my system.ini
- >file. I DO have double buffering enabled. I DO exlude the 16K ROM address
- >of my SCSI adapter from use by EMM386. I am using the latest versions of
- >all the drivers. I have to use ASPI or my JetScript driver won't load.
- >The last time I tried to use a swap file I had to reformat the hard disk
- >(major crash). Why won't this work? I paid more for major brand
- >hardware to avoid things like this, but I'm getting no help from
- >Adaptec, Microsoft, or Northgate (it's always a problem with the other
- >guys hardware/software). Is anyone from Microsoft or Adaptec out there?
-
- I can't help, but I can tell you this much. I have SIMILAR hardware
- and have never had this problem. Running on a TriStar EISA machine
- with an AHA-1740A controller, a 1.2G Maxtor Panther drive, and
- Microsoft Windows 3.1, I ran with virtual memory and didn't experience
- any of these kinds of problems. It ran somewhat slower (because it
- apparently does something with VM even if you have lots of physical
- memory), but it ran. This was without the ASPI drivers with the HD
- installed through the BIOS as Device 0. I didn't have to do anything
- special with VirtualHDIRQ, excluding ROM addresses, or anything else.
- The only difference I see is that I am using QEMM (6.03?) for memory
- management, instead of HIMEM and EMM386.
-
- I have since turned off VM (because of the speed difference -- I have
- lots of physical memory, so this isn't a problem) and installed the
- ASPI drivers. Using the ASPI drivers, SMARTDRV says that I no longer
- need to use the /doube_buffer stuff, so I've removed that. I haven't
- tried to use VM since, but if you like I can see if it works with the
- ASPI driver in there. That might help eliminate that as the problem.
-
- However, given the sort of problems you are having, what I would do is
- this. Strip your CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT down to bare minimums to
- run Windows. If your disk will work without the ASPI driver, leave it
- out. Just get HIMEM loaded. Don't even fool with SMARTDRV. Go into
- Windows and make sure you aren't set up for 32-bit disk access, and
- then enable the VM. If it crashes, then you're going to have to keep
- trying to deal with the hardware folks. If not, start adding stuff
- back, one bit at a time, and then run like that for a while. This is
- really the only way I can think of to try to narrow down where the
- problem is (I'd personally suspect something with the way EMM386 is
- working, myself, although the only time I've ever heard of disks
- getting trashed is when 32-bit access is enabled for a drive that
- doesn't support it properly). Until you can narrow it down, you're
- going ot have a lot of trouble getting the various companies to put
- resources onto getting it fixed.
-
- > I'm desparate and tired of restoring my hard drives.
-
- Yeah, I can understand why you would be. Unfortunately, the only way
- to find the problem is probably going to involve running the risk of
- repeatedly trashing your machine for a while until you find the guilty
- component (either HW or SW).
-
- The other option, of course, is to simply not use VM. I find that my
- machine runs a lot better without it. If you have sufficient physical
- memory, I'd just turn it off.
-
- --
- "Insisting on perfect safety is for people who don't have the balls to live
- in the real world." -- Mary Shafer, NASA Ames Dryden
- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
- Fred.McCall@dseg.ti.com - I don't speak for others and they don't speak for me.
-