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                        | P T S - D O S   -   F A Q |
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Frequently asked questions, problems, workarounds and solutions for PTSDOS.
Compiled by Tobias Ernst @ 2:2476/113.15.  This list is updated continuously
and published monthly in the fido echomail area PTSDOS.GER.  Suggestions
welcome.


PTSDOS - FAQ, Rev.:  Aug. 16, 1995


(*) Q:  I have strange problems with my hard disk (lost clusters and so on).

A:  It is highly advisable to entirely reformat your harddisk using the fdisk
    and format programs which are included on your PTSDOS disk prior to using
    PTSDOS on your hard disk regularly.



(*) Q:  I tried to entirely repartition and reformat my hard disk using the
    installation routine, but it does not work.

A:  Several problems were encountered with the installation routine of
    PTSDOS.  Usually, using FDISK to repartition your hard disk is no
    problem, but the installation routine might be unable to format your hard
    disk afterwards.  In this case, do as follows:

    1.  Quit the installation routine and return to the dos prompt.  If,
        after leaving the installation routine, you do not see the dos
        prompt, but the CP menu, and if you are unable to quit CP using F10,
        you must type

        command

        to start the command line.

    2.  Type:

        format c:  /s

        Your hard disk will be reformatted, but you will proably get an error
        message that the system could not be transferred to the hard disk.

    3.  Make sure the installation disk is in the current drive and type:

        sys c:

        Now, the system should be correctly transferred to your hard disk.

    4.  Reboot your computer in order to restart the installation process.
        This time, perform the installation without selecting to start FDISK
        or to format the hard drive, because you already have done it
        manually.



(*) Q:  I have several timing problems.  Delays take much longer than they
    should; my terminal program is unable to correctly count seconds etc. pp.

A:  Remove the CPU=FAST statement from your Config.Pts.



Q:  I want to install MS Windows for the first time, but the installation
    process is interrupted after the DOS part of SETUP is completed, and the
    system is locked.  This occurs although I used the "windows compatible"
    startup option.

A:  For the installation of MS Windows, make a raw boot (i.e. use a
    Config.Pts and Autopts.Bat with none but the most necessary lines and the
    keyboard driver).  After the installation is completed, you may again use
    the "windows compatbile" startup mode.

A:  Newer releases of PTSDOS allow you to select a "Installations"-Mode in
    the startup menu.  This should work as well.



Q:  Windows refuses to start.  The System is locked.

A:  There are a lot of reasons for that.  First make sure that you use the
    settings of the "windows compatible" startup option.  In the worst case,
    make a raw boot and then add your settings step by step until you have
    found which line was responsible for the problem.  Then let ME know!!!

A:  Windows does not like FILES buffers loaded into XMS.



Q:  I am using the german keyboard setting, and Caps Lock does not work.

A:  This problem is fixed in V6.51

A:  The problem is limited to the german keyboard layout of V6.4.  You may
    fix the problem by using NKD.COM (which allows you to define your own
    keyboard layout) instead of KEYB.COM.  Alternatively, you may use your
    own keyboard driver - there are lots of shareware or freeware keyboard
    drivers which use only about half a kilobyte of memory.



Q:  After using PTSDOS for a few days, I found bugs in my fidonet message
    base, i.e. wrong message texts, "chinese" chars etc.

A:  This problem is known to occur with McMail/IMail/Timed and Crosspoint.
    It was only observed when using PTSDOS on a hard disk which was formatted
    by MSDOS.  Make a backup of your hard disk and repartition and reformat
    it using PTSDOS.



Q:  Although I never had a Windows crash or things like that, I am getting
    lost clusters and other errors in the file structure of my hard disk.

A:  Before you execute CHKDSK, you must disable SMARTDRV.  If the problem
    persists (or if you were not using SMARTDRV ;-), see above:  Repartition
    and reformat your hard disk using PTSDOS.



Q:  I tried to load a device driver into UMB memory, but although plenty of
    UMB memory was free, it still took up a considerable amount of
    conventional memory.

A:  Probably the driver's code was correctly put into UMB, but the program
    tried to allocate further memory blocks, which were taken from
    conventional memory.  You can solve this problem by using SETDRV /U to
    load the driver in your Autopts.Bat file instead of using DEVICEHIGH in
    your Config.Pts file.



(*) Q:  UMB?  How can I make PTSDOS use UMB?

A:  PTSDOS is fully capable of handling upper memory blocks with commands
    like DEVICEHIGH and LOADHIGH (LH) - the only problem is that there is no
    program included that makes UMB memory available (like EMM386 in most
    other DOS operating systems).

    You may use a commercial memory manager like QEMM to provide UMB memory.
    QEMM seems to work fine with PTSDOS.  It is not advisable to use MSDOS's
    EMM386.EXE together with PTSDOS, because it will make the system
    unstable.

    Another way to provide UMB memory is to directly reprogram your
    motherboards's chipset.  Most chipsets set aside 384K of system memory as
    shadow ram, but as the BIOS ROM is only from 32K to 96K of size, plenty
    of memory remains unused.  This memory can be mapped into the UMB area
    and used as normal UMB RAM.  An advantage of this method is that your CPU
    stays in Real Mode, which is considerable faster and more compatbile than
    the V86-Mode into which your CPU is switched by EMM386 et. al.
    Furthermore, UMB RAM is not taken from your extended memory, but from
    reserved memory, which would otherwise remain unused.

    This reprogramming is totally dependent on your system's chipset.  You
    have to search for a program that does it for your specific system.
    These programs are regularly available as freeware or shareware.  Write a
    question in PTSDOS.GER for details.  ;)



Q:  I have problems when using a folder drive and a hard disk cache (e.g.
    SMARTDRV, PTSCACHE, HYPERDISK, ...)

A:  You must disable the cache for the COMPRESSED drive and have it cache the
    host drive (that drive with the uncompressed disk space) ONLY.  As all
    data of the compressed drive is stored on the host drive, this measure
    will not negatively affect your system's performence.



Q:  When I am trying to print out a document on my HP Deskjet printer using
    MS Windows, I always get a "printer is offline" message box on the
    screen.  Although the printing process is not interrupted and the message
    box disappears on its own, I am heavily annoyed of this because I can't
    do other things on my computer while anything is printed.

A:  You can prevent the box from appearing as follows:  Start the Windows
    Control Panel and enter the Printer section.  There you have to activate
    that dialog box in which you can select the printer port.  If your
    printer is connected to LPT1:, change this to LPT1.DOS (at the bottom of
    the list, after the COM ports ;), if it is connected to LPT2:, change
    this to LPT2.DOS.



Q:  I solved the problem with my HP Deskjet Printer as you said, but now the
    printout is intolerable slow.

A:  Get the newest version of the HP Deskjet series driver (V 5.0).  Printing
    speed will not be the same as under MSDOS, but at least faster than with
    older printer driver versions.



(*) Q:  PTSDOS does not work on my pentium computer

A:  Use version 6.51 or above.



(*) Q:  Which fossil driver do I have to use with my fidonet mailer?

A:  PTS-Fossil is not compatible to "revision 4".  (At least, FrontDoor says
    so and refuses to start).  BNU does not work (system hangs after init
    screen).  X00 Version 1.50 seems to be OK.



(*) Q:  My memory is fragmented:  Although 620K are free, the maximum size
for an executable program is only about 590K.

A:  This effect is caused by Command.Com if you are using the /E:xxxx switch
    in the SHELL line of CONFIG.PTS.  The environment is then (and only then)
    placed in an odd place where it divides your 620K of free memory into a
    large area of 590K and a small area of 30K. There are two possible
    solutions:

    1.:  Leave out the /E command switch.  Although of course the environment
         is still allocated, it now is in a more convenient place.

    2.:  If you need to define the environment size via the /E:xxxx switch,
         you may try to stuff the memory hole afterwards:  Remove all device=
         entries from your Config.Pts and load these drivers via SETDRV from
         your Autopts.Bat file.  The effect will be that command.com, the 30
         KB hole and the environment block will be placed earlier in the
         system memory, and the drivers that are loaded after command.com
         will be placed into the 30KB hole.  Please note that you must not
         load Folder.Sys via Setdrv!!!

    3.:  Try to provide UMB Ram and use SHELLHIGH instead of SHELL.  This
         will also eliminate this strange effect.


You may share this list to others, but PLEASE do not modify it.  If you have
anything you think to be worth of putting it into this list, contact me and I
will probably do it for you.

Tobias Ernst, Fido @ 2:2476/418