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DOS Application Troubleshooting for Windows 95
DocumentID: 10254
Revision Date: 04-Mar-97 2:04:21 PM

The information in this document applies to:
WordPerfect® 5.1 for DOS

Problem

The steps listed in this Troubleshooting Guide may help you determine the cause of the General Protection Fault problem. The steps may also be useful in troubleshooting other memory related problems. If you find the problem continues to persist after following these steps, it is recommended that you speak to a Technical Support Technician, for any additional troubleshooting necessary. If you have access to an Electronic Service (IE. , Internet, CompuServe, SpaceWorks, etc . . . ), you may directly access Technical Information Documents. To access via Internet, enter the following address: www.corel.com. To access via CompuServe, enter the following address: Go COREL.


NOTE: Previous experience with AUTOEXEC.BAT and CONFIG.SYS files may be needed before using this troubleshooting guide. See the section titled "BOOTING VANILLA" at the end of this guide for further information on troubleshooting via the AUTOEXEC.BAT and CONFIG.SYS files.
      
1.      Does the problem happen under the previous version of MS-DOS?
      A.      Shut down Windows 95.
      B.      When it is "Safe to turn off the computer," press CTRL-ALT-DEL to reboot.
      C.      Watch for the "Starting Windows 95" display, then immediately press the F8 function key.
      D.      Choose option 8, "Previous version of MS-DOS".
      E.      If the problem occurs under the previous version of MS-DOS, the problem is not related to Windows 95. Use other troubleshooting guides appropriate for the problem.

2.      Check the Properties of the Shortcut.
      A.      Try running the DOS application from the default DOS prompt that comes with Windows 95. The icon should be found under START | PROGRAMS | MS-DOS PROMPT. This will test to see if the problem is specific to Shortcut settings the user may have modified from the default.
      B.      To check the Properties, select the Shortcut and press ALT-ENTER (or right click on the icon and select Properties). If you have questions about any of the items under Properties, right click on the item and choose "What's This".
      C.      Check the Memory Tab. Change all memory settings to Auto. If this does not help, check the memory requirements for the application. If enough memory is available, adjust the memory settings to be slightly higher than the applications requirements. If available, use the applications startup parameters that control how memory is used (some WPCorp applications startup options include: /NE, /NX, /W, etc... Please refer to the appropriate Reference Manual for Startup Option explanations ).
      D.      Check for available Conventional Memory under a DOS prompt (START | PROGRAMS | MS-DOS PROMPT). If more Conventional Memory is needed, conventional techniques of "REM"ing unneeded programs from the AUTOEXEC.BAT and CONFIG.SYS may still used. It may be easier to boot using the Step-by-Step confirmation option.
      E.      Check the Screen Tab under PROPERTIES. Is the DOS application running Full Screen or in a Window? Has the user switched back and forth between a Window and Full Screen? In most situations, running the application Full Screen is preferable, especially with applications that use the video display in a graphical mode (for example - View Document). Under the Screen Tab, try unmarking the options "Fast ROM Emulation" and "Dynamic Memory Allocation".
      F.      If the program is slow, lower the "Idle Sensitivity" under the Misc Tab. This prevents Windows 95 from detecting that the application may not be doing anything. Windows 95 will give the DOS applications resource to another program until it is no longer "Idle".
      G.      To troubleshoot mouse problems, verify that the program is running Full Screen. Also try marking the "Exclusive mode" option under the Misc Tab. This will prevent the mouse from being used for Windows 95 and only for the DOS application.
      H.      Try running the DOS application in MS-DOS mode. This is found under the Program Tab | Advanced. This mode allows users to specify what drivers and settings are loaded in a CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT for that application only. This essesntially "shuts down" Windows 95 and runs the DOS application. No other application should be running when this setting is used. Windows 95 will close all other applications before it starts the MS-DOS mode. If you do not need to change settings for the configuration files, it may be easier to shut down the computer and restart in MS-DOS mode. Type EXIT to return to Windows 95 from MS-DOS mode

3.      Try other bootup options (Press F8 when the screen says "Starting Windows 95")
      A.      Try booting in Step-by-Step confirmation. This will help to determine what drivers or settings may be causing a problem.
      B.      Try booting "Logged". Look at the BOOTLOG.TXT and other *.TXT files in the root directory for hints about drivers that are unable to load properly.
      C.      Boot in "Safe mode" to determine if the problem is related to Windows drivers or settings.

4.      Other things to try.
      A.      Try duplicating the problem without any other DOS or Windows programs running.
      B.      Run ScanDisk (START | PROGRAMS | ACCESSORIES | SYSTEM TOOLS | SCANDISK).
      C.      Make sure there is enough disk space free for the DOS application. Test this by running the application, open My Computer, Check Properties on the drive). The user will also want to verify that there is enough disk space on the drive where the Windows 95 Virtual Memory is located.
      D.      Check System Resources and Memory (right click on My Computer, select Properties, select Performance).
      E.      Check the System Monitor. If this has been installed, it can be found under START | PROGRAMS | ACCESSORIES | SYSTEM TOOLS | SYSTEM MONITOR. This program will allow you to watch how the computer performs while the applications executes.

5.      For further information about troubleshooting MS-DOS programs under Windows 95, check the Windows 95 Online Help. This is under START | HELP, move to the INDEX Tab. Find MS-DOS, select Troubleshooting. Also, check other Windows 95 troubleshooting guides. Troubleshooting guides for running DOS applications under Windows 3.1 may have steps that do not apply to Windows 95, however, they may give further troubleshooting ideas.

BOOTING VANILLA
At a certain point when booting under Windows 95, the screen will say "Starting Windows 95". At this point the user may press F8 to get a menu of bootup options. The screen should look similar to this:

Microsoft Windows 95 Startup Menu
1. Normal
2. Logged (\BOOTLOG.TXT)
3. Safe mode
4. Safe mode with network support
5. Step-by-step confirmation
6. Command prompt only
7. Safe mode command prompt only
8. Previous version of MS-DOS

Enter a choice:

F5=Safe mode Shift-F5=Command Prompt Shift-F8=Step-by-step confirmation [N]

This screen allows the user to choose from several different options to troubleshoot a particular situation. The keystrokes listed at the bottom of the screen may also be pressed when the screen says "Starting Windows 95". Depending on the way the user installed Windows 95, option 8 may or may not appear.

Booting under "Command Prompt Only" is useful for checking the configuration files and other settings. In most cases, you will not be able to run large applications under the Command prompt because of low conventional memory.

Booting under the "Step-by-step confirmation" allows you to boot Vanilla, but will still load necescary drivers like EMM386.EXE and HIMEM.SYS. This is the best way to single out drivers or configuration settings that may be the cause of the problem.

Booting in "Safe mode" or "Safe mode with network support" will provide troubleshooting of specific Windows 95 drivers that have been known to cause problems in the past. This is essentially the same as booting Windows 95 without any third party drivers and running with a VGA display driver. Safe Mode does not process the CONFIG.SYS and/or AUTOEXEC.BAT files. It does load HIMEM.SYS and any VxD's (Windows Virtual Device Driver) that are needed for minimum operation of Windows 95.

No matter which boot mode is selected, an AUTOEXEC.BAT and CONFIG.SYS file will be used. These two files are constantly being renamed, depending on the boot mode that was selected. When booting in any mode other than "Previous version of MS-DOS", the files: AUTOEXEC.W40 and CONFIG.W40 are renamed to AUTOEXEC.BAT and CONFIG.SYS. When selecting option 8, "Previous version of MS-DOS" boot, the files AUTOEXEC.DOS and CONFIG.DOS are renamed to AUTOEXEC.BAT and CONFIG.SYS. It is important to notice which mode you are in and what files you are modifying. The normal names (AUTOEXEC.BAT and CONFIG.SYS) will always be the files for the current mode you have booted under.

The Windows 95 Setup procedure will detect certain pieces of hardware and the associated driver in the configuration files. Windows 95 may replace an "older" 16-bit version of a driver with a new 32-bit version. You may notice these differences when comparing settings in the sets of configuration files.

Answer:

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