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"Invalid COMMAND.COM..." Error Message Troubleshooting |
The information in this document applies to:
WordPerfect® 5.1 for DOS
Problem
FYI: If a customer is receiving error messages such as "Invalid COMMAND.COM...", do the following steps first: I. Identify where the computer normally access's COMMAND.COM from. II. Identify why the system cannot access COMMAND.COM as it normally would. III. Proceed with re-establishing the path to COMMAND.COM by following the troubleshooting options below: 1. A customer received the message "Invalid COMMAND.COM. Cannot Load COMMAND.COM, System Halted" when exiting WordPerfect on a Novell network station. The System Login Script on the file server contained several IF statements. The station that was having the problems did not have an IF statement for its address in the Login Script. After adding a statement for that specific network address, the error was eliminated. 2. When using WP=/(anything) before the SET COMSPEC=C:\COMMAND.COM command in the DOS environment, WordPerfect either locks or gives the error message "Invalid COMMAND.COM, Cannot Start Command: Exiting, System Halted." When the order is changed (in either the user login script or AUTOEXEC.BAT) so that the COMSPEC command appears before the WP command, the problem is fixed. The environment is controlled by the COMMAND.COM file. So, if variables are loaded into the environment and then the COMMAND.COM is changed so that those variables are controlled for a different COMMAND.COM, the user will get this message. The DOS manual states that the user should load the COMMAND.COM first before loading environment variables. 3. The customer is getting the error messages "Invalid COMMAND.COM - System Halted" and "Cannot Load COMMAND.COM, System Halted" when exiting WordPerfect. Other users can exit WP normally from this machine, and this customer can exit WP from any other machine without getting the error message. The AUTOEXEC.BAT file has the command SET COMSPEC=C:\COMMAND.COM as the first command. There are no commands in any user's login script. The customer is on a Novell 286 network. Typically these errors occur when a SHELL or COMSPEC statement is incorrect. If COMMAND.COM in the boot directory is a different version than the COMMAND.COM installed on a search drive, when DOS swaps out WP and tries to restore the transient version of COMMAND.COM, it will display the error. As a troubleshooting step, verify that the copies of COMMAND.COM on the boot disk and on the network search drives are the same. 4. One user was able to correct this error message by placing the SET COMSPEC= command in his Login script after the drive mappings, but before the PATH statement. 5. Another user with Set COMSPEC = F:\LOGIN\COMMAND.COM in the AUTOEXEC.BAT file and the command SHELL=A:\COMMAND.COM A:\ /P /E:512 in the CONFIG.SYS file also received this error. Remarking out the Shell command corrected the error. 6. On a network, if certain DOS 5.O users get the error "Invalid COMMAND.COM System Halted" and other DOS 5.0 users don't, check the version of DOS with VER/R. The DOS 5.0 COMMAND.COM file has gone through three revisions. Make sure that the problem machines are running the same revision of DOS 5.0 that the COMSPEC is pointing to. 7. One user got the error message "Invalid COMMAND.COM, Cannot Load COMMAND.COM, System Halted" when a command in the login script re directed the WP temporary files to a volume name. 8. The customer receives an "Invalid COMMAND.COM" error while exiting WordPerfect. Then the computer locks. a. The customer had two COMMAND.COM files on the hard drive. After the customer removed one COMMAND.COM the problem stopped. b. Another customer had the COMMAND.COM file in the DOS directory. After the customer moved the file to the root directory, the error was eliminated. c. Another customer was booting from the A: drive and was loading the COMMAND: SET COMSPEC=C:\COMMAND.COM in the AUTOEXEC.BAT file. Since the user booted from the A: drive, changing the COMSPEC command to read: SET COMSPEC=A:\COMMAND.COM corrected the error. 9. Another customer solved this problem by using the proper drive letter in the .ENV file. The environment file was pointing to a drive that didn't exist. 10. A customer received the error "Incorrect System Version" when running any application (DOS or Windows) from Windows. The Network Type in Main|Win Setup|Options|Change System Settings was incorrect. After the customer corrected this, the error was eliminated. 11. One customer was able to correct the problem by placing a copy of command.com on the first search drive that was listed in the users path. |
Answer:
Details:
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