From: tld@moon.base.bellcore.com (Terry Davidson)
Subject: Re: Unsolved mystery....Please help *URGENT*
Reply-To: tld@cosmos.bellcore.com
Organization: Bellcore
Date: Fri, 11 Dec 92 20:01:56 GMT

In article <92346.103040I19LG@CUNYVM.BITNET>, <I19LG@CUNYVM.BITNET> writes:
|> TO ALL COMPUTER EXPERT & FOLKS:
|>      GUYS, I NEED YOUR HELP URGENTLY. I JUST UPGRADE MY MOTHERBOARD FROM A 286
|> TO A 386DX/25. AT THE BEGINNING, EVERYTHING RUNS GOOD EXCEPT THE POWER INDICATO
|> R LIGHT BULB DIDN'T TURN ON. ACCORDING TO MY AUTOEXEC.BAT AND CONFIG.SYS, I JUS
|> T THE OLD ONE BUT APPENDED A DEVICE=C:\EMM386.EXE RAM IN THE CONFIG.SYS. IN
|> ADDITION, I USE STACKER 2.0 TO STAC 30MB OUT OF MY 42MB HARD DISK AND LEAVE THE
|> UNCOMPRESSED SPACE FOR DOS, STACKER, WINDOWS, AND WINDOWS VIRTUAL MEMORY(SWRAP
|> FILE=2.X MB). AFTERWARD, I RESTORED ALL MY SOFTWARE ON THE STACKER DRIVE (D:)
|> AND TRIED TO START WINDOW SESSION. AGAIN, EVERYTHING SEEMED RIGHT EXCEPT I NEED
|> TO RECONFIGURE THE MOUSE.DRV. ALL OF SUDDEN, (AFTER I ENJOYED PLAYING AROUND
|> WITH THE DOS WINDOWS, GAMES, AND ANY OTHER 386 ENHANCED MODE FEATURE), THE
|> MOUSE COULDN'T MOVE AND THE MONITOR WENT CRAZY(FLICKER UP AND DOWN AT CGA MODE)
|> NEEDLESS TO SAY, WHAT I COULD DO WAS TO REBOOT THE COMPUTER AND EXECUTED WIN
|> 3.1 AGAIN; HOWEVER, THIS TIME IT TOOK ME MORE THAN 2.20 MINUTES TO START THE
|> SESSION (EVEN THE LOGO NEED AT LEAST 1 MINUTE TO DISPLAY) AND THE MOUSE STILL
|> DIDN'T WORK. FOR GOD SAKE, I REBOOTED AGAIN AND USED EDIT.EXE TO CHANGE THE
|> AUTOEXEC.BAT AND CONFIG.SYS. UNFORTUNATELY, PROBLEM AROSE AGAIN...THE SYSTEM
|> HALTED WHEN I EXECUTE EDIT OR QBASIC AND THE PRINTER WAS NOT IN READY MODE NO
|> MATTER I TURN IT ON. CERTAINLY, THE SAME PROBLEM STILL EXISTS IN WIN 3.1. AFTER
|> 4 HOURS STRUGGLING WITH IT, I GAVE UP AND TURN THE COMPUTER OFF...ABRUPTLY THE
|> PRINTER WAS IN READY MODE (??????)......
|>      SO, FOLKS, I REALLY NEED YOU NICE GUYS HELP ME OUT WITHIN 12 HOURS....
|>   HERE IS MY SUSPICIONS:
|> 1. ARE THE PROBLEM DUE TO THE EMM386 OR STACKER 2.0?
|> 2. OR, BECAUSE OF THE MUTLI I/O CARD (I USED IT FOR MY 286) AND THE F/H DISK
|> CONTROLLER HAVE SEVERAL CONFLICTS WITH THE MOTHERBOARD? IF SO, WHY I COULD RUN
|> WIN 3.1 PROPERLY FOR MORE THAN 4 HRS BEFORE THE PROBLEM CAME OUT...
|> 3. ALSO, MY PROCOMM PLUS 2.0 DIDN'T WORK PROPERLY EITHER IN WIN OR DOS (OUT OF
|> DOS WINDOW)..AT THE SAME TIME, EVEN I JUST RUN WORDPERFECT IN DOS, THE MOUSE
|> ALSO DISAPPEARED BUT IT WORKED FINE AT MY POOR 4 HRS HAPPY TIME. ALSO, SAME
|> THING HAPPENED IN EDIT AND QBASIC.
|> 
|> ANYWAY, FOLKS, I DO NEED YOUR HELP AS SOON AS POSSIBLE....I REALLY ENJOYED THE
|> 386 ENHANCED MODE FOR THAT LIMITED 4 HRS, RUNNING EXCEL 4.0 AS FREE...SO PLEASE
|> DO ME A FAVOR!
|> 
|> 
|>                                                   SEK FROM NYC

GET RID OF STACKER!  Reformat your drive, eliminate stacker.  Restore,
set autoexec and config:

  My system has 8 MB of ram and DOS 5.0, and is configured as follows:

  Config.sys:

    device=c:\windows\himem.sys
    dos=high,umb
    device=c:\windows\emm386.exe 2048 ram
    files=30
    buffers=30
    stacks=9,256

  Autoexec.bat

    @echo off
    prompt $p$g
    path c:\;c:\dos;c:\windows;c:\utils
    set temp=c:\temp
    loadhigh mouse

Stacker is a decent product; but my experience has been that the
side-effects of stacker far outweigh its benefits.  I have had both
the software and software/hardware based versions (2.0).  The last
combination I used was their card and software - within one hour
(sound familiar?) of using it, my hard-drive (71MB formatted pure DOS),
had locked out completely.  Ever try using a *read-only* hard-drive?
And, on top of it, my machine exhibited the same symptoms as yours.

FYI - I had a 10 MB uncompressed partition for all the basics, per
their instructions, with the `D' drive taking up the rest.  Total 
megabytes used *before* installing Stacker was 45... so I still had
plenty of room... just wanted to get the max out of my drive...

Try reinstalling everything *without* Stacker.  If everything works
fine without it, then you have found your problem....

Hope this helps...
-- 
 # include disclaimer.lib   //* All standard disclaimers apply *//
 My wife let's me think my opinions are my own.  Bellcore doesn't care
 either way, and doesn't claim them anyway...
 Terry Davidson - tld@cosmos.bellcore.com / tld@cosmos.bae.bellcore.com      
Newsgroups: comp.os.ms-windows.setup