HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: tennis@cs.mcgill.ca (Pascal PROULX)
Subject: WARNING !!!!! MS WINDOWS 3.1 SmartDrive Problem
Organization: SOCS - Mcgill University, Montreal, Canada
Date: Thu, 13 Aug 1992 04:07:31 GMT


The following article was taken from the PC WORLD ONLINE via the America
Online BBS and is an important warning for all MS WINDOWS 3.1 users.

The following information was passed on to PC WORLD ONLINE by PCW George,
(George Campbell, a PC WORLD Editor).

"After considerable testing, I have discovered a major problem with the
version of SmartDrive included with Windows 3.1. The default installation
of SMARTDRV.EXE enables write caching on your hard disks. Most often this
is not a problem but, under certain circumstances, it could crash your hard
disk. A typical situation is described below :


1) If you use a program wich handles multiple boot-up configurations by using
   alternative Autoexec.bat and Config.sys files then automatically
   re-booting, SmartDrive won't write the new files to the hard disk before
   the computer reboots. This could cause damage to you FAT table if the disk
   write is only partiallt completed. In most cases, however, the copying job
   will not be done, and the computer will reboot safely.

2) In some Windows programs, not enough time is allowed for SmartDRive to
   write files to disk. In this case, if you shut off your computer for some
   reason, your files will not be saved. In the worst scenario, your FAT tables
   may be damaged.

3) If a power failure occurs during the gap before cached data is written to
   the hard disk, you could damage your FAT tables.


******************
SOLUTION :
******************

Disable write-caching in SmartDrive. This is not a documented in the Windows
Manual, but is ducomented in SmartDrive's help screen. To disable
write-caching, modify the line in your AUTOEXEC.BAT file as shown below :


Original Line (substitute your own drive information)

C:\WINDOWS\SMARTDRV.EXE

Altered line to disable write-caching : (again, supply your own drive info)

C:\WINDOWS\SMARTDRV.EXE C D E (list all hard drives)


This modification will disable write-caching. You will get a minor slowdown
in Windows, but it won't be too noticeable.


Tip from George Campbell (PCWGeorge)

Newsgroups: comp.os.msdos.misc
From: fox@rei2.uucp (Fuzzy Fox)
Subject: Re: strange problem - virus?
Date: Wed, 12 Aug 1992 16:14:22 GMT
Distribution: usa
Organization: REI

skank@leland.Stanford.EDU (Forked Tongue Redlich) writes:

>I rebooted on a
>floppy and saw that all files had been deleted from the root
>directory.  Now I don't remember doing this.  Also, there were
>a bunch of garbage files in the c:\dos directory, some with 0 bytes,

>All of these files began with A or B, and had meaningless names.

>Has anyone seen anything like this before?  What's going on?

I have seen this several times, and it generally happens when Windows
goes nuts and writes to the wrong place on the hard disk.  Yes, that's
right, MS Windows.  Time to restore from backup, or if you use Norton
Utilities' IMAGE program, the UnFormat program may help you out.

-- 
#ifdef TRUE         | Fuzzy Fox                  fuzzy@netcom.com
#define  TRUE   0   | a.k.a. David DeSimone      an207@cleveland.freenet.edu
#define  FALSE  1   |
#endif              |         How's my posting?  Call 1-800-ALT-FLAME
Newsgroups: comp.os.msdos.misc
From: rnichols@cbnewsg.cb.att.com (robert.k.nichols)
Subject: Re: Norton Utility's Calibrate: Is it good or not?
Organization: AT&T
Distribution: na
Date: Sun, 23 Aug 1992 07:50:16 GMT

In article <1992Aug21.174728.18411@ns1.cc.lehigh.edu> jjk1@ns1.cc.lehigh.edu (Konsultant Josh/fuzzy.happy.green.box) writes:
...

>In answer to your basic question: It is not bad to low-level format a
>drive unless it is an IDE, in which case it should only be your last
>resort after a lengthy discussion with the drive manufacturer.  In
>most cases low-level formatting an IDE drive will void the warranty
>unless the manufacturer tells you specifically to do so.
...

I quote from Seagate's Drive Installation Guide for my ST3120A (IDE)
drive:

	"For best results, the drive should be formatted in its
	 final mounting orientation."

Unless someone can suggest a mechanism whereby the high-level format might
be compromised by mounting orientation, I shall persist in my belief that
the above statement refers to low-level formatting.

Elsewhere in the guide is a statement that this family of drives does not
NEED low-level formatting because it is done at the factory (presumably in
the normal, horizontal orientation), but nowhere is it FORBIDDEN to low-
level format the drive, and there is no mention of voiding the warranty,
beyond the obvious: "... all user data will be lost.  Seagate Technology
assumes no liability for lost user data."

Yes, special software is required, but it is readily available.  (A low-
level IDE formatting program was included in the software bundled with
my PC.)  The real danger, in my view, is subjecting an IDE drive to
the ROM-based formatting code often found in PCs at paragraph C800.

Bob Nichols
rnichols@ihlpm.ih.att.com
Newsgroups: comp.os.msdos.misc,comp.os.msdos.apps
From: regeorge@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu (Robert E George)
Subject: EQUATION EDITOR
Organization: The Ohio State University
Date: Sat, 22 Aug 1992 21:24:33 GMT


Has *anybody* been able to create mathematical formulae with Equation
Editor in WordforWindows 2.0/Windows 3.1 and then have them successfully
printed out on paper by a printer? Note successfully -- this does
*not* mean some strange, squiggly symbols that one might eventually
guess were integral signs, but rather integral signs that look
much like those we see in textbooks?

If so, please email me and let me know what printer you are using.
I seem to have very, very great difficulty finding a printer that can
actually handle the mathematical symbols (such as integral sign).

(I apologize for posting to sci.math, since I realize that this message
is not really appropriate for that newsgroup, but I have exhausted so
many avenues and wasted so much time that I feel a need to go immediately
to people who do this kind of wordprocessing regularly.)

Thanks,
Robert George
regeorge@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu
(speaking only for myself)
Newsgroups: comp.os.msdos.misc
From: malcolm@muir.demon.co.uk ("Malcolm S. Muir")
Subject: Mitsubishi PC EMERGENCY!!!!! 
Distribution: world
Organization: Muir
Date: Sat, 15 Aug 1992 22:33:55 +0000


In article <bz7mm2j.dman@netcom.com> dman@netcom.com writes:

>I think the poster imlied that Norton is only on his C: drive, so he can't
>try it.

You mean he doesn't have a backup of that *either* ...

If this is a *real* process control system, then he should be
a) repairing/replacing the hardware; b) restoring the software from
a backup disk/tape/whatever.

[We are sorry your lights are out, normal service will be restored as
 soon as the software is re-written :-) ]

--
Malcolm S. Muir                       EMAIL: malcolm@muir.demon.co.uk
Sunderland, England                   CIX: mmuir BIX: mmuir CSERVE: 100012,31
--
Newsgroups: comp.os.msdos.misc
From: malcolm@muir.demon.co.uk ("Malcolm S. Muir")
Subject: Mitsubishi PC EMERGENCY!!!!! 
Distribution: world
Organization: Muir
Date: Sat, 15 Aug 1992 10:48:55 +0000


In article <1992Aug14.104706.6067@iscsvax.uni.edu> kraai4712@iscsvax.uni.edu writes:

>I'm using a Mitsubishi MS-DOS compatible computer whose hard disk has crashed.
>
>I'm using it to control a POWER PLANT, get the magnitude of the problem?
>
>It's real important that I recover the software on it as I probably can't
>replace it.

Process Control and you don't have a *backup* !!! some folk never learn. I
hope you don't get let loose on any real life control systems.

Have you tried norton in maintenance mode ?  (nu /m)


--
Malcolm S. Muir                       EMAIL: malcolm@muir.demon.co.uk
Sunderland, England                   CIX: mmuir BIX: mmuir CSERVE: 100012,31
--
Xref: sparky comp.os.msdos.misc:4845 comp.binaries.ibm.pc.wanted:5736
From: mbeck@rice-chex.ai.mit.edu (Mark Becker)
Newsgroups: comp.os.msdos.misc,comp.binaries.ibm.pc.wanted
Subject: What happened to Byte's Demolink?
Summary: demolink
Keywords: Byte demolink
Date: 22 Aug 92 01:35:19 GMT
Followup-To: comp.os.msdos.misc
Distribution: usa


Hello *

The other day I happened across a postcard from Byte advertising
Demolink.. a service where readers could call and download freebie
demos.

Whatever dial-up access port used to work apparently doesn't work any
more.. entering 'demolink' at the prompt results in a 'remote DTE
clear' message on the terminal.

Anyone know what happened?

Regards,
Mark
+-----------------------------------------------+-----------------------+
| Mark Becker					| .signature under	|
| Internet: mbeck@ai.mit.edu			|	construction	|
+-----------------------------------------------+-----------------------+
From: nevries@accucx.cc.ruu.nl (Nico E de Vries)
Newsgroups: comp.os.msdos.misc
Subject: Re: PC Speaker
Date: 14 Aug 92 13:02:39 GMT
Organization: Academic Computer Centre Utrecht

In <1992Aug14.002421.11598@mnemosyne.cs.du.edu> jbharvey@nyx.cs.du.edu (Justin  Harvey) writes:

>Could someone please tell me where to get a driver or TSR that
>will completely silence a PC Speaker?  I have used a program named
>Silence but it only makes the sound stacato.  This is for a
>regular Wang PC running MS-DOS 5.0

No kidding but the best way is a scizzor. There is no easy software way
the speaker can be silenced. This is because mostly the hardware is
controlled directly. Only OS/2 2.0 is powerfull enough to really do
the trick (the DOS boxes have a no sound option which does work
by intercepting the direct hardware control in V86 mode).

>Any info would be appreciated,

>Justin Harvey


Nico E. de Vries
_ _
O O  USENET nevries@cc.ruu.nl  FIDO 2:281/708.1  COMPUSERVE "soon" ???? 
 o   This text reflects MY opinions, not that of my employer BITECH.      
\_/  This text is supplied 'AS IS', no waranties of any kind apply.      
     Don't waste your time on complaining about my hopeless typostyle.

"I would admit my mistakes, if I had any ..."  (Bumper Sticker)
From: lape@cs.utk.edu (Bryon S. Lape)
Newsgroups: comp.os.msdos.misc
Subject: DOS-SHELL????
Date: 19 Aug 92 14:00:14 GMT
Organization: University of Tennessee, Knoxville - CS Department
Distribution: world
NNTP-Posting-Host: duncan.cs.utk.edu
Originator: lape@duncan.cs.utk.edu

	Anyone, besides me, ever realize that the DOSSHELL programme is
just one S away from DOS HELL???  Very interesting......


Bryon Lape
-- 
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Is your laundry phosphate free?  Help stop global pollution.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Xref: sparky comp.os.msdos.misc:4695 comp.os.msdos.apps:4302 mtl.general:171
From: exuptr@exu.ericsson.se (Patrick Taylor)
Newsgroups: socs.misc,comp.os.msdos.misc,comp.os.msdos.apps,mtl.general
Subject: Re: WARNING !!!!! MS WINDOWS 3.1 SmartDrive Problem
Date: 13 Aug 92 19:47:13 GMT
Organization: Ericsson Network Systems, Inc.

In article <1992Aug13.040731.2286@cs.mcgill.ca> tennis@cs.mcgill.ca (Pascal PROULX) writes:

>The following article was taken from the PC WORLD ONLINE via the America
>Online BBS and is an important warning for all MS WINDOWS 3.1 users.

>The following information was passed on to PC WORLD ONLINE by PCW George,
>(George Campbell, a PC WORLD Editor).

>"After considerable testing, I have discovered a major problem with the 
>version of SmartDrive included with Windows 3.1. The default installation
>of SMARTDRV.EXE enables write caching on your hard disks. Most often this
>is not a problem but, under certain circumstances, it could crash your hard
>disk. A typical situation is described below :

>1) If you use a program wich handles multiple boot-up configurations by using
>   alternative Autoexec.bat and Config.sys files then automatically
>   re-booting, SmartDrive won't write the new files to the hard disk before
>   the computer reboots. This could cause damage to you FAT table if the disk
>   write is only partiallt completed. In most cases, however, the copying job
>   will not be done, and the computer will reboot safely.

Ok.

>2) In some Windows programs, not enough time is allowed for SmartDRive to
>   write files to disk. In this case, if you shut off your computer for some 
>   reason, your files will not be saved. In the worst scenario, your FAT tables
>   may be damaged.

This could happen without smartdrive.  Windows is unpredicatble about when
it will decide to write something to disk.  Solution: don't turn your
PC off without exiting Windows and parking your drive heads.

>3) If a power failure occurs during the gap before cached data is written to
>   the hard disk, you could damage your FAT tables.

This could happen without smartdrive, too.  Solution: buy a UPS.  Nothing
else can give you nearly perfect protection.


>Tip from George Campbell (PCWGeorge)
 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
   "This must be Thursday.  I never could get the hang of Thursdays"
                                                          - D Adams
  - Patrick Taylor
    Ericsson Network Systems
    exuptr@exu.ericsson.se             "Don't let the .se fool you"
    alternately, exuptr@ZGNews.Lonestar.Org
Newsgroups: comp.os.msdos.misc
From: doc@magna.com (Matthew J. D'Errico)
Subject: Re: Norton Utility's Calibrate: Is it good or not?
Organization: Magna Software Corporation
Date: Fri, 21 Aug 1992 15:42:12 GMT

In article <25646@dog.ee.lbl.gov> mccloud@bevsun.lbl.gov (Mike McCloud) writes:
>In article <1992Aug21.001026.26091@nic.umass.edu> s9874203@titan.ucc.umass.edu
>(s9874203) writes:
>>I was told that it was always bad to do low-level format on hard disk.
>>However, Norton Utility's Calibrate does such a thing. My question is: is
>>Calibrate good for hard disk or not (assuming NU suggests me to have some
>>optimization work done on hard disk...)? Or more simply, is low-level
>>format good or not to hard disk? Thanks in advance.
>>
>>H.Y.
>>
>Low Level format of MFM (ST412/506), ESDI and SCSI hard drives does no damage
>to the drive and can in many instances correct drive errors.

Agreed, and to add that LL Format will also change the interleave factor
which can increase system performance...

>NEVER perform a low-level format on an IDE hard drive! These drives are
>formatted at the factory using special equipment to optimize the transfer rate
>(speed) of the drive. A low level format on IDE drives can significantly
>degrade performance. You can, however use FDISK and FORMAT to high-level format
>these drives.

Norton's CALIBRAT will *not* LLFormat an IDE drive -- it will refuse to
even try...

To answer HY's question, CALIBRAT does a great and reliable job on
most drives.  In some cases, you may be better off with the LLFormat
utility from the drive manufacturer, like seagate, which are usually
available on their BBS's...  But calibrat is pretty good at letting
you know what it's limitations are...
Newsgroups: comp.os.msdos.misc
From: bchs1b@Elroy.UH.EDU (Michael Benedik)
Subject: Re: Optimizing 386SX-16's for Windows
Reply-To: bchs1b@Elroy.UH.EDU
Organization: University of Houston
Date: Fri, 14 Aug 1992 14:26:24 GMT

In article <14AUG199200455008@erich.triumf.ca>, damien@erich.triumf.ca (DAMIEN GALLOP) writes:
>MB writes:
>
>>Therefore what is needed is either:
>>   (1) non-Windows applications that are just as good, or
>>   (2) something faster than Windows that runs Windows apps.
>> 
>>Alternative 1 requires that we know what Windows apps are to be used
>>and why they're needed.
>> 
>>I don't think alternative 2 exists ...
>
>The new DESQview claims amazing things along this line. From a current ad:
>
>"With DESQview you can run both DOS and MS Windows programs at the same time,
>side by side (along with GEM and GEOS too, if you want). On any computer with
>EMS 4 memory, even an 8088."
>
>						All the best. Damien
>
>email: damien@reg.triumf.ca

Not quite correct. Deskview will run MS Windows in a deskview window
and you can run a windows program under Windows in deskview. But that
is not the same as running a windows app under deskview without windows.
OS2 however will run windows apps without windows because the windows
kernal is built into OS2. However I am not sure I would recommend OS2 for
a 386SX-16 (but then again I've never tried it).


	---------------------------------------------------
	 Michael Benedik
	 Department of Biochemical and Biophysical Sciences
	 University of Houston
	 INTERNET: Benedik@UH.EDU	BITNET: Benedik@UHOU
Newsgroups: comp.os.msdos.misc
From: gregh@alw.nih.gov (Gregory Humphreys)
Subject: Re: Missing extended memory!?!
Organization: National Inst. of Health, DCRT, CSL
Date: Thu, 13 Aug 1992 14:50:46 GMT

You may have shadow ram turned off... on some bios's this is not the default...
When I had 4 meg ram It only showed like 3.5 or 3.6 or something.  What you
need to do is go into your CMOS and look for settings like shadow ram, and change the settings.  That could account for it.  Also, try DOS=HIGH,UMB.

-- 
Greg Humphreys
gregh@alw.nih.gov - National Institutes of Health

diplomacy, n : The art of saying "nice doggy" until you can find a rock.
From: mccloud@bevsun.lbl.gov (Mike McCloud)
Newsgroups: comp.os.msdos.misc
Subject: Re: Norton Utility's Calibrate: Is it good or not?
Date: 21 Aug 1992 07:55:46 GMT
Organization: Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory
Distribution: world
NNTP-Posting-Host: 131.243.192.43

In article <1992Aug21.001026.26091@nic.umass.edu> s9874203@titan.ucc.umass.edu
(s9874203) writes:
>I was told that it was always bad to do low-level format on hard disk.
>However, Norton Utility's Calibrate does such a thing. My question is: is
>Calibrate good for hard disk or not (assuming NU suggests me to have some
>optimization work done on hard disk...)? Or more simply, is low-level
>format good or not to hard disk? Thanks in advance.
>
>H.Y.
>
Low Level format of MFM (ST412/506), ESDI and SCSI hard drives does no damage
to the drive and can in many instances correct drive errors.

NEVER perform a low-level format on an IDE hard drive! These drives are
formatted at the factory using special equipment to optimize the transfer rate
(speed) of the drive. A low level format on IDE drives can significantly
degrade performance. You can, however use FDISK and FORMAT to high-level format
these drives.

-----MIKE
Newsgroups: comp.os.msdos.misc
From: evans1@cbnewsm.cb.att.com (Dan Evans)
Subject: Re: Let's start a DR-DOS newsgroup
Organization: AT&T
Distribution: na
Date: Fri, 21 Aug 1992 19:46:32 GMT

In article <1992Aug20.220903.1@kean.ucs.mun.ca> slegge@kean.ucs.mun.ca writes:
>> >I vote yes to the DR DOS newsgroup.     
>> 
>> >It provides a forum fo all the complants I've seen
>> over this group   
>> >about SuperStor and DR DO 6.0 crashing systems and
>> causing corruption     
>> >on the hard drive.  I haven't had a lot of respect for
>> DR since I pulled 
>> >GEM off my system.      
>>   
>> Huh?  DR-DOS 6.0 crashing systems?  I guess I must have
>> been sleeping   the past months.  I follow DR-DOS postings
>> as much as I can and         haven't anything specific
>> to DR DOS as n OS causing crashes.  Most have   been
>> due to cockpit error.  No flame intended...jus haven't
>> noticed       any major bugs.         
> 
>Sounds like MS-PROPOGANDA to me!
> 

If it is MS-PROPOGANDA I'm not starting it. Just keeping it alive. The
postings I refered to were problems I've seen in the game groups involving the
use SuperStor/DR DOS 6.0 and running Wing Commander II or Ultima 7(?). Both
Origin games.

In all fairness I have not heard much about problems with productivity
software, but my officemate had many problems with SuperStor before Ver. 2

If you don't read the game groups you probably didn't see the discussions
I did. Perhaps some of Origin's games are not as robust in the fault tolerance
department as they could be, but if you have any I/O intensive programs
that may cause a problem, the space saving from SuperStor may not be worth the
risk to some users. Especially now that 100+ HD's are becoming more common.

I'm sure that if/when the DR-DOS group gets created and the problems still
exist they will show up in the group.  (I still think that DR could have done
a better job with GEM.)
-- 
The Danimal                @@@@-                    @@@@-            
                          @@@@@-      @@@@-        @@@@@-       @@@@-
UUCP: att!ihlpm!evans      @@@@-     @@@@@-         @@@@-      @@@@@-
                                      @@@@-                     @@@@-
Newsgroups: comp.os.msdos.misc
From: as789@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Francisco J. Diaz)
Subject: Hard drive utility
Organization: Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio, (USA)
Date: Sun, 23 Aug 92 10:26:43 GMT


Hi All! I'm looking for a utility that can change my sector size
in my 150 Megs ESDI HD. It is 4k each sector and recently I have
found that such a size represents a lot of wasted space due to
all the slack that is left over in tiny. As I understand, even if
the file is just a few bytes long it will occupy the whole 4k
sector thereby wasting space. I have been told that I can make
different partitions to reduce the sector size but I'd rather
leave it as it is (1 partition) and look for an utility that will
do the job. Does anyone knows of such a program? Where can I get
it? (If it exist) I saw one little shareware program before but
never got to test it, since I wasn't interested at that time but
now I wonder if this can be done...Thanks all! :-)
-- 
|     Francisco J. Diaz Rivera     |                           |
|     University of Puerto Rico    | If the shoe fits, buy it! |
|  "I hate calculus classes!" :-)  |           - Imelda Marcos |
|     STUD137@CUTB.UPR.CLU.EDU     |                           |
Newsgroups: socs.misc,comp.os.msdos.misc,comp.os.msdos.apps,mtl.general
From: mwoodwar@yoda.eecs.wsu.edu (woodward matthew d - CS350)
Subject: Re: WARNING !!!!! MS WINDOWS 3.1 SmartDrive Problem
Organization: Washington State University!
Date: Thu, 13 Aug 92 20:27:20 GMT

In article <1992Aug13.040731.2286@cs.mcgill.ca> George Mitchell (passed on)
writes...
>
>The following article was taken from the PC WORLD ONLINE via the America
>Online BBS and is an important warning for all MS WINDOWS 3.1 users.
>
>The following information was passed on to PC WORLD ONLINE by PCW George,
>(George Campbell, a PC WORLD Editor).
>
>"After considerable testing, I have discovered a major problem with the 
>version of SmartDrive included with Windows 3.1. The default installation
>of SMARTDRV.EXE enables write caching on your hard disks. Most often this
>is not a problem but, under certain circumstances, it could crash your hard
>disk. A typical situation is described below :
>
>
>
>
>Tip from George Campbell (PCWGeorge)

George is correct that this is dangerous.  This, however, is neither a bug
nor a problem with the Win 3.1 smartdrive program.  

I have been using this smartdrive and a write-back cache for a few months, 
and I don't mind it at all.  The only trick is to call smartdrv /c prior to
rebooting.  As a matter of fact, it is not a bad idea to do this occasionally
as you are running (Anyone write a Windows cron utility? or a cron TSR?).  
Unix users (who have actually seen a console, or administer) are familiar 
with this potential difficulty, and have lived with it for years. 

The problem is PC users who don't think before they flip the switch, and 
Microsoft not trapping the warmboot vector to flush the cache before a 
warmboot.  Of course trapping a power-off is a little more difficult from 
the software side.

Matt Woodward
From: davidc@brahms.udel.edu (David Casper)
Newsgroups: comp.os.msdos.misc
Subject: AutoCAD import MS Word
Date: 20 Aug 92 03:37:09 GMT
Article-I.D.: news.Bt9JDx.CJw
Distribution: world
Organization: University of Delaware

Help!
I've been trying to import AutoCAD .plt and/or .eps files in
MS Word for Windows 2.0  All that appears in the document
is the "header" information...no graphics appear?
Has anyone else come across this?  If so, what was the 
solution?
 
Any help will be greatly appreciated...
David (davidc@brahms.udel.edu)
-- 
David W. Casper
davidc@brahms.udel.edu