From: shopsis@panther.adelphi.edu (Charles Shopsis)
Subject: Stacker 3 read errors: summary
Organization: Adelphi University - Node: Boole
Date: Wed, 23 Dec 1992 19:44:23 GMT

Earlier this week, I posted a message about read errors that I
encountered after upgrading from Stacker 2 to stacker 3.  I
received a number of responses from people having similar
problems, and two suggested solutions.  The first one is the one
I tried (deleting the /EMS on the stacker command line, so that
stacker does not try to cache in expanded memory) and it did the
job.  Following are the two suggested solutions and messages from
other sufferers of the problem.

Thanks for your responses. The net is wonderful! 

Charles Shopsis, Dept. Chemistry, Adelphi University 
shopsis@auvax1.adelphi.edu or shopsis@panther.adelphi.edu



1. From: bing@zinc.cchem.berkeley.edu (Bing Ho)
My friend recently bought Stacker 3.0 and managed to figure out
what was wrong (at least for his machine).  He mentioned that the
use of a 386 memory manager and running Stacker 3.0 with the /ems
option caused disk read/write errors.  He switched to the upper
memory or conventional memory configuration and mentioned that
any problems were completely fixed.
I think that Stacker 2.0 had this problem with qemm as well, but
it was less frequent.
 
Bing Ho
bing@zinc.cchem.berkeley.edu   University of California, Berkeley 
 


2. From: {rlb534@ibm-03.nwscc.sea06.navy.mil}
To get rid of you problem use the /nb option on the stacker.com
line in your config.sys like below:
devicehigh=c:\stacker\stacker.com c:\stacvol.dsk d:\stacvol.dsk
/p=5 /nb
If you call stacker they should send you a maintenance release of
Stacker 3.0 that fixes this problem.
Rick Beem, Naval Surface Warfare Center, Crane Division
rlb534@ibm-03.nwscc.sea06.navy.mil



3. From: joee@cabezon.uucp (Joe Eckardt)
This sounds exactly like the problem I've been having with
Stacker V2.1!
I just ordered a copy of V3.0 in the hopes that it would fix the
problem.
In my case I had the feeling it was an interaction between
Stacker, SpeedStor V6.1.7 (disk partitioning driver), and QEMM
V6.01.
The worse part is I can't even back up my disk to tape
successfully without getting these "Read Errors".  At this point,
if I could just get the system backed up I'd trash Stacker.  My
system USED to be stable as a rock -- I haven't been able to get
anything constructive done in three months now.
               Joe Eckardt Logic Modeling Corporation 
               (formally Logic Automation Incorporated)
                          joee@lmc.com 
            


4. From: JFRoss @ SMTP (James F. Ross) {JFR@icf.hrb.com}

Like you, I learned the exact same lesson.  Stacker 2.0 worked
great for my system (clone 386sx25 w/ seagate IDE drive), but 3.0
really hosed things up.
I experienced the exact same "non-fatal" read errors; mine first
showed up during the boot process, after I'd loaded stacker. 
Like yours, my problems were generally resolved by retrying
(repeatedly, sometimes).      Worse news: as I used the drive,
more and more errors cropped up, during all phases of operations
(e.g., at boot, during games, when loading windows, etc.)  
Still worse news: Eventually, I got to the point where I just
could not access some files, no matter how often I retried.  If
you have not yet done so, BACKUP NOW!!! I lost a few documents
that I had modified since backing up.
I assume you've tried to reach Tech Support? (HAH) I called
repeatedly over several days; on the few times that I didn't get
a busy signal, I was told that I'd have to wait 25 - 35 minutes
to talk to a technician (on MY phone bill).  I eventually got in
touch with customer service and demanded my money back (haven't
seen it yet, though).
Worst news of all:  as far as I can tell, there is no way to 
downgrade.  Your only option is to delete as many files as
necessary to allow you to unstack, and then reinstall.  If you
don't have a recent backup, you could be in big trouble. 
(Actually, if you do have a recent backup, your best bet might be
to delete the stackvol, reformat the drive, and reinstall Stacker
2.0.  that's what I did, eventually, even though it's not a
trivial process.)  
I was thoroughly disgusted with Stac's support and customer
service departments throughout this mess.  I couldn't get near
tech-support, and customer service was rude and unpleasant.  I
sent a letter to them with the returned software, saying that I
was going to investigate other compression programs.  Haven't
heard anything back yet, though.



5. {rambler!alpert@kb2ear.ampr.org}
From: TPalaceS @ SMTP (Tuna Palace Systems) 
I have been having similar problems since upgrading.  It occurs
very infrequently, usually on the *UNSTACKED* portion of the
drive.
If you get any e-mail info on this, I would appreciate getting
a copy.  So far the phenomenon has happened so rarely that
it doesn't have me too worried.  Should probably call Stacker
tech support, but just haven't had the time...