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Started by Tom Haapanen
Wed, 27 Jan 1993 16:59
Windows FAQ: ASCII format, 02/06
Author: Tom Haapanen
Date: Wed, 27 Jan 1993 16:59
Date: Wed, 27 Jan 1993 16:59
1014 lines
48145 bytes
48145 bytes
The following is part 02 of 06 of the ASCII text version of the
Microsoft Windows FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions). While some of you
may find this the best format, the more popular format is the WinHelp
file. These are posted simultaneously with the ASCII version to
comp.binaries.ms-windows.
You can obtain a copy of the WinHelp version as "faqwin01.zip" by ftp
from sonygate.sony.com [192.63.138.2], in /pub/comp.binaries.ms-windows.
It will also be placed on ftp.cica.indiana.edu once disk space permits.
BEGIN--------------cut here--------cut here------------cut here----------
if possible.
4b: 4-bit color (16 colors) 8b: 8-bit color (256 colors)
15b: 15-bit color (32,768 colors) 24b: 24-bit color (16.7M colors)
*interlaced
* ATI: Mach 8
1280x1024x4b*, 1024x768x8b, 800x600x8b, 640x480x8b
This is the original ATI accelerator chipset, which powers the ATI 8514
Ultra, Graphics Ultra and Graphics Vantage. The Ultra cards use VRAM video
memory, while Vantage uses slower DRAM. The 8514 Ultra does not include
onboard VGA, but both other cards do. All three cards are 8514 compatible.
These cards, while no longer the fastest around, provide excellent Windows
performance at all resolutions. The driver support is very good (with
Windows NT beta drivers available), and ATI provides anti-aliased Crystal
Fonts for better readability.
* ATI: Mach 32
1280x1024x8b, 1024x768x15b, 800x600x24b, 640x480x24b
The second-generation ATI accelerator chipset powers the ATI Ultra+ and
Ultra Pro. The Ultra Pro uses VRAM video memory, while Ultra+ uses slower
DRAM. Both cards are 8514 compatible. Both cards are extremely fast and
provide blinding Windows performance. The driver support is excellent, with
even beta Windows NT drivers available. ATI provides anti-aliased Crystal
Fonts for better readability. One problem is that the highest performance
Ultra Pro setup requires a 4 MB memory aperture, which is not possible on
an ISA-based system with 16 MB of memory; disabling the memory aperture
reduces performance by 5-10%. Current drivers still have some problems,
but in general ATI drivers are more stable than the DIamond ones.
* Avance Logic: ALG2101
1280x1024x4b*, 1024x768x8b, 800x600x15b, 640x480x15b
The '2101 is a medium-speed performer with some serious reliability
problems and buggy Windows drivers.
* Avance Logic: ALG2201
1280x1024x8b*, 1024x768x15b, 800x600x24b, 640x480x24b
The '2201 is the upcoming replacement for the '2101, with 24-bit true-color
support, and intended for local bus designs.
* C&T: 82C481
1280x1024x8b*, 1024x768x15b, 800x600x24b, 640x480x24b
C&T's '481 chipset (often combined with the C&T Wingine chipset for VGA
compatability) is a blazingly fast performer, but is currently hobbled by
limited driver support. Check that the modes you need are supported before
buying, and be prepared to have Windows fly!
* Compaq: 128084
1024x768x8b, 800x600x15b, 640x480x8b
Compaq's excellent accelerator design is now getting to be a bit long in
the tooth, and its performance is below nearly all of its competitors.
* S3: 87C801
1280x1024x8b, 1024x768x15b, 800x600x24b, 640x480x24b
The '801 is a higher-performance (32-bit), lower-cost version of the '924
chipset, using inexpensive DRAM instead of the faster VRAM video memory.
The performance edge over the original '911 is in excess of 50% on WinMark
benchmarks.
* S3: 87C805
1280x1024x8b, 1024x768x15b, 800x600x24b, 640x480x24b
The '805 is a further development of the '801 chipset, optimized for EISA
and local buses, and with more memory to allow hi-color and true-color
modes at higher resolutions. Like the '801, it's a 32-bit DRAM design.
* S3: 87C911
1280x1024x4b, 1024x768x8b, 800x600x15b, 640x480x24b
This is the original S3 accelerator chipset. It provides very good all-
around performance, and is widely used in accelerator boards such as the
Diamond Stealth. For better performance, look for the newer '801, '924 or
'928 chipsets, though.
* S3: 87C924
1280x1024x4b, 1024x768x8b, 800x600x15b, 640x480x24b
The '924 is an updated version of the original S3 '911 chipset. Its
performance is only somewhat improved over the original chipset (and less
so than the '801 and '928), but it has some hardware bugs fixed (these bugs
were previously worked around by the Windows drivers).
* S3: 87C928
1280x1024x15b, 1024x768x24b, 800x600x24b, 640x480x24b
The '928 is a high-end version of the '805 chipset, intended for ISA as
well as EISA and local buses, and supporting up to 4 MB of VRAM for true
color at high resolutions.
* Texas Instruments: TMS 34010
4096x4096x24b [the TMS34010 chipset effectively does not limit resolution]
The TMS34010 is a true coprocessed card instead of a fixed-function
accelerator. As it's design is not optimized for Windows, it is at its
best in CAD applications and similar, which can take advatage of its
display list processing capabilities. It provides very good Windows
performance, but at a very high price point. Check performance of the
specific model before buying, though -- the drivers are developed by
individual vendors, and can have a trememndous impact on TMS34010
perforomance.
* TI: TMS 34020
4096x4096x24b [the TMS34010 chipset effectively does not limit resolution]
The TMS34020 is a 200 MHz 32-bit implementation of the original 100 MHz 16-
bit TMS 34010. It can provide outstanding Windows performance (on par with
the ATI Ultra Pro), but it does so at a very high price point. The chipset
is worth considering mainly if you also use your system for CAD.
* Video 7: HT216
1280x1024x4b*, 1024x768x8b, 800x600x15b, 640x480x15b
Video 7's first accelerator chipset is an inexpensive design which provides
middling performance, on par with the Compaq 128084 and the Weitek 5186.
* Western Digital: WD90C31
1280x1024x4b*, 1024x768x8b, 800x600x15b, 640x480x15b
Western Digital's new chipset is used by a number of display adapters,
including the Paradise Windows Accelerator and the Diamond Speedstar 24x.
While the chipset benchmarks moderately well (slotting between ATI's and
S3's first- and second-generation chipsets), it has worse-than-expected
real life performance, especially in scrolling. The current drivers are
also quite buggy and unreliable.
* Western Digital: WD90C31
1280x1024x4b*, 1024x768x8b, 800x600x15b, 640x480x24b
Western Digital's new chipset is used by a number of display adapters,
including the Paradise Windows Accelerator and the Diamond Speedstar 24x.
While the chipset benchmarks moderately well (slotting between ATI's and
S3's first- and second-generation chipsets), it has worse-than-expected
real life performance, especially scrolling. The current drivers may also
be unreliable.
* Western Digital: WD90C33
1280x1024x8b, 1024x768x15b, 800x600x24b, 640x480x24b
WD's second generation design will be targeted at local bus designs, and
will attempt to improve performance with more accelerated operations and a
32-bit design (instead of the 32-bit/16-bit hybrid design in the WD90C31).
* Weitek: W5186
1024x768x8b, 800x600x8b, 640x480x8b
Weitek's initial foray into accelerator chipsets does not provide stellar
performance, largely since the accelerated operations are limited to
BitBlits and line drawing. An 16-bit/8-bit internal design and a lack of
support for more than 256 colors don't add to the attraction of the W5186
chipset.
* Weitek: W5286
1280x1024x4b*, 1024x768x8b, 800x600x15b, 640x480x24b
The upcoming second-generation Weitek chipset will attempt to correct some
of the problems of the W5186, using a 32-bit/8-bit internal design, true-
color support (albeit only at low resolutions) and accelerated color
expansion and pattern fills. It looks doubtful, though, that the W5286
would significantly surpass the top first-generation accelerators (such as
the ATI Ultra and S3 87C911), let alone match the latest performers.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
4.3. System BIOS compatability
===============================
A number of different computers have BIOS incompatabilities with Windows
3.1. The following list contains BIOSes with such problems. Contact you
manufacturer for an update if you have one of these systems.
Manufacturer Version Problem
ALR MPS Incompatible with Seagate IDE disks
AMI 1987 Floppy access causes reboot
AMI 1989 Intermittent crashes
AMI 1991 Serial port problems
AST Premium/286 Crashes, keyboard lockups and network errors
Award BIOS - 3.04 Floppy read errors before version 3.05
DTK BIOS - 34 No IDE drive support
DTK BIOS 36 Setup utilities must be disabled
Peak BIOS 1.10 1.30 or newer is required
Phoenix BIOS - 1987 1988 or newer is required
Quadtel BIOS - 3.04 3.05 or newer is required
Tandon All Old BIOSes cause keyboard failures
Toshiba T3100/20 BIOS 4.2 is required
Toshiba T3100e BIOS 1.7 is required
Wyse All Setup detects 101 keyboard as 84
Zenith 286 Keyboard problems
Zenith 386/16 BIOS 2.6E or newer is required
Zenith TurboSportBIOS 2.4D or newer is required
The BIOS name and version number (or date) are usually displayed when the
system boots. As an alternative, you can use msd.exe, a DOS-based
diagnostic utility included with Windows 3.1, to determine the BIOS your
system is using. Also, there are several diagnostic utilities available in
wuarchive's /mirrors/msdos/info directory: sysch233, sysid602 and ifp1p155.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
4.4. Video drivers
===================
...........................................................................
4.4.1. Identifying Your Video Card
-----------------------------------
The first step in finding the correct Windows drivers for your video card
is to determine the type of card you have. First, you may have a "brand-
name" card; if so, your box and/or documentation will ientify the type of
card. Second, you can look at the BIOS message (if any) displayed when you
boot your system. Third, you can open up your system, and look for
identification on the card itself -- usually either printed on the card
itself or on some of the integrated circuits.
As an alternative, you can use msd.exe, a DOS-based diagnostic utility
included with Windows 3.1, to determine the manufacturer and type of video
card in your system. Also, two utilities available from wuarchive, atmem10
and vgautils (in directory /mirrors/msdos/vga) may help you identify your
video card.
See the following section on locating a video card driver for a listing of
possible names to look for.
...........................................................................
4.4.2. Locating a driver
-------------------------
Once you have identified your card, you are ready to begin searching for
the right driver. First, check whether Windows includes the driver you are
searching for (Windows 3.1 includes generic VGA (640x480x16) and SuperVGA
(800x600x16) drivers, as well as numerous specific drivers). Second, look
at the diskettes you received in the video card package. These may contain
the appropriate driver, saving you from a further search.
If neither Windows nor the diskettes have the drivers, or they are out of
date, you may wish to check ftp.cica.indiana.edu for the latest one. If
there are none at cica, you can try one of the following:
* Contact your dealer
* Call the video card manufacturer
* Download the latest driver from the manufacturer's BBS
* Download the latest driver from the Microsoft BBS (206-936-6735)
Note that Windows 3.1 drivers are normally dated after the release date of
Windows 3.1 itself (April 6, 1992).
...........................................................................
4.4.3. Video card manufacturers
--------------------------------
The following is a partial list of video display hardware vendors who
support using Windows with their products. CAUTION: The numbers listed
may not, by the time you read this, be up to date!
Ahead Systems 510-623-0961
Appian Technology 206-649-5363
ATI Technologies 416-756-4591
Boca Research 407-241-1601
Diamond Computer 408-730-1100
Everex Systems 510-226-9694
Focus Information 510-657-9451
Headland Technology Video Seven 510-656-0503
Matrox Electronic 514-685-6008
Micro-Labs 312-648-6008
Micron Technology 208-368-2130
National Design 512-343-5054
NEC NEC 512-832-1962
Nth Graphics Nth Graphics 512-832-1962
Number Nine Computer Number Nine 617-862-7502
Orchid Technology Orchid 510-683-0327
Panacea WinSpeed 603-432-5193
Sigma Designs Sigma 510-770-0111
STB Systems STB 214-437-9615
Tecmar Tecmar 216-349-0853
Trident Microsystems Trident 415-691-1016
ViewSonic ViewSonic 213-944-2195
The following vendors do not provide BBS access, but do make updates
available on CompuServe, in the forum indicated.
Tseng Laboratories ET3000, ET4000 WINADV
...........................................................................
4.4.4. Using 256 (or more) colors in Windows
---------------------------------------------
In order to use more than 16 colors in Windows, your display card and its
driver must first support 256 colors. Second, your application must know
about 256 colors in order to take advantage of this feature, as this
requires palette switching and some additional programming. Many
applications currently on the market only support 16 colors.
In order to get 256 colors, your video card will need at least 320K (for
640x480), 512K (for 800x600) or 768K (for 1024x768) of RAM. For most video
cards, 256-color drivers are also much slower than 16-color drivers. Some
video cards support 15-bit (32,768 colors) or 24-bit (16,777,216 colors)
video; these can also be used in Windows given the appropriate display
driver and sufficient video memory.
...........................................................................
4.4.5. Panacea Winspeed
------------------------
One alternative to the specific manufacturer-supplied drivers is to use
Panacea's Winspeed drivers. These drivers often provide a substantial
speed improvement over vendor-supplied drivers, although some vendors have
highly optimized drivers which can meet or exceed Winspeed's performance.
...........................................................................
4.4.6. CGA drivers
-------------------
Windows 3.1 does not include CGA drivers, as the recommended minimum for
running Windows 3.1 is EGA. If you need to run Windows on a CGA system,
you can download the CGA drivers from the Microsoft BBS (206-936-6735).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
4.5. Printer drivers
=====================
The following is a partial list of printer manufacturers who support using
Windows with their products. CAUTION: The numbers listed may not, by the
time you read this, be up to date!
Canon Canon 516-488-6528
Lexmark IBM laser printers 606-232-5653
NEC NEC 508-635-6328
Okidata Okidata 800-654-3282
Panasonic Panasonic, Roland 201-863-7487
The following vendors do not provide BBS access, but do make updates
available on CompuServe, in the forum indicated.
DEC DEC DECPCI
Varityper Varityper Desktop Publishing
...........................................................................
4.5.1. Selecting a PostScript printer driver
---------------------------------------------
If your PostScript printer model is not listed in the available printers
listing, you should not choose the generic PostScript printer. Microsoft
advises that "if you select PostScript Printer, you may encounter problems
when printing". Instead, you may wish to try Apple LaserWriter as your
first possibility.
...........................................................................
4.5.2. Eliminating the Ctrl-D in PostScript output
---------------------------------------------------
To prevent Windows from placing a Ctrl-D (printer reset) at the beginning
of your PostScript output files, specify
CtrlD=0
in the [ModelName,Port] section of your win.ini file.
Note that this method does not appear to work with the generic PostScript
Printer driver.
...........................................................................
4.5.3. EPS graphics print in portrait even on landscape pages
--------------------------------------------------------------
If EPS (Encapsulated PostScript) graphics won't print correctly in
landscape mode, try adding the following line to the [Model,Port] section
of your win.ini file:
LandscapeOrient=270
...........................................................................
4.5.4. Hewlett-Packard DeskJet printing problems
-------------------------------------------------
If you are getting incomplete pages printed on your DeskJet, make sure that
there is the the entry
PrtResFac=0
in the [ModelName,Port] section for the DeskJet in your win.ini file.
Note that only the drivers supplied by Hewlett-Packard support HP scalable
fonts and/or color printing, and these do not currently support TrueType
fonts.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
4.6. Math coprocessors and WIN87EM.DLL
=======================================
Windows 3.x itself does not take advantage of a math coprocessor. Windows
applications, on the other hand, may or may not, depending on the
application: for example, Excel will, while Word for Windows won't. In
general, an 80x87 chip gives the greates speedup for trigonometric/log type
of calculations, and does not significantly improve graphics speed in most
cases.
The WIN87EM.DLL is a dynamic link library which provides floating-point
emulation for Windows applications. Any application which is capable of
using an 80x87 will need this library on a machine without an 80x87.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
4.7. Multimedia
================
...........................................................................
4.7.1. AdLib cards and .wav files
----------------------------------
The standard AdLib driver supplied with Windows 3.1 is a MIDI-only driver
and is not capable of playing .wav files. You can add this capability,
however, by installing the driver contained in adlibw.zip, available at ftp
.cica.indiana.edu and other sites.
...........................................................................
4.7.2. Using MIDI cards with Windows 3.1
-----------------------------------------
if your sound card plays MIDI files (such as canyon.mid), but none of the
selections under Control Panel's Sound icon are available, your card/driver
does not support wave files. You will need either to add a wave driver for
your card (if available -- contact your sound card manufacturer) or to get
a card which supports wave drivers.
...........................................................................
4.7.3. SoundBlaster Pro and Windows 3.1
----------------------------------------
One of the most common symptoms of SoundBlaster Pro problems in Windows 3.1
is a complete hang of the system on exit from Windows. You need to use the
SoundBlaster Pro drivers, not the SoundBlaster 1.5 drivers included with
Windows 3.1. The drivers shipped with SB Pro may be out of date, like
those on Microsoft's BBS and on CompuServe (this may, however, have changed
by the time you read this). In any case, ftp.cica.indiana.edu has the set
of updated drivers available as sounds/sbpw31.zip. You can also get them
from Creative Labs' BBS at (408) 428-6660.
...........................................................................
4.7.4. Using the PC's built-in speaker
---------------------------------------
Windows 3.1 does not contain a driver for playing sounds over the PC's
built-in speaker, as the speaker is not quite standardized and not all
machines would work as intended. If you would like to try, however, you
should get a copy of the speaker driver, contained in the self-extracting
archive speaker.exe, available at Microsoft's BBS, ftp.cica.indiana.edu
and other sites.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
4.8. System Resources
======================
Free system resources are things such as window handles and global memory
block handles (handle is a Windows programming term, but it is basically an
identifier for a window or any other global item. Each window (dialog,
icon, memory block, or whatever) requires a handle.
Windows 3.0 has a limit of 64K of resources (32,768 handles), and Windows
3.1 has a limit of 128K of resources (65,536 handles). Windows NT does not
have a global resource limit.
You can't increase system resources by just adding more memory; the only
real solution is to close some applications if you are running low.
Windows 3.0 Program Manager was a resource hog, but the 3.1 version is much
better.
Some poorly-written applications will also not release all the resources
they have grabbed when they exit. You can check for this by checking the
Free System Resources figure, starting up the application, working in it
for some time, and then exiting. If the Free System Resources figure is
not the same as before you started, your application is not properly
freeing its resources and it's time for you to call the vendor and
complain!
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
4.9. Networking
================
...........................................................................
4.9.1. Compatible Networks
---------------------------
The following networks have either been tested by Microsoft, or reported by
Usenet users to be functional with Windows 3.x:
Network earliest version
3Com 3 Plus 1.0
3Com 3+Open 1.0
Banyan Vines 4.0
BW NFS ?.?
DEC PathWorks 4.0
Frontier Tech Super-TCP 1.0 [Windows-based TCP/IP, SLIP and NFS]
FTP NFS ?.? [Windows-based telnet application]
IBM PC LAN 1.1 [except server]
LAN Manager 1.0
LAN Server 1.0
LANtastic 4.0
Novell Netware 2.15 [shell & utilities must be version 3.01]
Sun PC-NFS 3.5 [must use interrupt 3 instead of 5]
Wollongong NFS 2.0 [Windows-based telnet, FTP; include SLIP]
Note that many NFS packages have difficulty with Windows for Workgroups due
to a bug in WfW FindNext implementation; check with the vendor to determine
whether their NFS implementation has a workaround available.
...........................................................................
4.9.2. Novell's NWPOPUP utility won't initialize
-------------------------------------------------
If you are running in 386 Enhanced mode, and the version of nwpopup.exe is
dated earlier than 10 March, 1992, nwpopup.exe will not initialize properly
under Windows 3.1.
You may also try placing the following line in the [386Enh] section of your
system.ini file:
TimerCriticalSection=10000
This increases the amount of time (milliseconds) before the critical
section is timed out.
...........................................................................
4.9.3. Using Windows for Workgroups with TCP/IP
------------------------------------------------
Microsoft does not officially support using Windows for Workgroups with
TCP/IP. However, it's possible to use your existing TCP/IP protocol with a
shared NDIS protocol stack. This will allow you to access NFS and TCP/IP
(telnet and ftp) as usual, but with full Windows for Workgroups
functionality available as well. Unfortunately you will generally lose the
Windows-specific capabilities of your NFS software (such as mounting NFS
drives from File Manager).
See the following sections for examples of how to set up Windows for
Workgroups with a TCP/IP and NFS-based network.
4.9.3.1. FTP TCP/IP and NFS
With FTP's TCP/IP, you will need to set up Windows for Workgroups to use
the NDIS stack (see the Wollongong section for a sample protocol.ini); your
TCP/IP can be set up as usual, using the NDIS protocol stack. In addition,
you will need to get a copy of the file wfwftp.386 from FTP; this file
corrects the FindNext problem with Windows for Workgroups. Copy this file
to your system directory, and add the following line to the [386Enh]
section of your system.ini file:
device=wfwftp.386
Thanks to Larry Backman at FTP Software.
4.9.3.2. Wollongong Pathway Access/NFS
The following example has been tested and is known to work with
Wollongong's Access TCP/IP and NFS product, and SMC' 8013EP network card.
If you are using BW, Sun, FTP or some other vendor's software, you will
likely need to modify some of the driver names and options, and you will
definitely need to adapt the network card selection and configuration to
match yours. Note that this example does not include the usual config.sys
options such as device=himem.sys; you can add these as usual.
Thanks to Ron Olsthoorn at Wollongong Canada.
* config.sys
stacks = 9,256
device = c:\usr\windows\protman.dos /i:c:\usr\windows
device = c:\usr\windows\workgrp.sys
device = c:\usr\windows\smcmac.dos
* autoexec.bat
rem The following line configures Pathway Access to interrupt 65
pwconfig -n:65
c:\usr\pathway\ndis -d:3 -i:A
c:\usr\windows\net start
c:\usr\pathway\pwtcp
c:\usr\pathway\nfs
c:\usr\pathway\mount u: \\servername\\/u/joeuser
* protocol.ini
[network.setup]
version=0x3100
netcard=ms$w13ep,1,MS$W13EP
transport=ms$netbeui,MS$NETBEUI
lana0=ms$w13ep,1,ms$netbeui
[protman]
DriverName=PROTMAN$
Priority=MS$NETBEUI
[MS$W13EP]
DriverName=SMCMAC$
IRQ=10
RAMAddress=0xC800
IOBase=0x240
ReceiveBufSize=1024
[MS$NETBEUI]
DriverName=netbeui$
Sessions=10
NCBS=32
Bindings=MS$W13EP
LANAbase=0
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
4.10. Integrating with Unix e-mail
===================================
In general, Windows-nbase email packages will not talk to Unix hosts over
the network (unless you're using Microsoft's LAN Manager). If you wish to
use Windows-based email over a TCP/IP network, you need an SMTP-compatible
email package such as Mail-It (from Unipalm Ltd., Cambridge, UK; +44 223
42002; tom@unipalm.co.uk ) or Cinetic Mail Manager (from Cinetic Software,
available as shareware).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
4.11. Serial Communications
============================
...........................................................................
4.11.1. Using COM3 and COM4
----------------------------
This is a generally a problem only in 386 enhanced mode. To use these
ports, you will need to tell Windows where they are located.
For Windows 3.1, you should run the MSD.EXE utility while outside Windows.
This utility will allow you to determine your COM port configuration. After
running MSD, use the Control Panel's Ports utility to tell Windows how your
ports are configured.
For Windows 3.0, the instructions for doing this can be found in the
Windows readme file sysini2.txt, which should be located in your Windows
directory. In summary, what you need to do is tell Windows what memory
addresses and interrupts (IRQs) your COM3 and COM4 ports use. This should
work, but is not guaranteed to: COM3 and Com4 are not standardized, and
this is one of the most difficult things to get working with Windows. If
possible, move your devices to COM1 or COM2.
If the port still does not work after specifying the correct IRQ and memory
address for the port, there is another possibile solution: Assuming the
ports work OK from plain DOS, try setting up COM3.OS2 (or COM4.OS2) instead
of the usual COM3 or COM4. The Windows 3.0 manual says this is just for
OS/2 machines, but it seems to work for many clones.
Also note that due to interrupt conflicts, machines without an EISA or
Microchannel bus are generally not able to use both COM1 and COM3, or COM2
and COM4 simultaneously.
Finally, some video accelerator cards, such as the ATI Vantage and Ultra
series, and the S3 89C911-based cards, use the address normally assigned to
COM4, preventing you from using this port number.
...........................................................................
4.11.2. Using a high-performance 16550 serial port
---------------------------------------------------
You can use a 16550-based serial card, or upgrade your serial card to use a
16550 chip instead of an 8250 or 16450 (get the 16550AFN if you're buying a
chip only) to improve Windows serial communication performance. This is
most noticeable at 9600+ baud rates using advanced protocols such as
Zmodem.
If you use a Windows-base communications package, the 16550 is
automatically enabled. You can disable it, however, by setting
COMxFIFO=off
in the [386Enh] section of your system.ini file, where x is your serial
port number (1 to 4).
...........................................................................
4.11.3. DOS boxes and 16550 serial ports
-----------------------------------------
For DOS-based applications, the use of the 16550 serial port chip (and its
built-in FIFO buffers) is not enabled by default. What you need to do is
set
COMxBuff=off
in the [386Enh] section of your system.ini file, where x is your serial
port number (1 to 4). This will disable Windows' buffering of that serial
port, and allow the DOS app to access it directly. This is not recommended
for use with Windows-based communication packages!
Another alternative is to use chcomb.386 (replace the device=*combuff line
in the system.ini file with device=chcomb.386), a shareware device driver
which allows you to use a 16550 for both WIndows and DOS applications.
...........................................................................
4.11.4. SmartDrive and 16550 high-speed transfers
--------------------------------------------------
If you use SmartDrive with Windows 3.1, disk writes are cached by default.
While this is generally a good idea, this causes a problem with high-speed
downloads, since SmartDrive turns off all interrupts when it is performing
the delayed disk write. Since the interrupts are turned off, you may lose
a packet whenever the disk light goes on!
The easiest workaround is to disable write caching for your download drive.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
4.12. Disk drives and virtual memory
=====================================
...........................................................................
4.12.1. Virtual memory and swapfiles
-------------------------------------
The type of swapfile you select for running in 386 Enhanced mode can have a
significant impact on your performance within Windows.
If you have 12 MB or more of memory, you should likely disable swapping
completely; this provides substantially better performance than either
permanent or temporary swapfiles. You may also be able to do this with 8
MB, depending on the size of your disk cache and the number of applications
(especially DOS applications) you run simultaneously.
If you determine that you do need a swapfile, you should usually use a
permanent one. Permanent swapfiles allow Windows to start up much faster
than temporary ones, which must be recreated every time you start Windows.
Permanent swapfiles, however, require contiguous (unfragmented) disk space;
you may need to compress your disk, using a tool such as Norton SpeedDisk
or PC Tools first.
...........................................................................
4.12.2. Maximum swapfile size
------------------------------
Windows 3.1 determines your virtual memory limit by rounding the amount of
RAM on your system to the nearest 4 MB, multiplying by 4, and then
subtracting the amount of the system RAM from the total. This is then the
maximum amount of virtual memory (swapfile size) you can use, provided you
have sufficient unfragmented hard disk space (see previous section).
The multiplier of 4 is a default that can be changed by using a
PageOverCommit=
setting in the [386Enh] section of the system.ini file. The multiplier can
be from 1 to 20.
...........................................................................
4.12.3. Windows 3.x and Stacker
--------------------------------
Stacker 2.0 works well with Windows 3.0 and 3.1. You should, however,
follow the guidelines below for using Stacker with Windows:
* Never place a permanent swapfile on a stacked disk.
* Never place a temporary swapfile on a stacked disk.
* Never use SmartDrive to cache the stacked volume
* Do use SmartDrive to cache the unstacked volume containing the stacked
volume
* Place SmartDrive before Stacker in your autoexec.bat
To enhance your memory usage, you may wish to stack your RAMdrive to
provide additional room for temporary files (such as the Print Manager's
spool files).
Note: Beware that although Stacker will assume that it can compress
your data to provide 2x the physical storage capacity, it cannot
guarantee that, and placing your temporary files on a stacked drive
(whether a disk drive or a RAMdrive) may cause the stacked drive to
run out of room unexpectedly if the compression ratio does not reach
2x (you may wish to read up on this in your Stacker documentation).
If this happens, Windows will experience a catastrophic disk error --
and I think we can all agree that that's not a pleasant experience!
...........................................................................
4.12.4. SCSI controllers
-------------------------
If you have a bus-mastering SCSI adapter such as the Adaptec 1542, you
should be installing the aspi4dos.sys ASPI driver (provided with your
controller, or available from Adaptec's BBS at (408) 945-7727) as the first
device in your config.sys. Using the ASPI driver drops the requirement for
SmartDrive descrivbed below.
Normally, in 386 enhanced mode, Windows 3.x supports only ST-506, ESDI and
IDE disk controllers. If you have a SCSI controller, you need to load
SmartDrive in order to allow Windows to recognize your hard disk -- and
with Windows 3.1, you should use the /double_buffer option (see the next
section). Do not disable double buffering in a bus-mastering SCSI drive
unless you're using the ASPI driver described above.
As a third alternative, you may insert the following line in your
system.ini file, in the [386enh] section:
VirtualHDIRQ=off
Finally, some people report having problems with permanent swapfiles on
SCSI drives using Windows 3.0.
...........................................................................
4.12.5. SmartDrive double buffering on SCSI drives
---------------------------------------------------
When you install WIndows 3.1 on a system with a SCSI drive, it
automatically adds the line
device=c:\usr\windows\smartdrv.exe /double_buffer
to your config.sys. To determine whether you actually need double
buffering, run SmartDrive again from the command line to check on its
status. Typically, the initial display would be similar to the one below:
Microsoft SMARTDrive Disk Cache version 4.0
Copyright 1991,1992 Microsoft Corp.
Cache size: 1,048,576 bytes
Cache size while running Windows: 1,048,576 bytes
Disk Caching Status
drive read cache write cache buffering
--------------------------------------------
A: yes no no
B: yes no no
C: yes yes -
For help, type "Smartdrv /?".
Here SmartDrive has not yet determined whether double buffering is
necessary or not. To force SmartDrive to make up its mind, run two
simultaneous DOS sessions from within Windows, and do some disk accessing
from each. After this, SmartDrive should be able to determine the need for
double buffering. If the double buffering is not required, the display
will be similar to the one below:
Microsoft SMARTDrive Disk Cache version 4.0
Copyright 1991,1992 Microsoft Corp.
Cache size: 1,048,576 bytes
Cache size while running Windows: 1,048,576 bytes
Disk Caching Status
drive read cache write cache buffering
--------------------------------------------
A: yes no no
B: yes no no
C: yes yes no
For help, type "Smartdrv /?".
If this is the case, you can remove the SmartDrive line from your
config.sys.
...........................................................................
4.12.6. Windows 3.x and large hard disks
-----------------------------------------
In rare cases, there are problems with using Windows 3.0 on large hard
disks. Your system may be at risk if:
* You are using third-party partitioning software, such as:
* Disk Manager (dmdrv.bin)
* InnerSpace (edvr.sys)
* SpeedStor (sstor.sys or hardrive.sys)
* Vfeatures Deluxe (fixt_drv.sys)
* and you are using SmartDrive (smartdrv.sys) as your disk cache
* and your hard disk has more than 1023 cylinders
If your hard disk has fewer than 1024 cylinders, you may still be at risk
if the first two conditions hold true, you are using DOS 3.30 or later, and
your hard disk is not supported by your BIOS. To avoid problems, you can
either stop using SmartDrive, or reformat your disk using the DOS FDISK
utility.
There are no problems with large partitions created by the FDISK program
included with MS-DOS 4.0 and some versions of MS-DOS 3.3.
If you are still having problems, call Microsoft Technical Support at (206)
454-2030.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
4.13. Troubleshooting
======================
One essential tool for troubleshooting Windows 3.x problems is Microsoft's
Windows Resource Toolkit. This combination of a comprehensive reference
and some utility tools is priced at around $30, and can't be beat for
value. If you are responsible for keeping a number of Windows systems
running, run, don't walk, to the nearest phone and order it now!
The toolkit is also freely available in Word for Windows format from
ftp.cica.indiana.edu (and its mirror sites); while this version is
complete, it is large, and will take significant time to ftp and download
(not to mention print!).
...........................................................................
4.13.1. BMP wallpaper won't display correctly
----------------------------------------------
Some of the possible reasons are:
* Your .bmp file is corrupted. Try reading it into Paintbrush to verify
that it is readable.
* You are trying to display a bitmap with more colors than your video
driver supports for example, 256 colors with a 16-color driver, or 16M
colors with a 256-color driver).
* You have insufficient memory to display the bitmap. A 800x600x16
bitmap requires 256K of memory; 1024x768x256 would require 768K!
For 256-to-16 color dithering, you may try using a utility such as
PaintShop Pro.
...........................................................................
4.13.2. Frequent GPFs (General Protection Faults)
--------------------------------------------------
If you are experiencing frequent Windows 3.1 crashes, try starting Windows
with the command
win /d:xsv
If the GPFs do not appear, add the line
VirtualHDIRQ=off
to the [386Enh] section of your system.ini file. If the GPFs contine, try
win /d:xs
If the GPFs do not appear, add the line
SystemROMBreakPoint=false
to the [386Enh] section of your system.ini file. If the GPFs contine, try
win /d:x
If the GPFs do not appear, add the line
EMMExclude=A000-EFFF
to the [386Enh] section of your system.ini file. While this will get
Windows running more reliably, you should probably try to narrow down the
range of memory that actually has to be excluded.
...........................................................................
4.13.3. File Manager won't format floppies
-------------------------------------------
If you are having trouble formatting floppies from File Manager, try adding
one or more
DEVICE=DRIVER.SYS /D:# /F:#
lines to your config.sys; see your DOS manual for details.
...........................................................................
4.13.4. Incorrect system version; reinstall the 386 enhanced version of
Windows
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
--
If you get the above message when starting a DOS session, you are
experiencing one of three potential problems:
* You are using a display driver written for Windows 3.0. Updating it to
a 3.1 compatible version should make the problem disappear.
* Your display card selection is not consistent: the display.drv=,
386Grabber= and display= selections in your system.ini may not be
consistent with each other. Use setup to install a fresh set of
display drivers from the original distribution diskettes.
* Your winoamod.386 driver (in your system directory) may be out of date.
If that file's date is earlier than win386.exe, use the expand command
to get a new copy of winoamod.386 from your original Windows
diskettes.
...........................................................................
4.13.5. Mouse hangs when using communications software
-------------------------------------------------------
This problem is usually caused by a mouse and a modem being on the same
serial port pair (either COM1/COM3, or COM2/COM4). Each pair shares a
common interrupt due to restrictions of the original IBM PC architecture,
and so can not be used simultaneously.
If you are experiencing this problem, you should move either your modem or
mouse a different serial port.
...........................................................................
4.13.6. Parity errors with Windows 3.1
---------------------------------------
Parity errors are real, and detected reliably by Windows 3.1 (Windows 3.0
ignored them for the most part). Unfortunately most memory test programs
do not properly test 32-bit memory accesses, and thus do not detect all
possible memory problems. Environments such as Windows 3.1, Windows NT,
Unix, Xenix and OS/2 2.0, however, do exercise this aspect -- and, as a
result, report memory problems where the memory testers don't catch them.
Below are some of the possible causes for parity errors, in approximate
order of likelyhood:
* Defective memory module
* 80ns memory where 70ns is required
* Two different speeds of memory modules
* DMA or memory conflicts
* Outdated BIOS
* Defective DMA on the CPU chip
If you're willing to play with fire and gasoline (if, for example, you have
8-bit memory with no parity bit), you can disable parity checking by
removing or commenting out the following line in the [386Enh] section of
your system.ini file:
device=*parity
Note that this will disable your parity checking completely and may cause
unexpected crashes or errors if your memory has parity errors!
...........................................................................
4.13.7. Performance deterioration in a 386 Enhanced mode DOS session
---------------------------------------------------------------------
The most likely cause of this type of a problem is slow memory. If your
onboard memory is accessed with basically no wait states, but you have a
slower memory expansion card, your machine will run slower whenever it is
using those higher memory addresses. This will generally happen when you
start a DOS session, and often result in 30-50% performance reductions
using various benchmarks. The performance is actually also reduced within
Windows, but it's difficult to notice this due to the lack of a suitable
benchmark. The proper cure for this problem is to either upgrade your
memory expansion card, or to correct whatever problem is causing your
machine to access extended memory with such poor problem.
END--cut here--cut here
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