You need to re-run your memory management program.

#1, your scsi driver isnt loaded high
#2, when you change drivers you need to re-run memory management tools.

luckybob wrote:

You need to re-run your memory management program.

#1, your scsi driver isnt loaded high
#2, when you change drivers you need to re-run memory management tools.

If you mean ASPICD it won't let me. every time i set devicehigh for it when I reboot the drive is no longer detected.

if you mean memmaker, i have. it actually lowers my conventional memory by 10kb when I run it

smartdrv is for caching, is your drive will be too slow without it?

and theres probably wrong value for /L parameters, as your smartdrv isnt loaded high despite using the 'LH'

I would remove all the device high and lh commands. and start from scratch.

Also I don't like memmaker, do you have access to better memory managers? I would look for QEMM 8 it it was up to me.

Joey_sw wrote:

and theres probably wrong value for /L parameters, as your smartdrv isnt loaded high despite using the 'LH'

/L Prevents SMARTDrive from loading itself into upper memory.

i'm not really looking to use any third party programs or memory managers as i've read they can sometimes cause incompatabilities. I really just want to get the most I can with stock stuff.

can I simply remove the /L then and it should load it to upper mem?

DOS=HIGH,UMB should be on the second line after HIMEM but before EMM386. The last occurrence of DOS=HIGH is redundant.

dos 6.2 help should provide information on how to specify the /L value.

It doesn't matter in which line DOS=HIGH,UMB is present.
Whats more strange is:
- just 100 kB UMBs, usually there should be around 192 kB, even if you subtract a 64 kB large SCSI BIOS it would still be 128 kB.
- ctmouse didn't even loaded
- aspicd.sys fails when loaded high, shouldn't be the case.

I would remove all memmaker stuff and skip memmaker optimization. With such few drivers, for moving load order not many options remain. I would remove setver if not needed, freeing up an additional UMB block and cleanup the AWE initialisation.
ALso check if LASTDRIVE=H is correct and if STACKS are required. Some COMSPEC statement with set environment memory would also be fine. Setting a manual smaller smartdrive cache value instead of using auto may also free up a bit bytes.

well i'm not really a wizard when it comes to editing these things so as far as doing it over thats probibly slightly above my head.

i did try this though. i changed the smartdrive line to

LH c:\dos\smartdrv.exe 2048 1024 /X

this seemed to work as I get 592kb of conventional mem now BUT i'm having issues that may or may not relate to the change

cd drive seems to have trouble reading any cd-r's though this may have to do with the drive itself but i need to do more testing.

swapped drives and its reading cd-r's fine now.

what do these values mean anyways?
2048 1024 /X

I think the first number is used to specify the amount of memory that is going to use for DOS and the second for WINDOWS. By googling the /X parameter it says that "Disables write-behind caching for all drives."

592K free base memory with mouse/CD drivers is damned good for DOS.

You're not gonna get 617k base free with ANY CD rom, IDE or SCSI.

Your first screenshot doesn't even have IDE CD ROM drivers (OAKCDROM.SYS or similar and MSCDEX.EXE) that's why there is 617k available.

I think the best I ever got was about 601k using QEMM on a 386 with MS-DOS 6 (mouse and IDE CD drivers, Pro Audio Spectrum).

It's a lot worse if you load network drivers!

Norton Commander wrote:

592K free base memory with mouse/CD drivers is damned good for DOS. […]
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592K free base memory with mouse/CD drivers is damned good for DOS.

You're not gonna get 617k base free with ANY CD rom, IDE or SCSI.

Your first screenshot doesn't even have IDE CD ROM drivers (OAKCDROM.SYS or similar and MSCDEX.EXE) that's why there is 617k available.

I think the best I ever got was about 601k using QEMM on a 386 with MS-DOS 6 (mouse and IDE CD drivers, Pro Audio Spectrum).

It's a lot worse if you load network drivers!

I know that picture does not have cd drivers in that listing...and honestly i have no idea why but my IDE cd drive at that time was indeed working and i had 617kb of free conventional ram. thats with a mouse/ide cd and pretty much everything except a netwoprk card. thats also without using any third party memory managers just memmaker and a few tweeks as far as my limited abilities could do. acually thats even using that TRmouse mouse driver that ate was more mem then the 3kb cutemouse.

I've never used the oakridge cd drivers. found this driver package on the net and just saved it to a floppy. its an exe that auto installs the drivers LG drivers maybe? anyways theve worked flawlessly with every IDE drive i've ever used and have never eaten much if any conventional mem. untill this setup i've always gotten over 600kb with very minmal effort and no third party utilities.

592k is still good for SCSI - you'll note that there are 2 drivers needed in CONFIG.SYS for your CD drive - ASPI8DOS (ASPI DOS layer) and ASPICD (the actual CD drivers).

It's weird for you to have had an IDE CD ROM working with no driver in CONFIG.SYS. I've had plenty of IDE CD drives in the DOS days and they always required a device driver to work along with MSCDEX.EXE.

I just named OAKCDROM.SYS as an example to illustrate that IDE CD ROMs require some kind of driver - yours will probably be different but the fact remains no IDE CD ROM access will occur in DOS without a device driver and MSCDEX.EXE.