I am not expert on DOS4GW, but it is available in several versions. Which version is bundled with the game? Tried replacing it with a newer version?

Or you could a free replacement name (I think) DOS32A.

Search the forum for DOS4GW and DOS32A.

Wasn't the strings error caused by that .tex file which appears if you use DosBox in dyanmic mode with Descent? Occasionally you get people who get the same error without using DosBox on the host system. Problem was solved in DosBox by deleting the .tex file and running DosBox in Normal/Full core or using DOS32A and then using Dynamic mode.

What does the config.sys on your old machine look like?

I get the strings error ONLY on the d1x windows port of Descent, not on the dos version of Descent. I realized that I did not have the DOS4GW.EXE program on my DESCENT directory, on my old DOS machine, so I got the DOS4GW.EXE file on my old DOS machine, in the DESCENT directory, but there was no difference, I still got the same general fault protection error. What I noticed was that on DOS games that uses the true 3-D engine always crash on my old PC DOS machine giving me the general fault protection error! I had DOS4GW on Terminator Future Shock, but the program crashed when I started it. Is there any way to solve problems like this?

(remember, DOSBOX is too slow for any of these games, even if I adjust the CPU cycles to a high rate, even if I change the memsize, even if I adjust the frame skip.)

I tried DosBox, too slow, adjusted the CPU cycles, still slow...

That's nuts. I've used DosBox on a Pentium II 400 MHz machine (running SuSE Linux). It isn't good enough to play the faster/newer games well, but most of the games from around the time of 1993 or 1994 and earlier run fine.

So, what can I do about this??? Do I mess with my config.sys file, what can I do to correct the general fault protection error?