wrote:At any rate I have fired off help requests/complaints to both Soyo and to Microsoft. I'm not optimistic, but maybe they will be able to provide a solution to the problem.
Please keep us posted with whatever replies you get from MS! 😁
Cheers,|
V.
wrote:This (i.e. no mention of EXPANDED/EMS memory), unfortunately, means that your system has a problem. In the past it has been observed that systems that have "bootable" cards (such as more intelligent SCSI cards, or even potentially some network cards) interfere with WIndows' DOS emulation and Windows is unable to provide EMS no mater what EMS options are given to it. The only way of working around this is to disable the "boot" option from the card in question (if possible disable it physically, with jumpers on the board, or move the card to another computer).
This is a Microsoft limitation/bug.
V.
You have a website where you can find more information on this?
"I see a little silhouette-o of a man, Scaramouche, Scaramouche, will you
do the Fandango!" - Queen
Stiletto
wrote:You have a website where you can find more information on this?
No website. Discovered by Tim T. ( mailtim at sympatico.ca ). I qute:
SUBJECT: I figured out what the problem is! […]
SUBJECT: I figured out what the problem is!
I have no idea why it would do so, but like I said in my last email, SCSI
cards might reserve some conventional memory or something. Well, anyways
removing my SCSI card actually got EMM to work! I don't know if this is
really a viable solution as it's really not worth it to remove the SCSI card
everytime you want to play a DOS game, but at least we know what the problem
is now. I wonder if moving it to another slot would help?Tim.
then
These are the resources that my SCSI card uses: […]
These are the resources that my SCSI card uses:
I/O Range C400-C4FF
Memory Range EC000000-EC000FFF
IRQ 18When I disable it in the Windows device manager, EMM still refuses to work,
the card has to be physically removed to enable EMM.
Another thing to note is that during the boot of my system my SCSI card has
a screen during it's initialization, it says "BIOS ROM mapped at CC00h"My theory is that the problem has something to do with the bootable nature
of the SCSI cards. I think it needs to load something into the memory so it
can boot various devices.> Hello,
> If you go in the device manager and try to locate the SCSI card and look
> under allocated resources, what does it say?
> Also, if you "disable" the SCSI driver from the device manager (even
though
> the card is in the slot) does EMM come back as well?
> V.
then
I tried everything, disabling and rebooting, removing the driver, the only thing that will fix the EMM problem is removing the c […]
I tried everything, disabling and rebooting, removing the driver, the only
thing that will fix the EMM problem is removing the card itself. Anyways,
I'm pretty sure it's an issue with bootable SCSI bio's. When I purchased my
SCSI card I asked him what were the advantages of a more expensive card over
the el cheapo SCSI cards (I saw 2 cards from the same company both were
Ultra Wide, but one costed while the other costed over 5x more). He
explained that the cheaper cards don't have a bootable SCSI bios thus it
isn't possible to run a SCSI only system in such a setup since you wouldn't
be able to boot. Anyways I didn't really need the SCSI bios, but I bought
the more expensive card anyways (kicking myself for it now).Oh well, thanks for all the help!
If any of you figure out a solution that doesn't involve removing the SCSI
card let me know.
Cheers,
V.
Well, this is not a really good explanation or more like a "sometimes" bug. I have had a Scsi-only system for as long as I remember but never had such problems and don't have now with Vdms. Whatever if someone has this problem he could try entering the Scsi-bios on bootup with Ctrl+a (default I guess) and disable the boot option there and see if it works.
All in all it sounds to me like some weird problem...
wrote:Well, this is not a really good explanation or more like a "sometimes" bug. I have had a Scsi-only system for as long as I remember but never had such problems and don't have now with Vdms. Whatever if someone has this problem he could try entering the Scsi-bios on bootup with Ctrl+a (default I guess) and disable the boot option there and see if it works.
All in all it sounds to me like some weird problem...
No, it's not necessarily SCSI controllers, though it does appear to be some sort of hardware issue (memory-related, I presume). I know I have the same problem on a Compaq machine at work which, to my knowledge, has no SCSI controller (or any other fancy card for that matter). So forcing certain memory-related settings in the BIOS, if possibe, may or may not fix the issue. Still doesn't explain why Bill silently refuses to give EMS (no error, no nothing).
V.
Well, I just found out that my new Sony Vaio laptop is behaving erraticly as well. It won't load the Ultima Underworlds due to EMS problems....
Strange behaviour...
I also found a serious bug in SciTech Softs GlDirect driver (emulates OpenGl on a dx6 and higher graphics card). when it is loaded, and even if you disable it, almost all my dosgames don't go further after loading up. Games like Tyrian 2k even almost lock up the computer... Damn it... Bug report was send to them
wrote:So I can't run DOS programs that require ems because my hard drives are connected to my on-board Promise controller?!?! Unbelievable!
I never had any real problems with my Maxtor UDMA controller, but I do recall all kinds of headaches with my SIIg UDMA-66 controller.
"Available contiguous extended memory" is the extended memory available for the Interrupt 15h interface. This memory is not being managed by an extended memory manager in Windows XP, such as Himem.sys. That's why some older programs fail to run.
The technician then went on to say the that problem lay with the DOS programs, which was utter rot. At any rate I fired back a slightly cranky reply. I don't expect much satisfaction. I haven't heard back yet from the makers of my motherboard.
wrote:"Available contiguous extended memory" is the extended memory available for the Interrupt 15h interface. This memory is not being managed by an extended memory manager in Windows XP, such as Himem.sys. That's why some older programs fail to run.
The technician then went on to say the that problem lay with the DOS programs, which was utter rot. At any rate I fired back a slightly cranky reply. I don't expect much satisfaction. I haven't heard back yet from the makers of my motherboard.
Please get back to the M$ techician and tell him nothing about any game/app, just about "mem /c". Tell him that with the exact same .pif file/Windows version/whetever "mem /c" reports EMS on one machine but not on the other.
V.
I replied to the technician informing him that I have the same problem with every single DOS program and that I cannot run any DOS program that requires ems. If I don't get a satisfactory response I will tell him what you have suggested.
wrote:I replied to the technician informing him that I have the same problem with every single DOS program and that I cannot run any DOS program that requires ems. If I don't get a satisfactory response I will tell him what you have suggested.
Might just as well tell him now (i.e. there is no "Available contiguous extended memory" reported at all, it's not a question of the game not liking it -- see mem /c), just to make sure that you're on the same wavelength.
V.
wrote:Might just as well tell him now (i.e. there is no "Available contiguous extended memory" reported at all, it's not a question of the game not liking it -- see mem /c), just to make sure that you're on the same wavelength.
V.
Done. 😀
Get a load of this. This was what pissed me off in the reply I recieved from Microsoft.
"Microsoft Windows XP mainly adopts core technology of Windows 2000, and combines with Windows 9x's versatility and Windows 2000's stability. It sets a new standard for performance and reliability, opening up your computer to a world of possibilities.
However, compared with the advanced kernel of XP, some DOS programs are too old to run normally under Windows XP.
2. To resolve the problem, we suggest you contact those DOS program's designer to get XP-compatible patch installed. Since they are all produced by vendors independent of Microsoft, we are sorry that we cannot guarantee any third party product's performance and reliability with Windows XP."
I'm not a fan of being bombarded with advertising at the best of times, but when someone decides to feed me propaganda while dismissing my legitimate request for assistance, it really makes me cranky.
Understandable.
Eventually they'll give you a follow-up phone call (go figure) -- THEN'S the time to bitch about it.
Yes, it’s my fault.
