Cannot LH Mscdex \ VOGONS

Cannot LH Mscdex

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First post, by amontre

Posted on 2022-12-19, 15:45

amontre Offline

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I'm trying to load high MSCDEX, appreciate any help.

Autoexec.bat

1@ECHO OFF
2@ECHO OFF
3PATH C:\GWN
4PATH C:\NC;C:\WINDOWS;C:\WINDOWS\COMMAND
5@ECHO OFF
6SET BLASTER=A220 I5 D1 H5 P330 E620 T6 
7@ECHO OFF
8SET SOUND=C:\SB16
9SET CTCM=C:\CTCM
10LH C:\CTCM\CTCM.EXE
11LH C:\SB16\AWEUTIL.COM /S
12LH C:\SB16\MIXERSET.EXE /P /Q
13LH C:\SOFTMPU\SOFTMPU.EXE /mpu:330 /sb:220 /irq:5
14
15@ECHO OFF
16GoTo %config%
17:EMC
18:PRI
19:XMC
20:CMC
21LH C:\WINDOWS\COMMAND\MSCDEX.EXE /D:OPTICAL /E
22:EM
23:XM
24:CM
25LH C:\DRIVERS\CTMOUSE.EXE /R2
26:E
27:X
28:C
29
30REM
31REM The following lines have been created by Windows. Do not modify them.
32REM
33C:
34CD C:\
35CALL C:\WINDOWS\COMMAND.COM
36C:\WINDOWS\WIN.COM /WX
37
38

Config.sys

1DOS=SINGLE
2DOS=NOAUTO
3[COMMON]
4DOS=HIGH,UMB
5FILES=30
6BUFFERS=30
7LASTDRIVE=H
8STACKS=9,256
9DEVICEHIGH=C:\WINDOWS\IFSHLP.SYS
10
11
12[menu]
13menuitem=EMC, Expanded memory + Mouse + CD-ROM
14menuitem=PRI, Expanded memory 16MB + Mouse + CD-ROM
15menuitem=PRI2, Extended memory 16MB + Mouse + CD-ROM
16menuitem=XMC, Extended memory + Mouse + CD-ROM
17menuitem=CMC, Conventional Memory only + Mouse + CD-ROM
18menuitem=EM, Expanded memory + Mouse
19menuitem=XM, Extended memory + Mouse
20menuitem=CM, Conventional memory only + Mouse
21menuitem=E, Expanded memory
22menuitem=X, Extended memory
23menuitem=C, Conventional memory only
24
25menudefault=EMC,11
26
27[EMC]
28DEVICE=C:\WINDOWS\HIMEM.SYS /NUMHANDLES=128 /TESTMEM:OFF
29DEVICE=C:\WINDOWS\EMM386.EXE X=B800-C7FF I=B000-B7FF RAM M3 A=64 H=128 D=256 AUTO NOTR 
30DEVICEHIGH=C:\DRIVERS\VIDECDD.SYS /D:OPTICAL
31
32[PRI]
33DEVICE=C:\WINDOWS\HIMEM.SYS /NUMHANDLES=128 /TESTMEM:OFF
34DEVICE=C:\WINDOWS\EMM386.EXE 16384 RAM D=64 I=B000-B7FF
35DEVICEHIGH=C:\DRIVERS\VIDECDD.SYS /D:OPTICAL
36
37[PRI2]
38DEVICE=C:\WINDOWS\HIMEM.SYS /NUMHANDLES=128 /TESTMEM:OFF
39DEVICE=C:\WINDOWS\EMM386.EXE 16384 RAM D=64 I=B000-B7FF NOEMS
40DEVICEHIGH=C:\DRIVERS\VIDECDD.SYS /D:OPTICAL
41
42[XMC]
43DEVICE=C:\WINDOWS\HIMEM.SYS /TESTMEM:OFF
44DEVICEHIGH=C:\DRIVERS\VIDECDD.SYS /D:OPTICAL
45DEVICE=C:\WINDOWS\EMM386.EXE X=B800-C7FF I=B000-B7FF RAM M3 A=64 H=128 D=256 AUTO NOTR NOEMS  
46
47[CMC]
48DEVICEHIGH=C:\DRIVERS\VIDECDD.SYS /D:OPTICAL
49
50[EM]
51DEVICE=C:\WINDOWS\HIMEM.SYS /TESTMEM:OFF
52DEVICE=C:\WINDOWS\EMM386.EXE RAM AUTO HIGHSCAN I=B700-B7FF H=255
53
54[XM]
55DEVICE=C:\WINDOWS\HIMEM.SYS /TESTMEM:OFF
56
57[CM]
58
59[E]
60DEVICE=C:\WINDOWS\HIMEM.SYS /TESTMEM:OFF

…Show last 8 lines

61DEVICE=C:\WINDOWS\EMM386.EXE RAM AUTO HIGHSCAN I=B700-B7FF H=255
62
63[X]
64DEVICE=C:\WINDOWS\HIMEM.SYS /TESTMEM:OFF
65
66[C]
67

Reply 1 of 11, by dionb

Posted on 2022-12-19, 15:59

dionb Offline

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Big config file. Which options do you choose when LH fails?

Reply 2 of 11, by weedeewee

Posted on 2022-12-19, 16:27

weedeewee Offline

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just from looking at the files, I would say that mscdex is only loaded for configuration CMC, which is conventional memory + cdrom + mouse. Not even himem is loaded.

Seems pretty obvious why it's not loading high then.

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Reply 3 of 11, by amontre

Posted on 2022-12-21, 19:03

amontre Offline

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weedeewee wrote on 2022-12-19, 16:27:

just from looking at the files, I would say that mscdex is only loaded for configuration CMC, which is conventional memory + cdrom + mouse. Not even himem is loaded.

Seems pretty obvious why it's not loading high then.

EMC

Reply 4 of 11, by Gmlb256

Posted on 2022-12-21, 19:12

Gmlb256 Offline

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weedeewee wrote on 2022-12-19, 16:27:
just from looking at the files, I would say that mscdex is only loaded for configuration CMC, which is conventional memory + cdrom + mouse. Not even himem is loaded.

Seems pretty obvious why it's not loading high then.

Actually, MSCDEX gets loaded when XMC, EMC, CMC or PRI are selected. It gets loaded into upper memory if there is enough UMB available (which is the real problem).

amontre wrote on 2022-12-21, 19:03:

EMC

I see that only B000-B7FF is used for UMB which is too small to fit a decent amount of TSRs. Replace that X=B000-C7FF with I=D000-EFFF at least, it should give you plenty of UMB.

Last edited by Gmlb256 on 2022-12-21, 19:16. Edited 1 time in total.

Reply 5 of 11, by weedeewee

Posted on 2022-12-21, 19:15

weedeewee Offline

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right, brainfart, forgot that whatever comes first runs through what lies below.

Does the lh mscdex work with PRI2 ?

ps. I personally like to use INSTALLHIGH in config sys

Last edited by weedeewee on 2022-12-21, 19:17. Edited 1 time in total.

Right to repair is fundamental. You own it, you're allowed to fix it.
How To Ask Questions The Smart Way
Do not ask Why !
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Reply 6 of 11, by Disruptor

Posted on 2022-12-21, 19:16

Disruptor Offline

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Do you need EMS in every config?
If not, replace RAM by NOEMS in your CONFIG.SYS' EMM386 line(s).
Then you have 64k more UMB.

Reply 7 of 11, by amontre

Posted on 2022-12-21, 20:01

amontre Offline

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weedeewee wrote on 2022-12-21, 19:15:

right, brainfart, forgot that whatever comes first runs through what lies below.

Does the lh mscdex work with PRI2 ?

ps. I personally like to use INSTALLHIGH in config sys

Yes it does ! with NOEMS it does load high

Reply 8 of 11, by weedeewee

Posted on 2022-12-21, 20:42

weedeewee Offline

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amontre wrote on 2022-12-21, 20:01:

weedeewee wrote on 2022-12-21, 19:15:

right, brainfart, forgot that whatever comes first runs through what lies below.

Does the lh mscdex work with PRI2 ?

ps. I personally like to use INSTALLHIGH in config sys

Yes it does ! with NOEMS it does load high

with the EMC you have

Upper 59,952 34,224 25,728

How many UMB do you have when using the EM configuration ?

if you have more you might want to try adding the HIGHSCAN option to the emm386 commandline in the EMC section

also could you expand more on the expansion cards you have in your computer? SCSI, lan bootrom, ... ?

ps.
another thing to try would be loading these

LH C:\CTCM\CTCM.EXE LH C:\SB16\AWEUTIL.COM /S LH C:\SB16\MIXERSET.EXE /P /Q LH C:\SOFTMPU\SOFTMPU.EXE /mpu:330 /sb:220 /irq:5 […]
Show full quote

LH C:\CTCM\CTCM.EXE
LH C:\SB16\AWEUTIL.COM /S
LH C:\SB16\MIXERSET.EXE /P /Q
LH C:\SOFTMPU\SOFTMPU.EXE /mpu:330 /sb:220 /irq:5

after :C
hopefully ensuring that the largest free umb gets used for loading mscdex, which i'm guessing will be the 32k of the mda space (I=B000-B7FF).

Right to repair is fundamental. You own it, you're allowed to fix it.
How To Ask Questions The Smart Way
Do not ask Why !
https://www.vogonswiki.com/index.php/Serial_port

Reply 9 of 11, by Cyberdyne

Posted on 2022-12-22, 10:28

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CTCM and MIXERSET are configuration utilities and not TSR-s. So they do not need to be loaded high.

I am aroused about any X86 motherboard that has full functional ISA slot. I think i have problem. Not really into that original (Turbo) XT,286,386 and CGA/EGA stuff. So just a DOS nut.
PS. If I upload RAR, it is a 16-bit DOS RAR Version 2.50.

Reply 10 of 11, by Gmlb256

Posted on 2022-12-22, 12:20

Gmlb256 Offline

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^ Yep, sometimes these programs get confused as TSRs. AWEUTIL with the /S command line switch will only initialize the EMU8K without getting it loaded as TSR for MPU-401 emulation, making LH unnecessary. It is harmless though.

Reply 11 of 11, by amontre

Posted on 2022-12-30, 11:18

amontre Offline

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I solved it by adding "/Q " in himem.sys and additional address "I=C800-EFFF" in emm386.exe . Now mscdex are in upper memory.

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