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Troubleshooting Guide For WPCorp Products |
The information in this document applies to:
WordPerfect® 5.1 for DOS
Problem
Troubleshooting/STR Guide Have you fully defined the problem? Can the customer reliably duplicate the problem? - Send the files used to duplicate the problem. Can you duplicate it on your own machine? - Include the files you used to duplicate the problem. - Has the problem existed since installation, or is it "recently broken?" - If "recently broken," what changed, and when did it change? - How often does the problem occur? - Is the problem only with a particular file? - What other errors occur on the system, even if seemingly unrelated? - Does it happen on other machines? Do you have all the information needed for an STR on the customer's hardware, startup configuration, and WPCorp software? - MSD, WPINFO.EXE and other "snooper" utilities can get much of this information quickly. - "Snoopers" can't tell you specific hardware brands and models, so customers should be asked. - Does Folio or another databases/infobases have an answer? - Always include the Folio search strings and the names of all infobases searched when listing troubleshooting steps of an STR. - The Troubleshooting Guides in Folio provide specific checklists for specific problem types. - Have you checked SCNs (Software Change Notices): The problem may already be listed there. - Once you have specific hardware info, search Folio by hardware brand and model. Have all applicable startup options been tried? - All /N? switches available should be used, along with other product-specific "troubleshooting switches." - Windows troubleshooting switches (especially WIN/S and WIN/3/D:SVFX) should be tried. Does it happen vanilla? - If you can't duplicate the problem on your machine, the customer should generally be booted vanilla from a floppy disk before an STR is written. - All startup options should be used in combination with a vanilla boot before writing an STR. - Windows itself should be run "vanilla" (startup options, standard VGA driver, Program Manager). - IMPORTANT: make a backup of the SYSTEM.INI file before making changes through Windows SETUP. Is there program file damage involved? - For Windows problems, re-installation of WPCorp applications and of Windows itself is a fundamental, although final, troubleshooting step. - If all else fails, as an STR is written, the customer should be instructed on how to reinstall Windows and WordPerfect for Windows while waiting for contact from a specialist. - For DOS problems, reinstallation should not be considered an essential step unless there are specific symptoms indicating program damage. Have you provided the results of your troubleshooting with the STR information? - Without this information Prob_Res may have to start all over again with the customer lengthening the process of the STR and frustrating the customer who has already been through these steps with you once before. The Armor-Plated Boot Strictly speaking, a vanilla boot means running without any CONFIG.SYS or AUTOEXEC.BAT at all. Hardly any modern software will run that way--DOS's defaults for file handles, buffers and other settings are inadequate. So a vanilla boot has come to mean booting with the most trouble-free system configuration you can think of. The "vanilla" configuration suggested below is intended for Windows troubleshooting. For DOS troubleshooting, it is probably overkill, but still applicable. Use your good judgment when taking shortcuts with the suggested configuration. Preparing the customer to take the plunge: 1. Check the customer's CONFIG.SYS for essential drivers, especially disk compression drivers, and write down their exact command lines, along with other lines you are unsure of. 2. Create a C:\WPTEMP directory on the customer's hard drive. (You will use this directory later for troubleshooting.) 3. Ask if the customer already has a bootable floppy disk. 4. If not, format a floppy disk to boot from, rather than renaming the CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT files or REM'ing--commenting out items in these files. The fastest way to format a floppy (DOS 5 and above) is to type the following command at DOS: FORMAT A:/S/U/AUTOTEST. While the disk is formatting, emphasize to the customer the importance of keeping this disk permanently, because it will be invaluable in an emergency or in tracking down future problems with all kinds of programs. Why use a boot disk rather than edit the files on the hard disk? - The customers won't risk locking themselves out of their system by REMming some essential driver they didn't know was essential, or blame you for destroying what was working fine until they tried your suggestions. - The customer can quickly switch between normal and troubleshooting configurations, and so can you. - The customers do not have to re-edit the normal startup files at the end of the phone call, or try to explain to the next operator what you were doing with the if they get disconnected, etc. - Believe it or not...you will save yourself time on most calls. - You will teach the customer one of the most fundamental tools of computer troubleshooting, and probably reduce future Customer Support calls. Suggested CONFIG.SYS/AUTOEXEC.BAT files CONFIG.SYS DEVICE=HIMEM.SYS FILES=60 BUFFERS=30 STACKS=17,512 SHELL=A:\COMMAND.COM /P /E:2048 [any other essential drivers] Explanation: HIMEM.SYS is essential to running Windows, or running WP 6.0 for DOS with good speed; don't forget to put in the correct path to where HIMEM is located, and try to use the latest version of HIMEM.SYS available (it could be in either the WINDOWS or DOS directory). The files, buffers, and stacks lines are excessive enough to rule out shortages in those three areas as a problem. The SHELL line increases the DOS environment from 256 bytes to 2K. EMM386 is not listed, but could be added during the troubleshooting process after the above example has been tried. AUTOEXEC.BAT ECHO OFF PROMPT $P$G PATH=C:\WP60\;C:\WPCDOS60;C:\DOS;C: [OR... PATH=C:\WINDOWS;C:\WPWIN;C:\WPC;C:\DOS;C:\] SET WPC=/NC/ND/NE/NF/NH/NK/NP/NX/DL/DU/TX/WS/D-C:\WPTEMP/PF-C:\WPTEMP/PS- C:\WPTEMP [OR... SET WPC=/FL/D-C:\WPTEMP/PF-C:\WPTEMP/SA/PS-C:\WPTEMP/PI-C:\WPTEMP] SET TEMP=C:\WPTEMP C: [CD\WINDOWS] [ECHO LOAD WINDOWS ENHANCED MODE NEXT, OR CTRL+C] [PAUSE] [WIN/3/D:SVFX] [ECHO LOAD WINDOWS STANDARD MODE NEXT, OR CTRL+C] [WIN/S] Explanation: The path given is intended to point to the user's WINDOWS directory (if using Windows), WordPerfect director(ies), root directory and normal DOS directory. Your user may need different directories or drives in addition to these. Note: The items with square brackets ([]) around them are for Windows. The first SET WPC= line is tailored for DOS; the other for Windows. Both lines redirect all WordPerfect temporary and configuration files to \WPTEMP, where you can keep an eye on them. /N? switches simplify WordPerfect's interaction with non-standard hardware while /SA keeps WPWin from looking for a network initialization file. The rest of the file loads Windows automatically in both Enhanced and Standard modes, with chances to bail out of either by pressing Ctrl+C. Omit the last two lines unless you want a user to compare problems working in both Enhanced and Standard modes. Re-installing Windows without losing customized settings: 1. The customer must have enough hard disk space to install a complete second installation of Windows. 2. Install a second copy of Windows. 3. In the second Windows copy, rename *.GRP to *.GRN and *.INI to *.INN. 4. Copy the new installation over the old one. Is the problem gone? If yes, you are done. 5. In the old installation, rename *.INI to *.INO, and *.INN to *.INI. If the problem stops, an initialization file was to blame. The customer may lose settings and need to re-install software (screen savers, soft fonts, etc.). To restore the customer's normal program groups, make a list of all *.GRP files, and make Program Manager aware of them again through File|New|Program Group. Speeding Up WordPerfect 6.0 for DOS 1. Check available memory in Help|WP Info. Either Expanded Memory or Extended Memory should be greater than 2048K. With less than this amount, WordPerfect will have to swap to disk often. Your primary goal in increasing speed is to increase one or both of these figures. 2. If text is very slow to write on the screen in Graphics mode, but speed is good in text mode, be sure that the directories in Setup| Location of Files|Graphic Fonts Data Files are correct. 3. At DOS, without Shell or Windows loaded, run the MEM command. A. How much EMS memory is available? B. How much XMS memory? C. If both the available XMS and EMS added together are less than 2M, the CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT can be modified to free up more memory. D. If memory is more than 2M, then something that happens after startup is using memory that WordPerfect could use for greater speed. 4. Possible modifications to the CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT files for more speed in WP 6.0 are as follows: A. Do not use a RAMDRIVE. Previous versions of WordPerfect could benefit from redirecting virtual files to a RAMDRIVE, but WP 6.0's sophisticated memory management can take direct advantage of extended and expanded memory: there is no speed advantage anymore in using a RAMDRIVE with WordPerfect or with Shell. B. Reduce the size of your disk cache (for example, SMARTDRV or PC- Kwik). Especially on machines with 4M or less of RAM, WordPerfect, like Windows, may make better use of memory available than a general purpose file cache, since the program is more aware of which data deserves most to be cached. C. Customers should experiment with different cache sizes, because different ways of working will have different speed effects. As a general rule of thumb, customers who work with large files should have large caches; customers who usually work with small files should let WordPerfect have the lion's share of memory. D. Disk caches probably should not be shrunk to less than 512K unless you intend to turn them off altogether, and the greatest cache efficiency for most people is between 1M and 2M. 5. Other ways to increase speed: A. Use the /R switch if you have at least 2048K of extended or expanded memory available to load the .FIL file. B. Run WP straight from DOS rather than from Windows or Shell. On machines with 4M or less of memory, the overhead saved may result in considerable speed improvements. C. Start WP with /W=*,*,*, which will give WP use of all conventional, expanded and extended memory available. The /R option can also be used with /W. With the /W option using the asterisks, remember you will not be able to Go To DOS and use other programs, or hotkey if using shell. d. Under Windows, be sure you are using the WP60.PIF file rather than WP.EXE to start WordPerfect. If you run WP.EXE, Windows uses its _DEFAULT.PIF to configure WordPerfect to the Windows environment. _DEFAULT.PIF allows a DOS program only 1M of extended memory maximum. WP60.PIF allows WP to use all available extended and expanded memory. e. Work in Text mode except when Graphics mode is really necessary. If you like to work in Graphics modes, it may be worthwhile to invest in an accelerated or XGA video card. f. Add extra RAM to your system. An increase from 4M to 8M will make a significant speed difference in all programs. 6. The speed of the processor and clock speed or megahertz (MHz) also has an affect on their speed. 7. Freeing up more conventional memory will improve the speed. |
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