Zip Manager Ver 3.01 Trouble Shooting Help ------------------------------------------ January 18 1991 If you are having trouble getting Zip Manager to work on your computer follow these directions exactly. If after trying all of the suggestions listed below, you still can't get ver 3.01 to work then you will need to get version 3.0W of Zip Manager from our BBS. These directions apply to version 30W also. The most tech support questions we get are that ZM will start to work, open the DOS Window and then come right back. The solutions listed below will definitely solve this and every other problem we have encountered with most computers. If you try all of the suggestions listed below and ver 3.01 still won't work, then call or BBS at 602-375-0531 and DL ZM30W.ZIP it is a special version designed for the small percentage of computers that just won't work with 3.01 at all. There is a nasty bug in the windows shell that severely corrupts the DOS environment. This bug it often makes it impossible for Zip Manager to pass the correct parameters to PKZIP or the other utilities used by Zip Manager. Hopefully this bug will be fixed in version 3.1 of windows which will be released later this spring. 1.) Make sure that Zip Manager is in a separate directory, that is NOT under Windows. Keep the directory name short. Call it C:\ZM for example. 2.) Make sure that PKZIP,'UNZIP and the other utilities ARE NOT in the same directory as Zip Manager. Place these utilities in an existing directory where you keep your utilities, or create a new directory. MAKE SURE that the directory is in the path statement of your autoexec.bat file. 3.) Re-Set your temp= setting in your autoexec.bat to the following: A: If you have enough ram, create a ram drive, this will help all of your windows programs run better. Set your temp= setting to your ram drive. B: If you choose not to create a ram drive, then create a directory on your drive and name it T, the set your temp variable to set temp=C:\T The object here is to keep the number of characters needed to find your files to unzip is kept to an absolute minimum. Since often it is impossible to pass more that 12 characters to DOS applications directly from windows as Zip Manager does. 4.) After moving ALL of the Zip Manager files into the new ZM directory make sure that you re-set the ZM.EXE location in the program manager to reflect the program location change. 5.) Make sure that Zip Manager is on the same drive as windows. There is another bug in windows and the way it loops through previously selected drives. Also make sure that pkzip and the other utilities are on the same drive as windows and zip manager. 6.) In the Zip Manager setup menu, REMOVE the drive and path names to the file locations. Each field should have the program name only. ie: PKZIP should read PKZIP.EXE only, and so on for the other utilities. 7.) On 386DX computers: If you get a strange error message when the DOS window opens BE SURE to go into the windows control panel 386 Icon and make sure that the exclusive in foreground check box DOES NOT have a check mark in it! Windows may tell you that you can't run this program in the background. If this happens check the DOS Window Icon for its settings when this error occurs. If NEITHER foreground or Background options are selected then delete the zmscan.pif and allow ZM to run full screen. 8.) If you get a strange PIF ERROR such as this program is a high graphics program, or can only be run in the foreground, you will need to DELETE the ZMSCAN.PIF. It is not mandatory to have it and can prevent ZM from functioning on certain computers. Computers With A Known Incompatibility with Ver 3.01 of Zip Manager These computers will need Version 30W of Zip Manager. While some of the computers listed below will work with 3.01, most of them won't. ------------------------------------------------------------------- IBM Model PS/2 70's and Some Model 80's IBM Model PS/2 55SX Gateway 2000 386 and 286 computers ALR 386 Machines DELL 386 Packard Bell 286 and 386 Computers DTK 286 and 386 Computers Everex Step 386/25 Some Northgate 386/33 computers Some Zeos Computers A number of very inexpensive 386 clones with Taiwan made Motherboards. 386 SX Problems and Windows, and Most 286 Computers --------------------------------------------------- 386 SX Computers and some rare 386 DX computers. On 386 SX computers windows detects the 386 chip, but then encounters a 16 bit datapath instead of the 32 bit found on 386 DX computers. This really confuses windows and will prevent you from running the ZMSCAN.PIF file as it is supplied with Zip manager. It also will often prevent you from running any DOS App in a window. You will get an error message that this application must be run in the foreground. Another common error message is that you are trying to run a high graphics program in a window. Change the ZMSCAN.PIF to reflect these changes: 1.) Set display usage to Full Screen 2.) Set Execution to exclusive 3.) Or you can delete the PIF file altogether, in which case Zip Manager will run the DOS Apps full screen by default. One Other Strange Windows Bug That Occurs Rarely ------------------------------------------------ Zip Manager and other WinApps work fine and then suddenly quit working completely. I have seen this happen on a rare few computers. Zip Manager will work flawlessly for a long period of time and then one day will completely quit working altogether. I have had users completely re-install windows to correct the problem, but even this has failed to work. It seems that somehow windows is remembering something and will refuse to work no matter what is done. If anyone has figured this one out I would love to hear from you. It is the strangest thing I have ever encountered.