PRINT SELECTION FOR APAR - II06067 92/07/14 APAR= II06067 SER= DD DOC QUESTIONS TO ASK ABOUT DOSAP PROBLEMS OS2INFOAPAR STAT= INTRAN FESN5NFO000-000 CTID= II0000 ISEV= 4 SB92/06/04 RC CL PD SEV= 4 PE= TYPE= I RCOMP= INFOPCLIB PC LIB INFO ITE RREL= R001 FCOMP= PFREL= F TREL= T ACTION= SEC/INT= DUP/ USPTF= PDPTF= DUPS 0 DW92/06/04 RT SC FT RE PT UP LP PV AP EN FL LC92/06/13 RU92/06/04 CUST INST LVL/SU= FAILING MODULE= FAILING LVL/SU= SYSROUTE OF: RET APAR= PS= COMP OPER ENV= SYSRES= SYSIN= SYSOUT= CPU= RE-IPL= OPTYPE= SPECIAL ACTIVITY= REGRESSION= PRE-SCREEN NO.= RSCP= RS000 ERROR DESCRIPTION: Keywords: OS2INFOAPAR OS2DOSAP OS2QUESTIONS When DOS applications experience problems running under OS/2, our main goal is to determine whether the problem is with the operating system or not. Even though the error received is from OS/2, the error could be due to the application not following standards or it could be a usage problem (usually corrected by DOS settings). Steps to take to analyze a DOSAP problem: 1. Gather the information on the 857 form by entering 'FA 857' from the PMR. 2. We want to know first if the problem is with the DOS session or specific to certain applications. If the customer can open a DOS full screen prompt and get a prompt, there is no problem creating the DOS environment in OS/2. In addition, if he can open a DOS window and get a prompt, his problem is most likely not video related. 3. Once the prompt is received, ask the customer if he can access files from the prompt with 'dir', 'type', and similar DOS commands. If this is true, he probably doesn't have a disk or file system problem. 4. Now, let's see what applications are failing. If the customer is receiving an out of memory error of some sort, there are two prime candidates. If the error is from OS/2 and contains the text "heap space is full", the customer is out of swapper space. In general, this is something that should always be checked. It is very important that this information be included in the 783 form (swapper on: field, and "free" field for that partition). If the error is something generated by the application, expanded memory is usually the cause. Please see APAR II06047 about EMS problems. 5. If you are not familiar with the application, ask if the app requires any hardware other than the base system. If it requires a modem, get the COM port settings (COM port number, IRQ, etc.). You may want to use form insert 864 for this use. Record any hardware required in the PMR. 6. IS THE PROBLEM REPRODUCABLE? If it is not readily repro- duced, have the customer stop all other running applications and check whether it will fail WHEN RUNNING ALONE. 7. If the problem occurs when switching sessions, it's probably NOT due to DOS emulation. Please reconsider what other subsystem may be at fault. 8. If the machine is a clone, ask the customer if he has altered any DOS settings. If you bring up help for the DOS settings and scroll down to the bottom, you will find a hypertext link to "DOS and WIN-OS/2 Settings, Descriptions". Double-click on this to bring up categories for the different DOS settings. By choosing a category, all pertinent DOS settings are listed, and descriptions of them can be viewed. The following gives a list of general problems, and what DOS settings should be checked: Memory problems: EMS_MEMORY_LIMIT MEM_INCLUDE_REGIONS EMS_PAGE_FRAME XMS_MEMORY_LIMIT DPMI_MEMORY_LIMIT DOS_RM_SIZE Video problems: all VIDEO_* settings Communications problems: COM_HOLD DOS_BACKGROUND_EXECUTION IDLE_SECONDS IDLE_SENSITIVITY also check CONFIG.SYS parameters on DEVICE=COM.SYS line 9. If the problem "hangs the system" it is important to determine if the system is REALLY hung. Rule #1-- if the mouse moves, the system is not hung. Have the customer use repetitve Ctrl-Esc's to cancel the session. A pop-up should appear indicating that a particular program is not respond- ing. It can then be ended. Insure that "FI 778" is performed for a TRAP or IPE and ALL register information is entered. Just the location or type of trap provides no useful information in almost all cases. 10. Ask the customer if he has tried the application in a VMB (virtual machine boot). Refer the customer to the online help on "Starting specific DOS version" in the master help index and the VMDISK command in the command reference. If using VMDISK to create an image file, remind the customer that he must have a DEVICE=FSFILTER.SYS statement in his config.sys in the image. If OS/2 was installed on an HPFS partition, FSFILTER.SYS must be copied from the OS2 MDOS directory onto the diskette BEFORE the image is created. Specific DOS sessions are often needed to run network requestor programs such as Novell Netware and Banyan Vines. LOCAL FIX: