ROBOCOMM 4.2 TROUBLESHOOTING QUESTION AND ANSWER Answers to frequently asked questions about Robocomm: Q I am having trouble using Robocomm on a Wildcat system. It seems that my uploads or downloads are not working properly. A Check to make sure that you have the correct "BBS Type" selected on the Directory-BBS screen for the system. Also, make sure that you have the correct prompt set imported. Robocomm 4.2 defaults to Wildcat 3.5x support when you add a new Wildcat system. You will need to import the WC30-32.WPF file if you are setting up a Wildcat version before 3.5. Q Whenever Robocomm tries to download a GIF file from a BBS, it shells out to DOS and I see "Bad command or file name" on the screen. The file transfer doesn't work properly. A By default, Robocomm will override the configured download file protocol and execute the GIFDOWN.BAT file if it exists in the Robocomm directory. To defeat this behavior, erase the GIFDOWN.BAT file in your Robocomm directory. Q When I start Robocomm, I get an "Open Error" error message. A Robocomm is not able to open a file because no more file handles are being made available by DOS. To remedy this situation, increase the FILES value in your CONFIG.SYS file, then re-boot and restart Robocomm. FILES=39 is the suggested value, but you may need a higher number, depending on your system configuration and operating environment. Another possibility is that you've included your Robocomm directory in your PATH statement and you're starting Robocomm from outside the Robocomm subdirectory. You must start Robocomm from within its own directory. Q After Robocomm opens the mail door it just sits there at the mail door's command prompt. A You have not imported the proper prompt definition file. Robocomm comes supplied with prompt files for Qmail 4.0 (DEFAULT.PPF) MarkMail, RoseMail and CAM-Mail. Make sure that you use the "Import" command on the prompt definition screen to pull in the correct prompt settings. Q I have a high speed, error correcting modem, yet I'm seeing errors during downloads, dropped characters when Robocomm's processing an agenda or failed Ymodem-G transfers. A Three things: If you are using a disk cache program, make sure that any DELAYED or STAGED write operations are disabled while Robocomm is on-line. Not all computer systems can handle writing to disk and reading characters from the comm port at the same time. The PREAGEN and POSTAGEN batch files are excellent places to turn your delayed writes on and off. Make sure your have RTS/CTS handshaking turned on and try setting your baud rate at 19200, not 38400. Depending on your system's configuration and speed, your system probably cannot operate reliably at 38400 while running Robocomm. If you don't already have one, a 16550 UART (which buffers i/o through the comm port) is probably the best investment in computing hardware you can make. They're inexpensive and easy to install in most systems. Q I get a hang up verification error every time Robo tries to hang up at the end of an agenda. What's up? A Robocomm attempts to verify that no carrier exists after hanging up the modem. Two possible causes for this problem exist. The most common is that your modem is not properly configured to report the actual status of Carrier Detect. See the DATA-CARRIER-DETECT subheading under MODEM INITIALIZATION string for details on correcting this problem. If you still have problems, and you are sure that your modem is configured properly, then try using another modem cable. Some cheap cables do not properly connect the needed pins for the CD signal. As a last resort, change the "Ignore Modem CD" switch on Configure-General screen to "YES". This will disable Robocomm's CD checking procedures. Q While on-line with a BBS, the connection was broken and Robocomm just sat there, without realizing that it had been hung up on. What happened? A Your modem is not reporting the actual status of Carrier Detect. There is no way for Robocomm to know it has been hung up on, if CD is being forced "TRUE" by your modem. See the previous answer or the "Modem Configuration" section of this User's Guide for details. Q Robocomm doesn't do what it is supposed to while on-line. I thought you said this thing works!?! A Robocomm performs very reliably when calling PCBoard and Wildcat systems that use standard prompt definitions. However, some Sysops change the prompts on their systems. Try logging on manually (using Robocomm's terminal or another comm program) and check to see if the prompts on the system match those specified on the Directory-BBS Systems-Prompts screen for that BBS. If not, you will need to create a customized prompt definition for that BBS by editing the default prompts. Check the BBS for a "Robocomm Prompt Definition File" first though. Maybe someone has created a file for that BBS that you can simply import into the system directory with one easy command. Sometimes, extremely bad line noise can cause problems. It may save you time to try the problematic agenda item a second time before investing the time to check out the prompts. Q Robocomm hangs my system for unknown reasons. I have to re-boot! A If you are using the /OP1 or /OU1 parameter in your ROBO environment variable, discontinue its use and try again. Also, check the amount of free memory displayed in the F2 Status window. Try and optimize your computer setup to get that number as high as possible. Q Robocomm is not processing the NEWFILES.DAT new files listing from the QWK packets that it downloads. A Either there is insufficient memory to run the extraction utility, or your extraction utilities are specified improperly or they are not on your current search path. Are you sure your account in the mail door is set up to send you a new files scan? Finally, if you are using an external protocol, make sure there is no environment variable set that is causing downloaded files to go somewhere other than where they are supposed to. Q I'd rather that Robocomm didn't process new files from the Qmail packets. Is there any way to stop it? A Specify NONE as the archive and ZIP extraction commands. Q I'm using a monochrome monitor and I'm having trouble reading some of Robocomm's screens. A Try starting Robocomm with the /M command line switch, which will force monochrome mode on systems that fool Robocomm into thinking they have a color monitor. Q I would like to set all of the Robocomm configuration settings back to their defaults. How do I do it? A Erase the file ROBOCOMM.MEM and restart Robocomm. * EOF *