*** Troubleshooting the MultiCall Callback Verify Door *** MultiCall is completely self-contained. You only need the MCALL.EXE file. It will run without any of the other optional files. Run it in a batch file on your BBS with this command line: MCALL C:\BBS\DOOR.SYS Use the correct path to DOOR.SYS on your BBS. MultiCall gets the com port number from DOOR.SYS. This is critical. Make sure that the first line in DOOR.SYS is the correct com port for that node. You can also use DORINFOx.DEF or SFDOORS.DAT in place of DOOR.SYS shown above. These are called "door drop files" and they contain all the information about the caller who is using the door. The BBS must create a NEW door drop file for each caller. First, logon to your BBS in LOCAL MODE (not online) and try to run MultiCall. You cannot do a real callback in local mode, but you can check the general operation. Here are the things that might happen when you try to run the program in local mode in your BBS: 1. "Bad command of file name" DOS error message appears. This means that your BBS ran the batch file, but DOS could not find the MCALL.EXE program. You may need to edit the batch file to look like this: CD C:\MCALL MCALL C:\BBS\DOOR.SYS The CD is the DOS "Change Directory" command. It tells DOS to change the current directory to C:\MCALL. This is where the MCALL.EXE program should be located. 2. You see the MultiCall help screen appear and you hear some music on the PC speaker. This means you did not include the DOOR.SYS file in the batch file. You batch file should be changed to tell it which DOOR.SYS to use like this: MCALL C:\BBS\DOOR.SYS 3. "ERROR. Cannot find door drop file: C:\BBS\DOOR.SYS" message. This means that your BBS did not create the DOOR.SYS file or you did not give the correct location of DOOR.SYS in the batch file. The batch file looks like this: MCALL C:\BBS\DOOR.SYS The second item on the line tells it to look for DOOR.SYS in the C:\BBS directory. You must put in the correct directory for the location of DOOR.SYS on your BBS. If your BBS did not make a DOOR.SYS file, then consult your BBS documentation. Once you have MultiCall running in local mode in the BBS, you can then test it with an online caller. If it does not run online, see the section below titled: "PROBLEM: MultiCall works on local end but the caller sees nothing." Once you have MultiCall running online, you can customize it for your system by editing the optional MCALL.CFG file. The .CFG part of the file name means it is a "ConFiGuration" file. Each line in MCALL.CFG is a command that you can edit to change the setup. Put MCALL.CFG in the same directory as MCALL.EXE or you can tell MultiCall the exact file to use in the batch file like this: MCALL C:\BBS\DOOR.SYS C:\MCALL\MCALL.CFG Remember, MCALL.CFG is an optional file. MultiCall can run without this file on most systems. MultiCall writes error messages to file MCALL.LOG in the current directory. Check this file. If it says that MultiCall cannot find or read a certain file, check your MCALL.CFG and batch file to locate where this file is specified. Change the path to the file or relocate the file. Check the spelling of the path and filename carefully. A single misplaced character will cause an error. If you have followed the directions above and still need help, call my BBS and leave a message which fully describes the problem. Please upload the following files: 1. MCALL.LOG - general log and error file created by MultiCall. 2. MCALL.CFG - the configuration file. 3. DOOR.SYS, DORINFOx.DEF, or SFDOORS.DAT (whichever you use). 4. The batch file you use to run MultiCall on your BBS. I will reply within 24 hours or less. I fully support both registered and unregistered versions. My BBS phone numbers are 203-922-1794 and 203-924-5603. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ *** PROBLEM: MultiCall works on local end but the caller sees nothing. This is ALWAYS caused by a failure to open the com port. Possible reasons: 1. The wrong port is being used. 2. The wrong MultiCall comm driver is being used or the comm driver is not loaded in memory. 3. The port is non-standard. 4. There is a conflict with other hardware/software on the system. MultiCall determines the port number to use by reading the door drop file: DOOR.SYS com port number is on line number 1 DORINFOx.DEF com port number is on line number 4 SFDOORS.DAT com port number is on line number 6 ( or SFMAIN.DAT, SFFILE.DAT, SFMESS.DAT, SFSYSOP.DAT) In the batch file that runs MultiCall, the first parameter on the command line should be the full path and file name of one of these files. Check the door drop file to be sure that the correct com port number is specified on the indicated file line. You can also force MultiCall to use a certain port by using the PORT command in MCALL.CFG or NODEx.CFG. This will override the port specified in the door drop file. If MultiCall starts, shows some of the initial displays, and then seems to halt, this is almost always an IRQ conflict with another device or software on the system. The most common such problem is an internal modem and IO card trying to use the same IRQ number. Make sure that nothing else on your system is using the IRQ and IO base address used by MultiCall. Other devices which could cause conflicts are a mouse, sound card, CD-ROM card, network card, tape backup card, scanner card, or just about any other piece of "extra" hardware plugged into the computer. On Spitfire BBS, MultiCall uses the same IRQ and IO address as the Spitfire node. It automatically reads this information from the Spitfire SFNODE.DAT file. MultiCall uses the "standard" IBM PC clone com port settings which are: COM1 IRQ 4 $03F8 COM2 IRQ 3 $02F8 COM3 IRQ 4 $03E8 COM4 IRQ 3 $02E8 If your com port does not use these settings, then it is called non-standard. Which means that MultiCall does not know the correct settings, so you must "tell" MultiCall which settings to use. The commands to do this are: PORT COM2 IRQ 3 IO $02F8 Put these commands in MCALL.CFG or NODEx.CFG. The settings shown above are for a standard COM2. You will have to adjust these to match the settings used on your com port. Note the $ in front of number in the IO command. This $ indicates that it is a hexadecimal number (base16). Also note that if you use a "true blue" IBM PS/2 made by IBM then MultiCall detects the PS/2 and uses slightly different settings for COM3 and COM4 only. If you use a Fossil or DigiBoard driver, make sure it is properly loaded in memory and activated before running MultiCall. Check the local monitor status line to see if the comm driver used by MultiCall is the driver you set in MCALL.CFG. MultiCall should work OK with multiport IO cards that use a shared IRQ. For an intelligent DigiBoard (or compatible) set Driver DigiBoard. All other multiport IO cards should use Driver Uart. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ *** PROBLEM: MultiCall is not writing a log file. Reasons why log may not be written: 1. Log OFF command used. 2. LogName command is spelled wrong. 3. LogName command is preceded by a semicolon or it is not all the way up against the left margin of MCALL.CFG. 4. The directory specified for the log is spelled wrong and/or does not exist. 5. The name of the log file is spelled wrong and/or it is not a legal DOS file name. 6. Some other program is deleting the log. TriBBS uses a temporary log for each node. After a caller logs off, the temporary log is copied to the main log. The temporary log is then deleted. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ *** PROBLEM: Invalid Function Number error. *** This is usually caused by running MultiCall in Microsoft Windows. There is something unusual about the way Windows handles access to the DOS SHARE functions. Windows actually indicates that SHARE is loaded when it is not. MultiCall tries to use a share function and since it is not there, DOS returns an Invalid Function Number error. Windows 3.0, 3.1, 3.11, Windows for Workgroups, NT, and Win95 all seem to have this problem. There are 3 solutions: 1. Use the command SHARE OFF in MCALL.CFG. 2. Load DOS SHARE.EXE in your CONFIG.SYS or AUTOEXEC.BAT. 3. Stop using Windows. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------