The PC store is stumped on this one . . .

We bought some new PCs a couple of weeks ago.  In addition to various
Windows apps, these customer service PCs run a single DOS app.  (BTW,
they're W98 with 40gb hard drives and 256mb memory).

Very frequently when doing an Alt-Tab to get to the DOS app from a
Windows app, these will lock up requiring a hard boot.  This lockup
never happened on the old PCs.  I stopped running Norton Clean Sweep and
Norton Antivirus to see if that would help.  Still lock up.  The PC
store which built them is stumped as is the provider of the DOS app.  I
have the same config.sys and autoexec.bat that I used to have on the old
PCs (loads himem.sys, emm386.exe, and whatnot).

Anybody got any suggestions?

Oh, and here's another thing.  During bootup I get an error that
"expanded memory services are unavailable" because emm386.exe is not
loaded.  I get this _before_ config.sys is loaded (did a step-by-step
boot).  Shortly after this error emm386.exe _is_ loaded.  If I go into
the properties of the desktop shortcut for this DOS app, it says
"expanded memory is not available because I have 'noems' in the
emm386.exe statement in the config.sys file."  I do _not_ have 'noems'
in there which had me scratching my head.

Putting on my thinking cap, I exported the registry to a file and
searched for emm386 in this file.  I found the following:

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\MS-DOSOptions]

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\MS-DOSOptions\DOSSettings]
@=""
"Flags"=hex:07,00,00,00
"Order"=hex:00,00,00,09
"Config.Sys"="DOS=HIGH,UMB"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\MS-DOSOptions\Himem]
@=""
"Flags"=hex:07,00,00,00
"Order"=hex:00,00,00,10
"Config.Sys"="Device=%WINBOOTDIR%\\Himem.Sys"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\MS-DOSOptions\EMS]
@="Expanded Memory (EMS)"
"TipText"="Loads the EMM386 driver to provide expanded memory and upper
memory blocks (UMBs)."
"Flags"=hex:1b,00,00,00
"Order"=hex:00,00,00,11
"StdOption"=hex:02,00,00,00
"Config.Sys"="DeviceHigh=%WINDIR%\\EMM386.Exe"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\MS-DOSOptions\Mouse]
@="Mouse"
"TipText"="Provides mouse support for MS-DOS-based programs."
"Flags"=hex:21,00,00,00
"Order"=hex:00,00,00,12
"StdOption"=hex:01,00,00,00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\MS-DOSOptions\Smartdrv]
@="Disk Cache"
"TipText"="Loads the SmartDrv disk cache program to improve disk I/O
performance."
"Flags"=hex:02,00,00,00
"Order"=hex:00,00,00,13
"Autoexec.Bat"="LoadHigh %WINDIR%\\SmartDrv"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\MS-DOSOptions\Doskey]
@="MS-DOS Command Line Editor (Doskey)"
"TipText"="Provides convenient command-line editing and recall
functions."
"Flags"=hex:02,00,00,00
"Order"=hex:00,00,00,14
"Autoexec.Bat"="LoadHigh %WINDIR%\\Command\\DOSKey"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\MS-DOSOptions\Lock]
@="Direct Disk Access"
"TipText"="Enables MS-DOS-based programs to directly modify disk data
structures."
"Flags"=hex:02,00,00,00
"Order"=hex:00,00,00,15
"StdOption"=hex:10,00,00,00
"Autoexec.Bat"="Lock"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\MS-DOSOptions\Net]
@="Network"
"TipText"="Enables MS-DOS-based programs to connect to network drives
and printers."
"Flags"=hex:00,00,00,00
"Order"=hex:00,00,00,16
"StdOption"=hex:08,00,00,00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\MS-DOSOptions\CD-ROM]
@="CD-ROM"
"TipText"="Enables MS-DOS-based programs to access CD-ROM drives."
"Flags"=hex:00,00,00,00
"Order"=hex:00,00,00,17
"StdOption"=hex:04,00,00,00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\MS-DOSOptions\Vesa]
@="Vesa Display Driver"
"TipText"="Enables MS-DOS-based programs access to advanced graphics
capabilities."
"Flags"=hex:00,00,00,00
"Order"=hex:00,00,00,18
"StdOption"=hex:40,00,00,00

There's a bunch of DOS "config.sys" type statements that are being
executed here before the regular config.sys runs!  The PC store did not
know this stuff existed in the registry.  Neither did I, but I never
went looking for MS-DOS stuff in the registry.

Is this normal stuff in the registry?  Thanks.

--
-Jeff

New email address: jlcrosby@dilgardfoods.com

The opinions expressed are my own and not necessarily
the opinion of my company.  Unless I say so.