Guest.exe not functioning under MS-DOS mode
Jon and Connie Wardell
Maybe some one can help me out with this. I am trying to trouble
shoot my Zip IDE drive to allow Norton Utilities 3.0 to correctly make
and use the Zip Rescue feature. This allows you to reboot to windows 95
from a floppy boot disc and a Zip disc created ny the Norton Rescue
program.
I can only boot into windows safe mode, not into full windows 95.
I was testing my system to make sure it functions in DOS mode, if I
shut down and restart in MS-DOS mode (ms-dos without a reboot) the call
for guest.exe is run from my dosstart.bat file, guest version 4.12 runs,
looks for my zip drive and returns a message, no additional drive
letters added. From a C:\ prompt in this mode my zip drive (E:) isn't
recognized or accessable. If I shut down and reboot to a command prompt
C:\ and then switch to the directory containing the guest.exe program
and run guest it runs and identifies my zip drive as drive E:. It
functions perfectly. It is running the same version of guest.exe, 4.12,
called from the same directory, C:\Tools_95.
I am running windows 95a, my zip tools are 5.3, the drive is using
the iomega universal VSD 5.30 and ESDI_506 Miniport driver. My zip is
slaved to my CD-ROM as configured by Micron. I am using the original IDE
drivers supplied by Micron. Under windows 95 my zip is the E: drive and
functions perfectly.
I am not loading any 16 bit TSR's in my windows autoexec.bat or
config.sys except for a call to initialize a joystick controller. I am
loading Norton antivirus version 2.0 from the autoexec.bat
Anyone have any ideas why this would be? Respond to this newsgroup
or remove NOSPAM from my e-mail address to reply via e-mail. Thanks in
advance.
Jon and Connie Wardell
already assigned the drive letter, B:! It appears to function if I
change the drive to b:.
Under BIOS the "b" drive is not enabled and bios is not autodetecting
the zip drive. Any idea why this would be? My settings are an a: floppy
drive, single ide hard disc partitioned into a c: and d: drive, my zip
drive is (usually) e: and the cd-rom is f:
Steve MacLeod
REM out the norton antivirus from the autoexec.bat. See what happens.
Steve
Dee...@ix.netcom.com
Jon and Connie Wardell <jwar...@pacbell.net> wrote:
>Jon and Connie Wardell wrote:
>>
>> Maybe some one can help me out with this. I am trying to trouble
>> shoot my Zip IDE drive to allow Norton Utilities 3.0 to correctly make
>> and use the Zip Rescue feature. This allows you to reboot to windows 95
>> from a floppy boot disc and a Zip disc created ny the Norton Rescue
>> program.
>> I can only boot into windows safe mode, not into full windows 95.
>> I was testing my system to make sure it functions in DOS mode, if I
>> shut down and restart in MS-DOS mode (ms-dos without a reboot) the call
>> for guest.exe is run from my dosstart.bat file, guest version 4.12 runs,
>> looks for my zip drive and returns a message, no additional drive
>> letters added. From a C:\ prompt in this mode my zip drive (E:) isn't
>> recognized or accessable. If I shut down and reboot to a command prompt
>> C:\ and then switch to the directory containing the guest.exe program
>> and run guest it runs and identifies my zip drive as drive E:. It
>> functions perfectly. It is running the same version of guest.exe, 4.12,
>> called from the same directory, C:\Tools_95.
These Microsoft Knowledge Base articles might help you track down the
problem:
General Tips for Using MS-DOS Mode
http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/Q134/4/00.asp
Description of Restarting Computer in MS-DOS Mode
http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/Q138/9/96.asp
I think the best way to set up for MS-DOS mode is to edit the 'Exit To
Dos' PIF file in the Windows directory so that it loads everything you
need for DOS from its Config.sys and Autoexec.bat boxes (just like a
floppy boot disk would) when you 'Restart the computer in MS-DOS
mode'.
BTW, if you haven't edited your Guest.ini file, then you probably
should. Set SCAN=OFF and only load the ASPI manager that you actually
use (ASPIIDE.SYS for the IDE Zip or ASPIATAP.SYS for the ATAPI Zip).
See Guesthlp.txt or this Iomega document:
Express Loading Guest
http://www.iomega.com/support/techs/zip/2017.html
>> I am running windows 95a, my zip tools are 5.3, the drive is using
>> the iomega universal VSD 5.30 and ESDI_506 Miniport driver. My zip is
>> slaved to my CD-ROM as configured by Micron. I am using the original IDE
>> drivers supplied by Micron. Under windows 95 my zip is the E: drive and
>> functions perfectly.
>> I am not loading any 16 bit TSR's in my windows autoexec.bat or
>> config.sys except for a call to initialize a joystick controller. I am
>> loading Norton antivirus version 2.0 from the autoexec.bat
I agree with Steve that you should try REMming that out.
>> Anyone have any ideas why this would be? Respond to this newsgroup
>> or remove NOSPAM from my e-mail address to reply via e-mail. Thanks in
>> advance.
> Checking further reveals that under MS-DOS mode the zip drive is
>already assigned the drive letter, B:! It appears to function if I
>change the drive to b:.
I think this indicates that your BIOS has taken control of the Zip
drive. That's probably a bad thing. Use your CMOS setup utility to
see if you can prevent that. Try telling it that there's nothing
installed where your Zip is (do the same for your CD drive; the BIOS
doesn't need to know it's there either). Also, Iomega recommends
against slaving a Zip drive to a CD drive because many CD drives don't
work correctly as a master device (which I think would adversely
affect whatever is slaved to it).
If you can't prevent the BIOS from taking control of the Zip drive,
then you could try using the Zip with an add-on IDE port that isn't
subject to BIOS control (sound cards often have one). Or upgrading
your BIOS might help.
Jon and Connie Wardell
> drive. That's probably a bad thing. Use your CMOS setup utility to
> see if you can prevent that. Try telling it that there's nothing
> installed where your Zip is (do the same for your CD drive; the BIOS
> doesn't need to know it's there either). Also, Iomega recommends
> against slaving a Zip drive to a CD drive because many CD drives don't
> work correctly as a master device (which I think would adversely
> affect whatever is slaved to it).
>
> If you can't prevent the BIOS from taking control of the Zip drive,
> then you could try using the Zip with an add-on IDE port that isn't
> subject to BIOS control (sound cards often have one). Or upgrading
> your BIOS might help.
difference.
Bios doesn't seem to be taking control of the zip drive. Under
device manager, zip drive properties, settings I am able to specify a
first and last drive letter designation for the zip drive. According to
iomega's web site, if Bios has taken control of the zip drive this
option would be grayed out.
I found a reference to this problem under the IDE section of
technical support at Iomega. It states that there is a problem using the
IDE zip drive under windows dos. It recommended rebooting, entering F8
and choosing command prompt. From the C:\ run either guest from the
Tools_95 directory or from the DOS\Windows floppy.
When I do this the drive is identified correctly as my E: drive (as
it is in windows 95). Also I have various customized shortcuts to DOS
which with a warm reboot restart is MS-DOS. If I run guest from a C:\
under one of these guest works and assigns a drive letter. It seems that
there is a problem running guest with _any_ trace of windows left
running (which is the case when you choose to "shut down and restart in
ms-dos mode", aka ms-dos without a reboot).
Contrary to this, Iomega Document #2148 "My Zip drive works in
Windows 95 but not in DOS", which is supposed to apply to all versions
of the zip drive recommends running guest from the dosstart.bat file.
Perhaps this doesn't apply to IDE versions?
Could anybody with an IDE version of the zip drive try running guest
from a c:\ from the "shut down and restart in MS-DOS mode" and see if it
assigns a drive letter or if you get a "No drive letters were added"
message? Thanks.
todd
me too I finally figured out how to get rid of the bogus "B" drive. the BIOS
and win95 was finding zip drive had to select "user" ("none" did not work
BIOS still found the drive) in the BIOS for the secondary master guest works
for a f8 boot but not shut down to ms-dos mode guest finds the drive but I
cannot access it haven't figured this one out yet.
Jon and Connie Wardell wrote in message <34FAD2...@pacbell.net>...
Dee...@ix.netcom.com
Jon and Connie Wardell <jwar...@pacbell.net> wrote:
> Rem'ing out the call for the antivirus program doesn't seem to make a
>difference.
> Bios doesn't seem to be taking control of the zip drive. Under
>device manager, zip drive properties, settings I am able to specify a
>first and last drive letter designation for the zip drive. According to
>iomega's web site, if Bios has taken control of the zip drive this
>option would be grayed out.
But you're looking at the E: drive in Win95; aren't you? If the BIOS
were controlling it, then it would be the B: drive like it is in DOS.
I think the fact that it's being assigned B: in DOS is a strong
indication that the BIOS is taking control of it.
Do you notice any extra listings in the 'Disk drives' section of
Device Manager? It's possible that your Zip drive has been assigned
two different letters in Win95. The B: drive might not show up in My
Computer or Explorer (use Tweak UI's My Computer tab, and make sure
all the drive letters are checked there).
> I found a reference to this problem under the IDE section of
>technical support at Iomega. It states that there is a problem using the
>IDE zip drive under windows dos. It recommended rebooting, entering F8
>and choosing command prompt. From the C:\ run either guest from the
>Tools_95 directory or from the DOS\Windows floppy.
> When I do this the drive is identified correctly as my E: drive (as
>it is in windows 95). Also I have various customized shortcuts to DOS
>which with a warm reboot restart is MS-DOS. If I run guest from a C:\
>under one of these guest works and assigns a drive letter. It seems that
>there is a problem running guest with _any_ trace of windows left
>running (which is the case when you choose to "shut down and restart in
>ms-dos mode", aka ms-dos without a reboot).
> Contrary to this, Iomega Document #2148 "My Zip drive works in
>Windows 95 but not in DOS", which is supposed to apply to all versions
>of the zip drive recommends running guest from the dosstart.bat file.
>Perhaps this doesn't apply to IDE versions?
> Could anybody with an IDE version of the zip drive try running guest
>from a c:\ from the "shut down and restart in MS-DOS mode" and see if it
>assigns a drive letter or if you get a "No drive letters were added"
>message?
I have an ATAPI Zip, and I've edited my 'Exit To Dos' PIF file as I
described in my previous post in this thread (I don't have it loading
any Iomega drivers though). After I 'Restart the computer in MS-DOS
mode', I have no problem running Guest. I've also edited my Guest.ini
so that it doesn't try to load things I don't need.
You should read those MSKB articles I mentioned earlier if you haven't
already done so. If you're loading things from Config.sys and
Autoexec.bat when booting to Win95, then that may be affecting the
operation of things in the Dosstart.bat file.
Here's something else you might want to read:
Do I still need CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT?
http://www.annoyances.org/win95/win95ann6.html#05
Jon and Connie Wardell
todd wrote:
>
> me too I finally figured out how to get rid of the bogus "B" drive. the BIOS
> and win95 was finding zip drive had to select "user" ("none" did not work
> BIOS still found the drive) in the BIOS for the secondary master guest works
> for a f8 boot but not shut down to ms-dos mode guest finds the drive but I
> cannot access it haven't figured this one out yet.
>
Secondary IDE as "user" both for master and slave however my system
would'nt boot. It seems that something in windows is configuring the zip
drive as "b". I don't think it is in the BIOS, as if this were the case,
it should be configured as "b" on booting to a command prompt only. I
checked my exit to dos pif and there are no references to guest in the
shortcut config.sys or autoexec.bat. On booting my system to windows the
only call is to the Norton antivirus system and a call to initialize my
CH products joystick controller card, otherwise my autoexec.bat and
config.sys could be empty.
todd
try booting to DOS before you enter windows push f8 when you see starting
win95 do not run guest exe then try to see if you have a "B" drive in DOS
that way if it shows a b:\ promp and not a drive letter invalid message do a
dir cmd if it says dir not ready reading drive b than your bios is
recognizing the zip drive
Jon and Connie Wardell wrote in message <34FD73...@pacbell.net>...
ucdmc.ucdavis.edu
todd wrote:
>
> try booting to DOS before you enter windows push f8 when you see starting
> win95 do not run guest exe then try to see if you have a "B" drive in DOS
> that way if it shows a b:\ promp and not a drive letter invalid message do a
>
via F8 and select command prompt my system doesn't recognize a "b"
drive, only an "a", "c" and "d" (my hard disc is partioned into c and
d). If I run guest from the c prompt guest looks for and finds my zip
drive and assigns it a drive letter, "e". It is only when I enter ms-dos
mode from windows95 via the shut down and restart in ms-dos mode that I
have problems. If I run guest from the c prompt in that setting it looks
for my zip drive then returns a message that no drive letters were
assigned. If I change to the "b" drive I get a message to enter a disc
in the b drive and press any button. My zip drive functions as "b" drive
under that form of ms-dos mode. I
I have created several shortcuts to ms-dos which reboot to a "c"
prompt using custom config.sys and autoexec.bat files. These boot
similar to selecting command prompt only from the F8 menu. They reboot
without starting windows95. If I try to access the "b" from a c prompt
reached with one of these shortcuts the "b" drive is not valid. If I run
guest it finds and assigns my zip drive the "e" drive letter.
This is why I don't think cmos is assigning the zip drive a drive
letter.