Re: [Freedos-user] Problem w/ CONFIG.SYS INSTALL
Thanks, Christian! When I first came across this problem, it seemed like maybe INSTALL= was using memory without an appropriate MCB, though from just perusing the code it looked like it was using INT 21.48 to allocate the memory. I had actually tried allocating an extra 64k segment at the top of conventional memory before, but that didn't fix it, so I assumed it was probably something else. I just did some testing, and it turns out that an extra 64k isn't enough to solve the problem, but 128k seems to be. The real number to use is probably somewhere in between. I'll leave it at 128k for now. Note to developers: If you're writing or modifying any new programs, and there's even a remote possibility that the user will try to use INSTALL= and will be using an un-patched version of FreeDOS, the the top part of conventional memory is off-limits! -- View this message in context: http://old.nabble.com/Problem-w--CONFIG.SYS-INSTALL-tp30076203p30107045.html Sent from the FreeDOS - User mailing list archive at Nabble.com. -- Nokia and ATT present the 2010 Calling All Innovators-North America contest Create new apps games for the Nokia N8 for consumers in U.S. and Canada $10 million total in prizes - $4M cash, 500 devices, nearly $6M in marketing Develop with Nokia Qt SDK, Web Runtime, or Java and Publish to Ovi Store http://p.sf.net/sfu/nokia-dev2dev ___ Freedos-user mailing list Freedos-user@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-user
Re: [Freedos-user] Problem w/ CONFIG.SYS INSTALL
I'm attaching a file that has a simple TSR with the problem (TESTFAIL.COM), as well as one that doesn't (TESTPASS.COM). I'm also including the source code (TEST.A36, in A386 format), as well as the KERNEL.SYS CONFIG.SYS I used to test with. The only difference between TESTFAIL TESTPASS is the size of the executable file itself. In the source code, I change ProgStackSize (line 1364 in TEST.A36) from 1024 for TESTFAIL to (1024-16) for TESTPASS. IOW, I simply decrease the executable's size by 1 paragraph and it starts working. TESTPASS TESTFAIL both work from the FreeDOS command-line, and they also work from MS-DOS 6.20 CONFIG.SYS and command-line. But only TESTPASS works from FreeDOS CONFIG.SYS. Changing the executable size up and down (by manipulating ProgStackSize in increments of 16 bytes) will cause different kinds of errors to occur. What the TSR does is simply intercept INT 8, and toggles the character at row 2, column 80 on the screen. There is still quite a bit of extra (uncalled) code in the program, but I stopped changing things when I got to a point where I could make it start and stop working with a single, simple change. Also, the program currently uses a TSR Exit (INT 21.31), even though it doesn't actually need to. I was just experimenting with INT 21.31 vs. INT 21.4C to see if it made any difference. So, as it is now, it leaves a real TSR segment in memory (one that intercepts INT 08 INT 2D), as well as a small segment near the top of conventional memory that doesn't actually do anything. I figured if the TSR exit worked but a regular exit didn't (for whatever reason), I could simply trap INT 28 or INT 21 with the TSR and release the unnecessary segment at a later point in time. It's very possible that there's a problem with my code and there's nothing wrong with the FreeDOS kernel, so any help at all would be appreciated. http://old.nabble.com/file/p30101181/TEST.ZIP TEST.ZIP ___ Bret -- View this message in context: http://old.nabble.com/Problem-w--CONFIG.SYS-INSTALL-tp30076203p30101181.html Sent from the FreeDOS - User mailing list archive at Nabble.com. -- Nokia and ATT present the 2010 Calling All Innovators-North America contest Create new apps games for the Nokia N8 for consumers in U.S. and Canada $10 million total in prizes - $4M cash, 500 devices, nearly $6M in marketing Develop with Nokia Qt SDK, Web Runtime, or Java and Publish to Ovi Store http://p.sf.net/sfu/nokia-dev2dev ___ Freedos-user mailing list Freedos-user@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-user
Re: [Freedos-user] Problem w/ CONFIG.SYS INSTALL
Hi Bret, I am writing a TSR, and having trouble getting it to work with FreeDOS. It installs just fine in MSDOS, also also installs just fine from a FreeDOS command prompt. But, when I try to install it using an INSTALL= or INSTALLHIGH= from CONFIG.SYS, the machine hangs. The hang occurs right after the program exits (INT 21.4Ch or INT 21.31h). If it helps in troubleshooting, the TSR does allocate and leave in place some extra memory segments that the TSR needs. That could be related. How do you allocate the extra memory and where? I can install some of my other TSR's just fine from CONFIG.SYS. If I load JEMMEX, when the problem program exits, JEMM displays an Error 0D at CS:EIP X:Y, where X is always the CS of the previous TSR that was installed, and Y is always either or 0001. If I don't use JEMM, the machine just hangs with no error messages at all. Maybe JEMMEX has problems with fragmented memory, did you try JEMM386? The error itself does not tell much - GPF at a 64k segment boundary... Could mean that code jumped into an empty segment and fell of its end. I've been looking at some of the source code for FreeDOS, but nothing has revealed itself yet. I'm just wondering if someone could explain, at least in general terms, what is not there or is different (other than the shell program) when INSTALL is being used as opposed to an installation from the command-line? While INSTALL differs from normal running of apps (as child tasks of SHELL) it should do so in the same way for different versions of DOS. In FreeDOS, you get - apart from a not complete PSP which is probably normal for all INSTALL situations anyway...: STATIC VOID InstallExec(struct instCmds *icmd) ... exb.exec.env_seg = 0; exb.exec.cmd_line = (CommandTail FAR *) args; exb.exec.fcb_1 = exb.exec.fcb_2 = (fcb FAR *) 0xul; ... init_DosExec(icmd-mode, exb, filename) ... ... ...where AL = mode is either 0 or 0x80 for low / high install which is a non-standard use of the high bit of AL. A possible bug in FreeDOS could be: COUNT DosExec(COUNT mode, exec_blk FAR * ep, BYTE FAR * lp) ... if (mode == LOAD rc == SUCCESS) fmemcpy(ep, TempExeBlock, sizeof(exec_blk)); ... This should probably use if mode and 0x7f is load instead? However, INSTALL does not use LOAD mode, it uses LOADNGO... And value LOAD_HIGH which is 0x80 is defined but never used. Other functions: DosExeLoader, DosComLoader, load_transfer... It might be possible that DosComLoader tries to give the COM all available memory and unless you specify otherwise when going TSR none is left for others, but thats just guessing. Is your TSR a COM or is it EXE? Does it keep handles open? Does it use environment variables or other PSP related data? Does it make a difference whether to INSTALL or INSTALLHIGH? Regards, Eric -- Nokia and ATT present the 2010 Calling All Innovators-North America contest Create new apps games for the Nokia N8 for consumers in U.S. and Canada $10 million total in prizes - $4M cash, 500 devices, nearly $6M in marketing Develop with Nokia Qt SDK, Web Runtime, or Java and Publish to Ovi Store http://p.sf.net/sfu/nokia-dev2dev ___ Freedos-user mailing list Freedos-user@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-user
Re: [Freedos-user] Problem w/ CONFIG.SYS INSTALL
Maybe JEMMEX has problems with fragmented memory, did you try JEMM386? Maybe not..? The issue does not appear to be related to JEMM (as usual). The error itself does not tell much - GPF at a 64k segment boundary... Could mean that code jumped into an empty segment and fell of its end. It would appear so. It might be possible that DosComLoader tries to give the COM all available memory and unless you specify otherwise when going TSR none is left for others, but thats just guessing. Bret allocates other memory blocks, so he does resize the process first as necessary. (As an aside, such a situation should not make the kernel crash like that.) Is your TSR a COM or is it EXE? Does it keep handles open? Does it use environment variables or other PSP related data? Does it make a difference whether to INSTALL or INSTALLHIGH? Educated guess: COM, no (shouldn't matter though), no (except as allowed, before the TSR is resident), no (Bret said so). Regards, Christian -- Nokia and ATT present the 2010 Calling All Innovators-North America contest Create new apps games for the Nokia N8 for consumers in U.S. and Canada $10 million total in prizes - $4M cash, 500 devices, nearly $6M in marketing Develop with Nokia Qt SDK, Web Runtime, or Java and Publish to Ovi Store http://p.sf.net/sfu/nokia-dev2dev ___ Freedos-user mailing list Freedos-user@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-user
Re: [Freedos-user] Problem w/ CONFIG.SYS INSTALL
Hi Bret, I checked the system's state with INSTALL=DEBUG.COM on a boot disk (Rugxulo's bare DOS disk, with a 2008-03-08 kernel, build 2038) and it appears fine to me. Memory that belongs to the configuration/initialization program is allocated to a PSP at segment 60h (!) which is properly set up except there's no MCB in front of it. (This means programs that display a process's name display garbage instead.) Some simple tests, including resident installation of a TSR that uses process relocation and the new Int21.4C method, passed. Tell us the programs that are used and their versions, that might help. The TSR I'm working on can't be published just yet, so that's not an option right now. It's also _really_ complicated, so I'm not sure anyone would want to mess with it anyway. I'm using an older version of the kernel -- I'm not sure exactly which one right now, but it's one from right after FreeDOS version 1 was released. I'm working with some other programmers who are using the latest versions of the kernel. I can find out exact details if it might help. Can you reproduce the crash with a minimal (dummy) TSR? Could you make a TSR available that causes this crash? I don't know -- I'll see if I can create a simple TSR that still has the problem. -- Bret -- Nokia and ATT present the 2010 Calling All Innovators-North America contest Create new apps games for the Nokia N8 for consumers in U.S. and Canada $10 million total in prizes - $4M cash, 500 devices, nearly $6M in marketing Develop with Nokia Qt SDK, Web Runtime, or Java and Publish to Ovi Store http://p.sf.net/sfu/nokia-dev2dev ___ Freedos-user mailing list Freedos-user@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-user
Re: [Freedos-user] Problem w/ CONFIG.SYS INSTALL
The TSR I'm working on can't be published just yet, so that's not an option right now. I thought so. It's also _really_ complicated, so I'm not sure anyone would want to mess with it anyway. You know me. I'm using an older version of the kernel -- I'm not sure exactly which one right now, but it's one from right after FreeDOS version 1 was released. I'm working with some other programmers who are using the latest versions of the kernel. I can find out exact details if it might help. Yes, details would help. I would strongly recommend you to update your kernel, that might fix the problem. Regards, Christian -- Nokia and ATT present the 2010 Calling All Innovators-North America contest Create new apps games for the Nokia N8 for consumers in U.S. and Canada $10 million total in prizes - $4M cash, 500 devices, nearly $6M in marketing Develop with Nokia Qt SDK, Web Runtime, or Java and Publish to Ovi Store http://p.sf.net/sfu/nokia-dev2dev ___ Freedos-user mailing list Freedos-user@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-user
Re: [Freedos-user] Problem w/ CONFIG.SYS INSTALL
I was using kernel 2036. Just tried 2038 -- no effective difference. The JEMM error is different now (Error 06 at a seemingly random CS:EIP, near the top of conventional memory but where there is no associated PSP). -- Bret -- Nokia and ATT present the 2010 Calling All Innovators-North America contest Create new apps games for the Nokia N8 for consumers in U.S. and Canada $10 million total in prizes - $4M cash, 500 devices, nearly $6M in marketing Develop with Nokia Qt SDK, Web Runtime, or Java and Publish to Ovi Store http://p.sf.net/sfu/nokia-dev2dev ___ Freedos-user mailing list Freedos-user@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-user
