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obfusc88
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Q&A question
Dec 18th, 2008 at 4:10am
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Any people here who still understand Q&A?

Running Q&A 4.0 DOS with updated files.  Was running OK on Win2000 system.  Upgraded to Win XP PRO, SP-3, new hard drive and OS, not an overlaid upgrade.

Q&A is running good for everything except when doing Page Preview.  Get this message error:
Quote:
"C:\Windows\system32\cmd.exe - qa.com
The NTVDM CPU has encountered an illegal instruction.
CS:c000 IP:019e OP:63 70 36 31 2d Choose "Close" to terminate the application." ?
 Screen goes black, and output starts coming from printer, big black blocks.  Surprised that anything is going to printer at all.  Need to use CTL-ALT-DEL to close Q&A.  If sending directly to printer vs. Page Preview, output is good, have no problem.

Using same shortcut as had on old system.  Normally calls a batch file, but in troubleshooting I also tried to put qa.com as command line vs. qa4.bat, same result.  If open a Command Prompt and go to C:\QA and run qa.com directly, get same result.  Have two new systems with identical behavior.  Need to upgrade some other systems but need full Q&A tools, so upgrades on hold until have a fix.  

Have tried many things from Google searches on NTVDM CPU errors, including but not limited to :
Have tried to delete, and/or renamed ntvdm.exe
Have modified config.nt for shortcut.
Have removed need for EMS from shortcut.

Found article by Bill Halpern in QuickAnswer, April 2002 about problem that says batch file needs full path, but describes problem where @Shell is not working, not related to Page Preview.  Cannot make sense of how that could be used here.  Is there a PagePreview command that needs its own PIF file?

Have same setups for shortcut as other machines with XP PRO SP2, but they work OK, is something in SP3 affecting this?  

One article suggested wrong command.exe or cmd.exe is being used.  Can I copy command.exe from SP2 system and replace command.exe on SP3 or will that cause other problems?

Any suggestions?  Thanks in advance for your help.
  
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Carl Underwood
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Re: Q&A question
Reply #1 - Dec 18th, 2008 at 6:07am
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I also have Win XP Pro with SP3, and have no problem using Page Preview. I usually use 2GBFIX like this in my Q&A startup batch file:
2gbfix
qa.com %1 %2 %3
2gbfix /u

But I also just tested it using LESSPACE like this:
@echo off
C:\QA\lesspace
C:\QA\QA.COM

And both allowed me to use Page Preview without any problem.

Here is what my PIF (or Shortcut) properties have in the Memory tab:
Conventional memory -> Total: Auto -> Initial environment: Auto
Expanded (EMS) memory -> Total: 1024
Extended (XMS) memory -> Total: 1024
MS-DOS protected-mode (DPMI) memory -> Total: Auto

Here what's in my AUTOEXEC.NT file (except for the Sound Blaster info, to save space):
@echo off

REM AUTOEXEC.BAT is not used to initialize the MS-DOS environment.
REM AUTOEXEC.NT is used to initialize the MS-DOS environment unless a
REM different startup file is specified in an application's PIF.

REM Install CD ROM extensions
lh %SystemRoot%\system32\mscdexnt.exe

REM Install network redirector (load before dosx.exe)
lh %SystemRoot%\system32\redir

REM Install DPMI support
lh %SystemRoot%\system32\dosx

These are the active lines from my CONFIG.NT file:
dos=high, umb
device=%SystemRoot%\system32\himem.sys
files=40


Hopefully some of that will help to narrow it down.

Also, when Page Preview is triggered, it forces Q&A to change to full screen. You might try pressing Alt-Enter to manually put it in full screen mode to see if that alone causes the error. Your problem may be related to the video driver or video settings.
  

Carl Underwood
CDU Computer Consulting LLC
Epsom, New Hampshire
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Bob_Hansen
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Re: Q&A question
Reply #2 - Dec 18th, 2008 at 3:06pm
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I have many users with similar settings as Carl, but are on 1.7Gb partitions, so we are not using lesspace or 2Gbfix. 
Page Preview is causing no problems, for 4.0 or 5.0

Only differences from Carl is in memory settings:
Initial Environment Value = 1024 vs. Auto. 
Conventional has checkmark in Protected, and Extended XMS has checkmark to Use HMA

Here is a link for troubleshooting NTDVM problems: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/q220155/ but it sounds like you may already know about that.
  


Bob Hansen
Sesame Database Manager Professional
Sensible Solutions Inc.
Salem, NH
603-898-8223
Skype ID = sensiblesolutions
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obfusc88
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Re: Q&A question
Reply #3 - Dec 22nd, 2008 at 4:22am
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Thank you to Carl and Bob.

I have the same settings as Bob Hansen for my desktop icon, but the drive is only 1.5Gb, FAT32 so I don't need Lesspace or 2Gfix or a partition.
My autoexec.nt file matches Carl's so that must not be the problem.  My config.nt is a little different, like this:
dos=high, umb
  device=%SystemRoot%\system32\himem.sys
  files=60
  EMM=RAM
But I changed it to match Carl's with no change, so I changed back to original settings.  

I have not been on site to try full screen mode to see if that has any effect.  If I understand, you are suggesting that I start Q&A, switch to full screen mode and see if I get the error then.  After that, try the Page Preview and see if I still get the error at that time.  In either case we may learn something about what is triggering the error message.  Is that correct?
  
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Carl Underwood
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Re: Q&A question
Reply #4 - Dec 22nd, 2008 at 6:07am
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obfusc88 wrote on Dec 22nd, 2008 at 4:22am:
If I understand, you are suggesting that I start Q&A, switch to full screen mode and see if I get the error then.  After that, try the Page Preview and see if I still get the error at that time.  In either case we may learn something about what is triggering the error message.  Is that correct?

Yes.
  

Carl Underwood
CDU Computer Consulting LLC
Epsom, New Hampshire
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