The Major BBS Forums (Archive)

Hello All:

I suspect that this may be due to the machine being too fast for the software, but I thought I would run it by you all.

I just setup TEO BBS on a Dell GX1 Pentium 2 400 Mhz machine. It seems to be fine for a few hours then it just freezes up on the USERS screen. It seems to fare better on the STATUS screen but I am not sure why it would lock up like that. The machine is still alive (because you can turn NUM LOCK on and off and it responds) so it has to be the MBBS 6.25 software itself. Timing issues?

If there is a patch, I am interested or maybe just need to upgrade to WG2? or WG 3? Just FYI here are the rest of the specs on the machine.

128 MB RAM
6 GB Hard Drive
P2 Slot Processor

MS-DOS 7.10 (not W98)
QEMM 8
DV 2.8 (currently not being ran)
MBBS 6.25
Vircom TCP 2.10e


Thanks for your help.

Mike

nitromike2006 wrote:Hello All:

I suspect that this may be due to the machine being too fast for the software, but I thought I would run it by you all.

I just setup TEO BBS on a Dell GX1 Pentium 2 400 Mhz machine. It seems to be fine for a few hours then it just freezes up on the USERS screen. It seems to fare better on the STATUS screen but I am not sure why it would lock up like that. The machine is still alive (because you can turn NUM LOCK on and off and it responds) so it has to be the MBBS 6.25 software itself. Timing issues?

If there is a patch, I am interested or maybe just need to upgrade to WG2? or WG 3? Just FYI here are the rest of the specs on the machine.

128 MB RAM
6 GB Hard Drive
P2 Slot Processor

MS-DOS 7.10 (not W98)
QEMM 8
DV 2.8 (currently not being ran)
MBBS 6.25
Vircom TCP 2.10e


Thanks for your help.

Mike

i never had this problem what all modules are you running?

@dan

As you know I am working on WG2 install instead


Having issues with the ETL so far... not sure what I did wrong???

Error comes up cannot find galetl.msg and kills the WGSERV

The modules on MBBS 6.25 are:

ETL

and that is it.

nitromike2006 wrote:@dan

As you know I am working on WG2 install instead


Having issues with the ETL so far... not sure what I did wrong???

Error comes up cannot find galetl.msg and kills the WGSERV

The modules on MBBS 6.25 are:

ETL

and that is it.

download the wg2 version, the installer is broken so do a pkunzip -d galetl.zip c:\wgserv
type bbs from the wgserv dir and it will auto install it and disable the baseline tele and ask if you want to use the entertainment registry.
once done link the modules and you're done.

@dan

Yeah, I found the WG2 one. Understand the whole process, but what did you mean by link the modules?

Thanks,

Mike

nitromike2006 wrote:@dan

Yeah, I found the WG2 one. Understand the whole process, but what did you mean by link the modules?

Thanks,

Mike

type bbs hit #2 (menu tree link)
add fazuul,kyrandia,hangman,super lotto,andriods to the menu tree.
telecon will be automatic as it will replace baseline tele, and tele-games
are unconditional internal modules.

@dspain

add these under "TELE" in the menu tree?

Thanks

NEW ERROR WG2

"MESSAGE NUMBER 149 OUT OF RANGE IN GALREGIS.MCV"
"CH01=:0/0,MSG:GALREGIS.MCV/3"

Fatally crashes of course.

@despain

Not having luck adding those links under TELE... I was trying F5 and it just puts them at the bottom of the tree, so feeling stupid -- How do I add them to the TELE page?

Thanks

Figured out why I have the error.

Still need the help adding the things under "TELE" Though!

nitromike2006 wrote:@dspain

add these under "TELE" in the menu tree?

Thanks

put em wherever ya want, GAMES sub-menu wherever ya want em to show up on the bbs menu tree.

This thread is solved. Thanks for all your help.

nitromike2006 wrote:This thread is solved. Thanks for all your help.

no problem, anytime.

Well thought it was solved, but ...


WG2 keeps locking up on this machine as well. I have ran diagnostics and can not find any memory errors or mainboard errors. The CD-ROM is broken,but I am replacing that today sometime.

Is it DOS 7.10 that is the issue? Although the computer still responds to caps lock and num lock when WG2 is locked up. What I mean by this is the bbs does not accept calls nor can you move between the "tabs" on the sysop screen. This was the same with MBBS 6.25.

This machine is a P2 400 mhz slot processor Dell GX1... I have updated the BIOS from A02 to A10 thinking that the bios may have had something to do with the lockups. The only thing I have not done is to remove QEMM 8.0.3 and DV (btw DV is not been running at any time during this). I suppose I could break down and put Win2K on the machine, but I also of course, have thought about just finding another sub-100 mhz machine.

Just to try another angle on the computer, after I replace the defective CD-ROM, I plan to run FreeBSD on the machine and we'll see if we have any lockups during that time. I hate these problems that are not consistant with a box. Ran the diagnostic tests for 4 hours BTW.

The machine for review is a Dell Optiplex GX1 P2 400 mHz, 128 MB RAM, 6GB hard drive, the on-board NIC has a damaged port (will not hold on to a cable) so disabled it and installed an extra 3COM 905C NIC I (PCI) I had, (this is the same as the onboard NIC). Otherwise, the OS is MS-DOS 7.10 (no Windows) and software loading is QEMM 8.0.3, DesqView 2.8 (not loaded into memory), the 3Com packet driver.

The problem acts like a timer issue -- like in DOS based games where you have a machine with greater than 100 mhz processor, they don't function properly... this "looks" like that kind of issue.

Anyone, run either MBBS 6.25 or WG1/WG2 on this machine?

Thanks,

Mike

nitromike2006 wrote:Well thought it was solved, but ...


WG2 keeps locking up on this machine as well. I have ran diagnostics and can not find any memory errors or mainboard errors. The CD-ROM is broken,but I am replacing that today sometime.

Is it DOS 7.10 that is the issue? Although the computer still responds to caps lock and num lock when WG2 is locked up. What I mean by this is the bbs does not accept calls nor can you move between the "tabs" on the sysop screen. This was the same with MBBS 6.25.

This machine is a P2 400 mhz slot processor Dell GX1... I have updated the BIOS from A02 to A10 thinking that the bios may have had something to do with the lockups. The only thing I have not done is to remove QEMM 8.0.3 and DV (btw DV is not been running at any time during this). I suppose I could break down and put Win2K on the machine, but I also of course, have thought about just finding another sub-100 mhz machine.

Just to try another angle on the computer, after I replace the defective CD-ROM, I plan to run FreeBSD on the machine and we'll see if we have any lockups during that time. I hate these problems that are not consistant with a box. Ran the diagnostic tests for 4 hours BTW.

The machine for review is a Dell Optiplex GX1 P2 400 mHz, 128 MB RAM, 6GB hard drive, the on-board NIC has a damaged port (will not hold on to a cable) so disabled it and installed an extra 3COM 905C NIC I (PCI) I had, (this is the same as the onboard NIC). Otherwise, the OS is MS-DOS 7.10 (no Windows) and software loading is QEMM 8.0.3, DesqView 2.8 (not loaded into memory), the 3Com packet driver.

The problem acts like a timer issue -- like in DOS based games where you have a machine with greater than 100 mhz processor, they don't function properly... this "looks" like that kind of issue.

Anyone, run either MBBS 6.25 or WG1/WG2 on this machine?

Thanks,

Mike

is this a baseline install with no other addons bu WG and majortcp/ip?
and are you inputting an act code or using a pre-made galgsbl.dll?

in the case of the MBBS install, I am using the 68 Node galgsbl that was made for me by Rick himself to make MBBS work with my license. In the case of the WG2 it is the 11 6 pack disk, the WG2 was the original license I obtained.

The only addons in both cases are the ETL.

The lockups appear to happen within 4-7 hour intervals. The two times WG2 has locked up is within 3-4 hours of the maintainence routine.

The last WG2 lockup happened this morning when I noticed that the BBS machine was working way hard (hard drive working like mad) and noticed that the SMTP server was being used to try to relay mail ... since I have had no luck getting the outgoing working, the of course would have never helped the would-be spammers, but none-the-less, I brought the bbs down to disable SMTP and then modified the router to not allow port 25 to pass to the bbs. Brought the board back on-line and checked it 4 hours later and it was locked up.

Hope all this helps.

Mike

get analyze and run it, atleast it will should tell you which modual is prolly at fault. let me know if you need the program.

nitromike2006 wrote:in the case of the MBBS install, I am using the 68 Node galgsbl that was made for me by Rick himself to make MBBS work with my license. In the case of the WG2 it is the 11 6 pack disk, the WG2 was the original license I obtained.

The only addons in both cases are the ETL.

The lockups appear to happen within 4-7 hour intervals. The two times WG2 has locked up is within 3-4 hours of the maintainence routine.

The last WG2 lockup happened this morning when I noticed that the BBS machine was working way hard (hard drive working like mad) and noticed that the SMTP server was being used to try to relay mail ... since I have had no luck getting the outgoing working, the of course would have never helped the would-be spammers, but none-the-less, I brought the bbs down to disable SMTP and then modified the router to not allow port 25 to pass to the bbs. Brought the board back on-line and checked it 4 hours later and it was locked up.

Hope all this helps.

Mike

disable all majortcp stuff except for telnet/rlogin
make sure etl telecon isnt trying to link up by dialup and you should be ok
i installed wg2 on a p2/500 installed majortcp/ip left everything on and it locked up twice trying to do some email thingy.

Everything except telnet/Rlogin is off. How do I check what ETL is doing?

There is no Dialup option installed currently on WG2 anyhow.


But the rest is already done.

nitromike2006 wrote:Everything except telnet/Rlogin is off. How do I check what ETL is doing?

There is no Dialup option installed currently on WG2 anyhow.


But the rest is already done.

I've been reading these posts and though I don't have a definitive answer, I will say this; I don't think the speed or type of computer is a problem though I'm not familiar with your particular Dell; I have run MBBS and WG2 on the same version of DOS you are using, and MBBS worked fine. The last time I ran WG2 was in a DOS VM under Windows XP, and that also worked fine.

The only vairiable I haven't tried is the Major/TCP module (and QEMM); it just seemed like too much to worry about configuring. Unlike many others, I really don't miss the old single user DOS days..

Toyduck

Toyduck wrote:

nitromike2006 wrote:Everything except telnet/Rlogin is off. How do I check what ETL is doing?

There is no Dialup option installed currently on WG2 anyhow.


But the rest is already done.

I've been reading these posts and though I don't have a definitive answer, I will say this; I don't think the speed or type of computer is a problem though I'm not familiar with your particular Dell; I have run MBBS and WG2 on the same version of DOS you are using, and MBBS worked fine. The last time I ran WG2 was in a DOS VM under Windows XP, and that also worked fine.

The only vairiable I haven't tried is the Major/TCP module (and QEMM); it just seemed like too much to worry about configuring. Unlike many others, I really don't miss the old single user DOS days..

Toyduck

plus QEMM and PHARLAP pretty much do the same thing, could be running out of memory.

dspain wrote:
plus QEMM and PHARLAP pretty much do the same thing, could be running out of memory.

Good point, I missed that. With Pharlap you shouldn't need QEMM. Could also be conflicting somewhere/how.

Hey Toy and Dspain:

Well I am not 100% sure that the problem is fixed, but it does look promising. The disabling of the software acceleration in the WG2 CNF seems to have solved the locking up problem. If the lockup happens again, the next move will indeed be to disable QEMM as we discussed.

However, the board has now been running without a lockup for almost 12 hours (or more) without the problem so it appears to be all better.

Thanks for your help.

Mike

nitromike2006 wrote:Hey Toy and Dspain:

Well I am not 100% sure that the problem is fixed, but it does look promising. The disabling of the software acceleration in the WG2 CNF seems to have solved the locking up problem. If the lockup happens again, the next move will indeed be to disable QEMM as we discussed.

However, the board has now been running without a lockup for almost 12 hours (or more) without the problem so it appears to be all better.

Thanks for your help.

Mike

yeah, take out the qemm, mbbs/wg dos has all that built in to it. who do you think they did 256 lines
on a 386 cpu? Pharlap Dos Extender.