[EMAIL PROTECTED]
V1.67 is Exhausting DOS Memory
I find myself resorting to Alt-E..EXIT as never before these days to
reclaim conventional DOS memory that Arachne has grabbed/immobilized,
and to prevent a catastrophic lock-up requiring a PC cold re-boot. F8
accomplishes a similar reclamation, but -- and this is new to V1.67 --
prompts a fresh download if the page (not a file) is still on the
screen. Either is highly annoying and time-consuming, to say the least.
Vexing Question #1: "If simply shelling to Alt-E gets "Red DOS Mem"
safely back into the black -- as it does consistently without any
diminution in performance, why on earth cannot Arachne be made to do
this for itself without my manual intervention?"
I know, this begs Vexing Question #2: "Why does Arachne unnecessarily(?)
exhaust conventional DOS Mem in the first place?" But I suppose the
answer is, "We don't know. That is why we are still in the Beta mode
that is plagued with a whole slew of guru-gratifying but indisputably
odd work-arounds besetting the ordinary user." Venting aside, since
work-arounds are a given, please help me find a better one.
I might avoid some reclamations by loading EPPPD high to free up DOS
Mem, but I could not accomplish that last time I tried (strenuously but
only as a precaution) in V1.64 when the subject was last active in the
Digest. In any case, since the mem-grabbing is progressive, this will
only delay the inevitable catastrophic lock-ups.
Symptoms:
- At start-up, DOS Mem = 142[+].
- At going on-line (Hotlist on screen) DOS Mem = 74[+].
- Upon downloading most pages (not all) DOS Mem = 46!!!red - 36!!!red.
- After Alt-E... EXIT DOS Mem recovers to 59+
- Uncorrected, the next page always catastrophically locks up the PC,
and always only during the "Adjusting frames, images & tables"
function signalled by the sudden disappearance of the cursor after a
few seconds. (Note: Images off in ARACHNE.CFG)
Replicating the Symptoms: I can reliably replicate them at
http://www.insidetheweb.com/messageboard/mbs.cgi/mb37673
and browsing any of the threads therein. Mem-grabbing occurs here in big
bites.
Plea: If loading EPPPD high is my only hope for a little relief (as I
suspect), please show me the latest effective scheme to accomplish it in
Arachne V1.67.
Gratefully,
Stephen.
[The rest of this msg is technical data only]
The System: IBM PS2/70 386 25MHz with 120 meg HD and 16 meg XMS and VGA.
Arachne running splendidly in RAM disk booted directly and exclusively
from the DOS prompt.
The set-up: [Note: working perfectly in all previous Arachne versions.]
CONFIG.SYS
DEVICE=C:\DOS\HIMEM.SYS /numhandles=64 [As Digest recommends]
/v /TESTMEM:OFF
DEVICE=C:\DOS\EMM386.EXE NOEMS HIGHSCAN I=B000-B7FF X=C700-C7FF
WIN=C300-C5FF WIN=B500-B7FF [MS-DOS Version 6.20]
[Omitting the WIN stuff did not help last time I tried.]
BUFFERS=10,0
FILES=50
DOS=UMB
LASTDRIVE=F
FCBS=4,0
DEVICEHIGH /L:4,39360 =C:\DOS\DBLSPACE.SYS /MOVE
[Faultless operation since installed years ago. Cautionary tales
only affect V6.22 & higher. Uninstalling DBLSPACE is not an option.
This is the probable major impediment to loading EPPPD high]
DOS=HIGH
SHELL=C:\DOS\COMMAND.COM c:\dos /E:1024 /P
STACKS=9,256
numlock=off
AUTOEXEC.BAT
LH /L:0;4,45488 /S C:\DOS\SMARTDRV.EXE E+ 2048 2048
c:\mouse\ctmousep.com [V1.6 2-18-99. Loads High automatically.]
PROMPT Time $T$H$H$H$H$H$H$_$p$g
SET PATH=C:\WINDOWS;C:\DOS;C:\WPWIN;C:\WPC;c:\prowin2;c:\arachne;
c:\ram_disk;c:\view;c:\wordview
SET TEMP=C:\TEMPFILE
SET TMP=C:\TEMPFILE
SET DIRCMD=/P/O/W
MEM/C [Arachne on-line]
Name Total = Conventional + Upper Memory
-------- ---------------- ---------------- ----------------
MSDOS 17,053 (17K) 17,053 (17K) 0 (0K)
HIMEM 1,120 (1K) 1,120 (1K) 0 (0K)
EMM386 4,144 (4K) 4,144 (4K) 0 (0K)
COMMAND 4,048 (4K) 4,048 (4K) 0 (0K)
EPPPD 70,160 (69K) 70,160 (69K) 0 (0K)
COMMAND 3,568 (3K) 3,568 (3K) 0 (0K)
CTMOUSE 5,984 (6K) 0 (0K) 5,984 (6K)
XMSDSK 640 (1K) 0 (0K) 640 (1K)
DBLSPACE 39,344 (38K) 0 (0K) 39,344 (38K)
SMARTDRV 29,024 (28K) 0 (0K) 29,024 (28K)
Free 634,192 (619K) 554,896 (542K) 79,296 (77K)
["Free" presumably not contiguous]
--
__ __ __
/__) ( ' /__) Stephen
/ (__) /__) Baxter af236
