On 18 Feb 00 at 9:14, Brent Reynolds wrote:
> Unfortunately, the disk did not work.
Hi Brent. Sorry to hear that.
> This is different from the disk you get by just formatting a DOS
> disk with system files and copying a few stacker utilities.
I did create a Stacker aware boot disk in DOS and copy utilities
according to Tech-note #4302. And I assumed since you had a
STACVOL.xxx on disk, trying to mount it should be the first thing to
try. If it failed it could perhaps at least generate some error
report when trying, which could be interpreted (cf. tech-notes).
But when this is said, when I replied I did not remember or notice
the AUTORCVR program or the Tech-note describing the procedure
(more about that further below). As you know there are some 230
Tech-notes, and I if I have browsed all or most of them in the past,
I can not possibly remember their content. I did a grep-like search
on "rescue" before I created and sent you the boot disk, but not on
"autorecover"...
I never had to "recover" my self you see (well not from a Stacker
install anyway <g>), and its been years since I installed Stacker.
Only "problem" I have had with it so far, you could say, is that
its been so reliable I've hardly noticed it <g>. At least it never
demanded a reinstall or any other serious troubleshooting. (But then
I never experienced a power failure while compressing my disk either
;) I did download all Tech-notes though, when I downloaded a upgrade
a few years ago. Did that "just in case" - for keeps, and since
at the time (but no longer) everything could be found zipped on
Stac's FTP server.
The Tech-notes are still available on Stack web site, as individual
pages, here: <http://support.stac.com/technote/Stacker/default.shtm>.
So anyone who wants to check the notes I am referring to in this
message, or in general, can find them there, while Brent can find
them on his HD :)
> A stacker rescue/boot disk, for example does not have and does not
> use DBLSPACE.bin files.
You are both right and wrong. What you say holds true ONLY if
DOS is able to access the HD and find a undamaged "DBLSPACE.bin" in
the root. But this depends on your setup. It is possible to configure
Stacker differently, and not use the preload feature. Although not
what I would expect when you use PC-DOS 7, so the setup I sent
you assumed preloading.
Now lets see if I can get the facts straight:
Stacker 3.1/4.x, DOS 6x (and later) and NWDOS 7 (and later),
supports preloading. From Tech-note #4516:
" The preloading Stacker driver loads into memory during the
execution of IO.SYS (or its equivalent), and before the
CONFIG.SYS. IO.SYS calls the Stacker device driver. The actual
Stacker device driver is contained in a hidden file in the root
directory of the physical drive called DBLSPACE.BIN."
The advantage is mounting, and swapping of drive letters before
config.sys. This also means you make do with one set of config files.
Compare this to prior versions of Stacker and/or DOS where you would
need two sets of config files. One on the compressed volume, another
on the uncompressed. Stacker would also need sswap.com on and
Stacer.com on the uncompressed volume. Both loaded as devices in the
first config.sys. Thus on boot, read first of config (uncompressed),
STACKER.com mounts the STACVOL file(s), SSWAP.COM swaps drive
letters, and DOS then continue executing second config (compressed).
To me this sounds like pulling the carpet from under DOS, replacing
it with a new one, while DOS is still "in the air". When DOS "hit the
ground" (continues to read config) - it just keeps reading from
"C:", the only thing it "knows", unaware that this is in fact a
"different C:".
Compared to this, preloading simplifies things a lot. Rather neat
really. It also includes support for DMPS, which means more
conventional memory available. Add to this that with a
preload-setup, if you accidentally delete any of the lines in
config.sys that Stacker placed there during setup, or delete your
config.sys altogether, it will still mount - since the driver is
found and loaded from DBLSPACE.bin. The latter set to hidden, system
and read-only after install.
But for preloading to happen DBLSPACE.bin needs to be found. Btw: Why
do you think Stacker use the "DBLSPACE" name, and not "Stacker.bin"
or any other name? Because this is what DOS is coded to look for by
MS when they designed and implemented the preloading feature. Same
with Win9x btw. So for DOS to preload, it needs to find DBLSPACE.bin.
I have tried and tested this with PC-DOS 6.1 (the boot I sent you):
When you boot from a floppy, DOS will check both places for the
driver and if its not found either on HD or floppy - then no
mount:
When booting from floppy:
- If DBLSPACE.bin is missing on HD, but present on floppy, DOS
will find and use the copy on the floppy
- If DBLSPACE.bin is missing on floppy, but present on HD,
DOS will find and use the copy on the HD.
To conclude: When you say DBLSPACE.bin is not needed on the rescue
disk, you are right ONLY if it exist on the HD. Since you said
you experienced a power failure during install, I don't think I was
very wrong in assuming the DBLSPACE.bin might be damaged or missing.
Btw: For future reference, se Tech-note #4306 on how to rebuild
damaged DBLSPACE.bin by use of tools from the first setup disks :)
Now, about the RECOVERY feature:
I've found Autorecover described in Tech-note #4707. It describes
both auto- and manual recovery. Auto uses AUTORCVR.COM, which I
assume is invoked by Stacker at some point, while the manual
procedure described depends user calling UNCOMP.COM from the command
line.
Now looking at the files:
AUTORCVR.COM is on my first setup disk. UNCOMP.COM on the second.
Trying them both on this machine (which do not have Stacker
installed) they both gave the same error report:
ERROR: Unable to exec UNCOMP2.EXE Reason: 02
So they both call the same UNCOMP2.EXE, found on the second
setup disk. Now trying to run AUTORCVR in the same directory
as UNCOMP2.EXE, without feeding it any parameters, and then
doing the same with UNCOMP. Both produce the same reply from
UNCOM2.EXE:
UNCOMP - 4.00, Copyright 1990-94 Stac Electronics, Carlsbad, CA
Usage: UNCOMP x:
Purpose: Uncompress a Stacker drive
Note: Stacker volume must be mounted as x:
A fair guess then, is that the main difference between UNCOMP and
AUTORCVR is that the latter will grab some information about which
disk to UNCOMPress, and pass this information to UNCOMP2 when
calling it - without intervention from the user. While UNCOMP.COM
on the other hand expects input from user on the commandline. Thus it
seems they do essentially the same thing, the main difference is
how they are invoked.
Since AUTORCVR is on the first setup disk, the other two on the
second, it is clear AUTORCVR is not meant to be run from the setup
disk. This either means it should be placed in same directory with
the other Stacker files, also assuming they make use of (call) some
of the other utilities during the process. Or it could be placed on
floppy, which I assume is what happens if Stacker creates a rescue
disk as you suggested.
Now how to proceed - my suggestions. But first, usual disclaimer
applies, cf. above about my limited troubleshooting experience with
Stacker. And when posting this to the list, also hoping that others
with some knowledge of Stacker can correct me where I might be
wrong. :)
ALT-1) You requested an image of the rescue disk created by Stacker
during install. Is there any particularly reason you are unable to
create this disk your self from a second install? For instance,
if you have a second computer, you could install Stacker there -
and if you worry about loosing another disk to it, just let it
compress some small amount of free space - not let it have it all.
Just enough for it to set up a STACVOL file and mount it. If you are
right, this should produce the needed rescue disk. Stacker doesn't
require much free space for itself. About 3MB according to
tech-note: #4011 (see this for more info).
ALT-2) If you have about 3MB free on the disk with the STACVOL.xxx
on it, I believe you can install Stacker and just say "NO" or "LATER"
when it prompts you to compress. You just install it, and will thus
have all the need files ready for use on the same disk as the
"damaged" STACVOL file. You can then try two things.
First, if Stacker doesn't recognize the existing STACVOL file by it
self and mount it, you can try adding it to the STACKER.ini your self
(use ED.EXE) reboot and see what happens. Or, try a manual mount, see
STACKER /? for syntax.
Secondly, if no success with the above you can proceed to run the
UNCOMP routine. But questions remains if there is enough free
"working space" left for UNCOMP to do its job. (assuming this works).
This you will probably soon find out, say if UNCOMP reports "not
enough free space" or similar. If so, maybe you will need to beg,
steal or borrow a large HD, copy/move the STACVOL.xxx to it and
proceed from there. But notice Tech-note #2701 which says that when
trying to copy the STACVOL file to another HD:
"If a file is damaged beyond repair, you will get the error:
"Read fault error reading drive; Abort, Retry, Ignore, Fail?" "
If so I would still try CHKDSK or similar utility on it before I gave
up on it (see Tech-note section about compatibility issue, for
instance I need to run NDD with /NOCOMP) It may also be you need to
run the REPAIR utility to try recreate damaged/missing headers in the
STACVOL file (cf Tech-note #4701).
Btw: If you do the above, maybe first examine the HD very closely to
see if Stacker left any "hidden" auto-recovery information on it?
You probably don't want to overwrite that information if exist. Maybe
you need to use a disk editor to do that? Or maybe instead first try
ALT-3 below which doesn't risk overwriting anything by installing
files over it.
ALT-3) What happens if you put the above mentioned files on the
floppy I sent you and run them from there (since I put the most
essential Stacker files on it). If it complains about missing files,
you could extract from your install disks/CD (or I could send).
> It is possible that it still might not be able
> to access, initialize, create headers for, or decompress my
> partially-completed stacvol.dsk file, but I'd like to try.
ALT-5) Disable the preloading feature (rename or remove DBLSPACE.bin
from HD and floppy) and configure Stacker for mounting the "old way".
You'll find details on this in the tech-notes. It could be that even
if your OS supports preloading, your hardware doesn't. Tech-note
#31018 claims:
"Some computers don't support Microsoft's use of interrupt 1AH to
implement its pre-loading compression driver, although most
systems that support MS-DOS 6 do."
Even if your system is not listed there, it could still be one of
those, thus worth a try if everything else failed.
ALT-6) Stacvol file is damaged beyond repair: Then either
DEL STACVOL.??? or Format C: /U /S :-(
Good luck! Let me know if or how any of this works.
All the best,
Bjorn
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