I have about 100 Windows 95 workstations running AREV (Mapcon) with very few problems. We're a mixed mode network using both Microsoft and Novell. We are also using the NLM with great success so far.

When I set up Mapcon to run on NT I built a PIF that points to MAPCON.NT, gave the app 4096K of Conventional memory, 4096K of EMS, 4096K of XMS and AUTO DPM and 1024K of Initial Environment. My startup program verifies that all forms of NT Disk Caching are disabled before starting AREV.

Mapcon starts, presents the Rev Tech screen, clears that and displays:

'NLM_CHECK' line 214. B10 Variable has not been assigned a value. Zero Used.

Line 214 'NLM_CHECK' broke because a run time error was encountered.

In the past I've seen this kind of error occur when environment space is exhausted but it doesn't seem to matter how much Initial Environment I allocate. My MAPCON.NT (NT equilivent to CONFIG.sys) contains an EMM=RAM statement but the '/p /e:1024' present in the Win95 CONFIG do not appear to work in NT.

Anybody had this problem? What settings work?

Thanks Everyone,

Russ

A couple of things

1. You need to run Service Pack 3 with NT Workstation if using the NLM.

2. You do not need XMS memory only EMS

3. Are you running the LHIPXTSR.EXE as a batch file in the shortcut settings.

4. If shortcut doesn't work can you jump to a DOS prompt under NT and manually load LHIPXTSR and then AREV ?

Try these first.

Tony

Tony,

1. SP 3 was installed.

2. OK, tried that too. Same result.

3. Yes, Sort of, I have a startup file that determines the OS version of the client PC and loads lhipxtsr after verifying that all forms of disk caching is disabled. I am using the /p parm, and unloading the TSR on Win95 and NT.

4. Tried manually loading lhipxtsr and starting AREV, same result.

Mapcon actually starts, but dies in program NLM_CHECK. I don't know if NLM_CHECK is a standard component of if it was added by the AREV consultant who installed the NLM. Of course he is no longer available for comment. I guess that if you have a program called NLM_CHECK in your system it would be a pretty good indication that it's a standard component. Otherwise I'll have to track him down somehow.

I'm a Delphi and Visual Basic programmer who inherited AREV as an 'Oh, by the way'. I have no documentation or training in AREV and don't even have access to the code.

Thanks for you help Tony,

Russ

Which network client are you using, Novell or Microsoft?

Before ARev loads, can you break into the batch file and run MEM for a memory check?

Can you just drop to a COMMAND.COM prompt (not a CMD.EXE prompt) and try loading and running ARev manually?

akaplan@sprezzatura.com

Sprezzatura, Inc.

Aaron,

According to task manager I am running NTVDM.EXE which is what I expected. CMD.EXE is the 32 bit native NT interpreter and I shouldn't be using it, correct? The VDM is executing a pretty strange version of DOS, - 5.00.500 and other NT systems in the area seem to have different versions.

We are using both Microsoft and Netware, with Netware being first in the access order.

MEM:

655360 Total Conventional Memory

655360 Available to MS-DOS

634000 Largest Executable program size

1048576 Total contiguous extended memory

          0  available contiguous extended memory

931840  available XMS memory

              MS-DOS resident in High Memory Area

Thanks,

Russ

OK, you seem to not be using EMS, no matter what the config stuff says. Check through the shortcuts and the CONFIG.NT file you're using and make sure you're loading EMS. That should help eliminate, if not completely eliminate, the problem.

From the CONFIG.NT file:

EMM

You can use EMM command line to configure EMM(Expanded Memory Manager).

The syntax is:

EMM=A=AltRegSets B=BaseSegment RAM

  AltRegSets

      specifies the total Alternative Mapping Register Sets you

      want the system to support. 1 Sprezzatura, Inc.[/url]

Aaron,

My NT expert just verified that any changes I make to the PIF have no effect on my Extended Memory settings. Is my understanding that AREV uses EMM, not XMS, incorrect? Whatever the case he is investigating it further.

I did find that the offending program was probably brought here by the consultant who installed the NLM for us. I found his company initials all over the SQL history list.

As for network drivers, I think I am all the way in AREV when the application dies. I am presented with a debugger menu, I can display the last 100 SQL commands, modify menus, attach files and so on. If NT was not able to find the appropriate network protocol I don't think I would be able to do this at all. Or is that possible?

I cannot remove the Microsoft network drivers. I have other apps which require them and will work with no others. But again, I don't think that is the immediate problem. The network people assure me that the appropriate driver is active depending upon which network I logged into.

Thanks for you advice,

Russell

My gut feeling is the problem will go away once you have the full 4M of EMS memory available to ARev. The ARev FAQ does not go into great details about NT as a workstation, but it might be helpfull if you gave it the once over twice.

As for the networking protocols, I think we might be talking on differing terms. One relates to actuall access to a network. The other relies on the features, functions and stability of the code used to access that network.

Please excuse me if you are aware of all this, but in order for your workstation to talk to a server, it needs to run a set of software called a client. Each network type will have one or more sets of clients. For a Netware server, you can have a client that was written by Novell or a client that was written by Microsoft. This is comepletley different from the clients needed to access the NT servers.

Now, it could be possible that you have software designed such that it will only use the Microsoft Client for Novell Networks. In this case, you cannot change. However, if this is not the case, many people have found the Novell's software interfaces and interacts with Novell's Netware much better than Microsoft's software.

akaplan@sprezzatura.com

Sprezzatura, Inc.

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