Greetings, Kevin--

My response (admittedly safe guesses and past experience) is interspersed
with the original post.
----- Original Message -----
From: Kevin Nowicki <[log in to unmask]>
> I'm hoping someone can help with this older machine.  Upon starting, it
goes
> through the boot up process (?) and stops at Primary Boot-strap.  My
client
> said she was typing in WP51 and went to print and then the whole thing
froze
> up.  It's an older machine and frankly I don't have the experience with
the
> older routines.  It's a
>
> 386
> 16mhz
> 4mg ram
> 100mg HD
> Win 3.1
>
> I can boot off a floppy and access C:  After booting off the floppy I
went
> into the Windows directory and tried starting windows through there.  I
> receive an error message saying "Himem.sys is missing.  Check config.sys
and
> windows directory" or something to that effect.  Himem.sys is in windows
> directory and DOS and is listed in config.sys.

In many Win 3.1 computers, Himem.sys can be found in both C:\DOS and
C:\WINDOWS.
It is usually best to reference the newest version (can be found by typing
dir c:\dos\himem.* and dir c:\windows\himem.* at the c:\ prompt) in the
config.sys file. In any case, be certain the reference in config.sys points
to a file that is actually there.

> I deleted himem.sys believing
> it might be corrupt and replaced with himem.sys file from working 3.1
> computer.  It still won't boot and I get the same results.  So I checked
on
> the working 3.1 computer and saw the  himem.sys line referred to the DOS
> directory and not Windows like the broken machine so I changed the
config.sys
> to point to the DOS directory instead.  Still no results.  Here is the
> autoexec and config files:
>
> Config.sys
> DEVICE=C:\DOS\HIMEM.SYS
> DEVICE=C:\DOS\EMM386.EXE RAM
> BUFFERS=15,0
> FILES=30
> DOS=UMB
> LASTDRIVE=E
> FCBS=4,0
> DEVICEHIGH /L:1,12048 =C:\DOS\SETVER.EXE

The above line (and the smartdrv line in autoexec.bat) indicates that
memmaker was used to optimize the memory usage on this machine.

> DOS=HIGH
> STACKS=9,256
>
> Autoexec.bat
> SET BLASTER=A220 I5 D1 T3
>
> SET SOUND=C:\SB
> LH /L:0;1,45456 /S C:\WINDOWS\SMARTDRV.EXE /X
> @ECHO OFF
> PROMPT $p$g
> PATH C:\WINDOWS;C:\DOS;C:\WP51\
> SET TEMP=C:\DOS
>
> C:\MOUSE\MOUSE
> CD\BUTTONS
> BUTTONS
>
>
> C:\MOUSE\MOUSE
> C:\MOUSE\MOUSE
>

>From what I see here, the mouse driver is being loaded 3 times.  This
probably doesn't actually happen, but two of the 'c:\mouse\mouse' lines
should be deleted and you may want to try adding LH [load high] to the
remaining line loading the mouse driver. I'm guessing here, but it just may
be that the repeated attempts to load an already loaded mouse driver are
'confusing' the machine, halting the boot process.

Good luck,

Paul A. Shippert               Library/Media Specialist
"   . . . and I'm hovering like a fly
   waiting for the windshield on the freeway."  Genesis
[log in to unmask]

             Do you want to signoff PCSOFT or just change to
                    Digest mode - visit our web site:
                    http://nospin.com/pc/pcsoft.html