[rscook75]

I am a college student at the very beginning of programming and am taking a beginner course. One of the assignments is to use Basic AC (I think becaus eit's free) to do our first few assignments. I dowloaded it from the instructors website, but when I unzip it and try to run it on windows xp, it appears for a split second and then disappears. I tried copying the NT file from the windows repair folder into the system32 with no success. Does anyone have any suggestions?

[Elvandil]

It would help if you posted a link so we could look at the program, but you might try running it from a command prompt. Run: cmd, and then navigate to the folder where the program resides.

If you install this Microsoft Powertoy, you can right-click any folder and open a command prompt in that folder:

http://download.microsoft.com/downlo...ertoySetup.exe

[rscook75]

Here’s the link: www.sff.net/people/brian-larson/cs204.htm. Click on the basic ac download at the top lefthand corner

Ok it didnt make a link. How do I make it a link on this post. it was one on MS Word

[Elvandil]

I just ran "basicac.com" from a command prompt and it worked fine. So try what I suggested. (The link worked, too )

[rscook75]

I just dowloaded your link. Sorry I dont know alot about DOS, what am I typing to get it to run.

Also, when I tried to run the program normally in windows a pop up said:
Title: 16 Bit MS DOS Subsystem
Message: c:/progra~1\Basicac\Basicac.com
c:\Windows\system32\config.nt
The system file is not suitable for running MS DOS and Microsoft
Windows applications. Choose close to terminate.
It then gives me the chose of CLOSE or IGNORE. Both close the program

[Elvandil]

Install the Powertoy. Right-click on the folder containing basicac.com and choose the option to open a command window (DOS prompt). At the prompt, type:
basicac.com <Enter>
That will start the program.

But, the error you are receiving implies that you have other system problems, and the program won't run on that machine until you fix them.

Ordinarily, I'd send you to http://support.microsoft.com for an article, but I haven't been able to access that site for a while. Anyone else with that problem?

So, here's the gist of it:

Put in your XP CD. Exit if it autostarts.

Go to Start > Run, and type:

cmd <Enter>

Then, at the command prompt, type (where D: is your CD-ROM drive letter and "Windows" is your installation directory):

expand D:\i386\config.nt_ c:\windows\system32\config.nt <Enter>
expand D:\i386\autoexec.nt_ c:\windows\system32\autoexec.nt <Enter>
expand D:\i386\command.co_ c:\windows\system32\command.com <Enter>
exit <Enter>

[rscook75]

The message I got is below. I got the correct drive, it's the D: drive. On D: the first folder is i386 and in that folder there is a system 32 folder among others. Could it possible be a different name of folder, or am I doing something wrong?


Microsoft Windows XP [Version 5.1.2600]
(C) Copyright 1985-2001 Microsoft Corp.

C:\Documents and Settings\Rich>expand D:\i386\config.nt_ c:\windows\system32\con
fig.nt
Microsoft (R) File Expansion Utility Version 5.1.2600.0
Copyright (C) Microsoft Corp 1990-1999. All rights reserved.

Can't open input file: d:\i386\config.nt_.


C:\Documents and Settings\Rich>

[Elvandil]

Do the other ones work?

Make you own config.nt. Copy the text between the lines, paste it to Notepad, and Save As... config.nt. Then put it in your system32 folder.

------------------------------------------------------
REM Windows MS-DOS Startup File
REM
REM CONFIG.SYS vs CONFIG.NT
REM CONFIG.SYS is not used to initialize the MS-DOS environment.
REM CONFIG.NT is used to initialize the MS-DOS environment unless a
REM different startup file is specified in an application's PIF.
REM
REM ECHOCONFIG
REM By default, no information is displayed when the MS-DOS environment
REM is initialized. To display CONFIG.NT/AUTOEXEC.NT information, add
REM the command echoconfig to CONFIG.NT or other startup file.
REM
REM NTCMDPROMPT
REM When you return to the command prompt from a TSR or while running an
REM MS-DOS-based application, Windows runs COMMAND.COM. This allows the
REM TSR to remain active. To run CMD.EXE, the Windows command prompt,
REM rather than COMMAND.COM, add the command ntcmdprompt to CONFIG.NT or
REM other startup file.
REM
REM DOSONLY
REM By default, you can start any type of application when running
REM COMMAND.COM. If you start an application other than an MS-DOS-based
REM application, any running TSR may be disrupted. To ensure that only
REM MS-DOS-based applications can be started, add the command dosonly to
REM CONFIG.NT or other startup file.
REM
REM EMM
REM You can use EMM command line to configure EMM(Expanded Memory Manager).
REM The syntax is:
REM
REM EMM = [A=AltRegSets] [B=BaseSegment] [RAM]
REM
REM AltRegSets
REM specifies the total Alternative Mapping Register Sets you
REM want the system to support. 1 <= AltRegSets <= 255. The
REM default value is 8.
REM BaseSegment
REM specifies the starting segment address in the Dos conventional
REM memory you want the system to allocate for EMM page frames.
REM The value must be given in Hexdecimal.
REM 0x1000 <= BaseSegment <= 0x4000. The value is rounded down to
REM 16KB boundary. The default value is 0x4000
REM RAM
REM specifies that the system should only allocate 64Kb address
REM space from the Upper Memory Block(UMB) area for EMM page frames
REM and leave the rests(if available) to be used by DOS to support
REM loadhigh and devicehigh commands. The system, by default, would
REM allocate all possible and available UMB for page frames.
REM
REM The EMM size is determined by pif file(either the one associated
REM with your application or _default.pif). If the size from PIF file
REM is zero, EMM will be disabled and the EMM line will be ignored.
REM
dos=high, umb
device=%SystemRoot%\system32\himem.sys
files=40
-----------------------------------------------------------------

[rscook75]

No, the other ones don't work either. I will paste your previous message and see what happens for the first one and let you know. Thanks for all your help and patience.

[rscook75]

I am trying to save it in notepad and it only wants to let me save it as a txt file. It shouldn't just be text right? Under save as it gives me "txt" and "all files". What kind of file should it be?

[Elvandil]

In the box where you specify the file name, just type "config.nt". Try it without quotes. If it doesn't work, use quotes.

Do you have the full XP CD? Is C: your system drive and D: your CD-ROM drive?

[rscook75]

Awesome!!! Now the error says autoexec, and I suppose once I fix that one it will say command error. If you could paste me those two I would be stoked!!! Thanks in advance.

[Elvandil]

I can paste the autoexec, but the command.com will need to com from the CD. A blank would work just as well, but here is the default one.

autoexec.nt:
-----------------------------------------------------------
@echo off

REM AUTOEXEC.BAT is not used to initialize the MS-DOS environment.
REM AUTOEXEC.NT is used to initialize the MS-DOS environment unless a
REM different startup file is specified in an application's PIF.

REM Install CD ROM extensions
lh %SystemRoot%\system32\mscdexnt.exe

REM Install network redirector (load before dosx.exe)
lh %SystemRoot%\system32\redir

REM Install DPMI support
lh %SystemRoot%\system32\dosx

REM The following line enables Sound Blaster 2.0 support on NTVDM.
REM The command for setting the BLASTER environment is as follows:
REM SET BLASTER=A220 I5 D1 P330
REM where:
REM A specifies the sound blaster's base I/O port
REM I specifies the interrupt request line
REM D specifies the 8-bit DMA channel
REM P specifies the MPU-401 base I/O port
REM T specifies the type of sound blaster card
REM 1 - Sound Blaster 1.5
REM 2 - Sound Blaster Pro I
REM 3 - Sound Blaster 2.0
REM 4 - Sound Blaster Pro II
REM 6 - SOund Blaster 16/AWE 32/32/64
REM
REM The default value is A220 I5 D1 T3 and P330. If any of the switches is
REM left unspecified, the default value will be used. (NOTE, since all the
REM ports are virtualized, the information provided here does not have to
REM match the real hardware setting.) NTVDM supports Sound Blaster 2.0 only.
REM The T switch must be set to 3, if specified.
SET BLASTER=A220 I5 D1 P330 T3

REM To disable the sound blaster 2.0 support on NTVDM, specify an invalid
REM SB base I/O port address. For example:
REM SET BLASTER=A0
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Look in the i386 folder on your CD. See if command.co_ is there.

[rscook75]

I'm not sure which file I'm looking for on the xp cd. What will the exact name be and what type of file (what icon will identify it) will it be. Thank you for all your help.

[Elvandil]

It will be in the i386 folder, it's name will be "command.co_" and they are usually listed in alphabetical order. If not, right-click a blank spot in the folder and Arrange by Name.