旼컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴� � System Commander Deluxe Notes � 읕컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴� CONTENTS A. Introduction E. OS Restrictions B. What's new in Deluxe F. Troubleshooting C. Disk Compression G. Technical Support D. Features H. Ordering Information A. Introduction System Commander Deluxe represents new technology with fully automated partitioning and the easiest way to add a new OS! System Commander Deluxe is your installation assistant! When you are ready to install a new OS, let System Commander Deluxe take care of all of the details that you normally worry about when getting ready to install new OSes. IMPORTANT When installing new OSes or changing partitions we always recommend you have a backup of any important data and programs. B. What's New in Deluxe OS Wizard - Automatic OS Preparation The OS Wizard takes all the guess work out of installation of a new OS. If necessary, OS Wizard can automatically find space for the new OS, create the new space and prepare the area for the new installation. Advanced Partitioning The OS Wizard also offers an advanced, easy to use, partitioning component. You can create, delete, format, and even resize existing partitions. A few of the advanced features include temporary partition hiding and FAT-32 conversions. New 3D Look and Feel The boot time portion of System Commander now offers a new 3D style, with universal mouse support. Of course, you can also choose any of the old System Commander styles if you prefer it. System Commander's universal mouse support provides support for most mouse types, connected to a serial, bus or mouse port. Other new features * Automatically detects and separates multiples OSes installed prior to System Commander, including Windows NT, on top of Windows 95/98, on top of DOS, or other combinations. * Support for all the latest OSes and variants, including Windows 98 * Selections for Windows 95/98 graphics and prompt choices using the same configuration files. * Automatic correction for OSes that destroy our MBR, without the use of any resident memory. * Improved appearance settings for LCD laptops * Installation can be made from DOS, Windows 95 or booting directly from our diskette C. Disk Compression We do not recommend using System Commander with disk compression. Although it is possible to do so, the disk compression program can cause problems when using different DOS versions and other OSes. Disk compression software is generally designed to work with one and ONLY one OS version. As a minor point, System Commander itself must operate before the disk compression software runs. Drive swapping can cause compression or misplacement of the System Commander files. In all, there may be a number of problems and you are ON YOUR OWN should you attempt this! If you attempt to install System Commander on a system using disk compression, you MUST know which drive is the non-compressed boot drive. This is often hidden by the disk compression software. See Chapter 3 for additional details about using disk compression. D. Features With System Commander you'll be able to have multiple operating systems function on a single PC. Once installed, when you boot up, you will be provided with a menu of OS choices, based on the operating systems you install. Key Benefits * Management of up to 100+ different operating systems: up to 32 FAT compatible OSes in one partition up to 56 primary partitions on up to 14 drives up to 16 non-DOS OSes in logical partitions up to 4 OSes which must boot through a non standard MBR * Special diskette drive support boot from A: or B: even if diskette booting is turned off in your BIOS setup. * Menu selections offered before any operating system runs * Automatic management of hidden system files and configuration files such as AUTOEXEC.BAT, CONFIG.SYS, BOOT.INI, etc. * Remembers the last selection made * Choose from a number of unique sound effects when System Commander's menu appears * Select a time-out period to automatically make a selection * Automatically saves newly installed DOS versions * View partition information and change bootable status * Master Boot Record and DOS partition boot record virus detection and repair * View and edit files such as CONFIG and AUTOEXEC at boot time Technical Highlights * MS/PC-DOS compatible, all released and beta versions, 4.0 and later * DR-DOS/Novell/OpenDOS DOS compatible, all released and beta versions 5.0 and later * Fully compatible with Windows 95/98, NT, OS/2, Warp, NetWare, Unix variants, Pick, NextStep, CTOS, QNX, and most other OSes * Can be installed into any standard FAT partition, including the FAT-32 option in Windows 95 OSR2 and Windows 98. * No bytes remain resident in memory * Comprehensive boot validity checks and recovery E. Operating System Restrictions Each OS has specific installation restrictions defined by the OS vendor. For your convenience, we've summarized the key aspects of OSs relating to installation limitations on the hard disk. These restrictions are automated with the OS Wizard. If you do not wish to use the OS Wizard, these facts will help you determine how a new OS can be installed. This is not a comprehensive list and vendors may change the limitations in future versions. In general, if an OS can be installed somewhere, System Commander can boot it. The chart shows where the bootable portion of the OS can be installed. Every OS can be installed in a primary partition on the allowed hard drives. Some OSs can install into a logical partition, which is a portion of an extended partition. When known, we've also shown the manufacture's minimum partition size for its installation. To install applications, and/or have any free disk space to work with, you should always allocate more disk space than the minimum size shown. Newer versions, than those specified, will usually require a larger minimum disk partition. Boot Logical minimum OS Name Vendor Drives partition size notes 컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴� 컴컴컴컴컴컴컴 컴컴컴� 컴컴컴컴� 컴컴컴� 컴컴� AIX IBM 0 only no BSDI Unix Berkely Softw 0 only no Coherent Unix Mark Williams any no 15 MB CTOS Unisys 0 only no DOS all 0 only no 1 MB DOS/V IBM/Microsoft 0 only no 3 MB FreeBSD all any no 80 MB Interactive Unix SunSoft 0 only no 20 MB Linux all 0 or 1 yes 15 MB 8 Netware v2 Novell 0 only no 20 MB NetWare v3 & v4 Novell 0 only no 55 MB 2 OpenStep Next 0 only no 120 MB NT v3.1 Microsoft 0 only no 90 MB 1,3 NT v3.5 Microsoft 0 only no 100 MB 1,3 NT v4.0 Microsoft 0 only no 120 MB 1,3 NT v5.0 Microsoft 0 only no 250 MB 1,3,9 Open Server SCO 0 only no 100 MB 5 OS/2 v1.x IBM 0 only no 20 MB 1 OS/2 v2 to v4 IBM any yes 40 MB 1,4 Pick Pick Systems 0 only no 1 QNX QNX Software 0 only no Solaris SunSoft any no 70 MB 7 Theos Theos Software 0 only no 10 MB UnixWare Novell 0 only no 80 MB 5 Venix Venturcom 0 only no 100 MB Windows 95 Microsoft 0 only no 40 MB 1,6,9 Windows 95J Microsoft 0 only no 80 MB 1,6,9 Windows 98 Microsoft 0 only no 250 MB 1,6,9 notes: 1 - OS can be installed in the DOS partition. 2 - This OS is launched after DOS is booted. Information is stored in a separate non-bootable partition. 3 - A portion of the NT boot software is installed in the DOS partition. The remainder can be installed in any FAT primary or logical partition on any drive. 4 - If installed outside the DOS partition, OS/2 requires IBM's boot manager to be installed in a separate partition during installation. Boot manager is not required once OS/2 is installed, when using System Commander. 5 - The installation may move partitions around, causing problems for other OSs. In addition, when partitions are moved like this, System Commander may replace your OS descriptions with generic names. Menu names are associated with the physical partition number and not the data in the partition. No data is lost, but you may want to go through and update each OS description under the Setup option, and verify Local special options are set correctly for each OS choice. 6 - The boot portion is similar to a standard DOS, but significant portions of the OS can be installed on other drives. 7 - Solaris documentation indicates it only supports booting from a diskette when installed on any drive other than drive 0, but System Commander will properly boot Solaris from any IDE drive, without a Solaris boot diskette. Some SCSI controller/drive combinations may not allow anything other than booting Solaris from the first disk. 8 - Source code can be changed to support booting off of other drives. 9 - Can be installed in and understands FAT-32 partitions. (For Windows 95, only OSR2 supports FAT-32). F. Troubleshooting Most problems are easily resolved as described in the manual under the Troubleshooting chapter. The SCIN program contains a complete knowledge base of problems and solutions which our own technical support staff use. It also includes common questions and answers. To access this extensive database, run SCIN, and select Troubleshooting to start the knowledge base engine. System Commander's installation always provides a Disable/Remove options, available from the hard disk or the diskette. Refer to the uninstallation instructions, should you need to do this. BootXY. If immediately after installation a "BootXY." message appears, see Chapter 7, Troubleshooting under Messages from System Commander at boot up for reasons why this might occur and how to easily correct for it. In most cases, you will be given the option to boot from one primary partition from the first drive. From the Boot error message, the first charter "X" indicates thebasic type of error that occurred. These problems include: 0 - Error reading the master boot record 1 - No DOS partition found on drive 0 2 to 5 - After looking at all 4 partitions, either the OS partitions that were found had: disk errors reading sectors, or more likely, the SYSCMNDR.SYS file in the root directory was not found A - Disk error reading FAT B - Disk error reading SYSCMNDR.SYS C - Defective cluster encountered F - Could not find SYSCMNDR.SYS in FAT-32 partition G - Problem reading SYSCMNDR.SYS file H - Contents of SYSCMNDR.SYS are damaged The second "Y" character indicate the error code returned from the hard disk BIOS. It may indicate the hard disk or controller has some type problem, or could indicate bad partition information on the disk. Errors "0" and ">" are not a BIOS error, but indicate the desired data was not found on the disk. BIOS error codes are: "Y" Character Hard Disk BIOS error 컴컴컴컴컴컴� 컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴� 0 invalid or missing data 1 invalid drive or command 2 missing address mark 3 write protected 4 sector not found 8 DMA overrun (time-out) : bad sector detected ; bad track detected > invalid or missing data @ ECC error during read A ECC error during read P disk controller/drive problem p seek operation failed � time-out - no response others undocumented BIOS error For example, a error message BootA@. indicates that System commander was attempting to read the FAT, but the controller found an ECC error (which indicates a defective sector in the FAT data area). At a minimum, run DOS's SCANDISK on the drive and have it correct any errors. Be sure to perform the optional surface scan within SCANDISK. As another example, the error message Boot2>. appears. This indicates that the SYSCMNDR.SYS file could not be found in any primary partition on the first drive. To fix this, boot from a diskette and perform a full install. Bad Diskette or SCIN.EXE program problems In very rare cases, the SCIN.EXE program on the diskette could be corrupted. This might occur if the diskette drive is slightly out of alignment. To correct this, go to a Windows 95/98 or DOS prompt. Have a spare 1.44 MB diskette ready. Run: diskcopy a: a: This will copy the original System Commander installation disk (Source) to the new diskette (target) which is aligned precisely to your diskette drive. When this is complete, make sure the new target diskette is left in the drive (do not use the original System Commander diskette). At the Windows 95/98 or DOS prompt, run: a: del scin.exe attrib -h scin.tmp copy scin.tmp scin.exe Now switch to the A drive and run INSTALL again. No further problems should occur. During a partition resize, power is lost or a reset occurs Should a power fail or a reset occur during the resize operation you will be prompted during boot up to insert the Restart diskette (DISK 2) in the drive and boot from it. It will start the OS Wizard restart process and complete the resize operation. If you were running OS Wizard for a new OS installation, the remaining preparation steps will not occur. On a reboot you may be asked to use your new OS boot diskette. Select Cancel and return to the OS Wizard (Alt-O). Reselect the same OS and the process will complete. G. Technical Support If you followed manual, you are unlikely to have any problems. The chapter on troubleshooting covers some of the rare problems which might be encountered. Seemingly bad problems like "Invalid COMMAND.COM" are usually solved easily, and are described in this chapter as well as the SCIN troubleshooting database (see prior section for details). Technical support is available to registered users for 90 days after your first contact with V Communications after your purchase. If you call after this period, please have a credit card ready for a nominal charge per call. All technical support calls require your serial number and version number, which is found on your diskette label. For technical support to help you quickly, if at all possible, please run the SCOUT utility from the hard disk or diskette. This utility will run several diagnostics and collect key data about your system. This data is written to a file SCOUT.TXT Print the file, or include the file with your e-mail or FAX. (408) 296-4385 (Tech support, 9 am - 5 pm PST M-F) You can also reach us by email at SUPPORT@V-COM.COM. Please include a brief description of the problem, and the version and serial number found on your diskette. It is also helpful to describe what OSes and versions you are using, and how the drive is partitioned. While we can help you with problems related to System Commander, we cannot assist you with using or solving problems within a specific OS. You might want to contact the OS vendor or a third party help desk such as the consultant's at AMERICA'S Help Desk may be able to help. They offer help at $2 per minute at 1-800-768-6656 (The first minute is free). H. Ordering Information To purchase additional copies contact us at: V Communications, Inc. 2290 North First St., Suite 101 San Jose, CA 95131 USA (408) 965-4000 (Sales) (408) 965-4014 (FAX) We also offer very attractive volume discounts and multi-site licenses. Contact our Sales department for additional information. Additional information is available at www.v-com.com, our System Commander Web site. 旼컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴커 � End of Notes � 읕컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴켸