Now that you've tried all these random suggestions (some germane, some just W-A-G's), it's time to attack the problem systematically. Initially, the goal is to determine if the issue lies in the WPS, PM, some hardware driver(s), or the base OS.
If you haven't done so already, it would be a good idea to make a backup of your unmodified
config.sys. Post a copy here as well for future reference. Also, if you see a file named
popuplog.os2 in the root directory of your boot drive, please post it - it may identify the cause.
The first step is the WPS: yea or nay. In
config.sys, locate "
SET RUNWORKPLACE=C:\OS2\PMSHELL.EXE" and '
rem' it out. Now enter "
SET RUNWORKPLACE=C:\OS2\CMD.EXE". Save the file then reboot.
The system will come up with a blue screen and an OS/2 command prompt window. Let it sit there a while. If the system does
not reboot, then something in the WPS is triggering the problem. Confirm this by starting the WPS: at the command prompt, enter "
PMSHELL". What happens next? If it reboots, we know the general location of the problem and I can help you zero-in on it in a subsequent post. (If it runs OK then it's going to be a lot harder to figure out what's wrong.)
Note: if the WPS simply crashes rather than causing the system to reboot, you should be returned to the command prompt. However, on my system that doesn't happen. Instead the window (labeled "Workplace Shell") remains minimized in the lower left corner of the screen. If so, dbl-click to restore it, then press
Ctrl-C to kill the still-running WPS process. (You can ignore the various messages you may see in the window.) If you're lucky enough to get to this point, try running PMSHELL again to see what happens.
Next... if the system reboots while sitting at the initial command prompt, then we have to see if PM is the cause. In
config.sys, locate "
PROTSHELL=C:\OS2\PMSHELL.EXE". Again, '
rem' it out and replace it with "
PROTSHELL=C:\OS2\CMD.EXE". Save and reboot. The system will come up to a full screen command prompt. Hold your breath and see what happens
If it still restarts then we'll have to start disabling drivers (we may need to do so, regardless).
I'll leave it at that for now. Please try these relatively simple steps and report back when you can.
I am not using the cutdown version of xwp that ArcaOS installs so cannot test this myself but the full xwp has a Panic mode. Try pressing the Shift key during Desktop startup (press just as the screen changes from black to colour) and run xfix from the displayed menu. Hopefully that will resolve the problem.
Honestly, I think this is fairly misguided advice. What would a newbie know about editing the file-handles table? In any case, if
IFX ran and reported no errors, it's highly unlikely this is the source of the problem.