OS2World OLD-STATIC-BACKUP Forum

OS/2 - Technical => Applications => Topic started by: Dennis on 2011.11.02, 02:41:57

Title: ECS Workplace Shell
Post by: Dennis on 2011.11.02, 02:41:57

When I boot my laptop--which has had ECS/OS2 on it for several years--The boot sequence goes thru starting the graphics/video (Snap). The next step is to initialize and start workplace shell. The following window shows up:

     Workplace Shell

     The program pointed to bu the SETRUNWORKPLACE= line in the Config.sys could not 
     be started. Winstart App returned %1

At this point, the system stops booting, no matter if I click on OK or Cancel

What does this mean?
What do I do to solve the problem?

Thanks in advance for your help.
Title: Re: ECS Workplace Shell
Post by: miturbide on 2011.11.02, 14:09:26
Hi Dennis

Can you check on your config.sys that is stated "SET RUNWORKPLACE=C:\OS2\PMSHELL.EXE" correctly ?
Title: Re: ECS Workplace Shell
Post by: ivan on 2011.11.02, 15:14:39
Hi Dennis,

You will need to use a bootable CD that will allow you to to see your eCS.OS/2 boot partition.  Then, as Martin says, check the config.sys to see exactly what the 'set runworkplace' has after the =.  If it is <drive>\os2\pmshell.exe you then need to see if pmshell.exe is in fact in <drive>\os2.  If it is then I think you should run chkdsk /f3 on the boot drive just to see that there is nothing corrupting pmshell.exe, or you can rename it to pmshell.exe.bak and copy a known good version from your backup.

ivan
Title: Re: ECS Workplace Shell
Post by: Pete on 2011.11.02, 18:00:22
Hi Dennis

This error message usually indicates that the os2.ini file is munged.

If you have a recent backup of your system then boot to a command line and replace the existing \os2\os2.ini with the file from the backup.

If you do not have a recent backup of os2.ini then you could copy the version created during eCS install. You will find this in \os2\install but be aware that it will not contain the changes you have made to your Desktop since the install.


Regards

Pete
Title: Re: ECS Workplace Shell
Post by: rwklein on 2011.11.02, 18:56:30
Or boot with the ALT F1 recovery key combination. And select the archive you want to put back.
But be aware your config.sys is also restored then to the old version!
Title: Re: ECS Workplace Shell
Post by: RobertM on 2011.11.02, 19:44:29
Quote from: Pete on 2011.11.02, 18:00:22
Hi Dennis

This error message usually indicates that the os2.ini file is munged.

If you have a recent backup of your system then boot to a command line and replace the existing \os2\os2.ini with the file from the backup.

If you do not have a recent backup of os2.ini then you could copy the version created during eCS install. You will find this in \os2\install but be aware that it will not contain the changes you have made to your Desktop since the install.


Regards

Pete


Failing the ability to do any of that, using the ALT-F1 -> Maintenance Desktop option (then proper shutdown and restart) will create a working set of ini files (at least in Warp and various v1 eCS releases - I obviously don't want to test it on a running system and newer releases).
Title: Re: ECS Workplace Shell
Post by: Dennis on 2011.11.03, 02:40:41

Thanks, Guys. I'll see what I can do with it.
Title: Re: ECS Workplace Shell
Post by: Dennis on 2011.11.03, 03:12:13

Is there a way to display the config.sys file from the command line?

I haven't found my bootable ECS CD yet.
Title: Re: ECS Workplace Shell
Post by: Dennis on 2011.11.03, 03:23:38

Just did a dir on C:. It shows a config.000, config.257, config.557, config.bak, and config.sys. Is there any way of viewing these files and/or changing the names of any of these files so I could use a different config.xxx file?
Title: Re: ECS Workplace Shell
Post by: Dennis on 2011.11.03, 03:29:10
 Damn! I just found out thru a dir command on both c:\ and c:\os2 that there isn't an os2.ini file in either directory. Now what?

Also, when I booted with the ALT-F1, it couldn't find the archives
Title: Re: ECS Workplace Shell
Post by: Pete on 2011.11.03, 04:00:20
Hi Dennis

If booting to command line from hard drive then use tedit.exe to view/edit config.* files - 1 at a time.

If you do not have any os2.ini backups/archives then you need to use the makeini command to generate a new os2.ini file.

Boot to a command line and then CD to \os2 directory. Use this command to generate the new os2.ini file:-

MAKEINI OS2.INI INI.RC


While you are at it you probably ought to check that the \os2\os2sys.ini file exists. If it does not then use this command:-

MAKEINI OS2SYS.INI INISYS.RC


Of course using MAKEINI probably means that you will end up with a Warp4 Desktop rather than the eCS Desktop but I'm not sure what you can do about that...


Regards

Pete


Title: Re: ECS Workplace Shell
Post by: David McKenna on 2011.11.03, 13:22:09
Dennis,

  Look in C:\OS2\ARCHIVES. If you have any archives there should be some folders named '0', '1' etc. Look in the newest folder (by date) and you should see a bunch of files '0', '1', '2'... etc. The file named '0' is OS2.INI. The file named '1' is OS2SYS.INI. You could copy and rename those to C:\OS2 and see if you get your desktop back.
Title: Re: ECS Workplace Shell
Post by: Andi on 2011.11.03, 13:34:07
os2.ini and os2sys.ini are usually marked as hidden and system. Use the appropriate switch with dir or use 'attrib -rsh *' to reset these flags.

Another thing worth to try is add 'set desktop=c:\desktop' (use your desktop directory here, f.i. with german systems it is x:\Arbeitsoberfläche) in config.sys.
Title: Re: ECS Workplace Shell
Post by: Dennis on 2011.11.04, 16:09:35

Thanks for all the help. The laptop is working again--in Warp 4. I think I'm going to have to reinstall ECS, which is going to be "fun" (not).