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Problems with PMMERGE and eCS 2.0 RC7

Started by miturbide, 2009.11.13, 22:18:17

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miturbide

Hi

I installed ecs 2.0 rc7 on a hpfs partition from the CD. The machine is a Compaq Presario CQ70 laptop.
Here it is a wiki page I created about that laptop.
http://www.os2world.com/wiki/index.php/HP_Compaq_Presario_CQ70

It installs ok, without any network adapter (No network adapter is selected).
I did an standard installation with the default stuff to install. Didn't add or remove anything from the installation list.  It finished installation process without problems.

It boots fine the first time.  - I close the Post-Installation Task Window.
It boots fine the second time. - I close the feedback wizard.
Third time boots fine. - Switched the volume to 40, since 100% was annoying. - Shows me the I changed the Panorama driver resoluton to 1400xxxx. I also installed GenMAc to make some tests trying to get Atheros

Them it keep booting fine, but in some point of time which I haven't found, when I boot I get the following Message.

SYS0193:PMMERGE can not be run in a OS/2 Session.

SYS1919: The file PMMERGE specified in the RUN statement
on line 204 of the CONFIG.SYS file does not contain a valid program.
Line 204 is ignored
Press Enter to Continue...



When it reach to PMSHELL. It shows this message, beeps and freeze.

The file PMMERGE specified in the PROTSHELL statement on
line 130 of the CONFIG.SYS file does not contain a valid program.
Line 130 is ignores
The system is stopped. Correct the preciding error and
restart the system.


I can not found where is the problem. Since I had also tested removing Uniaud, ACPI, Genmac. But I can not which driver is causing eCS to hang. Or what is the problem.

So there are two thing I need to find:

1) What is causing the problem.
2) Find out how to fix an installation that had this error, since the only way I had found to fix it is to reinstall it again, which after some time it breaks again with this error.

Any hint is welcome.

Thanks.
Martín Itúrbide
OS2World.com NewsMaster
Open Source Advocate

Skype - martiniturbide
Google Talk - martiniturbide@gmail.com

miturbide

ok, here it is a Hint.

I did again another clean install. Wiped the HDD, recreate the partition.

It installed eCS 2.0RC7 fine, switched Panorama resolution 1440x..., change the volume.
Rebooted 5 times without problems.

Last time instead of rebooting. I did a shut down. When the shut dowm message showed up, I turned off the computer.

When I started it again... the PMMERGE error showed up again. But, my two questions remains.

1) What is causing the problem ?  (yes the shut down, but which ecs component)
2) Find out how to fix an installation that had this error, since the only way I had found to fix it is to reinstall it again, which after some time it breaks again with this error. ?

any hint will be apreciated.
Martín Itúrbide
OS2World.com NewsMaster
Open Source Advocate

Skype - martiniturbide
Google Talk - martiniturbide@gmail.com

Radek

First of all, start maintenance console from your CD and check what is in your CONFIG.SYS. Check what is on lines 130 and 204 (and around them). Post your findings. PMMERGE is a DLL, not an EXE, so that it cannot be a PROTSHELL. The correct value should be:

PROTSHELL=PMSHELL.EXE

If you see PMMERGE.DLL there then change it to PMSHELL.EXE. The PMMERGE must be some terrible misunderstanding.

miturbide

#3
Here we go:

Looks strange. Counting the lines with tedit it lists - Line 130 and Arround

PRINTMONBUFSIZE=134,134,134
PRIORITY_DISK_IO=YES
PROTECTONLY=NO
PROTSHELL=C:\OS2\PMSHELL.EXE (This one is 130)
RESERVEDRIVELETTER=R
RMSIZE=640
SHELL=C:\OS2\MDOS\COMMAND.COM C:\OS2\MDOS
SUPPRESSPOPUPS=C


Line 204 and arround.

RUN=C:\OS2\SMSTART.EXE
RUN=C:\IBMLAN\NETPROG\LSDAEMON.EXE
RUN=C:\IBMLAN\NETPROG\VNRMINIT.EXE
RUN=C:\PROGRAMS\RSJCD\CDWFSD.EXE -p "C:/var/temp" -c20000 -b2048 -t2 -i3 -s0 (This one is 204 - First Error -)
RUN=C:\MMOS2\mididmon.exe
RUN=C:\MMOS2\mmhelpdd.exe
RUN=C:\MMOS2\qrymmcd.exe
RUN=C:\ECS\BIN\EVFSCTL.EXE


THe PMShell looks fine on the config.sys.
PROTSHELL=C:\OS2\PMSHELL.EXE
Martín Itúrbide
OS2World.com NewsMaster
Open Source Advocate

Skype - martiniturbide
Google Talk - martiniturbide@gmail.com

miturbide


ohh.

there is another error before the first SYS0193

Exec(dhcpstrt.exe, -i lan0 -d 0)=193SYS0193:PMMERGE can not be run in a OS/2 Session.


Martín Itúrbide
OS2World.com NewsMaster
Open Source Advocate

Skype - martiniturbide
Google Talk - martiniturbide@gmail.com

miturbide

ok,
I REM out the RUN=C:\PROGRAMS\RSJCD\CDWFSD.EXE .

The error is now. (Loading with Alt+F2)

C:\MPTN\BIN\CNTRL.EXE

C:\OS2\CMD.EXE
Exec(dhcpstrt.exe, -i lan0 -d 0)=193SYS0193:PMMERGE can not be run in a OS/2 Session.
C:\IBMCOM\PROTOCOL\NBTCP.EXE
Press Enter to Continue...


and it gets to PMSHELL.EXE and..

The file PMMERGE specified in the PROTSHELL statement on
line 130 of the CONFIG.SYS file does not contain a valid program.
Line 130 is ignored.
The system is stopped. Correct the preciding error and
restart the system.

Martín Itúrbide
OS2World.com NewsMaster
Open Source Advocate

Skype - martiniturbide
Google Talk - martiniturbide@gmail.com

Radek

This must be a madness of the CONFIG.SYS parser. First of all, it compains that it has PMMERGE in the PROTSHELL statement - and it does not. When you comment out a line from CONFIG.SYS then the parser invents another "error". The parser must be completely wrong with its parsing.

I cannot suggest anything reasonable here  :-\ One more experimenting: the line counter in the error messages seems to count only "valid" lines, not the blank or comment ones. The problematic lines are elsewhere, the code you have posted seems to be okay. Try to delete all blank lines and all comment lines from CONFIG.SYS and see what is now line 130 and line 204. No saving after the experiment, of course. Also, check that you have a blank line at the end of CONFIG.SYS. For some unknown reason, if CONFIG.SYS does not contain this line, you can get troubles during startup.

Pete

Hi

The config.sys parser is probably complaining that pmmerge.dll - which would be required to run pmshell.exe - is incorrect and/or damaged. Which may be a clue...

If Martin can boot from a different installation on that system (or install cd) it may be worth checking pmmerge.dll actually exists and looks correct - size and date wise - but I would start with my next suggestion.

Run chkdsk against the boot drive and then see if it can then boot OK.

Do *NOT* be fooled by a line like this in the config.sys file:-

IFS=L:\OS2\JFS.IFS /LW:5,20,4 /AUTOCHECK:*

What the above line does is simply check whether the flag indicating filesystem status is "clean"; it does not perform a chkdsk unless the flag says "dirty". If the system has not shutdown properly then the filesystem can be "dirty" but that flag may indicate "clean". That would certainly cause problems like Martin is experiencing.

As acpi is in such an unreliable state I now use this line in config.sys to check drives fully at each reboot - been caught too many times with inaccessible drives despite a supposedly "clean" shutdown when acpi.psd is in use:-

IFS=L:\OS2\JFS.IFS /LW:5,20,4 /AUTOCHECK:+G+H+I+J+K+L

Also worth mentioning: RC7 seems to "mung" ini files quickly compared to any other install of oS/2 I've ever had - dating back to 1995 - but I have no idea why. Maybe it is just something on my system but I run checkini and cleanini weekly on that system as opposed to about every 3 months on RC6a and 1.2 systems - same apps installed, same box, different boot volumes. Doubt if it is related to the current problem but...


Further advice for Martin when system is up'n'running:-

Check your acpi.psd line; you may benefit from using /SMP and /APIC plus whatever other switches the acpi docs indicate are suitable for Intel chipsets. You may also benefit from a later or earlier build of acpi - 3.16 is absolutely useless on nVidia nForce4 and 430 chipsets; I guess it may work fine on the Intel 82801...

Uniaud114RC6 is not very HDA capable and you may find the Paul Smedley builds work better - especially when you get acpi working fully. I guess you should start with the latest and work backwards http://download.smedley.info/uniaud-1.9.22-release.zip
Previous builds all start with uniaud-1.9.  OTOH: I'm sure I saw something about an Intel HDA specific build somewhere... Login to the "restricted betazone" via Mensys and you will find a uniuadtst4.zip (Yes, that is the spelling) package.


I hope the above chkdsk suggestion cures the problem.

Pete

miturbide

No Luck yet.

I had booted from the CD to see the size of PMMerge.DLL and PMSHell.EXE
I compared to another installation and they have the same data and size.

So, I tried making a clean install again. I formated the 30GB partitions (is a 120GB Sata disk on the laptop). I made format checking the option to check for errors. It took 6 hours to format the partition in HPFS.

Them in booted, eveyrthing went fine, rebooted some 4 times. But the same thing happen. When I shut down the computer (not reboot) and turn it on, the same PMMERGE error show up.

I made another installation formating the partition with JFS, it gave me a diferrent error when I turn the computer off. It starts and when loading PMSHELL it shows a black screen with the cursos blinking and it keeps there forever.

So, no luck yet.
I started to belive there is a CD installer problem, I checked for error on the CD with the installation utility, it gave me no error on the CD image.

I'm starting to belive there is a hardware problem with the SATA drive...but not sure about it cause the HDD is working fine when I plug it to an SATA USB adapter. Possible next week I will find a diferent HDD and Laptop to test it out.
Martín Itúrbide
OS2World.com NewsMaster
Open Source Advocate

Skype - martiniturbide
Google Talk - martiniturbide@gmail.com

Pete

Hi Martin

It sounds to me like either the start of a hardware failure (disk or controller) or the filesystem is not being shutdown properly before the system powers off.

Presuming it is not hardware failure: If using e/xWP is ACPI or APM selected for Power-Off on the e/xShutdown page of Desktop Properties? - try the other setting. Also uncheck the Animation options.

When you were last booted did you modify the config.sys to Force a real chkdsk on the boot drive as suggested previously? - worth trying.


There are apps to test the state of the hard drive and report potential failures, usually available from drive manufacturers support sites. Might be worth getting a copy and testing the drive.


The black screen with cursor could be startup waiting for the startup sound to play. The cause of that could be a munged mmpm.ini file - which could be hardware failure or filesystem not shutdown properly before power off; or the WPS went a bit crazy at shutdown and mangled the file.

Yet again could be worth using chkdsk.


Regards

Pete



Fahrvenugen

I ran into that difficulty a year or so ago with a Warp 4 FP15 install, it came up with PMMerge errors.

As I recall it turned out to be a high memory thing.  If I recall I changed the fat32.ifs driver switched to load it high, there was also another driver that could load high that I switched.  I think (if I recall) I also had to lower the Virtualaddresslimit setting.  Try setting it to something like 1024 or 1536 and see if that makes a difference.  And I might have had to tweak the disk cache settings too.

I recall it took me a bit of time to figure out what was going on.  I do recall the difficulty that I had is that it would either give me a pmmerge error or it would boot up to the desktop but then you couldn't open up any apps or even a command prompt (it would just error out).


osw

Quote from: miturbide on 2009.11.15, 16:41:55
No Luck yet.

(...)So, I tried making a clean install again. I formated the 30GB partitions (is a 120GB Sata disk on the laptop). I made format checking the option to check for errors. It took 6 hours to format the partition in HPFS.(...)


Hi!
The question is why you did your boot partition soooooo big? (2 gb is more than enough to make ecs/os2 happy - 4 gb is bigger than os/2 can eat up .... as a boot partition (i mean system, some libraries,additions, extenders etc., ..... it won't take 30 gb...)
Keeping datas on boot partition is not recomended anyway so make your boot partition reasonably small - and why not use jfs - which is faster on bigger partition (well it's faster on 2 gb partitions too...) - way faster than hpfs (hpfs386) - chkdsk  on 30 gb formated with hpfs can really be sloooow.... on jfs it's a matter of seconds.
I have no idea if it's reason of your troubles nor if it helps but it won't hurt too.

Pete

Hi osw

I totally agree that a boot volume should be operating system - plus maybe a few system related addons eg xwp, cups - and data and apps should be on different volume(s) as it allows upgrading the os with minimal fuss.

I cannot agree about chkdsk being quick on jfs though... are you thinki9ng of the chkdsk that funs at boot? That only checks the state of the filesystem flag; it does not perform a chkdsk unless that flag is set "dirty".

You may be right that chkdsk on jfs is quicker than on hpfs for the same size volumes but I doubt it is by much. I do not have a hpfs volume of any size available to test that though...


Regards

Pete




rwklein

Quote from: Pete on 2009.11.16, 18:06:31
Hi osw

I totally agree that a boot volume should be operating system - plus maybe a few system related addons eg xwp, cups - and data and apps should be on different volume(s) as it allows upgrading the os with minimal fuss.

I cannot agree about chkdsk being quick on jfs though... are you thinki9ng of the chkdsk that funs at boot? That only checks the state of the filesystem flag; it does not perform a chkdsk unless that flag is set "dirty".

You may be right that chkdsk on jfs is quicker than on hpfs for the same size volumes but I doubt it is by much. I do not have a hpfs volume of any size available to test that though...


Regards

Pete





JFS works more advanced it does not perform a chkdsk until the dirty flag is set. Then if it is dirty it checks its replay log see if everything is OK. If it finds its  journal log is bust or not reliable for what ever reason it performs a full 8 phase chkdsk on the volume.

Roderick Klein
Mensys

Pete

Hi Roderick

I've had a few odd crashes and when the system has been rebooted I guess the "dirty" flag is not set as chkdsk only did the quick check; but the boot then fails to with various "silly" error messages - such as Martin is experiencing - because it needs a run with chkdsk.

Hence my advice to Martin to force chkdsk to run.

Regards

Pete