Warp Desktop Problems and Recovering User INI Files

01/05/1995

Please Read Entire Document for Full Explanation of Procedures


 * Desktop Problems

Following are solutions to problems you might have with the Desktop after installing OS/2 WARP.

SYMPTOMS:

The System Stops and the Keyboard and Mouse do not respond

1. Press Ctrl+Esc or Alt+Esc and wait a few seconds to see if the system responds.

2. Determine if you can move the mouse but cannot select any object when you press mouse button 1.

3. Press the Caps Lock and Num Lock keys to see if their status lights come on.

4. Record a description of what you were doing when the system stopped. If any messages were displayed on the screen, be sure to record the message text and number.

5. Refer to the Service and Support brochure in the OS/2 package for instructions about calling for additional assistance.


 * Missing Icons

After restarting the system, some of the Desktop icons might be missing.

Check the documentation for the hard drive and the controller card to ensure that their settings are both set for the ASYNCH mode or the SYNCH mode.


 * Stacked Icons

If the objects on the Desktop appear to be stacked on each other, you can refresh the Desktop:

1. Position the mouse pointer on a blank area of the Desktop.

2. Press the right mouse button, a pop-up menu appears.

3. Select Refresh.

4. If the screen goes blank, press Alt+Esc to switch between programs and force the "repainting" of the screen.


 * DOS and Windows Programs not Added to the Desktop

During the installation of OS/2, the existing DOS and Windows programs are automatically added to the OS/2 Desktop. However, the installation program might not find all programs, for example, programs located on remote servers. If this happens, restart the system, and run the Add Programs to Desktop utility program. Add Programs to Desktop is located in the System Setup folder, which is located in the OS/2 System folder.


 * OS/2 2.X Programs not Added to the Desktop

If you installed OS/2 on a system that already had OS/2 2.X installed on it and the OS/2 2.X programs were not added to the Desktop, do the following:

1. Turn on the computer. If the computer is already on, press Ctrl+Alt+Del to restart the system.

2. When a small white box appears in the upper left corner of the screen, press Alt+F1.

3. When the Recovery Choices screen appears, press C.

4. Delete the DESKTOP directory.

5. Press Ctrl+Alt+Del to restart the system. The Desktop should be re-created.

6. If the problem continues, re-create the INI files. Follow the instructions in "Rebuilding Your Desktop" in this document.

If you moved program groups off the Desktop and into a folder, you should move them back on the Desktop before installing OS/2. Otherwise, duplicate icons could appear on the screen. If you try to delete these icons, the original icons will also be deleted.


 * Blank Desktop and Missing Objects

If the Desktop is blank, objects are missing, you cannot delete an object, or you have another program that involves objects, run the CHKDSK (check disk) program until the results indicate there are no errors. To run CHKDSK, do the following:

1. Insert the Installation Diskette in drive A:. Press Ctrl+Alt+Del to restart the system.

2. When prompted, remove the Installation Diskette and insert Diskette 1.

3. Press F3 in the Welcome screen to exit the command prompt.

4. Insert Diskette 2.

5. Type: CHKDSK C:/F:2 and press Enter (where C is the OS/2 drive.)


 * Object Cannot be Deleted

If you cannot delete an object:
 * 1) Create a folder.
 * 2) Drag the object you want to delete to the new folder and drop it.
 * 3) Drag the new folder to the Shredder and drop it.

If you cannot shred the folder, do the following:
 * 1) At an OS/2 command prompt, type: CD DESKTOP and press Enter.
 * 2) After the DESKTOP directory opens, type: RD directory and press Enter. (where directory is replaced by the name of the directory (folder) that you want to delete).


 * Recovery Procedures

The following procedures provide information for recovering from Desktop problems and system failures, including:

A. A damaged, unusable, or unstartable desktop.

B. An invalid CONFIG.SYS file.

C. A damaged INI file.

D. Hard disk errors.

E. A forgotten lockup password.

NOTE: Backing up the system regularly might help avoid having to re-create files if there is a system failure.

If your Desktop becomes damaged, unusable, or unstartable, you can recover in two ways:

A. Use the Archive/Recover utility program to restore the Desktop to a previously saved state.

B. Rebuild the exiting Desktop.


 * Recovery Choices

The Recovery Choices screen lets you specify how the system is to restart while a restart is in progress. Display the Recovery Choices screen during the restart by pressing Alt+F1 when a small white box appears in the upper left corner of the screen. If you want the system to display the Recovery Choices screen each time it restarts, select Display Recovery Choices At Every System Restart on the Archive page of the Desktop Settings notebook.

On the Recovery Choices screen, you can:
 * 1) Select the set of archived system files that the system is to use to restart.
 * 2) Continue using the originally installed system files to restart, and go to a command line
 * 3) Continue using the original installation files to restart, and reset the primary display to VGA.
 * 4) Restart the system using a customized CONFIG.SYS file that you have created.

Each set of archived files appears on the Recovery Choices screen with the date and time when the files were archived. The choices are numbered 1, 2, 3 or, for the original installation files, X. Select the files that you want the system to restart with by pressing 1, 2, 3, or X on the keyboard. The system continues to restart using the set of archived files represented by the number or character you pressed.

To go to a command line without changing the system files, press the C key on the keyboard.

To reset the primary display to VGA, press the V key on the keyboard.

The character keys are not case sensitive.

To restart the system using a customized version of the CONFIG.SYS file, type an alphabetic character that corresponds to the name of a of a CONFIG.SYS file that you created.


 * Recovering Archived System Files

OS/2 can archive key system files as well as the DESKTOP directory each time you start OS/2. The default setting for this feature is OFF. (The Archive function can be turned ON using the Archive page of the Desktop Settings notebook.)

When the Archive function is turned ON, the state of the key system files and Desktop as they existed at the last three "starts" of OS/2 are saved. Each time you restart OS/2, the oldest set of archived System files is deleted and the current System files are saved. OS/2 also keeps a permanent archive of the Desktop and key files as they existed when OS/2 was first installed, so you can always restore the system to its original state.

SYMPTOMS:

1. Folders Open and Close Immediately

2. Missing, Empty, or Multiple Objects on Desktop

-  The Desktop is missing objects or there is more than one icon for the same object. -  One or more Desktop folders are empty. -  After you shutdown the computer and start it again, the objects on the Desktop are not displayed the same as when you shut down.

NOTE: If this does not fix the problem, see "Rebuilding Your Desktop" in this document.

To use the archived System files:

1. Turn on the computer. If the computer is already on, perform a shut down, then press Ctrl+Alt+Del to restart it.

2. When a small white box appears in the upper left corner of the screen (before the OS/2 logo screen appears), press Alt+F1.

3. A screen listing the three most recent archives appears. Do one of the following:

a. Type the number of the archive you want to use to restore the system.

b. Type X to restore the system to its original state (as it was when you first installed OS/2).

c. Type C to get an OS/2 command prompt (for example, if you want to edit the CONFIG.SYS file).

d. Type V to reset the primary display to VGA (for example, if you think your Desktop is not damaged but cannot be seen because you need to reinstall your VGA device drivers).

Creating CONFIG.SYS Files
In some cases, you need different CONFIG.SYS files to create environments specific to the kinds of work you are doing. For example, when you use a laptop computer with a docking station, you might want a CONFIG.SYS file that supports your laptop computer and one that supports your desktop computer.

You can create different versions of the CONFIG.SYS file, and, during restart, specify from the Recovery Choices screen which version the system should use. You can also customize the Recovery Choices screen to display your customized CONFIG.SYS file choices.

The following steps describe how to create and use multiple CONFIG.SYS files. In these steps, ? is any unique single alphabetic character EXCEPT: X, x, C, c, V, or v. These steps use C as the root directory. If you installed OS/2 on a drive other than C, replace the C in the path name with the drive letter of the root directory.

1. Save a copy of the current CONFIG.SYS file.

You can save a copy of the current CONFIG.SYS file by copying it to a diskette. Otherwise, you can copy the current CONFIG.SYS file to the C:\OS\BOOT subdirectory, and rename it to CONFIG.?. If you copy and rename CONFIG.SYS, be   sure to make a note of the new name and directory so you can restore it later.

2. Copy C:CONFIG.SYS to C:\OS2\BOOT\CONFIG.? a. Customize the new file with the modifications that you need.

3. Copy the customized CONFIG.? file to the current CONFIG.SYS file.

There are two ways to copy the CONFIG.? file. You can enter the copy command at the OS/2 command prompt, or you can create an OS/2 batch file that runs during restart AFTER the system processes C:\CONFIG.SYS. a. Replacing Your CONFIG.SYS file with CONFIG.?

If you have only one customized CONFIG.? file, or if you do not plan to change between CONFIG.SYS and CONFIG.? often, you might choose to copy over CONFIG.SYS with the customized CONFIG.? file. Copying over C:\CONFIG.SYS with your customized file the default CONFIG.SYS file. The command to copy your customized file to the current CONFIG.SYS file is:

COPY C:\OS2\BOOT\CONFIG.? C:\CONFIG.SYS

Using your customized CONFIG.? file as the default file lets you to restart without selecting a CONFIG.? file at the Recovery Choices screen.

You can now restart the system. When you restart, the system automatically uses the file in the root directory named CONFIG.SYS.

b. Creating a Batch File to Replace CONFIG.SYS with CONFIG.?

If you have several customized CONFIG.SYS files, using the batch file allows you to specify the CONFIG.? you want to use without entering multiple copy commands. You can simply change the ? character in the batch file, and enter that character in the batch file, and enter that character at the Recovery Choices screen.

Create a batch file on C:\OS2\BOOT, and name it       ALTF1?.CMD, where ? is the character that you used in the name of the CONFIG.? file. Put the following COPY command in the batch file.

COPY C:\OS2\BOOT\CONFIG.? C:\CONFIG.SYS

Display the Recovery Choices screen by pressing Ctrl+Alt+Del to restart the system and then pressing Alt+F1.

At the Recovery Choices screen, press the key for the ? single character in the name of the CONFIG.? file you want to use.

The system continues the restart using the customized CONFIG.? file.

NOTE: If you enter a character from the Recovery Choices screen for which there is no corresponding CONFIG.? or ALTF1?.CMD batch file, the system returns to the Recovery Choices screen.

Example:

The following example shows how to create a CONFIG.SYS file named CONFIG.A, and a batch file to copy it during restart. The system is installed on the C drive. Before you start, save a copy of the current CONFIG.SYS file.

1. Copy the system version of CONFIG.SYS into a new file called CONFIG.A:                   COPY CONFIG.SYS C:\OS2\BOOT\CONFIG.A        2.  Change to the C:\OS2\BOOT directory. 3. Edit CONFIG.A to customize it, and save your changes. 4. Create a file called ALTF1A.CMD: E ALTF1A.CMD 5. Put the following COPY command into ALTF1A.CMD, and save the changes: COPY C:\OS2\BOOT\CONFIG.A                   C:\CONFIG.SYS 6. Press Ctrl+Alt+Del to restart the system. Press Alt+F1 when the small white box appears in the upper left corner of the screen. 7. When the Recovery Choices screen appears, type the letter A.

Displaying CONFIG.SYS Choice on the Recovery Choices Screen
You can customize your Recovery Choices screen to display the list of customized CONFIG.? files that you created.

To customize the Recovery Choices screen, edit the file C:\OS2\BOOT\ALTF1BOT.SCR. (if you installed OS/2 on a drive other than C, specify the drive on which OS/2 is installed.) You can add up to 6 lines of text to the bottom of this file.

Each line that you add, should represent a single CONFIG.? file that you created. Each line should include the alphabetic character that identifies that CONFIG.? file. You might also want to include a brief, one-line description of when to use that version of the CONFIG.? file.

For example, to display the option for the CONFIG.A file on the Recovery Choices screen, you might add the following to the file: C:\OS2\BOOT\ALTF1BOT.SCR:

Rebuilding the Desktop
SYMPTOMS: 1. Missing Objects in the OS/2 System Folder. 2. Missing Empty or Multiple Objects on Desktop Note: This may be performed after using the Recovering Archived System Files, and the problem still is             not fixed. 3. Installing and on final restart, the system has a blank desktop with or without a clock on the screen.

PROCEDURES: 1. Turn on the computer. If the computer is already on, press Ctrl+Alt+Del to restart the system. 2. When a small white box appears in the upper left corner of the screen, press Alt+F1. 3. When the Recovery Choices screen appears, press C.  4.  Change to the OS/2 directory on the hard disk. Type the following commands and press Enter after each: CD\OS2 MAKEINI OS2.INI INI.RC        MAKEINI OS2SYS.INI INISYS.RC  5.  Delete the hidden file WP?ROOT.?SF from the startable partition. Type the following commands and press Enter after each: ATTRIB -h -s -r \WP?ROOT.?SF DEL \WP?ROOT.?SF 6. Press Ctrl+Alt+Del to restart the system.

Recovering the CONFIG.SYS File
The CONFIG.SYS file contains command statements used to configure the system during startup. If the file is changed incorrectly, you might not be able to restart the system or edit the file. For example, some programs write information to the CONFIG.SYS file when they are installed. In some cases, this information can cause the CONFIG.SYS file to be unusable. To recover the original version of the CONFIG.SYS file (as it was created when OS/2 was installed), do the following: If you made any changes to the CONFIG.SYS file after the original installation, you must edit the newly copied CONFIG.SYS file and add those changes.
 * 1) Turn on the computer.  If the computer is already on, press Ctrl+Alt+Del to restart the system.
 * 2) When a small white box appears in the upper left corner of the screen, press Alt+F1.
 * 3) When the Recovery Choices screen appears, press C.
 * 4) Rename the damaged CONFIG.SYS file.  for example, type: REN CONFIG.SYS CONFIG.BAD
 * 5) Press Enter.
 * 6) Copy the backup version of the CONFIG.SYS file to the root directory of the drive where the operating system resides. (The CONFIG.SYS backup file was created during OS/2 installation).  Type: COPY C:\OS2\INSTALL\CONFIG.SYS C:\CONFIG.SYS
 * 7) Press Enter.
 * 8) Press Ctrl+Alt+Del to restart the system.

Recovering the USER INI File
The OS2.INI file, also referred to as the user INI file, is an operating system startup file that contains system settings such as program defaults, display options and file options. The OS2SYS.INI file, also referred to as the system INI file, is an operating system file that contains information about installed fonts and printer drivers. If you receive a message that the OS2.INI file has been "corrupted", replace both the OS2.INI file and the OS2SYS.INI file on the hard disk.

Use the following procedure to replace the two files with versions containing default values:
 * 1) Turn on the computer. If the computer is already on, press Ctrl+Alt+Del to restart the system.
 * 2) When a small white box appears in the upper left corner of the screen, press Alt+F1.
 * 3) When the Recovery Choices screen appears, press C.
 * 4) Type:  CD \OS2 and press Enter.
 * 5) Type:  ATTRIB -s -h-r OS2*.INI and press Enter.
 * 6) Type:  REN OS2.INI OS2.OLD and press Enter.
 * 7) Type:  MAKEINI OS2.INI INI.RC and press Enter.
 * 8) Type:  REN OS2SYS.INI OS2SYS.OLD and press Enter.
 * 9) Type:  MAKEINI OS2SYS.INI INISYS.OLD and press Enter.
 * 10) Press Ctrl+Alt+Del to restart the system.

You can protect the INI files by having them automatically backed up each time you start the system. For example, if you include the following statements in the CONFIG.SYS file, a backup copy of the current INI files and a backup copy of the INI files as they existed at the previous system startup is be made. (Note that this example assumes that OS/2 is installed on drive C. Use the letter of the drive on which you have OS/2 installed.) CALL=C:\OS2\XCOPY.EXE C:\OS2\*.INX C:\OS2\*.INY CALL=C:\OS2\XCOPY.EXE C:\OS2\OS2*.INI C:\OS2\*.INX By copying the INI files, you can always recover a recent version of these files if the INI file becomes damaged.

IBM disclaims all warranties, whether express or implied, including without limitation, warranties of fitness and merchantability with respect to the information in this document. By furnishing this document, IBM grants no licenses to any related patents or copyrights.