Changing Stacks

[Hortensia]

I reformatted the computer and have not been able to install a new windows. It says something about changing the stacks in the config.sys. How do I get there now that the c: is empty? I tried edit sys (I am a rookie) no luck. Help please. Thanks

[AlaricD]

Usually, the DOS editor is called "edit.com". However, having recently formatted, you might not have a text editor on the hard drive.

If you can't find a copy of "EDIT.COM" on your boot disk or "raw" on a Windows setup disk (I assume you're installing Windows 3.1, as the Win9x setup disk gives you edit.com), then you'll have to do some old-school "copy con" action or install the full MS-DOS. (You'll need it for EDIT.COM and in some cases EDIT.COM and .BAS, as well as GWBASIC.EXE. If you have EDLIN (DOS 3.x, maybe DOS 5.0) then copy con is slightly better, although not leaving much room for error.)

At any rate, typing this at the C:\> should give you the stacks you need.
First, type copy config.sys config.123 and press enter. This will back up your existing config.sys. If you didn't already have one, it will say "File not found".

copy con config.sys and press enter. Your prompt will go away (it may ask if you want to overwrite the original file, say yes.)
Then type stacks=9,512 and press enter (or, use the values the setup suggested, such as 9,256.) You'll still be missing the prompt. Type a ctrl-Z (it will look like ^Z when you do that) and hit enter. It should say 1 file(s) copied.

A note about stacks-- the first number is the number of stacks, the second number is the size of the stack in bytes. So, you don't have 9 thousand stacks, you have 9 that are 512 or 256 bytes each.

------------------
Am386DX-40 + Cx387DX-40
32MB, 128KB cache
(2) 540MB HD's
8x CD
2MB Video
SB16 PnP
DR-DOS 7.04
Win3.11 w/ Win32s
--
Just because it's unusual doesn't make it a virus!
Ping is NOT an acronym!

[Mrs Bones]

Firstly, check to see if you have the correct default stacks setting in your config.sys file. To do this go to Start, Run then type sysedit and click OK. You will then have a number of windows on your screen. Click on config.sys and there should be a line which reads STACKS=9,128. If it is there, then you will have to add more stacks. If it’s not there add it and it should cure your problem. To do this, add the following line to the [386Enh] section of the System.ini fileMinSPs=4 and then restart your computer: If the problem persists, increase the number of spare stack pages in increments of 4 (for example, 8, 12, 16). Each spare stack page requires 4 kilobytes of memory. If all else fails, then try here: http://support.microsoft.com/support.../Q145/7/99.asp

[AlaricD]

Originally posted by Mrs Bones:
To do this go to Start, Run then type sysedit and click OK.

Difficult to do when you've just formatted and Windows is not even installed. And if he's installing Windows 3.1, there's no "Start" button. Instead, the Run command is found on Program Manager's "File" menu.



------------------
Am386DX-40 + Cx387DX-40
32MB, 128KB cache
(2) 540MB HD's
8x CD
2MB Video
SB16 PnP
DR-DOS 7.04
Win3.11 w/ Win32s
--
Just because it's unusual doesn't make it a virus!
Ping is NOT an acronym!

[Mrs Bones]

Ooops! I got my O/S mixed up - sorry!

You can type edit config.sys at the command prompt to open the MS Dos editor, or as AlaricD said from the run command in progman.exe