BLX-286: Error 1304

[jonesee]

Hi,

When we acquired a new company, it has a legacy application developed long ago in what I supposed is Clipper. It runs on Win 98 machines, but we get the following error when we run it on Win Xp machine (Service Pack 2)

=============================================

BLX286 : 1304 : cannot use XMS host with current memory manager configuration

This is a DOS extended program which requires a minimum of a
286 processor and at least 512KB of available DPMI, VCPI or XMS
memory to run. Please ensure that your system is configured
with a memory manager which provides these resources.

==================================================

On the autoexec.nt, I have
- Set Clipper to F100
- Set the path to the application directory

On the config.nt, I have
- Set Files to 100

On the PIF,

I have conventional memory set to 640, protected and initial environment to 4096

Expanded memory set to 4096
Extended memory set to 4096 using HMA
MS-DOS Protected memory (DPMI) set to 4096

I have 256 MB RAM.

What's wrong with the setup? Any comment will be greatly appreciated. Thanks

Jonesee

 

[TonHu]

Turn at least EMS (expanded) memory off in the pif, and add ;E0 to the set clipper setting (giving Set CLIPPER=F100;E0)
ATM don't have the norton guides at hand to lookup the errorcode.

HTH
TonHu

 

[sboomer]

From the NG:
This message indicates that the DOS extender cannot switch to protected mode due to the configuration of 386 memory management software.
When a 386 memory manager is present, the DOS extender is not permitted to use its own mode switching modes to enter or leave protected mode. Instead, it must use eithr VCPI or DPMI mode switching services provided by the memory manager software.
This message indicates that a 386 memory manager ( or similar ) is running on the system, but there are no DPMI or VCPI services available to the extender ( or the extender has been configured not to use those services through the link time commands, or through the BLINKER environment variable ).

Solutions:

If possible, configure the memory manager to provide DPMI services. Ensure the extender's use of VCPI or DPMI has not been disabled by link time commands (eg: BLINKER HOST VCPI OFF ), or by runtime switches contained in the BLINKER environment variable.
Very old memory managers may not be able to provide VCPI services so such memory managers may need to be removed before the Blinker extender can operate.

HTH
Sam Boomer

 

[jonesee]

Hi TonHu and Sam Boomer,

Thanks for the reply.

I tried Tonhu's suggestion to add ;E0 to the clipper variable, and turned off EMS support. Same error was reported.

On Sam's reply, I have the DPMI turned on and set to 4096 in the PIF.

I don't have the source code for this application so I couldn't recompile and re-link it (besides, I don't have blinker anymore).

Mes mea culpa maxima, but I'm one of those who have since migrated to the VB6/SQL environment about a decade ago.

Any other suggestions would be really most appreciated.

Regards,

Jonesee

 

[TonHu]

If you *really* need to run the app, fire up a PC-Emulator like VM-Ware, install a DOS 6.x inside it, and run the app from there, but this should be a last resort, as I have several Blinker protected-mode apps running in 'normal' cmd windows on my XP (sp1). Can't imagine it has anything to do with the sp2 upgrade, but haven't gotten around to that phase yet...

HTH
TonHu