FPD2.6 won't run with SP2

[steve3739]

Just installed Service Pack 2 for Windows XP. Foxpro 2.6 for Dos will not run now. Received the following error when starting foxpro.exe from a Command prompt:

"The NTVDM CPU has encountered an illegal instruction."

I have tried all the compatibility modes, but that makes no difference.
Called Microsoft Support, and they were no help. Does anyone have a a solution other than uninstalling SP2?

Thanks,
Steve

 

[jsams]

Hi Steve,

Don't know if this helps for FPD but I did get FPW to run in XP with SP2. Had to play with the CONFIG.FPW file and leave the 3rd parm off the MEMLIMIT.

MEMLIMIT = 90, 8192

That finally worked for me, got very bizarre results with a 3rd parameter.

John

 

[steve3739]

Hi John,
Just tried your suggestion, but unfortunately, it did not help.

Will keep looking.
Steve

 

[rgbean]

I'm not seeing any difference running FP 2.0, FPD 2.5b or FPD 2.6a under SP2 compared to XP or XP SP1. In all cases they can "hang" unless you use TameDOS (

http://www.tamedos.com/)

or DOSIdle - free if you can find it.

Rick

 

[steve3739]

Hi Rick,
Thanks for your suggestion. I downloaded and installed TameDOS.exe, but that too did not solve the problem. Am still getting the NTVDM CPU error when starting FPD2.6 from a command prompt.

Interesting that FPD runs for you. I installed SP2 (when it first came out in Aug) on a Dell and FPD ran fine with no problem. But when I installed SP2 this week on 3 IBMs, all had the same problem with FPD. Did Microsoft make a change to SP2 in the interim, or might the problem be tied to the hardware?

Still looking.
Steve

 

[rob444]

Create a desktop link and put:
C:\WINDOWS\system32\cmd.exe /D /C "mode con lines=25 && d:\progdir\myprog.exe"

as "Target" in it.
Of course with the appropriate paths...

Rob.

 

[steve3739]

Hi Rob,
I really appreciate your help. But, sadly, it did not work. Still getting the NTVDM CPU error when starting foxpro.exe, and when starting foxproX.exe the banner screen displays, and hangs from there.

Thanks (& still hoping)
Steve

 

[rob444]

Hi Steve,

Too bad!

This is the line I start foxprox with:
(in the link under program / command)
%SystemRoot%\system32\cmd.exe /D /C "mode con lines=25 && f:\fp26\foxprox.exe"

There are also some posts on the NTVDM problem, perhaps you could search for it.

Rob.

 

[rob444]

Oh Steve,

one tip:
Don't use the foxpro-dos-clock!

Rob.

 

[bobmpalmer]

Steve

Check the following at

http://www-1.ibm.com/support/docvie...6bc200619065&loc=en_US&cs=utf-8&cc=us&lang=en

Many DOS programs, (Reclaim.exe, Analyze.exe, Router.exe) will generate almost identical results. The actual cause is the path of the CMD session being too long. In this case it is 246 characters long. For information on how to determine the length of the CMD path, refer to the Supporting Information section below.

Solution
Use the path statement within the CMD session to lower the length of the PATH to only what is needed. In the above case, the WINNT, WINNT\SYSTEM32 , and program directory where Notify.exe resided were all that was needed. This can easily be incorporated into batch processes as well.

Hope it helps, it might point you in the right direction.

Bob Palmer

http://www.resisystems.co.uk

The most common solution is H2O!

 

[NasibKalsi]

Hello Steave:
I am using XP pro on a Toshiba notebook, and have no problem with service pack 2 v.2096. I have FAT32 partition.

1. If you have the ability to boot with win98 diskette and then try to run just fox.exe.

2. Create a Fat32/FAT16 partition and copy the fpd26 directory to it. Try option 1 now.

3. Try installing XP on a new or reformatted hard disk.

4. Reinstall foxpro.


Try it

Nasib Kalsi

 

[steve3739]

Hi Rob, Bob, and Nasib,
I just got back to the office (it's Monday morning), and I really appreciate your responses. It will be later in the day before I can try your suggestions, but believe me, I will be trying them all. We have a specialized import business and all of our accounting, inventory, billing, payables, general ledger, etc is written in Foxplus and Foxpro for DOS. They may be old programs, but they have been customized and do exactly what we need. Several years of looking at newer Windows based programs have left us pretty unimpressed. So we are trying to hang on as long a possible.

Until later, thanks all,
Steve

 

[JRB-Bldr]

It sounds as though you may quickly be approaching the time when converting from FPD2.6 to VFP is worth considering.

Making the VFP conversion would allow you to maintain all of the customized programming that you have previously developed and still get into the Windows "world". At the same time eliminating the DOS running under XP issues.

Yes, you would encounter some conversion issues, but the majority of the code itself will run "as is" if desired. In general, only the screens, and printer work would need to be changed.

Good Luck,


JRB-Bldr
VisionQuest Consulting
Business Analyst & CIO Consulting Services
CIOServices@yahoo.com

 

[rgbean]

One additional "solution" that I hadn't considered before, is to use Virtual PC (

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/virtualpc/default.mspx)

or VMWare (

http://www.vmware.com/products/desktop/ws_features.html).

I've been playing with VPC for a couple weeks now to continue testing on our apps on Win98SE without having to keep the second PC on my desk!

While it's not cheap if you have a lot of users, it's worth a look for you just need it for a few users. You can then run FP DOS apps in their native DOS 6.22!

Rick

 

[steve3739]

Hi All,
PROLEM HAS BEEN SOLVED! After looking over the list of suggestions this morning, I thought I would try what seemed to be the easiest - reinstalling Foxpro, as suggested by Nasib. Although I did a clean FPD26 install when we got the machines new, I went ahead and deleted all the files in the FPD26 program directory, then reinstalled from the original floppies. I did not think FPD26 knew anything about Windows, so I was real surprised when FPD26 started with no errors! Have now done two machines with success. My face if pretty red right now for not having thought to do this when the problem first came up. But I really do appreciate all the help and suggestions you guys provided. You've saved me a lot of time and frustration. It's great to know there are knowledgeable and generous people out there. Hope I can return the favor for someone down the road.
For the record, I'm already using VFP for any new apps. We have about 50,000 lines of DOS code (written mostly when we had still had 8086s and Win 95 was new & shiny) so I've been kind of reluctant to try porting it over, but it's something I'll try in the near future.
Thanks again to you all. Vote early & often, and may your guy win!
Regards,
Steve

 

[NasibKalsi]

Hi Steve/All:

I am relieved that you have solved the problem. I want to share the same feeling that there are generous and knowldgable folks around us and keep us above water. I want to send "big thank you" to the producer of the forum who keeps us bound.

Nasib Kalsi