OS/2 FAQ List: User's Edition (4 Apr 94)

(4.1) Installation

I am having trouble installing OS/2 2.1.  What should I do?

First consult the Installation Guide and other materials accompanying OS/2 
2.1.  Make sure your PC meets the system requirements in (2.1) Hardware 
Requirements.

And if the following instructions do not help, fall back on IBM's toll 
free technical support (phone 800-992-4777 in the United States) and/or 
consult IBM's Tips and Techniques file [See (3.2) Shareware and Freeware 
Sources].

 o Midway through installation of OS/2 2.1 from CD-ROM, do not place a 
   check mark in the box next to the CD-ROM Device Support option on the 
   System Configuration screen.  Do not attempt to view or change this 
   CD-ROM drive selection.

 o When installing OS/2 2.1 from a CD-ROM drive that requires a driver not 
   supplied by IBM, copy the OS/2 .ADD driver file to a copy of Diskette 1 
   and add the line:

   BASEDEV=xxxxxxxx.ADD

   to the end of the diskette's CONFIG.SYS file.  After installation, if 
   your CD-ROM drive is not functioning correctly, follow these steps 
   (changing "C:" if necessary):

     1. Copy the files OS2CDROM.DMD and CDFS.IFS from Diskette 1 to 
        directory C:\OS2.

     2. Edit CONFIG.SYS and add the following lines to the end of the 
        file:

        BASEDEV=OS2CDROM.DMD /Q
        IFS=CDFS.IFS /Q

     3. Reboot.

     4. Start Selective Install from the System Setup folder.  Check the 
        CD-ROM Device Support checkbox on the System Configuration screen. 
         Click OK to display the list of CD-ROM drives.  Select the 
        appropriate choice (usually OTHER) and click OK.

     5. Continue the Selective Install procedure until complete, then 
        reboot.

 o If you have formatted any of your hard drives with HPFS under OS/2 2.0, 
   and you have upgraded to OS/2 2.1, go to an OS/2 command line (window 
   or full screen) and type:

   CHKDSK x:

   where x is the drive letter.  Repeat for all HPFS drives on your 
   system.  If you see the error SYS0551 you should immediately contact 
   IBM for the "OS2DASD Fix," usually filename 21DISK.ZIP (or download it 
   from (3.2) Shareware and Freeware Sources).

 o Some PCs have trouble printing under OS/2 2.1.  This problem can often 
   be traced to an interrupt conflict, a substandard cable, an interfering 
   software security "dongle," or a faulty printer adapter.  LPT1 uses IRQ 
   7, and LPT2, if installed, uses IRQ 5.  Interrupts should not be shared 
   on AT bus machines.  The SoundBlaster, for example, comes set to IRQ 7. 
    Reset it to an unused interrupt.

 o Make sure adapters with onboard ROMs are not conflicting with other 
   adapters.  For example, many SuperVGA adapters use large segments of 
   upper memory, and many hard disk adapters have onboard ROMs which can 
   be mapped into the same areas.  Adapters must not share address space 
   or interrupts.  Check your product manuals for more help.  To resolve 
   conflicts, try writing down the DMA channel(s), interrupt (IRQ) 
   level(s), I/O or port addresses, and ROM or upper memory addresses used 
   by every device in your system.  Conflicts should then be readily 
   apparent.

 o Be sure adequate free disk space is available before installing, 
   including space for a swap file.  Drives compressed using Stacker, 
   DoubleSpace, or similar utilities should be uncompressed before 
   installing (unless access to these drives from OS/2 is not needed).  [A 
   DoubleSpace converting, OS/2 version of Stacker is available, as is 
   Proportional Software's (phone 303-484-2665) DCF/2 on-the-fly disk 
   compression package.]

 o Do not select HPFS when installing if your machine has 6 MB of RAM or 
   less, or diminished performance will likely result.  Change the 
   IFS=...HPFS line in your CONFIG.SYS to REM IFS=... if necessary.

 o Be sure your CMOS setup parameters are set correctly, especially those 
   relating to floppy drives.  RAM should be given sufficient wait states 
   and precharge cycles.  Test with cache memory and/or shadow RAM 
   disabled if necessary.  The AT bus should run at 8 MHz.  For best 
   performance, make sure all your RAM is set to be cacheable.

 o If you are using the IBMINT13.I13 driver to access an MFM, RLL, or ESDI 
   hard drive, and the hard drive has more than 1024 cylinders, be certain 
   your hard disk adapter's sector translation mode is enabled. 
    Regardless of the driver you use, make sure your boot partition is 
   completely inside the first 1024 cylinders.

 o Older Adaptec SCSI adapters may require a free BIOS upgrade to 
   recognize hard disks larger than 1 GB.  Adaptec can be reached at 
   800-442-7274 or 408-945-8600.  Some Quantum LPS105AT IDE hard disks 
   require a free ROM update (to Version 2.6) from the manufacturer to 
   work with OS/2.

 o If your AMI keyboard BIOS is below Revision F you may need an update. 
    Contact Washburn & Assoc. (phone 716-248-3627) for an inexpensive 
   replacement.

 o Check to make sure keyboard DIP switches are set correctly.  For 
   example, if the keyboard is attached to a system with an AT bus it 
   should typically be switched to "AT" mode.

 o "Autoswitching" on non-IBM EGA adapters should be disabled (usually 
   with a DIP switch or jumper setting).  In rare cases it may be 
   necessary to switch third party VGA/SuperVGA adapters into 8-bit mode 
   and/or disable "autosense."  See (2.2) SuperVGA Support.

 o OS/2 is particularly sensitive to bad RAM or cache memory (often 
   reflected in TRAP 0002 error messages).  Use a thorough RAM testing 
   utility, and try not to mix 9-chip and 3-chip SIMM/SIPP memory modules. 
    When upgrading, avoid adding RAM which is not rated (in nanoseconds) 
   at least as fast (i.e. with an equal or lower number) as the RAM 
   already in the system.

 o Allow several minutes for OS/2 2.1 to build your desktop (and display 
   icons) at the end of installation -- take the Tutorial offered to you 
   in the meantime.  Avail yourself of the "Start Here" icon, the other 
   online help, and the README file located in the root directory.  They 
   will help in getting started with the Workplace Shell and in properly 
   configuring your system.

 o When installing over a beta version of OS/2 be sure to reformat.

 o To install the Upgrade Edition of OS/2 2.1, DOS or OS/2 must already 
   reside on the hard disk.  If Diskette 1 is not write protected then the 
   installation program will record a file indicating that upgrade terms 
   have been satisfied and, in the future, will not require DOS or OS/2 on 
   the hard disk to install.

 o OS/2 uses the same diskette format as DOS, so use DISKCOPY to backup 
   the installation diskettes and verify that none have been corrupted.

 o Owners of IBM PS/2s should make sure that any applicable ECAs 
   (engineering changes) have been performed and that the most recent 
   Reference Diskette is in use.  Reference Diskettes are available from 
   the IBM PC Co. BBS (modem 919-517-0001).

 o Try disconnecting any tape backup device if "Cannot find COUNTRY.SYS" 
   messages are encountered when booting OS/2.  This error message may 
   also indicate that OS/2 cannot find its boot drive, usually because of 
   an improperly loaded or omitted hard disk .ADD device driver.

 o An Always IN-2000 SCSI adapter with BIOS 3.06A or 3.20 requires an 
   updated version from the manufacturer.  A companion 8-pin serial PROM 
   chip may also need to be updated.  Contact Always at 818-597-9595. 
    Also ask about non-IBMINT13.I13 driver support.

 o The TI TM4000 notebook may require a BIOS update to run OS/2 2.1; phone 
   817-771-5856 for help.  Also ask about an OS/2 driver for the QuickPort 
   trackball.  Before installing OS/2 on this machine, be sure to set 
   Advanced OS Power off and HDD Motor Timeout Always On in the second 
   page of the machine's setup screen.

 o For the technically advanced user, the following list of TRAP error 
   codes may help you in addressing OS/2 problems.  Report any such TRAPs 
   to IBM using the (4.10) Problem Report Form.

    Code           Description 
    0000           Divide by zero error 
    0001           Debug exception 
    0002           Non Maskable Interrupt (usually memory parity error) 
    0003           Breakpoint (one byte INT 3 instruction) 
    0004           Overflow 
    0005           Bounds check (BOUND instruction) 
    0006           Invalid opcode 
    0007           Coprocessor not available 
    0008           Double fault 
    0009           (Reserved) 
    000A           Invalid TSS 
    000B           Segment not present 
    000C           Stack exception 
    000D           General protection 
    000E           Page fault 
    000F           (Reserved) 
    0010           Coprocessor error 
    0011-001F      (Reserved) 
    0020-00FF      Available for external interrupts via INTR pin

 o For the technically advanced user who wishes to install a secondary 
   diskette controller (provided it uses a separate DMA channel, IRQ, and 
   I/O address), the following parameters are available for the 
   BASEDEV=IBM1FLPY.ADD line in CONFIG.SYS:

    Parameter   Description 
    /MCA        Load on Microchannel machine 
    /A:x        Adapter ID (where x is 0 or 1) 
    /IRQ:x      Interrupt level (where x is a number) 
    /DMA:x      DMA channel (where x is a number) 
    /P:hhhh     Controller I/O address (hhhh) 
    /U:x        Drive number (where x is 0 to 3) 
    /F:ccc      Drive capacity (where ccc is 360KB to 2.88MB) 
    /CL:tttt    Changeline type (where tttt is NONE, AT, or PS2) 
    /SPEC:hh    Controller specify bytes (hh)

   Example:

   BASEDEV=IBM1FLPY.ADD /A:0 /DMA:3 /IRQ:10 /P:370 /U:0 /F:360KB

 Related information:

 (2.1)  Hardware Requirements 
 (2.2)  SuperVGA Support 
 (3.2)  Shareware and Freeware Sources 
 (4.6)  Corrective Service Diskettes 
 (4.10) Problem Report Form

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