  Frequently UAE's (Unrecoverable Application Errors) and other
unexplainable problems in Windows are due to software conflicts
with other applications.  In the event of frequent UAE's and
unusual problems, it is suggested that this theory be tested with
the following procedure.  This procedure involves eliminating all
software variables that can be causing problems and repeating the
UAE or other unusual problem.  It is intended as a test, not a
permanent solution.  If this procedure succeeds you should
restore your system and narrow down the exact culprit through
trial and error.  

  I will outline the eight steps involved in this testing
process, and give details later:

        1.) Backup your system files.
        2.) Reduce three different files to their bare minimum.
        3.) Eliminate third party drivers from Windows SETUP.
        4.) Close Windows, Reboot your system and restart
        Windows.
        5.) Test your application.
        6.) Restore your system.
        7.) If necessary, using the process of elimination,
        narrow down the culprit or culprits.
        8.) Contact us (Borland) or the publisher of the
        offending application.
R 65,J

Step 1.) Backup your system files.

  Create a bootable floppy disk and copy your AUTOEXEC.BAT,
CONFIG.SYS, WIN.INI, and SYSTEM.INI files to this disk.  In case
you have difficulty during this process, your system can be
completely restored by booting your system from this disk and
replacing these files.

Step 2.) Reduce three different files to their bare minimum. 

  This can be done by running a program, within Windows, called
SYSEDIT.  From the file manager, select File|Run, and type
"SYSEDIT".  This brings into the Windows Notepad the files
AUTOEXEC.BAT, CONFIG.SYS, WIN.INI, and SYSTEM.INI.  Three of
these four files will be edited.

  Select the AUTOEXEC.BAT file and use the DOS REM command to
exclude all (I emphasize all!) commands.  Place in the
AUTOEXEC.BAT the commands PROMPT=$P$G, a PATH command, and, if
you are using one, the SET TEMP command.  For example, if you
have Windows in a subdirectory C:\WINDOWS, DOS in C:\DOS, and a
swapfile subdirectory in C:\WINSWAP (if you don't use a swapfile,
ignore this), your AUTOEXEC.BAT file should look like this:

  PROMPT=$P$G
  PATH=C:\WINDOWS;C:\DOS
  SET TEMP=C:\WINSWAP
(Be absolutely sure this WINSWAP subdirectory exists!)

  Select the CONFIG.SYS file and eliminate everything except
HIMEM.SYS, FILES=60 and BUFFERS=30.  If you have a third party
hard disk driver, you must include this in the CONFIG.SYS (if you
are not sure about this, please check with the person who low
level formatted your drive).  You will want to include the
command SHELL=C:\COMMAND.COM /p /e:2048.  If Windows is in
C:\WINDOWS, and COMMAND.COM is in the ROOT directory, your
CONFIG.SYS should look like this:

  SHELL=COMMAND.COM /p /e:2048
  DEVICE=C:\WINDOWS\HIMEM.SYS
  FILES=60
  BUFFERS=30

You should have any hard disk drivers, and should not have a disk
cache (QEMM or SMARTDRIVE) running at this time.

  Select the WIN.INI file and find the cammonds "LOAD=" and
"RUN=".  Delete everything on these lines, leaving "LOAD=" and
"RUN=".  Leave everything else in this file alone.

  Now save these files and exit Windows (don't shell out in a DOS
Window).

Step 3.) Eliminate third party drivers from Windows SETUP.

  This is relatively simple.  Execute the SETUP.EXE program in
the Windows subdirectory (from DOS).  Eliminate any OEM (Original
Equipment Manufacturer, ie. third party) drivers (especially
screen drivers).  Replace these with the standard Microsoft
drivers.  Please consult your Microsoft documentation, or the
Microsoft Tech. Support line for information about proper Setup
settings.  (The Microsoft User's Guide section called Running
Setup from MS-DOS has information about running Setup form DOS.)

Step 4.) Be sure to close Windows, reboot your system and restart
Windows.
  I don't think there is any more explanation needed here.  This
 step is very important so I made it an entire step.
Step 5.) Test your application.
  Load the application in question.  If you have specific steps
to reproduce the problem, follow them.  If it is a problem that
does not occur regularly or predictably, you may have to leave
this configuration intact until you feel that enough time has
elapsed for the problem to reoccur.  If the problem does not
reoccur, the assumption is that there is some conflict with
something that has been eliminated from one of the three files,
or it is an OEM driver you removed in Setup.  

Step 5.) Restore your system.
  Restore the AUTOEXEC.BAT, CONFIG.SYS, SYSTEM.INI, and WIN.INI
files that were backed up in step 1.

Step 7.) If necessary, use the process of elimination, narrow
down the culprit or culprits.

  In your AUTOEXEC.BAT, CONFIG.SYS, and WIN.INI files you would
eliminate a single command, reboot your system, and test the
application for the problem.  If it does not reoccur, you have
found the culprit.  Otherwise, eliminate another command, reboot,
try to reproduce the error.  Continue this process until the
problem does not reoccur.

  Use the same procedure with the OEM drivers.  Eliminate each
one, one at a time, testing for the problem in between changes.

Step 8.) If you discover the errors disappear at step five and
 can narrow down the application in step seven, check with the
 publisher of the offending application for possible workarounds,
or avoid using ObjectVision and this application simultaneously.
Otherwise, contact Borland's ObjectVision Technical Support by
mail, Compuserve, or our Tech. Support Hot-Line (see below).  (If
you think you have discovered something that would helpful to us,
we would also greatly appreciate a call.)

Address:
Borland Intel
1800 Green Hills Rd.
Scott's Valley, CA.  95067

Hot-Line number:
(408)439-5300

Compuserve:
Forum BORAPP
Section 15, or LIB 15.

M. Starrett
