Hey all, I am running DOS 7.10a stand-alone on a reformatted DELL computer. It is set up with multiple boot configs, some of which include USB flashdisk support. My problem is that when transfering data to/from the flashdisk, any more than 100kb locks up the system. I can transfer 80-90kb, reboot, transfer more, reboot, etc; but any more locks up the system. Transfers to/from CD-ROM and HDs all work perfectly, as do games/.exe files. The config/autoexec lines for the USB support are below.

config.sys:
DEVICEHIGH=C:\EXT\USB\USBASPI.SYS /V /W
DEVICEHIGH=C:\EXT\USB\DI1000DD.SYS

autoexec.bat:
LH MSCDEX /d:USBCD001

Any suggestions are appreciated. Thanks

That's a new one on me.

How about some FILES, STACKS & BUFFERS.

The theory being that since the flash drive is faster than CD or HD, maybe it's getting a stack overflow and not telling you about it.

If no joy on F S & B, look at your IRQs.

M2

I left the F S B settings as default, which on my system were

FILES=30
BUFFERS=20,0
STACKS=9,256

...if that gives you any indication. thanks for the suggestion, i'm going to try disabling stacks support on the USB boot configs, see if that helps.

Hi,

I'm about out of brilliance.

But jboy's awake.

Stay tuned.

M2

'Awake'? Matter of opinion maybe ; )

No, USB in DOS is something I've never needed to do, so not much help I'm afraid.

It's always seemed a bit of kludge, and not guaranteed to work with all devices (all of the time). If possible, experiment with other drivers or parameters maybe.

Might try increasing DMA in EMM386.EXE, if applicable, but something of a long shot.

Don't see a matching 'signature' for the driver in config.sys ( /d:USBCD001) but since it works anyways... must be ok.

Give me ambiguity or give me something else

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EMM386.EXE had to be disabled for the USB drivers to work. I disabled stacks and that boosted the "freeze limit" to 300kb+. Unfortunately the drivers i'm currently running are the only ones i've found that work. I'm going to keep searching for better ones, and try messing with some of the parameters like you suggested. Thanks for the help guys. If I come up with a complete fix i'll post it, in case anyone's interested.

Hi jimmie,

Did you REM out the STACKS line, or did you put in:

STACKS=0,0

There's a difference.

If there's no STACKS line [AFAIK] DOS will set a default number and size.

I would experiment with STACKS some more.

Heck, pour the coal to it.

Maybe 18,512 ?

It's free style from here on out.

M2

STACKS was set to 0,0 to achieve the 300kb limit. With STACKS maxed out to 18,512 i got around 7mb successfully moved...after which the system promptly froze. baby steps, right :)

Hi jimmie,

Try more stacks.

M2

STACKS=64,512 - still freezes with large files. actually, the copy process got further before freezing with only 45 STACKS. I've also been messin' with the BUFFER/FILE settings, but so far they've been of no help.

Hi jimmie,

AFAIK FILES effects number of files open at once [file handles ?].

Just for drill, if you're using COPY, try XCOPY.

Or vice-versa.

This is terra incognitus erectus.

M2

i've been using Norton Commander to copy files (which i believe uses the standard DOS COPY?) because of it's progress bar. I have tried both DOS command COPY and XCOPY, but neither one has any more success than NC.

Make sure you are using the latest USBASPI.SYS Panasonic driver, or alternatively try the APSoft's Point Enablers.

http://www.mwpms.uklinux.net/usbfire.htm

also try experimenting with the various USBASPI switches they would of been posted in the forum by MADMAXUSB or see:

http://www.mwpms.uklinux.net/usbfire.txt

I am not familiar with using MSDOS 7.xx as it was never officially a standalone product, but under MS DOS 6.2x I have never had problems with USB Flash Drives if the USBASPI driver recognises the device.

Hi jimmie,

No idea about NC.

Just for grins, try laplink.

M2

There could be an issue with the hardware in the exact chip set and version used. Being it's a P-3, most likely you have a USB 1.1 version. The older step levels of the VIA USB 1.1 chips had an internal noise problem when doing large data transfers. Resulted in errors (of some sort), and it might be this type of problem that the DOS drivers are not handling and going south. It would be worth your effort to try it on a different system with a different USB chipset to see if that makes a difference.