DOS ain't dead

Recently I realized that in Windows XP any DOS program that tries to use graphics (320x200) or sound (Sound Blaster) freezes (and both are tested independently.) Those programs used to work (e.g. Quick View, VGA Paint, etc) I wonder if anyone know if perhaps any recent updates might have caused this or this is a symptom of damaged NTVDM?

> Recently I realized that in Windows XP any DOS program that tries to use
> graphics (320x200) or sound (Sound Blaster) freezes (and both are tested
> independently.) Those programs used to work (e.g. Quick View, VGA Paint,
> etc) I wonder if anyone know if perhaps any recent updates might have
> caused this or this is a symptom of damaged NTVDM?

Most DOS audio & video programs require direct access to the hardware.

If you have only tried running them in the XP NTVDM while logged-in
as a 'normal' user... try running them as administrator.

If that still does not work.... you might need to boot to an actual DOS
from a diskette or perhaps setup a dual boot system with DOS installed on
a FAT partition of the same or additional HDD

edit:

You might also try both cmd.exe & command.com (as administrator)

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http://glennmcc.org/

> Recently I realized that in Windows XP any DOS program that tries to use
> graphics (320x200) or sound (Sound Blaster) freezes (and both are tested
> independently.) Those programs used to work (e.g. Quick View, VGA Paint,
> etc) I wonder if anyone know if perhaps any recent updates might have
> caused this or this is a symptom of damaged NTVDM?

The graphics issue maybe caused by VIDEOPRT.SYS that needs to be patched (sometimes it happen that some update will replace back original version)
I mention it here http://www.rayer.g6.cz/hardware/gf7600gs.htm, there's link to http://www.rayer.g6.cz/download/videoprt.zip

For sound try vmdsound or soundfx.

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DOS gives me freedom to unlimited HW access.

> > Recently I realized that in Windows XP any DOS program that tries to use
> > graphics (320x200) or sound (Sound Blaster) freezes (and both are tested
> > independently.) Those programs used to work (e.g. Quick View, VGA Paint,
> > etc) I wonder if anyone know if perhaps any recent updates might have
> > caused this or this is a symptom of damaged NTVDM?
>
> The graphics issue maybe caused by VIDEOPRT.SYS that needs to be patched
> (sometimes it happen that some update will replace back original version)
> I mention it here
> http://www.rayer.g6.cz/hardware/gf7600gs.htm, there's link to
> http://www.rayer.g6.cz/download/videoprt.zip
>
> For sound try vmdsound or soundfx.
Thanks for the quick replies. Actually those programs *used* to work for me under XP (albeit with lousy sound and no VESA support) just a few weeks ago. They also work in a pure DOS boot. However, recently I noticed programs crashing when they should not, *even* with VDMS they seem to crash. I wonder what it could be?

> > Recently I realized that in Windows XP any DOS program that tries to use
> > graphics (320x200) or sound (Sound Blaster) freezes (and both are tested
> > independently.) Those programs used to work (e.g. Quick View, VGA Paint,
> > etc) I wonder if anyone know if perhaps any recent updates might have
> > caused this or this is a symptom of damaged NTVDM?
>
> The graphics issue maybe caused by VIDEOPRT.SYS that needs to be patched
> (sometimes it happen that some update will replace back original version)
> I mention it here
> http://www.rayer.g6.cz/hardware/gf7600gs.htm, there's link to
> http://www.rayer.g6.cz/download/videoprt.zip
>

Could you please elaborate this a bit more? Is this file for specific video card or NTVDM?

> The graphics issue maybe caused by VIDEOPRT.SYS that needs to be patched
> (sometimes it happen that some update will replace back original version)
> I mention it here
> http://www.rayer.g6.cz/hardware/gf7600gs.htm, there's link to
> http://www.rayer.g6.cz/download/videoprt.zip

Does this patch still work for SP3?

Because my current VIDEOPRT.SYS has 120 exports, nor just 115:

start of file lnk.c:


#pragma comment(linker,"/export:...=vidprt0.VideoPortInterlockedDecrement,@1")
#pragma comment(linker,"/export:...=vidprt0.VideoPortInterlockedExchange,@2")
#pragma comment(linker,"/export:...=vidprt0.VideoPortInterlockedIncrement,@3")
#pragma comment(linker,"/export:...=vidprt0.VideoPortAcquireDeviceLock,@4")
#pragma comment(linker,"/export:...=vidprt0.VideoPortAcquireSpinLock,@5")


exports of current VIDEOPRT.SYS:


101A8     1       12AE VideoPortInterlockedDecrement
101AC     2       1296 VideoPortInterlockedExchange
101B0     3       12A0 VideoPortInterlockedIncrement
101B4     4       18E6 PortNotification
101B8     5       901E VideoPortAcquireDeviceLock


As you can see, there has been a new export inserted at #4.

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MS-DOS forever!

> Does this patch still work for SP3?
> Because my current VIDEOPRT.SYS has 120 exports, nor just 115:

At work on my XP SP3 CZ install I have

Export Table:
Name: VIDEOPRT.SYS
Time Date Stamp: 0x4802370A (13.4.2008 18:38:34)
Version: 0.00
Ordinal Base: 1
Number of Functions: 120
Number of Names: 120

and DOS graphics works (VGA, VESA banked). If I remember there were 2 different patches, I'm not sure which one I had used.

---
DOS gives me freedom to unlimited HW access.

> > Does this patch still work for SP3?
> > Because my current VIDEOPRT.SYS has 120 exports, nor just 115:
>
> At work on my XP SP3 CZ install I have
>
> Export Table:
> Name: VIDEOPRT.SYS
> Time Date Stamp: 0x4802370A (13.4.2008 18:38:34)
> Version: 0.00
> Ordinal Base: 1
> Number of Functions: 120
> Number of Names: 120
>
> and DOS graphics works (VGA, VESA baked). If I remember there were 2
> different patches, I'm not sure which one I had used.

Sorry I wasn't able to understand this clearly but what is this file a part of? (The website that was linked was in Czech and I could not understand the translations of it very well.) Thanks.


DELTREE /Y C:\WINDAUBE\SYSTEM32\NT*.*
DELTREE /Y C:\WINDAUBE\SYSTEM64\NT*.*
DELTREE /Y C:\WINDAUBE\SYSTEM128\NT*.*


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