           COMMON PROBLEMS REPORTED BY 386MAX\BLUEMAX 7 USERS

1. Windows 3.x locks or drops to the DOS prompt after the title screen

This is most likely a video conflict.  The high resolution drivers that
ship with most SuperVGA cards use the monochrome display area (MDA) in
some modes.  To fix this problem, take the following steps that prevent
386MAX from using the MDA:

    A. Edit the file 386MAX.PRO and remove the lines USE=B000-B800 and
       VGASWAP
    B. Edit the file MAXIMIZE.CFG (creating the file if it does not
       already exist) and add the line NOVGASWAP
    C. Run MAXIMIZE /I

2. Windows fails with the message "Cannot set up UMB at C600"

This is also a video problem, but with a different solution.  The
problem is most common on Packard-Bell 486SX machines.  To fix it:

    A. Edit the file MAXIMIZE.CFG (creating the file if it does not
       already exist) and add the line NOVGASWAP
    B. Apply the version 7.01 Update patch

3. The DOS command MEM/C locks the system

MEM.EXE with the /C switch scans memory in order to construct a memory
map.  It expects free memory in specific places to contain zeros, which
is often not the case if 386LOAD has moved a resident program into high
DOS memory.  The solution is to apply the version 7.01 Update patch.

4. INSTALL fails with the message "Run-time error R6002 -- floating
point support not loaded"

This is the result of an INSTALL bug that does not properly interpret %
characters in the Windows WIN.INI and SYSTEM.INI files.  Apply the
version 7.01 Update patch.

5. Accessing a floppy drive fails with the message "Internal System
Error at 0050|10B8"

Some new AMI 486 EISA motherboards have an EISA DMA problem.  The
failure can occur when using any DMA device, such as floppy, tape, or
CD-ROM drives.  Apply the version 7.01 Update patch.

6. A LocalBus adapter in an ISA bus machine fails in some way

Any LocalBus adapter (including the Adaptec 2842 SCSI controller) can
cause a system lock-up or other failure with 386MAX 7 loaded.  To
guarantee that all LocalBus adapters work in an ISA bus machine,
especially with 16 MB or more of installed RAM, either edit 386MAX.PRO
and add the line NOIOWRAP or apply the version 7.01 Update patch.

7. A 486 or better system locks or reboots at the 386MAX copyright line

486 Motherboards in some new Gateway 2000, PS/ValuePoint, and PS/1
machines have external cache controllers that are not 100% Intel
compatible.  Applying the version 7.01 Update patch works around this
problem.

8. A Pentium system slows down dramatically following a warmboot

This symptom may occur on Compaq or DELL Pentium systems.  Apply the
version 7.01 Update patch.

9. A game program locks or has garbled sound

The sound drivers in some game programs make invalid assumptions about
the location of the stack segment.  This defeats our Stacks Overflow
Protection feature.  The only solution is to disable MAX Stacks before
running the game program.  The easiest way to do this is to edit
AUTOEXEC.BAT and add this line at the end:

        C:\386MAX\386UTIL STACKS=OFF

To disable MAX Stacks by default, apply the version 7.01 Update patch.

9. Windows 3.0 fails with the message "Incorrect DOS version"

Windows 3.0 (unlike Windows 3.1) cannot load if DOS FILES are loaded high
by ExtraDOS.  Here is the fix:

    A. Edit the file EXTRADOS.PRO and change the F=... line to F=NOLOADHI
    B. Run MAXIMIZE /I

10. Fragmentation of free low DOS memory

The most likely cause of this problem is loading SMARTDRV.EXE /L.  The /L
switch is used to force SMARTDRV.EXE to load itself low.  This is a
waste of low DOS memory, and, most importantly, not necessary.  To fix
the problem, edit AUTOEXEC.BAT and remove the /L switch from the
SMARTDRV.EXE line.

11. The system locks when loading the CD-ROM device driver high

Many Mitsumi CD-ROM drivers (like MTMCDE.SYS) have a bug which prevents
them from running in the high DOS memory region.  The workaround is to
edit CONFIG.SYS as in this example:

        change:
DEVICE=C:\386MAX\386LOAD.SYS SIZE=30000 FLEXFRAME PROG=C:\DEV\MTMCDE.SYS
        to:
DEVICE=C:\DEV\MTMCDE.SYS

Mitsumi may have a driver update that fixes this bug.

12. The Novell-DOS 7 or Stacker 4.0 utility DPMS.EXE fails to load

This driver requires both EMS and VCPI support.  Edit 386MAX.PRO and
remove the line EMS=0 if it is there.  Add the line NOFRAME if you
need the additional high DOS memory normally reserved for an EMS Page
Frame.  Also, DPMS.EXE should not be loaded into high DOS memory.  To
force it low, edit 386LOAD.CFG and add this line:

    G    DPMS.EXE    00/00/00

Then, rerun MAXIMIZE.  If you find that EMS or VCPI programs fail with
DPMS.EXE loaded, we recommend removing it from CONFIG.SYS entirely.

13. MS-DOS 6.2 RAMDRIVE.SYS locks when loaded high

On an MS-DOS 6.2 system with DoubleSpace installed, block device
drivers like RAMDRIVE.SYS (that is, device drivers that allocate a
drive letter) will lock if loaded high by MAX 7.00.  To fix this, apply
the version 7.01 Update patch.

14. Windows 32-Bit Disk or File Access drivers refuse to load

Windows is very particular about the state of the hard disk vector, and
may complain if 386MAX 7 is providing DPMI virtual memory.  To avoid
this problem, edit 386MAX.PRO and remove the SWAPFILE= line, and apply
the version 7.01 Update patch.


***********************************************************************
The 386MAX and BlueMAX 7.01 Update patches are available in Support File
Directory #2 on this BBS.  Download the appropriate patch archive, run
it in your 386MAX/BlueMAX directory to extract the patch files, and
follow the on-screen instructions from there.
***********************************************************************
