#Mem. Alloc. Error
11 messages in this thread
Gus- If I remember correctly, you are fairly well versed on PharLap
and I'm hoping that you can shed some light on a problem I just
started having. When exiting out of 3DS Slave Mode, I get: Memory
Allocation Error, Cannot load Command, System halted. The program
works fine in slave mode and only crashes when I exit. I've tried
all I know to isolate the problem (Stripping Autoexec. and Config
down, reinstalling 3ds, etc.) I think the problem must be with
Pharlap somehow, because all of my other programs on that machine work
fine- but don't use Pharlap. The really strange thing is that 3DS
used to work fine. Is there something hardware wise that could go
bad and cause this error? Any ideas you might have would be much
appreciated. I'm not out of commission, but it is annoying to have
to reboot each time I exit 3DS. Thanks, -Mark
I've seen more than a couple of messages complaining about the same
problem. I don't know what is causing it but I know the many reasons
you would get this error. I don't think it is related to Pharlap. Let
me start explaining how COMMAND.COM works. This is the program
running when you see the C:> prompt. That's what's called "command
shell". In order to save space, a very small portion of it gets
loaded and stays resident all the time. The portions that go unused
when you run a program are loaded and discarded when you load a
program. When you exit the program, the resident portion of
COMMAND.COM will check and see if the rest of itself is still intact.
If the program you just loaded was big enough to overwrite it (the
case with just about anything but very feel small programs) it has to
load itself again in order to give you the command prompt (C:>). In
order to do this, it has to know where to find itself. It uses an
environment var called COMSPEC. Boot your computer and type SET alone
at the command prompt. The very first variable you will see is
COMSPEC. It should be something like:
COMSPEC=C:\COMMAND.COM or
COMSPEC=C:\DOS\COMMAND.COM
Or wherever you have COMMAND.COM specified at the SHELL= line in CONFIG.SYS.
Some versions of DOS will automatically set this variable in case you force
COMMAND.COM to be loaded from some place else (with SHELL=). Others won't and
you have to do it by hand in your AUTOEXEC.BAT file (with a statement like
SET COMSPEC=C:\SOMEWHERE\COMMAND.COM).
At any rate, when COMMAND.COM tries to load itself back in memory and it can't
find it, that's the error message you get. The only way out of it is to reboot
the computer.
The possibilities are many. You may not have COMSPEC pointing to the right
place. That's the easiest to fix. It could also be that the environment got
corrupted and COMSPEC points to garbage. Try loading 3D Studio from a batch
file like this:
3D
SET
The first command will load 3D Studio. The second will show your current
environment right when you leave 3D Studio. Check to see where COMSPEC points
to and see if it is valid.
Check if any of the above either fixes or, at least, explain your problem. If
not, I will have to think "harder" what it could all be.
Gus- Thanks for the suggestions. I tried using your batch file idea, but the
problem is that the SET command in the batch file won't run — I get the Mem
Alloc. Error the minute I exit 3DS. I'm completely baffled. Any other ideas
would be appreciated.
Thanks, -Mark
Something is corrupting your "environment space" (is that the time when we
should call the green peace? <g>). As I said, I have no idea what is causing
it. I just know what "can" cause it. Try deleting your .CFG file and using a
standard VGA drivers and nothing else (no VTPADI, no RDPADI, no nothing). Boot
straight into 3DS.EXE and leave immediately (don't load anything). Make sure
you don't have a file called 3DS.PRJ. If you do, rename it in order for 3DS to
boot clean.
If that helps, go back one step at a time until you can detect which
driver/file causes the problem to show up again. If it doesn't… I dunno
Gus- Thanks for all of you input on my Mem Alloc Problem. I've tried all that
you and others have suggested, along with everything that I can think of and
have decided to throw in the proverbial towel. I've resigned myself to the
fact that I'll just have to reboot each time I exit 3DS. I really beleive that
3DS is directly related to the problem, because all other programs work fine.
I guess it could be a hardware problem, but I've run a burnin program and
Norton and no errors occur. I would also think that 3DS would crater while
running the program rather than on exit if it was a hardware conflict. Somehow
3DS is corrupting my memory, or at least the pointer to Command.com but I'm
stumped as to how or why it's doing it. Anyways, fortunently it's a network
rendering machine so I'm not using it for much of anything else. Thanks again
for all of your help.
-Mark
I really doubt it is directly "caused" by 3DS, since no one else seems to have
this problem. More likely it is a hardware/3DS conflict. Perhaps a device's
(including MB) bios is root of the problem. If this was a 3DS thing, then it
seems several others of the @ 30,000 users of legaly purchased copies would
have this problem, too.
John Tissavary (LUNA cie)
John- Laurie Steele found the problem. I needed to add a VESA driver to my
autoexec. I never would have come up with that. I recently added a 486-66 to
my network and made that my workstation. In the process, I moved a bunch of
stuff (CD Rom, Targa+, etc.) from my 33 and cleaned up the autoexec. and
config. I figured I must have deleted something, but I couldn't find anything
obvious. BTW, I didn't mean to imply that there was a problem with 3DS, simply
that it was the program that was giving me the error. Anyway, if anyone else
has this trouble, add a vesa driver and that seems to cure it. (Courtesy of L
Steele). I'm happy now! -Mark
PS. My copy of 3DS IS LEGAL!!!
Computers! What a bizarre cure! I'm glad it's all straightened out, now.
John Tissavary (LUNA cie)
Mark,
I had this problem on one of my systems but it mysteriously disappeared after I
added a vesa driver to my autoexec.bat file. I've had no problems exiting R3
since. (BTW, I'm using a Diamond Speedstar video card.)
Give it a try… it worked for me.
Laurie
Laurie- If you were here I would KISS you. Thankyou thankyou thankyou. I
added a vesa driver to my Autoexec and now I can exit just fine. I've fought
this for a week now, and I NEVER would have come up with that solution. You're
a lifesaver. Thanks again. – Mark
Mark,
Glad I could help.
Blushingly,
Laurie