Re: Workplace Shell Error

Wayne A. Smith wrote:
> I think this is the best group to which to post this.  I had a crash - I 
> suppose that's the simplest term - Sunday when eCS 1.2 was open.  The 
> system completely froze so that I couldn't even do a hot reboot, so had 
> to simply turn-off the power.
> 
> When I tried to reboot I received an error message in effect saying it 
> couldn't run <pmshell.exe> since "WinStartApp returned %1".
 Can anybody 
> advise what this means.  Obviously, I can't now get eCS to run.
> 
> I did use my CD created under "bootable", and ran both CHKDSK /F
and 
> DFSee on the partition to set it Clean and Scan it.  Didn't help.
> 
> I do have on my external hard drive a Backup Zip file for the partition 
> that I suppose I could use, but since it's 2 months old and maybe there 
> were enough changes to the Desktop during the interim, I'd prefer to 
> avoid this.
> 
> I do have some regular System backups under Unimaint, but I doubt these 
> would correct the problem.
> 
> I also do have a spare partition wherein eCS 1.0 resides, but I'd prefer 
> to avoid a reinstall on it.
> 
> Any suggestions and advise will be *most* appreciated.
> 

Probably your INI's got corrupted.  Hopefully you had desktop archive 
set ON.  At boot up, when the blob show on the screen, Hit Alt+F1 which 
will bring up the boot options. Just select the last restore (before the 
crash).  That should do it.

BTW, I use UniMaint regularly to fix my ini's.  Works fine

Good luck

I think this is the best group to which to post this.  I had a crash - I 
suppose that's the simplest term - Sunday when eCS 1.2 was open.  The 
system completely froze so that I couldn't even do a hot reboot, so had to 
simply turn-off the power.

When I tried to reboot I received an error message in effect saying it 
couldn't run <pmshell.exe> since "WinStartApp returned %1".  Can
anybody 
advise what this means.  Obviously, I can't now get eCS to run.

I did use my CD created under "bootable", and ran both CHKDSK /F and
DFSee 
on the partition to set it Clean and Scan it.  Didn't help.

I do have on my external hard drive a Backup Zip file for the partition 
that I suppose I could use, but since it's 2 months old and maybe there 
were enough changes to the Desktop during the interim, I'd prefer to avoid 
this.

I do have some regular System backups under Unimaint, but I doubt these 
would correct the problem.

I also do have a spare partition wherein eCS 1.0 resides, but I'd prefer 
to avoid a reinstall on it.

Any suggestions and advise will be *most* appreciated.

Hmmm ... so this is an <*.ini> rather than a <pmshell.exe> or
Extended 
Attributes problem ...  That's GOOD News!  (Never received this error 
message before, over the last 13 years of OS/2 use, and it completely 
befuddled me.)

OK, will do, either this or I guess a Unimaint restore - since the latter 
of course includes the INIs in the backup files; I have it set to do an 
automatic backup every couple days at the most, I believe.  While I do 
have the Desktop properties set to do an automatic backup every (I think 
it is) 45 days or when changes are 5%-or-more, my guess is that the 
Unimaint files are probably a lot more recent.

Thanks *Much*.  This sure is a relief!

Wayne



Lionel C. Abrahams wrote:

> Wayne A. Smith wrote:
>> I think this is the best group to which to post this.  I had a crash -
I 
>> suppose that's the simplest term - Sunday when eCS 1.2 was open.  The 
>> system completely froze so that I couldn't even do a hot reboot, so had

>> to simply turn-off the power.
>> 
>> When I tried to reboot I received an error message in effect saying it

>> couldn't run <pmshell.exe> since "WinStartApp returned
%1".  Can anybody 
>> advise what this means.  Obviously, I can't now get eCS to run.
>> 
>> I did use my CD created under "bootable", and ran both CHKDSK
/F and 
>> DFSee on the partition to set it Clean and Scan it.  Didn't help.
>> 
>> I do have on my external hard drive a Backup Zip file for the partition

>> that I suppose I could use, but since it's 2 months old and maybe there

>> were enough changes to the Desktop during the interim, I'd prefer to 
>> avoid this.
>> 
>> I do have some regular System backups under Unimaint, but I doubt these

>> would correct the problem.
>> 
>> I also do have a spare partition wherein eCS 1.0 resides, but I'd
prefer 
>> to avoid a reinstall on it.
>> 
>> Any suggestions and advise will be *most* appreciated.
>> 

> Probably your INI's got corrupted.  Hopefully you had desktop archive 
> set ON.  At boot up, when the blob show on the screen, Hit Alt+F1 which 
> will bring up the boot options. Just select the last restore (before the 
> crash).  That should do it.

> BTW, I use UniMaint regularly to fix my ini's.  Works fine

> Good luck

> Lionel

Thanks Lionel.

Yup, that was the problem.  I yesterday tried both the Archive restore
and the Unimaint restore (just to cover all bases) and each worked 
just fine to completely correct the problem.  (Since the last 
Archiving was on 4/14/08 and the last Unimaint backup on 4/26/08, 
either was close enough chronologically to restore the desktop to 
current status.)

I guess if I encounter any like unknown and perplexing system errors 
in the future - something which I hope is a _very-infrequent_ 
experience - I ought to assume it likely is INI corruption, and pursue
that as the first step in problem solution.

Thanks again.


Wayne



On Tue, 29 Apr 2008 16:36:41 UTC, "Lionel C. Abrahams" 
<lionel0201@charter.net> wrote:

> Probably your INI's got corrupted.  Hopefully you had desktop archive 
> set ON.  At boot up, when the blob show on the screen, Hit Alt+F1 which 
> will bring up the boot options. Just select the last restore (before the 
> crash).  That should do it.
>  
> BTW, I use UniMaint regularly to fix my ini's.  Works fine
>  
> Good luck
>  
> Lionel
> 


-- 

Hi Wayne

Wayne A. Smith wrote:
> Thanks Lionel.
> 
> Yup, that was the problem.  I yesterday tried both the Archive restore
> and the Unimaint restore (just to cover all bases) and each worked 
> just fine to completely correct the problem.  (Since the last 
> Archiving was on 4/14/08 and the last Unimaint backup on 4/26/08, 
> either was close enough chronologically to restore the desktop to 
> current status.)
> 
> I guess if I encounter any like unknown and perplexing system errors 
> in the future - something which I hope is a _very-infrequent_ 
> experience - I ought to assume it likely is INI corruption, and pursue
> that as the first step in problem solution.
> 
> Thanks again.
> 
> 
> Wayne
> 
> 


There is always the option of "preventative medicine" in the form of 
checkini and cleanini; use to keep INI files free of unnecessary gumpf.

You can find checkini in the WPTools package - I think that is supplied 
with eCS - and cleanini here http://www.ca-arnold.de/download/cleanini55.zip

I'm not that familiar with UniMaint; maybe it has similar tools to the 
above?

However, the above tools are not any use if the INI files get trashed 
due to a crash - which is what happened in this instance.

Regular backups - which I see you do - are the only answer. Always worth 
doing a backup when you make any changes to the Desktop such as 
adding/removing applications.

Regards

Pete


> 
> On Tue, 29 Apr 2008 16:36:41 UTC, "Lionel C. Abrahams" 
> <lionel0201@charter.net> wrote:
> 
>> Probably your INI's got corrupted.  Hopefully you had desktop archive 
>> set ON.  At boot up, when the blob show on the screen, Hit Alt+F1 which

>> will bring up the boot options. Just select the last restore (before
the 
>> crash).  That should do it.
>>  
>> BTW, I use UniMaint regularly to fix my ini's.  Works fine
>>  
>> Good luck
>>  
>> Lionel
>>
>