dos foxpro 2.6 app freezes on Windows 2003 server

[Guest]

Hi!

We have an old DOS Foxpro 2.6 app which freezes on our new Dell PowerEdge
1850 Windows 2003 Terminal Services server.

It has worked flawlessly under our old NT4 TSE server for many years. But
now we have to move over to this new server.

Right now I've only moved over 3 users to be able to test this new server
setup. And with these three users active we get about two crashes or freezes
a day in total. So it's not frequent. But I'm worried that if I add all 25
users this will escalate. Also the users will not accept one or two hangups
per day...

I have tried the following and no luck so far:

- Removed antivirus software from server
- Tried all compatibility modes
- upgraded to all latest drivers and BIOS versions
- changed registry key to defaultseparatevdm=Yes just to be sure
- tried TAMEDos
- disabled HyperThreading on server
- checked and doublechecked autoexec.nt and config.nt
- removed MS04-32 which was said to update NTVDM.dll just to find out that
on 2003 it did not :-( but it was worth a try
- installed the following patches since I thought that they somehow could
help:
- installerat följande patchar:
Terminal Server stops responding when idle sessions are being ended
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=828662

Terminal Services stops responding on your Windows Server 2003 server
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=832971

Windows Server 2003 Terminal Server Stops Responding
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;821467

So far nothing has helped, the DOS app freezes at random points. No special
events can be connected to the freezing. The users are doing different things
and the app can hang anywhere at anytime - no pattern whatsoever. Also
nothing in Event Log.

We don't have any problems with performance. CPU time is ok and also memory
allocation is under control. The app uses 12Mb of RAM and CPU is when working
with the app around 5-10%. When not working with it it goes down to 0% as it
should. So that's not a problem.

Has anybody else seen any similar behaviour in DOS apps under NTVDM?

Any input whatsoever is highly appreciated, because I'm really stuck here.

Regards
Christopher

 

[Guest]

So no one has a slightest clue about this one? I've seen other postings(2 or
3) regarding the same problem so this must be something that is wrong in
Windows 2003 NTVDM. It would help alot if someone knew something about NTVDM
and possible changes. Also if someone knows if the NTVDM.EXE and NTVDMD.DLL
maybe has changed in Service Pack 1. I guess some of you MVPs out there maybe
have a Beta of Service Pack 1 for W2K3, if so an indication on versionnumber
change would be much appreciated.

I guess also there are some MS people watching these threads, doesn't anyone
have anything to suggest?

Thanks in advance
Christopher

 

[Vera Noest [MVP]]

This is not a problem with NTVDM in Windows 2003, it's a problem
with FoxPro 2.6

This version is simply too old to be able to run on newer hardware
/ OS.

--
Vera Noest
MCSE,CCEA, Microsoft MVP - Terminal Server
http://hem.fyristorg.com/vera/IT
*----------- Please reply in newsgroup -------------*

"=?Utf-8?B?Q2hyaXN0b3BoZXIgRA==?="

 

[Guest]

If so why is this app working fully correct on a Windows XP SP2 client with
the latest hardware. I'm fully aware that client hardware is different from
server hardware. But I don't think you're on the right track in your answer
Vera.

This morning I found W2K3 SP1 in MSDN Subscriber Downloads. This has a newer
version of NTVDM.EXE - so I guess there were a few bugs in there. Hopefully I
can apply this on our server tonight. It will be very interesting to see the
outcome.

So I hope you're wrong in your statement Vera.

Regards
Christopher

 

[Vera Noest [MVP]]

Yes, that's perfectly possible, and I hope so too. But we have
been forced to delay upgrading our hardware, because our FoxPro
2.6 application could not run on the newest Dell GX model.

--
Vera Noest
MCSE,CCEA, Microsoft MVP - Terminal Server
http://hem.fyristorg.com/vera/IT
*----------- Please reply in newsgroup -------------*

"=?Utf-8?B?Q2hyaXN0b3BoZXIgRA==?="

 

[Guest]

Interesting. We have two GX280 running our Foxpro 2.6a app just fine. What
kind of problem are you experiencing? Freezing of the app or other things?

Although these two workstations are in fact running Win2000...

BTW, I really like your homepage Vera. I've been visiting it a couple of
times to keep myself updated. I also live in Sweden(Stockholm).

Nice to chat with you.

Regards
Christopher

 

[Sean Wilson]

Christopher

In some ways I am glad you are having this problem. We have an old
FoxPro for DOS 2.5 system which we have had to migrate from a Windows
95/Novell network. Because the new network is not allowed DOS
applications, it was decided to implement the system via Citrix. This
was to be a Windows 2003 server. Needless to say, the system
constantly hangs. In every single case, the CPU load goes up to 49%
(dual processor), but Task Manager does not show that it is not
responding.

The people who set up the Citrix server farm have been investigating
this problem for a couple of months now, and we have even supplied a
copy of the entire system to Microsoft, and no one has come up with a
solution. I have installed the application on every operating system
from Windows 95 to Windows 2003, and the only time it fails is when it
is running in the Windows 2003 memory space. If the application is
installed on the 2003 server but run from an Windows XP desktop, it
works fine. This has been tested and found to be the case. We even
have three other FoxPro for DOS 2.5 applications already running in
this sort of environment. Unfortunately, this one particular
application is running in a different environment.

If there is a solution to this problem, I would love to hear about it.

 

[Guest]

Hi Sean!

Nice to hear from you. We have not found a solution so far, even though
numerous things have been tried.

What I'm about to do though, as a final resort, is to install SP1 Beta. I
will install this probably today so hopefully in a couple of days we'll know
if this solves the problem or not.

Do you know if your technicians or you have already tried applying the SP1
Beta?

I'll let you know if we find anything.

Regards
Christopher

 

[Guest]

To anyone interested in this thread I just wanted to say that SP1 Beta Build
1247 did not fix my problem with the freezing dos foxpro app.

Regards
Christopher

 

[sean.wilson]

Christopher

I'm not sure to what extent they or Microsoft tested it. Since I am
responsible for maintaining the application, I did as much testing as I
could to try and find a solution. We are now faced with downgrading one
of the 2003 servers to 2000, subject to getting the relevant approval
from those who maintain the network.

 

[Guest]

A possible solution to this problem:

We have now had the server up and running for 4 days with no freezing or
hanging of the DOS Foxpro 2.6 app.

What seems to have fixed the problem is this:

- Turning Hyperthreading off in BIOS(tried this before but it didn't help
that time, it seemed to help but it didn't completely remove the problem).
- Turn "Sequential Memory Access" off in BIOS

With these two settings off, the server has been running a total of 5 user
sessions with in total 10 DOS Foxpro 2.6 applications with no hangs for 4
days

I'm still waiting for my first hang/freeze. Note that before we had 3 users
and a minimum of 2 hangs/day. So it's looking good.

Regards
Christopher D

 

[Guest]

I would venture to bet that the session app PID looses it's connection to the
Database. This happens because the app is a DOS app.