
      *** Troubleshooting the EZ-ROM CD-ROM Door by Mike Robinson ***
          (This document also applies to the SF-ROM Door)

      EZ-ROM writes error conditions to file ERROR.LOG in the current
      directory. Check this file. If it says that EZ-ROM cannot find or
      read a certain file, check your EZROM.MAS, EZROM.CFG, and batch files
      to locate where this file is specified. Change the path to the file
      or relocate the file. Check the spelling of the path and filename
      carefully. A single misplaced character will cause an error. Verify
      that the directories and files specified actually do exist. If you
      set Debug OFF, then errors will not be written to ERROR.LOG

      If you use EZROM.MAS make sure that the DISKS area begins and ENDS
      with the command word DISKS. If you leave out the second DISKS, then
      all the commands after the disks will be ignored. This can cause all
      sorts of problems.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

      *** PROBLEM: EZ-ROM works on local end but the caller sees nothing. ***

      This is always caused by a failure to open the com port.
      Possible reasons:

      1. The wrong port is being used.
      2. The wrong EZ-ROM comm driver is being used or the comm driver
         is not loaded in memory.
      3. The port is non-standard.
      4. There is a conflict with other hardware/software on the system.

      EZ-ROM determines the port number to use by reading the
      door drop file:

      DOOR.SYS       com port number is on line number 1  (EZ-ROM)
      DORINFOx.DEF   com port number is on line number 4  (EZ-ROM)
      SFFILE.DAT     com port number is on line number 6  (SF-ROM)

      In the batch file that runs EZ-ROM, the first parameter on the
      command line should be the full path and file name of one of these
      files. Check the door drop file to be sure that the correct com port
      number is specified on the indicated file line. You can also force
      EZ-ROM to use a certain port by using the ForceComPort command in
      EZROM.MAS or NODEx.CFG (multi-disk mode) or in EZROM.CFG (single-disk
      mode). This will override the port specified in the door drop file.

      If EZ-ROM starts, shows some of the initial displays, and then seems
      to halt, this is almost always an IRQ conflict with another device or
      software on the system. The most common such problem is an internal
      modem and IO card trying to use the same IRQ number. Make sure that
      nothing else on your system is using the IRQ and IO base address used
      by EZ-ROM. Other devices which could cause conflicts are a mouse,
      sound card, CD-ROM card, network card, tape backup card, scanner
      card, or just about any other piece of "extra" hardware plugged into
      the computer.

      SF-ROM uses the same IRQ and IO address as the Spitfire node. It
      automatically reads this information from the Spitfire SFNODE.DAT
      file.

      EZ-ROM uses the "standard" IBM PC clone com port settings which are:

      COM1   IRQ 4   $03F8
      COM2   IRQ 3   $02F8
      COM3   IRQ 4   $03E8
      COM4   IRQ 3   $02E8

      If your com port does not use these settings, then it is called
      non-standard. Which means that EZ-ROM does not know the correct
      settings, so you must "tell" EZ-ROM which settings to use. The
      commands to do this are:

      ForceComPort  2
      ForceIrq  3
      ForceBase  $02F8

      Put these commands in EZROM.MAS or NODEx.CFG (multi-disk mode) or in
      EZROM.CFG (single-disk mode). The settings shown above are for a
      standard COM2. You will have to adjust these to match the settings
      used on your com port. Note the $ in front of number in the ForceBase
      command. This $ indicates that it is a hexadecimal number (base16).
      Also note that if you use a "true blue" IBM PS/2 made by IBM then
      EZ-ROM detects the PS/2 and uses slightly different settings for COM3
      and COM4 only.

      If you use a Fossil or DigiBoard driver, make sure it is properly
      loaded in memory and activated before running EZ-ROM. Check the
      local monitor status line to see if the comm driver used by EZ-ROM
      is the driver you set in EZROM.MAS.

      EZ-ROM should work OK with multiport IO cards that use a shared IRQ.
      For an intelligent DigiBoard (or compatible) set Driver DigiBoard.
      All other multiport IO cards should use Driver Uart.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

      *** PROBLEM: No tag letters displayed when viewing file lists. ***

      See the TagChar command in EZROM.DOC. If a line in a file list has a
      valid TagChar in the correct position, then that line is displayed in
      color and assigned a tag letter. So all you need to do is find a
      character that repeats in the same position on every line which has a
      file name. Then use the TagChar command to specify this character and
      position.

      Here are some examples:

      TagChar 26 -

      Lines which contain a dash(-) at position 26 will be colorized and
      assigned a tag letter. Lines which do NOT contain this character at
      this position are assumed to be header lines or extended description
      lines.

      TagChar ALL

      Every line will be colorized and assigned a tag letter no matter what
      is on the line.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

      *** PROBLEM: I registered EZ-ROM and now the <D>ownload command no
                   longer appears on the menu and callers cannot download.

      The caller is either over his daily download limit or the daily
      download limits are set too low. Now that EZ-ROM is registered, it
      will enforce daily limits on number of files and bytes downloaded. It
      gets these limits from DOOR.SYS lines 31 (kilobytes per day) and line
      46 (files per day). If your BBS puts the correct values on these
      lines, then you are all set. Unfortunately, not all BBS systems do
      this. Some are known to put a 0 on one or both of these lines which
      causes EZ-ROM to enforce a limit of 0 and so it allows no downloads.
      Some other systems put a very large value on one or both of these
      lines, which causes the opposite problem of allowing too many
      downloads. You did not experience this problem with the unregistered
      version because EZ-ROM does not enforce any limits in the
      unregistered version.

      These is a solution to this problem. See the LIMIT command in
      EZROM.DOC. It will allow you to set your own limits in EZROM.MAS or
      EZROM.CFG. The limits you set with the LIMIT command will override
      the values in DOOR.SYS.

      If you want to simply turn off limit enforcement for all callers,
      then use this command in EZROM.MAS:

      LIMIT  OFF

      If you put this line in EZROM.MAS:

      LIMIT  ALL  12  2000

      this will limit all callers to 12 files per day and 2000
      kilobytes per day.

      LIMIT  20  8  1000

      this will limit only security level 20 to 8 files per day
      and 1000 kilobytes per day.

      If you use DORINFOx.DEF then EZ-ROM will use the default limits
      of 10 files and 2000K per day unless you use the LIMIT command.
      This is because DORINFOx.DEF contains no limit information.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

      *** PROBLEM: I just upgraded to Wildcat 4.0 and callers can not get
                   into the disks.

      Wildcat 4.0 has a security level system where callers are assigned
      security level names. You can also assign numbers to each security
      level name. The solution is to assign security numbers in Wildcat
      which will allow access to EZ-ROM. To do this, run the MakeWild
      program supplied with Wildcat. Go into the Security Profiles section
      and select one of the profiles. Scroll down to the last item in the
      first section. On the line that says "Security Level for DOOR.SYS"
      put the number you want assigned to that security level name.

      EZ-ROM controls access to each disk by the security level number it
      reads from DOOR.SYS. In the DISKS section of EZROM.MAS a disk might
      have an access control of >1. This means only callers with a security
      number of greater than 1 can get into that disk. These levels are
      only enforced when running in the BBS. They are not enforced when you
      run local from the DOS command line with the command EZROM LOCAL.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

      *** PROBLEM: I registered EZ-ROM, but it is not writing a log file
                   of the caller's activities in the door.

      Reasons why log may not be written:
 
      1. Program running in local mode. Log not written in local mode.

      2. Program not registered.

      3. Log OFF command used.

      4. LogName command is spelled wrong.

      5. LogName command is preceded by a semicolon or it is not all the
         way up against the left margin of EZROM.MAS.

      6. The directory specified for the log is spelled wrong and/or
         does not exist.

      7. The name of the log file is spelled wrong and/or it is not a
         legal DOS file name.

      8. Some other program is deleting the log. TriBBS uses a temporary
         log for each node. After a caller logs off, the temporary log
         is copied to the main log. The temporary log is then deleted.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

      *** PROBLEM: Invalid Function Number error. ***

      This is usually caused by running EZ-ROM in Microsoft Windows. There
      is something unusual about the way Windows handles access to the DOS
      SHARE functions. Windows actually indicates that SHARE is loaded when
      it is not. EZ-ROM tries to use a share function and since it is not
      there, DOS returns an Invalid Function Number error. There are 2 easy
      solutions:

      1. Use the command SHARE OFF in EZROM.MAS.

      2. Load DOS SHARE.EXE in your CONFIG.SYS or AUTOEXEC.BAT.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

      *** PROBLEM: Runtime Error 161 ***

      Runtime Error 161 is a "disk read error". It might be caused by dust
      on the lens or disk. It might be a problem with the CD-ROM drive
      hardware or software. Some CD-ROM drives have trouble reading the
      last files on a disk that is completely full. Sometimes there are
      flaws in the disk. If it always occurs on the same files, see if you
      can copy these files using DOS. If it only happens on one disk, it is
      probably that disk that is dirty or defective. EZ-ROM is not causing
      the problem, it only reports the messages it gets from the CD-ROM
      drive.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

      *** PROBLEM: Foolish Error number 714 ***

      The EZ-ROM command line looks like this:

      EZROM  C:\BBS\DOOR.SYS  C:\EZROM\EZROM.MAS

      The second item on the line must be a DOOR.SYS or DORINFOx.DEF file.

      If you put some other file on the command line, EZ-ROM will
      do exactly what you told it to do and write to that file as
      if it were a DOOR.SYS or DORINFOx.DEF file. If it is some
      other type of file, it will probably destroy that file. If
      you put your BBS user file there it will destroy your user
      file. If you put a Wildcat USERREC.BIN file there it will
      destroy this file and when the caller returns from the
      door, Wildcat will complain that the file is the wrong size
      and then crash. (The Wildcat USERREC.BIN contains all the
      information from the caller record in the user file, but it
      does not contain the port number, port speed, or modem
      speed so it is not very useful as a door information drop
      file. Only DOOR.SYS and DORINFOx.DEF contain the port
      number.)

      EZ-ROM is able to update USERREC.BIN with the number of
      files/bytes downloaded in the door, but the command to do
      this is contained in the EZROM.MAS or EZROM.CFG file and is
      NOT on the DOS command line.

      So please, only use DOOR.SYS or DORINFOx.DEF on the DOS
      command line that is used to run EZ-ROM.

