                Troubleshooting Guide
                ---------------------

Here are some of the things that could possibly go wrong
and what to do about them.

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Problem:        It doesn't work.

Probable Cause: You didn't read the documentation. 

Solution:       Read the documentation.  If still having
                trouble, express the problem more precisely.
                
                What did work properly?
                What were you doing when it failed?
                What did you expect to happen?
                Did anything in your system change?  (e.g.
                Pasokon TV worked fine until new hardware
                was added.)
                Did you exit completely from MS Windows?

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Problem:        Video display isn't right. 

Problem:        Machine hangs when starting PKTV.

Probable Cause: Standards for Super VGA display adapters came 
                too late. 

Solution:       Select the "Video Display" topic from the Help
                menu (which might not be possible with video
                display problems!!!) or read the VGAINFO.TXT 
                file for a detailed explanation.

                A test program called VGAINFO.EXE is included
                to help you determine your system's capabilities
                and take the proper action.

                This will generally mean installing a VESA
                driver program and/or forcing a specific video
                mode in the configuration file (PKTV.CFG).

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Problem:        Doesn't work properly when run from Microsoft
                Windows.

Probable Cause: Microsoft Windows is a multitasking operating  
                system that shares the computer resources 
                (memory, CPU time) among several applications
                and itself.

                SSTV is a very demanding application which must
                process thousands of image samples (pixels) 
                per second with precise timing.  The entire
                machine must be dedicated to this one task for
                proper operation.

Solution:       Exit out of Microsoft Windows and run Pasokon
                TV from the MS-DOS command prompt.

        Windows 3.1:

                In the Program Manager, pick Exit from the File
                menu.

                There are some success stories of running PKTV
                from MS Windows by using the PIF editor and 
                setting the proper attributes such as Full
                Screen, Exclusive use of CPU, and more Extended
                Memory.  However, this is not recommended.

        Windows 95:

                There are two ways to run this application on
                a system with Windows 95.  Either exit  
                out of Windows 95 or set an attribute that  
                tells Windows 95 the application must have 
                complete control of the machine while running.

                (1) When booting the system, press the F8 key
                    to get an MS-DOS prompt instead of letting
                    Windows start up.  Pick option 6 (command
                    line only) from the choices.

                    Type "TV" or "TVV".
                    These are batch files that "CD" to the 
                    \PKTV3 directory then run PKTV.EXE.
                
                or
               
                (2) Exit from Windows 95: click on the "Start" 
                    button, choose "Shut Down", then click on
                    the "Restart the computer in MS-DOS mode"
                    option, click "Yes".
                    When the "C>" prompt appears, type "TV"
                    or "TVV".
                    When finished with Pasokon TV, type "EXIT"
                    to return to Windows 95.

                or

                (3) After installing the software in the usual 
                    way,

                * Double click on the "My Computer" icon.
                * Double click on "C:" (assuming you installed
                  it on the C drive).
                * Double click on "PKTV3" or other directory 
                  where the software was installed.
                * Single click, with RIGHT mouse button, on
                  "PKTV.EXE".
                * Click on tab labeled "Program".
                * Click on the "Advanced..." button.
                * Click on the "MSDOS mode" option, to make a
                  check mark appear in the box next to it.
                * Click on "OK".
                * Click on "OK".

                This tells the operating system that this 
                program requires complete control of the 
                computer.  Windows 95 will get out of the 
                way and Pasokon TV can transfer the image
                data at the required rate.

                DO NOT attempt to run it from an MS-DOS Prompt
                window.

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Problem:        "I click on 'Recv' button as soon as I hear the 
                beginning of a picture and still miss a little 
                of the top."

Probable Cause: By the time you react and the program does its
                preparations for receiving, the VIS code and 
                possibly some of the image is already gone.

Solution:       Put the system in receive mode while people are
                still talking.
                Activating the "Sync Squelch" option on the 
                Config menu will cause the system to display
                an incoming signal only when there is a fairly
                high probability of it being a valid signal.

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Problem:        Not enough memory to run HiRes 32 or other
                application from the "Run" menu.

Probable Cause: Too many drivers or other TSR programs   
                consuming "Conventional" memory.

Description:    Two people reported problems selecting a 
                different font when running HiRes 32.
                Both had a lot of extra drivers for ZIP drives,
                DoubleSpace, or other TSR programs.
                Everyone else with more typical systems (i.e.
                only mouse, sound card, CD-ROM drivers) had
                no problems.

Solution:       (1) Try running MEMMAKER to free up more
                Conventional (first 640k) memory.

                (2) Use fewer drivers and TSR programs or
                reconfigure them to use less memory.

                See file MEMORY.TXT for more information.

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Problem:        Time-of-day clock stops while sending or
                receiving SSTV.

Background:     There are two different time-of-day clocks
                in the computer.

                (1) Hardware - This has a battery and continues
                        to run when the power is turned off.

                (2) Software - When the system is started up,
                        the content of the hardware clock is
                        copied to memory.  Periodic interrupts
                        are used to update this time.
                        Unfortunately, those timer interrupts
                        sometimes interfere with the precise
                        timing required for SSTV.

Probable Cause: Pasokon TV stops the software time-of-day clock  
                while transmitting and receiving because the
                timer interrupts can disrupt the SSTV timing.
                This does not affect the hardware clock.
                The time will be correct when the machine is
                rebooted.

Solution:       Add the "NO_PAUSE_CLOCK" option to the PKTV.CFG
                file and the clock will not be affected.  This
                is usually OK for Pasokon TV Classic because it
                has its own crystal oscillator and dedicated
                hardware for generating and decoding the tones.
                This option will definitely mess up the timing
                for Pasokon TV Lite and EZ SSTV.

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Problem:        The mouse doesn't work. 

Probable Cause: Mouse driver has not been loaded. 

                MS Windows and MS-DOS use completely different
                mouse drivers.  Just because the mouse works
                properly with Windows doesn't mean it will work
                with MS-DOS applications.

Solution:       If you bought a mouse separately, it came with      
                a diskette containing driver software.
                Install it according to instructions provided.  
                Verify proper operation by using some other 
                mouse-aware MS-DOS application such as EDIT.

                If you don't have mouse-specific drivers, use
                one of the Microsoft mouse drivers.  (But avoid
                the Intellipoint driver, see below.)

                The MS Windows 3.1 diskettes contain two mouse
                drivers for MS-DOS called MOUSE.SYS and 
                MOUSE.COM.  Type the following command to    
                locate them:

                        CD \
                        DIR /S MOUSE

                These are not always installed during Windows
                installation and you might have to read them
                from the diskettes.

                        1. Insert Windows Disk #2.
                        2. Type "COPY a:\EXPAND.EXE C:\WINDOWS"

                Next locate the diskette containing MOUSE.COM
                and MOUSE.SY_ and insert it.  Type:

                        EXPAND a:\MOUSE.COM C:\WINDOWS
                        EXPAND a:\MOUSE.SYS C:\WINDOWS

                Finally, do either (1) or (2) but NOT both.
                The first one is preferred.

                (1) Add this near end of AUTOEXEC.BAT file: 
                
                        C:\WINDOWS\MOUSE.COM

                (2) Add this near end of CONFIG.SYS file:

                        DEVICE=C:\WINDOWS\MOUSE.SYS

                Refer to the manuals included with your 
                computer for more details.

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Problem:        Program start up is too slow.

Probable Cause: Not enough physical memory for the number of 
                of images kept in memory.  As a result, there
                is excessive swapping of information between
                disk and memory.

Solution:       (1) Add more memory.

                or 

                (2) Reduce the number of images kept in memory
                by picking Images from the Setup menu.
                Suggested number of images:

                        2 images for 4 Meg of memory.
                        5 images for 8 Meg of memory.
                        10 images for 16 Meg of memory.

                Note: Reducing the number of images will not
                make more memory available for external programs
                run from the "Run" menu.  Read file MEMORY.TXT
                for more information on this topic.

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Problem:        Can't read an image file.

Probable Cause: Image file specifications are sometimes  
                imprecise and implementations vary.  TIF is
                very complicated and tends to have more than
                its share of compatibility problems between
                different applications.

Solution:       Try reading the image file into another program
                and writing it in some other type that Pasokon
                TV can read.

                Make a copy of the troublesome file on a 
                diskette and mail it to us.  Please mention
                (1) what application the file came from, 
                (2) what other applications can read it,
                (3) what other applications can't read it.

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Problem:        Program hangs or crashes, especially when
		attempting to transmit or receive.

Probable Cause: This program is much more demanding than its
                predecessor.  It uses more video display modes
                and takes advantage of the 32 bit architecture
                of the '386 and later computers rather than
                treating them as old 16 bit '286 machines.
                A few compatibility problems are sure to 
                arise.

                Here are the strange problems found so far and
                the solutions.   The good news is that this
                type of problem has been very rare.  The bad
                news is that it is so rare it is difficult to
                gather much data to determine the causes and
                cures.

"First Aid":
                One person reported that Pasokon TV *and* other
                applications started acting strangely after
                installing a program called "First Aid".
                Removing the "First Aid" program solved all the
                problems.


Intellipoint mouse driver:

                One person, with the hang on transmit or receive,
                methodically removed the drivers and other TSR
                programs one by one.  He discovered that the 
		Microsoft Intellipoint mouse driver was the 
		culprit.  Replacing this overgrown driver with
		a simple generic one solved the problem.

		Is anyone else using this mouse driver, with
		or without success?  I'd like to know.

non-Intel 586:
                The Intel "Pentium" is the most famous, but
                there are other manufacturers of CPU chips
                above the 486.  For example:

                        NexGen Nx586
                        AMD 586
                        Cyrix ...

                One person with a NexGen Nx586 CPU reported that
                PKTV and VGAINFO crash immediately when starting.
                We tried all sorts of configuration changes.
                Nothing helped.  I sent a copy of VGAINFO,
                complete with source code to NexGen and asked
                for help in compatibility testing.  No reply.

                Is anyone else using a NexGen Nx586?

                The AMD 586 seems to work just fine.

                The non-Intel chips are not Pentium clones.
                They are entirely different architectures
                and not 100% compatible.  I'd like to hear from
                anyone using one of these.
		
General Approach:

                1. Remove TSR programs and unneeded drivers
                   by placing "REM " in front of them in the 
                   AUTOEXEC.BAT and CONFIG.SYS files.  Reboot. 
                2. If this solves the problem, put them back 
                   in, one at a time, to see which one is
                   causing a conflict.
                3. Tell me about any problems - and solutions 
                   - you find so they can be added to this 
                   list.

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Problem:        Moving the mouse pointer around on the screen
                leaves behind a trail.

Solution:       Add this option to the PKTV.CFG file:

                        MOUSE_DROPPINGS
                        
                This will use an alternative (slower) method 
                to repair the portion of the screen uncovered
                by the mouse cursor as it is moved.

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Please try the troubleshooting tips here first before calling
for assistance.  If calling about a video display problem
have a copy of the VGAINFO.LOG file handy.  If other strange
problems, have copies of AUTOEXEC.BAT and CONFIG.SYS ready.

                John Langner WB2OSZ
                Absolute Value Systems
                115 Stedman St.
                Chelmsford, MA 01824-1823  U.S.A.

                tel:  1 (508) 250 0611    -- SSTV Hotline
                        (All day Fridays, nights 22:00-23:00
                        eastern U.S. time, weekends)
                e-mail:  JohnL@world.std.com
