General Hints, Suggestions, and Warnings

Last Updated 5th December, 1994

I have several pieces of "non-standard" (e.g. not officially supported) hardware in my system. As a result, I had always needed to do some tweaking after an OS/2 installation before everything was running smoothly (and the Warp betas were just as bad). I did not look forward to installing Warp GA; in fact, I set aside a whole day to do it.

I was <almost> (but not quite!) disappointed when OS/2 Warp GA installed from its CD with no problems. Instead, I spent the rest of the time playing with the IBM Internet Connection software, IBM Works, and the other BonusPak applications. Result? The installation <did> wind up taking all day (;-).

However, certain configurations do run into problems installing Warp GA. I have listed a number of known problems and workarounds in the following pages to help those of you already stuck, and to forewarn those of you who might need new drivers prior to starting up. I'm hoping that this will result in more people wasting(;-) their time <running> OS/2 Warp and fewer people wasting their time pounding on walls or flaming on the Usenet newsgroups because of snags in installing Warp (;-).

Read the Documentation

Before starting your installation, read the documentation. I know, you've all heard it before. It's a pain, it takes time, and the computer and OS/2 Warp are just <sitting> there when they could be multitasking their little hearts out. I'm still going to recommend it, especially for those of you who are installing OS/2 for the first time. Specifically, you should make sure you cover: Before starting your installation, read the documentation. This includes:

The new "User's Guide to OS/2 Warp", and in particular,

   Chapter  1 - Before You Begin
   Chapter  2 - Using Easy Installation
   Chapter 14 - Solving Installation Problems
   Chapter 15 - Solving System Problems
   Chapter 16 - Video Procedures
   Chapter 17 - Using Advanced Installation
   Chapter 18 - Setting Up a Hard Disk
   Chapter 19 - Special Hardware Considerations
   The README file      (root drive of the OS/2 Warp V3 CD)
                        (Diskette ?? for the Diskette version)
   The README.INS file  (Warp Installation Diskette)
   The README.CID file  (Warp Installation Diskette)

Manufacturers' README files for any device drivers <not> included with the OS/2 Warp GA package.

(other suggestions will be welcomed).

Hardware-Specific Information

If you have owned a computer for any length of time, you're probably aware that it has internal quirks that tend to show up an the most inconvenient times. You install your new SuperFast! display adapter, it doesn't work, and you suddenly discover the world of "IRQs" and "I/O Addresses" that had remained hidden under your computer's covers for <years>... (and you wish it would go back again (;-)).

A complete description of each part of your computer is a useful thing to have around. It helps in insurance claims, and it can help you see possible sources of conflict if your machine sudddenly freezes up during Warp installation. Such a list would include descriptions of the System Board (processor, chipset, RAM, BIOS type and date), disk drives (manufacturer, model, size, interface), monitor (manufacturer, model, suported frequencies and resolutions), and adapters (manufacturer, model, IRQs used, I/O addresses used).

An organized person has this list in a word-procesing document, keeps it up to date, and periodically prints out a copy and files it. This is not the only approach; for example, many of us compile this list by waiting until we have a problem, then opening up the computer, pulling each adapter, and then searching desperately for the manual to tell us whether the IRQ is set by jumper J12-A or J16-A.

Just keep in mind that if you do run into a problem, this information will be requested by IBM OS/2 Support, and will be appreciated by anyone else you ask for assistance.

Warnings

Before performing ANY OS/2 maintenance, including the installation of OS/2 Warp GA, be sure to have a CURRENT backup of ALL of your programs and data.
Before performing ANY OS/2 maintenance, including the installation of OS/2 Warp GA, be sure to have a CURRENT backup of ALL of your programs and data. This is not a typo; it is a redundant copy of my text for backup purposes (;-).
Have a set of <tested> OS/2 bootable diskettes ready with the usual system utilities (FDISK, FORMAT, TEDIT, etc.). Be aware that a set of (e.g.) 2.11 bootable diskettes created with BOOTOS2 will not be able to run some of the system utilities <from> an installed copy of Warp due to version level differences.

Beta Testers

Remember that warning when you received your Beta code that you would have to re-format your Beta partition before installing Warp GA? Yes, it's a pain to do. Yes, it would be nice if IBM would dedicate the resources to testing all possible combinations of Beta1, Beta2, Gamma, and Gamma+ systems with GA installed over them, but lazy as I am, I'd rather see the time spent on improving the base operating system.

It's not that GA-over-Beta is guaranteed to fail. It's that mixing various levels of similar-but-not-identical code creates an incredibly large set of possible combinations of software, and the problems that result are likely to (a) be subtle, (b) remain hidden for some time after Warp GA is installed, (c) be difficult to pin down, and (d) be highly individualized (one of a kind).

Imagine the long-term results of (say) an OS/2 INI file mangled by the Warp Beta code being passed on to Warp GA. Result: much time could be spent, both by IBM and you, in tracking down a problem that could have been avoided by a clean install. There are already enough possibilities for conflicts, don't add new ones.

Have Someone To Talk To

Finally, if you're only moderately technical but know someone who is familiar with OS/2, it doesn't hurt to let them know that you're about to start an installation and <might> be calling on them for help if you encounter problems.

And even if you <are> intimate with all the idiosyncracies of OS/2 Warp, it still doesn't hurt to have someone else to share your problems with - or to whom you can announce that you did the whole thing in 45 minutes flat (;-).

This page is part of Frank McKenney's Warp Installation Notes, a major contribution to the Warp Pharmacy project.