Handling a Hung or Locking OS/2 Machine

SUMMARY

It is possible to make changes while attempting to install Mouse support for OS/2 that result in a machine never booting. This information applies to all versions of the Microsoft Mouse.

MORE INFORMATION

Usually, an incorrect installation of Mouse software for OS/2 will cause an error to be reported in the CONFIG.SYS file. The machine will pause at this error. Pressing ENTER generally allows the machine to continue booting.

If the machine never reports an error and hangs, or pressing ENTER does not permit the machine to continue booting, then you must use the OS/2 disk set to restore the system:

1. Place the first disk, the OS/2 Install disk, in drive A of the machine, and then reboot. (Note: This is similar to the procedure for a DOS machine running DOS versions 4.x.)

2. After booting the machine, you may have a very primitive command line. Usually the way to work around the booting problem is to rename the suspect mouse driver file that is not loading in the CONFIG.SYS file, and is causing the hanging problem. Rename the file (for example, from DRIVER.SYS to ANYTHING.SYS).

3. Now try booting again on the hard disk. The mouse driver file that was not loading will now not be found when the CONFIG.SYS tries to load that line, which should cause an error. You should now be able to press ENTER to continue booting.