Windows XP with DOS. 1

[skeandhu]

Could anyone give advice or a website regarding the following problem. We have a remote station monitor in control room which was windows 95 with a dos program for giving running data on a Gas Turbine shipping pump. It is an Allen Bradley PLC 5 to a station PC with Artic card, RS232 as the data hi-way. The remote station PC has been changed to Windows XP in my absense and surprise surprise the DOS program no longer runs. I was supplied with the latest up date of the software for the remote station but it won't run on Windows XP. Can i install Windows 95 on the Computer with XP, does the hard drive need formatted an partitioned etc.

 

[IRstuff]

Have you tried to change the compatibility mode of the DOS program under XP? There is Windows95 compatibility mode in XP. Sometimes, this can get stuff going.

Tek-Tips.com covers this type of problem on a routine basis.

TTFN

 

[Johnl99]

Sounds like someone is having fun at your expense.....you can set up the PC with a dual boot function, but that may not answer the question. Was there a specific reason they upgraded the OS to XP, or was it simply done to "keep up with the times".

There is still a number of PLC adaptor programs that will only run in DOS, and some have upgraded their drivers. You might want to see if they have WIndows 2000 Drivers. These will most likely work under XP.

Also your Arctic software was designed to gain direct hardware access to the Controller card and the communications route. This will not happen under Windows 2000 or XP, since they both prohibit programs from having direct access to hardware.

If there are no updated drivers for your Controller, they may want to move the system back to DOS or Windows 95, thne IF they need Windows XP for another reason, build the system to dual boot (remember you will lose your control when it is booted to XP).

If they complelely wiped our the disk to set up XP, yes you would need to re-format and put Win 95 on first, then set XP up to load onto a different partition (they won't reside on the same partition).

 

[skeandhu]

Thanks everbody for your replies, they proved most helpful as i managed to convince the powers that be to remove XP and re-install Windows 95!!! All's well that ends well.