Before opening a fresh ticket, please review the README files in the root of the installation ISO and installed to \sys\doc\ArcaOS, paying particular attention to the Known Issues sections. Additionally, per the Best Practices wiki page, please search the bug tracker for similar issues before reporting another instance of the same condition. Duplicate tickets cause more work for everyone.
This page is meant to supplement the README with the latest information available concerning the issues of which we are already aware.
On this page
Installing ArcaOS 5.0.8 when a NVME device is present
This issue was corrected on July 9, 2023, so if your ISO was built after July 9, 2023 it will not have this issue and you can install normally without any intervention.
If your ISO was built before July 9, 2023 and your system has an NVME device the installer will erroneously add the /VW switch to the PSD and install the BOOTDLY driver. This will occur whether or not you actually use the NVME device. These must be removed after the end of Phase 1.
- Upon reaching the Copying files page, uncheck Reboot automatically, and allow the file copy to complete.
- Click the System Management button.
- From the System management menu, select File | Text editor.
- In the editor, select File | Open… and browse to the target system volume.
- Select CONFIG.SYS and click Open.
- Search for ACPI.PSD, and ensure that the line does not include the /VW option. If it does, remove this option.
- Search for BOOTDLY.SYS. if this line exists, remove it.
- Save the file and exit the editor.
- From the System Management menu, select ArcaOS | Shut Down, and once shutdown is complete, press <Ctrl-Alt-Del> to reboot into phase 2 of the install and allow the process to continue, rebooting automatically into phase 3.
Inability to boot into the installer before 5.0.7
Certain systems reported “Failed to restore A20 gate” while booting from the ArcaOS installation medium (DVD, ISO, USB, and local partition). This condition has been corrected as of ArcaOS 5.0.7, and the A20 Gate detection should no longer be an issue.
Trap 8 booting ArcaOS before 5.0.5
If a trap 8 occurs when attempting to boot ArcaOS versions prior to 5.0.5 from the hard disk, try booting from the installation media, and using the text editor from the System Management console, comment the two lines in \OS2\BOOT\SNOOP.LST on the boot volume by inserting “;” in front of each. Save the file, shutdown and reboot to the hard disk.
DOS and/or WIN-OS/2 sessions do not work
This is a known condition on many newer systems. It is mentioned in the README in the list of known issues. Generally, this is due to an incompatibility in the BIOS of the system with the DOS VDM code in ArcaOS (inherited from IBM’s OS/2 Warp 4).
Arca Noae is continuing to work on addressing this (and other causes of failure of DOS sessions to start).
Some possible workarounds:
Modify the VSVGA.SYS line in CONFIG.SYS to include the following parameter:
DEVICE=N:\OS2\MDOS\VSVGA.SYS /int10textgrfxsafe
With the above change, it may be necessary to append the following to AUTOEXEC.BAT (located either in the root directory of the boot volume or where specified for the DOS session object):
mode co80 cls
Another option, when full screen sessions work but windowed ones do not, is to open a full screen session first, and then press Alt-Home to switch it to a windowed session (this only works for DOS sessions, not OS/2 full screen and windowed sessions).
The main tracking ticket for progress on this issue is #1193.
Network Adapters and Protocol Services applet not updated (ArcaOS 5.0.5)
Due to a minor packaging issue, the new NAPS 1.1.7 package in ArcaOS 5.0.5 is not applied during an ArcaOS update. While it is possible to apply this from the installation media (the NAPS.WPI package resides in \CID\SERVER\ARCAPKG on the ArcaOS ISO), the best fix is to just download the updated component as a self-extracting installer from the ArcaOS order details page. This will ensure that the proper version is recorded in the WarpIN database for future updates.
COMSPEC environment variable is left commented in CONFIG.SYS (ArcaOS 5.0.6)
To ensure a working environment for the update procedure, the
SET COMSPEC=
line in CONFIG.SYS is commented (REMmed). We have seen instances where this is not restored at the conclusion of the update. Manually remove the “REM” preceding that line in CONFIG.SYS. This has been addressed for future ArcaOS releases.
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