Cannot back up to 40/60MB tape in 80 /120MB tape drive
Cause: An 80MB drive can restore from, but not back up to, a 40MB tape.
Action: Try using an 80MB tape, formatting the tape, or using a blank tape.
Cannot change BUFSIZE
Cause: DOSKEY. The DOSKEY program is already installed.
Action: To change the BUFSIZE, reinstall the DOSKEY program using the /reinstall and the /bufsize=size switches.
If you need to conserve memory, you can restart your computer and install DOSKEY using just the /bufsize=size
switch.
Note: Reinstalling with the /reinstall switch does not remove the previous program from memory.
Cannot CHDIR to path - tree past this point not processed
Cause: CHKDSK. CHKDSK is checking the structure of the directory and is unable to go to the specified
directory. All subdirectories underneath this directory cannot be verified.
Action: Run CHKDSK again with the /f switch to automatically correct this error.
Cannot CHDIR to root
Cause: CHKDSK. CHKDSK is checking the tree structure of the directory and is unable to return to the root
directory. CHKDSK is unable to check the remaining subdirectories.
Action: Restart PC DOS. If this error persists, the disk is unusable and must be reformatted. See the
documentation that came with your system.
Cannot CHKDSK a network drive
Cause: CHKDSK. This message indicates one of the following three problems:
o You cannot run CHKDSK against a remote server drive.
o You cannot run CHKDSK against a local drive that you are sharing on the network.
o You cannot run CHKDSK against a local drive on which you are logging network messages.
Action: If the disk is a remote server, you cannot run CHKDSK against it. CHKDSK must be run on the server
itself. If the disk is being shared, you must issue two commands: NET PAUSE SRV and NET PAUSE PRT. After
these commands are issued, you can run CHKDSK. If the network messages are being logged to your disk, issue
the command NET PAUSE RCV (or whatever configuration you used to shart your computer); then run CHKDSK.
If you need to restart your network disk activities, issue the commands NET CONTINUE RCV (or whatever
configuration you used to start your computer), and NET CONTINUE PRT. These commands resume the possibility
of any background disk activity.
Cannot CHKDSK a SUBSTed or ASSIGNed drive
Cause: CHKDSK. The SUBST and ASSIGN commands hide disk information which is necessary to CHKDSK.
Action: Remove the substitution. Then try the CHKDSK command again.
Cannot create a zero size partition
Cause: FDISK. A partition must be a minimum of one cylinder.
Action: Specify a size for the partition of at least one cylinder.
Cannot create Extended DOS Partition without Primary DOS Partition on disk 1
Cause: FDISK. You cannot have an extended DOS partition on disk 1 unless a primary DOS partition also exists.
Action: Use FDISK to create a primary DOS partition on disk 1. Leave enough room on the disk to allow space
for the extended DOS partition.
Cannot create Logical DOS Drive without an Extended DOS Partition on the current drive
Cause: FDISK. There is no extended DOS partition on this drive.
Action: Return to the FDISK Options menu and create an extended DOS partition.
Cannot delete Extended DOS Partition while logical drives exist
Cause: FDISK. You cannot delete the extended DOS partition while there are logical DOS drives defined in that
partition.
Action: Use FDISK to delete all the logical DOS drives in the extended DOS partition.
Cannot delete Primary DOS Partition on drive 1 when an Extended DOS Partition exists
Cause: FDISK. An extended partition exists on drive 1. You cannot delete the primary DOS partition when
there is an extended partition on the same drive.
Action: First delete the extended partition; then delete the primary DOS partition.
Cannot DISKCOMP to or from a network drive
Cause: DISKCOMP. You cannot use DISKCOMP to compare files on a network drive or on a drive that is on your
system but is currently being shared on the network.
Action: Use FC *.* instead of DISKCOMP. If the disk is being shared, you can PAUSE the server, use DISKCOMP,
and then CONTINUE the server.
Cannot DISKCOPY to or from a network drive
Cause: DISKCOPY. You cannot use DISKCOPY to copy files to or from a network drive or a drive that is on
your system but is currently being shared on the network.
Action: Use XCOPY *.* instead of DISKCOPY. You can also use the COPY command to copy individual files
instead of the complete disk. Make sure that you format your disk. If the disk is being shared, you can PAUSE
the server, use DISKCOPY, then CONTINUE the server.
Cannot do binary reads from a device
Cause: COPY. You used the / b switch with a device name while trying to copy from the device. The copy
cannot be processed in binary mode because COPY must be able to detect the end-of-file from the device.
Action: Re-enter COPY and omit the /b switch or use the /a switch after the device name.
Cannot DRVLOCK a network drive
Cause: DRVLOCK. You tried to use DRVLOCK on a network drive. DRVLOCK supports only local drives.
Action: No action is required.
Cannot DRVLOCK a SUBSTed or ASSIGNed drive
Cause: DRVLOCK. You ran a SUBST or ASSIGN command before you used DRVLOCK, but DRVLOCK does not
support drives with these commands active.
Action: Remove the substitutions; then, try the DRVLOCK command again.
Cannot EJECT a network drive
Cause: EJECT. You tried to use EJECT on a network drive, but EJECT supports only local drives.
Action: No action is required.
Cannot EJECT a SUBSTed or ASSIGNed drive
Cause: EJECT. You ran a SUBST or ASSIGN command before you used EJECT, but EJECT does not support
drives with these commands active.
Action: Remove the substitutions; then, try the EJECT command again.
Cannot EJECT media
Cause: EJECT. Drive d: is locked and the medium inside of the drive cannot be ejected.
Action: Use the DRVLOCK command with the /off switch to unlock the drive.
Cannot FDISK with network loaded
Cause: FDISK. You tried to use FDISK while your system was connected to a network.
Action: Disconnect from the network before using FDISK.
Cannot find System Files
Cause: COMMANDS. Hidden files IBMBIO.COM, or IBMDOS.COM or both were not found on the current drive.
Action: Change the current drive to one that has the system files in the root and try again.
Cannot format an ASSIGNed or SUBSTed drive
Cause: FORMAT. You ran an ASSIGN or SUBST command before you used FORMAT.
Action: Process ASSIGN to restore the original drive letter assignment; then proceed with the FORMAT command.
Cannot FORMAT a network drive
Cause: FORMAT. You cannot use the FORMAT command to format a network drive or a drive on your system
being shared on the network.
Action: If the drive is being shared, you can PAUSE the server, use FORMAT, and then CONTINUE the server.
Cannot Loadhigh batch file
Cause: LOADHIGH. You tried to load a batch program (a file having a .BAT extension) into upper memory. You
can load only executable or command programs (programs having either an .EXE or .COM extension) in upper
memory.
Action: Do not use the LOADHIGH command with batch files. Remove all occurrences of the LOADHIGH command
used with batch files from all directories and from your AUTOEXEC.BAT file.
Cannot lock drive d:
Cause: DRVLOCK. Due to a failure, DRVLOCK was not successful.
Action: Try DRVLOCK again.
Cannot lock socket x:
Cause: DRVLOCK. Due to a hardware failure, the lock function on the socket was not successful.
Action: Try the command again.
Cannot make directory entry
Cause: MKDIR. The disk or root directory is full. There can be no more than 512 files and directories in the
root directory of your hard disk.
Action: Move or delete some files to free space, or use another disk.
Cannot move multiple files to a single file
Cause: MOVE. You tried to move multiple files to a single file.
Action: You can only move a single file to a single file. When moving more than one file, the destination must
be a directory. If you want to combine multiple files into one file, see the APPEND command in the PC DOS 7
Command Reference.
Cannot move x to y: No such file or directory
Cause: MOVE. The target path is too long, the file or directory does not exist, or you are trying to move a
directory to a subdirectory of itself. For example,
move c:\test c:\test\temp
Action: Specify a valid target.
Cannot open the file xxxxxx
Cause: VIEW. An error occurred while trying to open the specified file.
Action: Check the filename and ensure it is spelled correctly and is a file that can be viewed. Only files with
an extension of .INF can be used with the VIEW command.
Cannot open specified country information file
Cause: CHCP. The path to the COUNTRY.SYS file is not correctly specified.
Action: Check the country statement in your CONFIG.SYS file to make sure you specified the correct path to the
COUNTRY.SYS file. Make any necessary changes and restart your computer.
Cannot perform a cyclic copy
Cause: XCOPY. The function requested causes the destination to be part of the source. The /s switch was
probably specified with XCOPY. The destination is a subdirectory, but the source is a directory above the
destination.
Action: Evaluate the tree structure of the source and the destination and use a temporary file or disk to avoid
the endless cycle.
Cannot read system files from source
Cause: SYS. Hidden files IBMBIO.COM, or IBMDOS.COM or both were not found on the current drive or in the
path.
Action: Change the current drive to one that has the system files in the root and try again.
Cannot recover .. entry, Entry has a bad attribute (or link or size)
Cause: CHKDSK. The parent directory (..) is defective and cannot be recovered.
Action: If you specify the /f switch, CHKDSK tries to correct the error automatically.
Cannot recover .. entry, processing continued
Cause: CHKDSK. The working directory is defective and cannot be recovered.
Action: No action required. Processing continues.
Cannot specify default drive
Cause: SYS. Cannot specify the disk drive that you want to transfer the operating system files to.
Action: You must leave two unused entries in the root directory of the drive that you want to transfer the
operating system files to, and you must leave enough space on the disk for SYS to install the system files.
Cannot unlock drive d:
Cause: DRVLOCK. Due to a failure, DRVLOCK was not successful.
Action: Try DRVLOCK again.
Cannot unlock socket x:
Cause: DRVLOCK. Due to a hardware failure, the unlock function on the socket was not successful.
Action: Try the command again.
Cannot XCOPY from a reserved device
Cause: XCOPY. The source specified is a character device, such as a printer or an asynchronous communication
port, or is NUL.
Action: Put the source data into a file and enter XCOPY again, and use the file as the source.
Cannot XCOPY to a reserved device
Cause: XCOPY. The destination specified is a character device, such as a printer or an asynchronous
communication port, or is NUL.
Action: Specify a file or block device other than NUL as the destination and enter XCOPY again.
CD-ROM not High Sierra or ISO-9660 format
Cause: MSCDEX. Your CD-ROM is not compatible with this version of PC DOS.
Action: You cannot access your CD-ROM using the MSCDEX command. Check the documentation that came with
your CD-ROM device.
CHDIR..failed, trying alternate method
Cause: CHKDSK. CHKDSK found an unrecoverable error while reading or writing to a subdirectory.
Action: Restart PC DOS and CHKDSK again.
CHKDSK /F cannot be done in a Windows/PC DOS Shell Command Prompt
Cause: CHKDSK. You tried to run the CHKDSK command with the /f switch from the command prompt while
running under the PC DOS Shell task swapper.
Action: Quit the PC DOS Shell before using the switch with the CHKDSK command.
CHKDSK not available on drive X
Cause: CHKDSK. You are trying to CHKDSK an alternate file system that cannot be found.
Action: Re-enter the statement using the correct parameters.
x code page driver cannot be initialized
Cause: DISPLAY.SYS. You entered an invalid type in the CONFIG.SYS DEVICE statement.
Action: Re-enter the statement in the CONFIG.SYS file using the correct options to select from. See the
information on DISPLAY.SYS in the "Working with Device Drivers" section in the PC DOS 7 Command Reference.
Code page not prepared
Cause: MODE. MODE failed during a SELECT operation for one of the following reasons:
o The indicated code page had never been defined to the device.
o The prepared code page does not have the correct font to support the current video mode.
Action: Use MODE PREPARE to pass the code page definition to the device. If the error still occurs, increase the
number of subfonts (m) in the DEVICE=DISPLAY.SYS command in the CONFIG.SYS, and restart PC DOS.
Code page xxx not prepared for all devices
Cause: CHCP. CHCP was unable to select the code page for one of the following reasons:
o A device was not prepared for the requested code page.
o A device I/O error occurred.
o The device does not support code page switching.
Action: Use the MODE command to prepare all devices for code page switching. Make sure the printer is online
and not currently printing. Retry the CHCP command.
Code page xxx not prepared for system
Cause: CHCP. CHCP was unable to select the specified code page because no devices have been prepared with
the MODE command.
Action: Make sure that all devices have been prepared for the code page using the MODE command and retry
the command.
Code page operation not supported on this device
Cause: MODE. In an attempt to use MODE to PREPARE or SELECT a code page for a device, the specified
"device" might have been a file name (not really a device), or it is not a device that supports code pages. The
CONFIG.SYS file might not contain the DEVICE command to properly load the code page switching device driver.
If the definition on the device is incorrect, the device cannot be initialized properly.
Action: Make sure that the device statement has no spelling errors. The specified "device" cannot be a file
name. Change the CONFIG.SYS file, restart, and try the MODE command again.
Code page requested xxx is not valid for given keyboard code
Cause: KEYB. KEYB attempted to start a keyboard code page that is not valid for that keyboard. The xxx
displays the requested code page.
Action: Using the MODE command, change the selected code page to one valid for the new keyboard, or specify
a code page switch in the KEYB command.
Code page specified has not been prepared
Cause: KEYB. You have a CON device driver loaded that supports code page switching. The code page
specified has not been prepared for CON.
Action: Use the MODE command to prepare CON with the desired code page.
Code page specified is inconsistent with the selected code page
Cause: KEYB. The code page specified has been prepared for the CON device but is not the current CON code
page. The specified code page is now the active keyboard code page. It is important to note that the selected
CON code page is not changed. This means that your display and keyboard are operating in different code
pages. The characters you type might be displayed incorrectly while your display and keyboard are operating in
different code pages.
Action: Use the MODE command to change the selected code page for the display.
COM1: 9600,n,1 - Could not open EMM Device
Cause: You tried to install PenDOS without enabling expanded memory.
Action: To enable expanded memory:
o Type RAMSETUP at the DOS command prompt.
o Select Advanced.
o Select Options.
o Select Enable EMS.
o Select OK.
o Follow instructions on the screen.
Command not known
Cause: E. You typed a command that is not recognized by the program, or you typed the name of the
command incorrectly.
Action: Verify that you typed a valid command; then, try the operation again.
Compare error on side n, track xx
Cause: DISKCOMP. One or more locations on the indicated track and side contain different information when the
disks are compared.
Action: This message is to inform you that there is a difference between disks. If you want an exact copy of a
disk, use DISKCOPY.
Configuration too large for memory
Cause: IBMBIO. Occurs when the number specified for the /e switch in the SHELL statement and either the
FILES statement, the BUFFERS statement, or both does not leave enough room for PC DOS to be loaded.
Action: Restart your computer with a different diskette. Then, in your CONFIG.SYS file, remove some devices,
reduce the amount of memory used by devices, or reduce the number of files or buffers the system uses.
Now, start your computer again.
Could not allocate memory!
Cause: PCMCIA. Not enough memory space found.
Action: Reallocate memory resources either by changing the CONFIG.SYS or by rerunning your memory manager.
Could not copy COMMAND.COM onto target disk
Cause: SYS. The SYS command was not able to copy the COMMAND.COM to the destination disk. The disk
might be bad, the wrong type, or not formatted.
Action: Determine if the destination disk is usable. If it is not, use another disk.
Could not open output file x
Cause: QCONFIG. You tried to redirect output information without correctly specifying the /o switch.
Action: Specify the name of the file you want to output information to using the /o switch.
Current drive is no longer valid
Cause: DOS. While attempting to get the current directory for the command prompt ($P), COMMAND.COM found
that the disk could not be accessed. This can occur if your current drive is a network drive, or if the current
drive is a diskette drive and there is no disk in it.
Action: If your current drive is a diskette drive, make sure that there is a diskette in the drive and the drive
door is closed; otherwise, change your current drive to a valid drive.
Current keyboard does not support this code page
Cause: MODE. While attempting to carry out a MODE PREPARE or MODE SELECT code page function, the device
has detected a discrepancy between the currently defined keyboard code and the specified code page.
Action: Adjust the KEYB specification to reference the desired code page definitions and reissue the MODE
PREPARE code page function.
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