5.995 bytes

Service Hints & Tips

Document ID: DJON-3G8S8W

Aptiva - Tips on running DOOM

Applicable to: United States

DOOM is a very popular shareware game by Id Software. The game will run fine on all PS/1 and Aptiva computers with 4MB of RAM or more, although some people have had difficulties getting the game to work with their systems.

DOOM requires a 386 or 486 with 4MB of memory to run. If you system has only 4MB of RAM installed, you may already be using too much of it to run DOOM, and you will see an "Insufficient Memory" message when you try to play it. This problem can be solved using any one of the procedures listed below.

These steps will work for DOOM, and some other DOS games. DOOM is different than most DOS games because it uses a DOS Extender program to run in protected mode. This eliminates the high conventional memory requirement, and the need to load programs into upper memory. Many of the newer games use DOS Extenders. (Dark Forces, Full Throttle, Phantasmagoria, Raptor, Wing Commander3 are examples of these newer DOS games.)

Option 1
The easiest way to run the game is to reboot your machine, and when you see "Loading MS-DOS" (or "Loading PC-DOS"), press and hold the shift key until you get to the C:\> prompt. This only works for DOS versions 6.0 and higher. With earlier versions of DOS, you can make a boot diskette by inserting a blank diskette in drive A: and then type "FORMAT A: /S". ** Do not put an AUTOEXEC.BAT or CONFIG.SYS on the boot diskette. If you want to use a mouse, you will have to load your mouse driver, usually by typing "C:\DOS\MOUSE". The main disadvantage to using this procedure is that you would not have access to the CD-Rom drive (and in some cases, the sound card), because the software required to use them is not loaded into memory. The solution here is to use a modified version of your AUTOEXEC.BAT and CONFIG.SYS on the boot disk.

Option 2
If you want to edit your AUTOEXEC.BAT and CONFIG.SYS so that no special procedure is needed, you can do this by disabling some of the programs that are loaded by the AUTOEXEC.BAT. The program that uses the most memory in your AUTOEXEC.BAT file is most likely SMARTDRV. The line that loads SMARTDRV looks like this: C:\DOS\SMARTDRV.EXE You can disable this line by placing a "REM " statement in front of it, so that it looks like this: REM C:\DOS\SMARTDRV.EXE Doing this will slow your Windows performance, but it is necessary to run the game DOOM on a 4MB system. In most cases, this step alone will allow you to run the game DOOM. The other program to disable is EMM386.EXE in the CONFIG.SYS file. Doing this will decrease the amount of free conventional memory, and it might be best to use these files on a boot disk instead of the hard drive.

Option 3
The last solution is to upgrade your system memory to 8MB or more. Doing this will eliminate the need to disable any other programs to get DOOM running.

For OS/2 Users
For those with OS/2 and 8MB of memory, the README.EXE file included with DOOM has the DOS Settings that will allow you to run the game. Doom will run under OS/2, but it will not run correctly with sound enabled, for those who have sound cards.

	Search Keywords
	Hint Category	Entertainment Software
	Date Created	17-04-97
	Last Updated	23-03-99
	Revision Date	23-03-2000
	Brand	IBM Aptiva
	Product Family	Aptiva, PS/1
	Machine Type	2011, 2144, 2168, 2121, 2123, 2133, 2155
	Model	C01; C34; M01; NEA; T35; U35; A62; A82; A94; B82; C42; C92; G42; M82; S92; 081; 087; 131; 137; K37; N31; N81; 11E; 13T; 14C; 16E; 17A; 18A; 18T; 19C; 21C; 23C; 28A; 46M; 51D; D50; G11; G13; G43; G46; G46; G49; G49; G50; G53; M40; M40; M46; M46; P11; P13; P43; P50; P53; R04; R05; R06; R09; R38; R42; R43; R44; R84; R86; R87; RO3; S11; S13; S43; S45; S45; S47; S47; S48; S48; S50; S53; W11; W13; W42; W42; W43; W45; W45; W50; W53; 20E; 22T; 24C; 24M; 28V; 39E; 41T; 43C; 45V; 48E; 50T; 52C; 55V; 72E; 74T; 76C; 78C; 79C; 81A; 82E; 84T; 86C; 87C; CC1; D53; G14; G44; G52; G54; G72; G76; G78; G82; NM1; P14; P44; P57; P71; P74; P76; P78; P84; R14; R15; R16; R17; R18; R51; R52; R57; R58; R62; R63; R67; R71; R89; R93; R96; R97; S14; S44; S50; S54; S70; S75; S76; S78; S80; W14; W44; W48; W54; W67; W76; W77; W78; Z33; 28V; 31E; 33T; 37C; 38C; 51E; 54T; 56C; 57C; 88V; BB1; G57; G87; OR1; OR3; OR4; OR5; P89; R28; R29; R31; R74; R78; R82; R98; S55; S85; SR1; US1; W52; W82; 1R2; 66P; 67P; 86P; OR8; 1R1; 1R3; 1R5; 22P; 24P; 25P; 27P; 29P; 63P; 67P; 82P; 83P; OR6; OR7; OR9; 1R0; 1R1; 26P; 62P; 2R0; P30; 2R3; S15
	TypeModel	2011C01
	Retain Tip (if applicable)
	Reverse Doclinks and Admin Purposes