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Q35145: "String Space Corrupt" If Drive Door Open, & QB.INI Not Found

Article: Q35145
Product(s): See article
Version(s): 4.00 4.00b 4.50
Operating System(s): MS-DOS
Keyword(s): ENDUSER | buglist4.00 buglist4.00b B_BasicCom fixlist4.50 | mspl13_basic
Last Modified: 8-DEC-1989

When all of the following conditions are true, invoking the QuickBASIC
editor from the DOS command line will give a "String Space Corrupt"
error and hang your machine:

1. The Drive A or Drive B door is open.

2. A:\ or B:\ is in the DOS search path, for example:

      PATH=A:\;B:\

3. The QB.INI file is not present in the current directory or in any
   directory appearing in the search path before A:\ or B:\.

Microsoft has confirmed this to be a problem in the QB.EXE editor that
comes with Microsoft QuickBASIC Compiler Versions 4.00 and 4.00b and
with Microsoft BASIC Compiler Versions 6.00 (buglist6.00) and 6.00b
(buglist6.00b) for MS-DOS and MS OS/2. This problem was corrected in
QuickBASIC Version 4.50 and in QBX.EXE of Microsoft BASIC Compiler
Version 7.00 (fixlist7.00).

QB.INI is a file that automatically is created when the settings in
the QB.EXE editor are changed with the Options command from the View
menu.

The QuickBASIC environment automatically looks for the QB.INI file
immediately upon start-up. If the file is not in the current
directory, QuickBASIC uses the search path in its attempt to find the
file.

If a floppy drive (Drive A or Drive B) is in the DOS search path and
the drive door is open, QB.EXE fails to stop the hardware error, and a
"String Space Corrupt" error occurs. A warm boot (CTRL+ALT+DEL)
usually must be used to restart the computer.

The following are three ways to work around the problem:

1. Remove the floppy specification in the search path.

2. Make sure there is a disk in the floppy drive and that the door is
   closed.

3. Create a QB.INI file in your QuickBASIC directory.

In QuickBASIC Versions 3.00 and earlier, if the drive door is left
open, the following DOS error message is correctly generated:

   "Not Ready Error Reading Drive A:
   Abort, Retry, Ignore, Fail?"

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