Readme.txt Driver File Contents (S2D-A08B.exe)

Copyright 1994-1999, Dell Computer Corporation.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

        Suspend-to-Disk Instructions for Dell Portable Computers

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
                            Table of Contents
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Section #   Topic

I.          Introduction
II.         MKS2D Command Line Options
III.        Why/when do I need to use the Suspend-to-Disk utilities?
IV.         Using MKS2D.EXE, the Suspend-to-Disk Utility
V.          Methods of Creating the S2D Save Area
VI.         Deleting/Creating the File System Portion of the Save Area
VII.        Creating the S2D Partition on HDD Less than 8.4GB
VIII.       Creating the S2D Partition on HDD Greater than 8.4GB
IX.         Calculating Partition Sizes
X.          Errata

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
I. Introduction
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Suspend-To-Disk (S2D) is a feature that allows you to turn off your
computer in a special way. S2D allows you to leave your system off for long 
periods of time, and then turn it back on, beginning work at the point where
you turned it off. The applications that were running when you 
activated the S2D feature will be running again when you turn the system 
back on. The act of turning the system on after an S2D is called resuming
or resuming from S2D.

The S2D feature cannot function unless an area has been created on your hard
disk to save the state of the operating system. This "save area" is created by
the MKS2D.EXE program and normally consists of a separate partition on your
hard-disk. MKS2D.EXE can also use part of the MS-DOS file space.

The S2D feature is activated by the <Fn+A> key combination or through timed
settings in System Setup. When S2D is activated, the BIOS checks to verify that
an S2D save area exists on your hard-disk and that it is large enough to hold 
the contents of your system and video memory. If the save area does not exist 
or if it is not large enough, the S2D will fail (generating an error message). 
If the save area exists and is large enough, the system's state will be saved 
and the computer will be powered off. The next time you turn on the computer, 
it will run POST normally and then restore the saved system state.


---------------------------------------------------------------------------
II. MKS2D Command Line Options
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

MKS2D -- Make Suspend-To-Disk data structure.

USE: mks2d [option1 [option2 [...]]]

Options are:

        -nopause  Do not pause when mks2d is done.
        -p#[M|K]  Make partition a fixed size (e.g. -p136M is 136 Megabytes).
        -c        Create an empty S2D partition, then exit.
        -f        Do not use file system for the S2D data structure.
        -v#       Set verbosity (reporting) level.
        -r        Print revision number and exit.
        @<file>   Read options from the specified file (one per line).

NOTES: *  Options are processed from left to right.
       *  # is assumed to be a decimal number unless it begins with "0x"
          (e.g., "-p64M" and "-p0x40M" are equivalent).
       *  The -p option cannot generate partitions of exactly the specified
          size due to disk geometry limitations.
       *  The -c option will fail if an S2D partition already exists. You
          can run RMS2D to delete an existing S2D partition. The partition
          will be the default size unless you also use the "-p" option.


-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
III. Why/when do I need to use the Suspend-to-Disk utilities MKS2D and RMS2D?
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

1) When additional RAM is added to the system, you may need to run 
   RMS2D and then MKS2D. 

   By default, MKS2D creates a save area that is just large enough to save 
   the memory installed in the system at the time MKS2D.EXE is executed.  
   If you add memory later, the save area will no longer be large enough 
   to support S2D functionality.

2) If S2D functionality is required for a new hard-disk drive, run MKS2D.EXE 
   to create an S2D save area.


---------------------------------------------------------------------------
IV. Using MKS2D.EXE, the Suspend-to-Disk Utility
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

If Dell installed an operating system on your hard-disk drive, MKS2D.EXE
was used to create an S2D save area on your hard disk. This save area is a 
single-drive partition, the S2D partition.  This S2D partition matches the 
size of your memory configuration for your hard disk. This partition is used
to store all of the system data that is copied and saved when you activate 
suspend-to-disk mode.

Note:
Use the information in this README file to delete or recreate the S2D 
partition on your hard-disk drive in the following situations:

-- If you are using an operating system that is not compatible with 
   MS-DOS (i.e., Microsoft Windows NT), 
-- If you want to reserve a physical partition for your S2D space,
-- If you have upgraded system memory.


---------------------------------------------------------------------------
V. Methods for Creating the S2D Save Area
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Method # 1: Set Up a Small Physical Partition Plus Part of the 
            MS-DOS Filespace
============================================================================

You can create an S2D save area that consists of a small physical partition on 
your hard-disk drive plus a portion of your MS-DOS file system (FAT 16 or 
FAT 32).

Advantage of Using a Small Physical Partition

* The portion of the MS-DOS file system used by S2D can be removed easily
  with RMS2D. That portion of the hard drive space can then be used for 
  other purposes. If you remove the S2D save area, you will not be able to 
  use the S2D feature.

Disadvantage of Using a Small Physical Partition

* S2D functionality has to be filtered through the operating system, which
  can drastically increase the amount of time that it takes for the system
  to save the system state.

Method # 2: Set Up a Large Physical Partition
==============================================================================

You can set up the S2D save area as a single partition on the hard-disk drive.  
Then, the system stores all S2D information there. This is the factory default 
method for all operating systems.

Advantage of Using a Large Physical Partition

* All of the S2D information can be stored in the partition without using
  the MS-DOS file system. This method substantially decreases the time
  required to save the system state.

* The S2D partition structure is not compressed when converting to the 
  NTFS file system under Windows NT 4.0. This method should also be used
  with any type of file compression (DBLSPACE) or non MS-DOS operating
  system.

Disadvantage of Using a Large Physical Partition

*  This method is not as flexible when adjustments need to be made to the
   size of the S2D save area. Adding RAM to the system can require that
   the drive partitions be redone to restore S2D functionality (or revert
   to using part of the MS-DOS file system for S2D).


---------------------------------------------------------------------------
VI. Deleting/Creating the File System Portion of the S2D Save Area
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Use the RMS2D command to delete the S2D partition and return the file system
portion of the save area (if any) to the operating system. 

Notes:
 1. Once you run RMS2D, you cannot place your computer into suspend-to-disk 
    mode until you recreate the S2D save area using the MKS2D command.  

 2. If you are using MS-DOS, run your defragmentation utility after running 
    RMS2D and before running MKS2D to ensure there is enough space to 
    allocate the file system portion of your S2D partition.  If there is not 
    enough space, you must delete files from the uncompressed partition on 
    your hard-disk drive.


---------------------------------------------------------------------------
VII. Creating the S2D Partition on Hard Drives Less Than 8.4 GB
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dell's suspend-to-disk technology requires a minimum-size S2D partition to be built
to save your system's state to the hard-disk drive.  Use the following
procedure to build the S2D partition:

1.  Create an MS-DOS bootable diskette that contains the DOS utilities
    FDISK.EXE and FORMAT.COM. Then copy the MKS2D and RMS2D files to this
    bootable diskette.

2.  Back up all critical files.  (You do not need to back up programs which can  
    be reloaded from storage media, such as diskettes or CDs.)

3.  At the operating system prompt, type FDISK and press ENTER.

WARNING: THE FDISK UTILITY DESTROYS ALL DATA ON YOUR HARD-DISK DRIVE.

4.  Delete the partitions that exist on your hard-disk drive.

5.  Create a primary partition for your operating system.  Leave enough
    space for the S2D partition.  

    If your operating system is MS-DOS, the S2D partition should be at least
    4 to 8 MB.  In MS-DOS systems, the remainder of the suspend-to-disk 
    space can be taken from your file system (see Method # 1: Set Up a Small 
    Physical Partition).  

    Using your file system space for the remainder of the S2D space allows
    you to manage the file system space by installing and removing the
    S2D portion of your file system.  

    If you would like to restrict all S2D files to a large physical 
    partition, or if you are using an operating system that is not 
    compatible with MS-DOS (for example NT FAT or NTFS), this partition
    size should be calculated by the formula listed in Section VIII 
    below (also see Method # 2: Set Up a Large Physical Partition).

6.  If you are using MS-DOS, format your operating system partition and
    install your software.

7.  Boot MS-DOS from a diskette or from the hard-disk drive.

8.  At the operating system prompt, type MKS2D (or MKS2D -F, see
    explanation immediately below) and press ENTER to finish building
    the S2D partition.  

    If you are using an operating system that is compatible with MS-DOS
    and you build a partition smaller than required, the MKS2D utility 
    uses part of your file system to supplement the S2D partition.  

    If you are using an operating system that is not compatible with MS-DOS,
    or if you want to restrict the S2D files to the S2D partition, type 
    MKS2D -F at the operating system prompt and press ENTER.


---------------------------------------------------------------------------
VIII. Creating the S2D Partition on Hard Drives Larger than 8.4 GB
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dell's suspend-to-disk technology requires a minimum-size S2D partition to 
be built to save your system's state to the hard-disk drive.  Use the following
procedure to build the S2D partition on a hard drive larger than 8.4GB.

Note: 
  The S2D partition on a hard drive larger than 8.4GB *must* be placed
  within the first 8.4GB of the drive. The Dell factory installation places
  the S2D partition at the very beginning of the hard drive. Viewing the
  partition information with FDISK.EXE (or Disk Administrator under Windows
  NT 4.0) will reveal a non MS-DOS partition at the front of the drive.

1. Create an MS-DOS bootable diskette that contains the DOS utilities
   FDISK.EXE and FORMAT.COM. Then copy the MKS2D and RMS2D files to 
   this bootable diskette.

2. Back up all critical files.  (You do not need to back up programs which
   can be reloaded from diskette or CD.)

3. At the operating system prompt, type FDISK and press ENTER.

WARNING: THE FDISK UTILITY DESTROYS ALL DATA ON YOUR HARD-DISK DRIVE.

4. Delete the partitions that exist on your hard-disk drive.

5. Boot from the MS-DOS diskette. The following options are available:

   a. Type MKS2D and press Enter. This action creates a non MS-DOS partition 
      at the beginning of the hard drive. This partition is approximately the 
      size of the RAM in the system (plus a small amount of overhead). This 
      option places the entire S2D save area in a physical partition (see 
      Section IV, Method # 2: Creating a Large Physical Partition).

   b. Type MKS2D -p# and press Enter (refer to Section I to review the command
      line options). The "-p#" option allows the size of the S2D partition
      to be adjusted (see Section IV, Method # 1 or # 2).

      Use the -p option to create a larger partition if you plan to add memory
      to your system later. By doing this, you avoid having to create a new, 
      larger save area after the memory is added.  For example, suppose you have  
      64 MB of system memory, but you plan to upgrade to 128 MB in the future.  
      Use the following command to create an S2D save area that is large enough
      for current and future memory requirements:

             mks2d -p134m

      The 134 MB is calculated by the formula:

             1.01 * (Memory size + 4MB) = 1.01 * (128 + 4) = 133.3

      On the other hand, if you want to create a small S2D partition and
      use MS-DOS file space for the remainder of the S2D save area, you
      would use the -p option with the -c option. As an example, suppose
      you want to devote only 5 MB of your disk for the S2D partition. 
      Create an empty S2D partition of approximately 5 MB by entering the
      following command:

             mks2d -p5m -c

      After you have created and formatted an MS-DOS compatible OS 
      partition, you must re-run MKS2D without any command line options 
      to complete the creation of the save area.  MKS2D will use the 5MB 
      partition for part of the save area and complete the save area using
      free space from the MS-DOS partition.

      Caution: 
        Using the MKS2D -p# option without the -c option will generate
        the following error message if the partition size specified is smaller
        than the available RAM plus the necessary overhead to create the S2D
        partition:

        "File space is needed, but there is no FAT partition on the disk."

        This error message is generated because the program attempts to 
        create the MS-DOS portion of the save area, but the MS-DOS compatible
        operating system partition does not exist yet. Adding the -c switch
        option eliminates the above error message. Otherwise, there is no
        difference in using the -c option.

      Note:
        Using either of these two methods will create a non MS-DOS partition
        at the front of the drive to hold the S2D information.

6. Create a primary partition for your operating system.

7. If you are using MS-DOS, format your operating system partition and
   install your software.

8. If you ran MKS2D.EXE -p# to create a S2D partition that was smaller
   than the available RAM plus the necessary overhead, you must run 
   MKS2D.EXE again. This time, use no options so the save space will 
   be taken from the previously created S2D partition plus the required 
   MS-DOS file space.


---------------------------------------------------------------------------
IX. Calculating Partition Sizes
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Use the following table to calculate the amount of space needed for the
S2D partition.

FAT 16:
=======
S2D partition should be at least 4 MB

FAT 32:
=======
S2D partition should be at least 8 MB

NT FAT or NTFS:
===============
Use the following formula to calculate the needed S2D partition size:
(Size of system memory + Size of Video Memory) * 1.01 + 2 MB

DBLSPACE or Compressed Drive:
=============================
Use the following formula to calculate the needed S2D partition size:
(Size of system memory + Size of Video Memory) * 1.01 + 2 MB


--------------------------------------------------------------------------  
X. Errata
--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Some hard drive utilities completely remove or modify the partition table
(other than FDISK.EXE) in such a way that MKS2D.EXE will generate the 
following error: 

"Partition sector is invalid"

This error typically occurs on a hard drive in which the partition has 
been "removed" by a third part utility.

To work around this error, a partition table must be created on the hard
drive. To create a partition table on a blank hard drive:

1.  Boot from an MS-DOS diskette that contains the DOS utility FDISK.EXE.

2.  At the operating system prompt, type FDISK, and press ENTER.

3.  Create a primary partition, exit FDISK, and reboot from the same DOS
    diskette.

4.  At the operating system prompt, type FDISK and press ENTER.

5.  Delete the primary partition, exit FDISK, and reboot

Proceed with the normal Suspend-to-Disk creation instructions.


Revised 10/26/99

End of README.TXT
-----------------

Download Driver Pack

How To Update Drivers Manually

After your driver has been downloaded, follow these simple steps to install it.

  • Expand the archive file (if the download file is in zip or rar format).

  • If the expanded file has an .exe extension, double click it and follow the installation instructions.

  • Otherwise, open Device Manager by right-clicking the Start menu and selecting Device Manager.

  • Find the device and model you want to update in the device list.

  • Double-click on it to open the Properties dialog box.

  • From the Properties dialog box, select the Driver tab.

  • Click the Update Driver button, then follow the instructions.

Very important: You must reboot your system to ensure that any driver updates have taken effect.

For more help, visit our Driver Support section for step-by-step videos on how to install drivers for every file type.

server: web4, load: 0.58