Incomplete DEVICE Line in CONFIG.SYS Causes Screen Garbage (78846)

The information in this article applies to:

Microsoft MS-DOS operating system 5.0

This article was previously published under Q78846

SUMMARY

If random characters, symbols, words, and half sentences are displayed and the machine beeps when booting MS-DOS 5.0, an incomplete DEVICE statement may exist in the CONFIG.SYS file.

This problem can be solved by removing this line from the CONFIG.SYS.

MORE INFORMATION

For example, the following CONFIG.SYS file would exhibit the problem described above:

   Files=30
   Buffers=20
   Device=
   Device=c:\dos\himem.sys
   Shell=c:\dos\command.com c:\dos /p /e:512

(Note that the third line, Device=, is incomplete.) Incomplete sentences and other partially readable output may be displayed. The expected error message for this line would be:

ERROR IN CONFIG.SYS LINE #X

The above message may or may not be part of the erratic output.

Modification Type:	Major	Last Reviewed:	11/22/1999
Keywords:	KB78846