• What are the requirements to run VADV32?
• I am running VADV32 v1.0, what do I need to do to upgrade?
• What is RTBBSL?
• When VADV32 updates RTBBSL, it says "No Response." Why?
• When VADV32 updates RTBBSL, it says "Unknown Response." Why?
• What does "Invalid Socket Handle" mean?
• Why does VADV32 sometimes report that a telnet session is invalid?
• I loaded VADV32 and I cannot see the window!
• How do I run events with VADV32?
• VADV32 is slow to start, or the VADV32 window turns white. Why?

What are the requirements to run VADV32?

To use VADV32, you need the following:

• Virtual Advanced v2.10 for DOS. VADV32 is for Windows only, so the OS/2 version will not work with it. The BBS software must be installed and setup correctly. Visit the VADV support page to download VADV.

• You must be running Windows 2000 or above. VADV32 uses Netfoss as its fossil driver and it will not work with Windows 9x.

  An alternative to Netfoss is mSyncFos. During testing, it worked as expected under WinNT based systems. It is also supposed to run under Windows 9x, but I could not get it to work properly. Note: it is recommended that you download the most current Synchronet DOSEXTRN files if using mSyncFos. To run mSyncFos under Vista you must have latest files, and sbbsexec.dll needs to be in your System32 directory.

  Note: As of v2.1, the VADV32 installer will only run on the supported operating systems. If you attempt to install it on an unsupported operating system, it will display a message and then exit.

I am running VADV32 v1.0, what do I need to do to upgrade?

VADV32 has been redesigned to be easier to install and configure. Before you upgrade, you must first remove version 1.0. To do this, delete the following files from your main VADV directory:

• VADV32.EXE
• VADV32.CFG
• VADV32.DOC
• VA32UP.CFG
• LOADBBS.BAT
• NETCOM.EXE
• NETFOSS.COM
• NETFOSS.DLL

The next set of files may or may not be present in your main VADV directory. If they are, then delete them as well:

• RUNTHIS.BAT
• MSCOMCTL.OCX
• MSFLXGRD.OCX
• MSWINSCK.OCX

This is to ensure that the upgrade will go smoothly. VADV32 now includes an uninstaller which will make removing it in the future extremely easy.

What is RTBBSL?

Real-Time BBS List is a dynamic BBS list. Each BBS listed has to update its account every five minutes or the account will be flagged "unknown". This is done with a small client application. VADV32 has a RTBBSL client built-in, so there is no need to run multiple programs. If a BBS is listed on RTBBSL, then you know that it is active and awaiting callers.

When VADV32 updates RTBBSL, it says "No Response." Why?

If VADV32 does not get a response back from the RTBBSL service when it attempts to update it, it will display this message. It could be caused by several things such as: If you are not connected to the Internet, the RTBBSL service is unavailable, or if the response is being blocked by something such as a firewall or router.

When VADV32 updates RTBBSL, it says "Unknown Response." Why?

If VADV32 receives an invalid response back from the RTBBSL service then this message will be displayed. RTBBSL returns a true or false response when it is updated, which means that it has been successfully updated or that an invalid username or password was sent. Typically you should never see this message.

What does "Invalid Socket Handle mean?

If VADV32 is accepting connections but not allowing your users to access the BBS then it is probably due to a Netfoss error. If you turn on "Show Event Windows" and look at the DOS window when a user tries to login, then you may be able to see the Netfoss error message.

The most common error is "Invalid Socket Handle" which means that the socket handle passed to Netfoss from VADV32 is not correct. This problem is not caused by VADV32 or by Netfoss. It is the result of security software running on the system that is intercepting the socket communications and modifying it.

There are known problems with Norton, McAfee and NOD32. If you are receiving this error and running one of these programs or a similar solution, then first try to add VADV32 and Netfoss to the exclusion list. If that does not solve the problem, then uninstall the security software.

Why does VADV32 sometimes report that a telnet session is invalid?

Occasionally you will see in VADV32's display that a connection was refused due to an invalid session. This message is displayed if the socket for the connection could not be opened. It generally does NOT mean there is a problem with VADV32 or your setup. It is typically caused by someone running a port scan on your IP address.

I loaded VADV32 and I cannot see the window!

This may occur if the VADV32.DAT file becomes corrupt. If this happens to you, then you can do one of two things.

• Delete VADV32.DAT - this will cause VADV32 to load on the primary monitor.

• Run "VADV32.EXE /RESETWINDOW". This will reset the window position to the default.

How do I run events with VADV32?

VADV32 v1.0 or v2.0 WILL NOT execute the events which are configured in VConfig! In order to run nightly events, you have a few choices:

• VADV32 does support running a batch file named VA32EVNT.BAT at 00:01 each night. You can enable this feature in VADV32 Configuration. This batch file should be created in your main VADV directory.

• Utilize scheduler software to schedule your events. Windows comes with Windows Scheduler which works good for nightly maintenance.

VADV32 v2.1 WILL execute the VConfig events if enabled. It will run the events at the time scheduled. Multiple events that are scheduled for the same time will be executed in order they are listed and executed one at a time. Please note that VADV32 will ignore the hard/soft setting of the event. If a hard event is scheduled to run and a user is online, the event will execute but the user will NOT be logged offline.

VADV32 is slow to start, or the VADV32 window turns white. Why?

This has been resolved in VADV32 v2.1. It was caused by the RTBBSL update. If the RTBBSL service could not be reached, or failed to send a response, then the program simply waited for the response for up to 30 seconds. This made the program appear to hang or on execution it looked like it was not loading. To resolve, upgrade to version 2.1 or higher.