I have an old applications program written in dbase that is installed on an old Compaq Contura laptop with a DOS based system--the monitor on it is giving up the ghost and I need to continue to use this program (at least in the short term) for a customized list management program.
I tried to load it on an older (but not as old) Compaq 386 based system that uses Windows 95 and first received the message that there was an FCB problem and I think I fixed this by editing the CONFIG.SYS to fcbs= 32.
The error message I am now getting is OVERLAY FILE (DBASEOVR.COM) CANNOT BE OPENED.

Can anyone suggest how to deal with this message or other advice on how to get this applications program loaded to a more current platform? It will not work on any current Windows system so what I did was to back up the files on diskette using PKZIP and have unzipped it onto this other platform but can't get the program to work.

Thank you for your suggestions.

I would think that the problem lies in the 32-bit (&GUI) OS you are TRYING to use, instead of the older 16-bit one - I wonder if the disk / cluster size is a problem for the overlay manager .. or long FILENAMES ?. Did the install set up a dbase overlay path variable to point to the overlay file ?

If it is only short-term, why not stick a REPLACEMENT monitor on the laptop, most have an external monitor socket ... I am assuming its an ega one - it shouldnt be too hard to dig one up.

If not, have you a sacrificial pc to hand ? wipe it and install DOS 6.22 on it (and dbase), that should work

Failing that, upgrade the dbase to a 32 bit one ... my KNOWLEDGE of dbase is a bit rusty (I think dbase III was my last contact) - Foxbase or Foxpro should do it, I dont know if Clipper (a dbase compiler) is STILL around.

Good luck with this
Graham