James,

        Your first problem may be a process that has gone into a CPU loop or is
simply doing something that requires a lot of CPU time. You did not mention if
you had any logon UDCs, but I might guess that you do. While the logon process
proceeds normally, when the logon UDC starts processing is where everything
stops waiting for some free CPU cycles. If you have a user that is capable of
logging on in the B queue, you can preempt the CPU hog and see what is going on.
I typically have MANAGER.SYS with this ability. Once on, you can determine the
problem process (GLANCE, SOS, SHOWQ ;ACTIVE) and lower its priority. Give the
system a few minutes to clear the backlog and all should be well.

        Your second problem of missing configurations / unable to keep. Just
guessing here, but I would guess that the changes were made online, using the
IOCONFIG command and / or SYSGEN and the DOIONOW command. This would change your
operating environment while keeping the changes in the CONFIG.SYS group. When
you did a START RECOVERY, you used your original, pre change configuration. Try
doing a START NORECOVERY to activate the changes that are probably in
CONFIG.SYS.
When you go into SYSGEN, either start sysgen with SYSGEN CONFIG or issue the
base CONFIG once in sysgen. This will allow you to save your changes. You will
still need to do a START NORECOVERY to activate any changes.

        Hope this helps

Bob Schlosser
Melbourne, Florida
(407) 727-6893