[Coco] error 249

Sat Mar 18 11:01:18 EDT 2017

It has been many years since I last used my real CoCo and made the mistake of inserting a NitrOS-9 DNS=3 formatted disk into a drive that had a descriptor set to DNS=1. Actually VCC and other emulators running NitrOS-9 can demonstrate the error.

I think that 249 was the error reported. My OS-9 manuals are currently unavailable.

I rarely used DNS=1 as all my descriptors normally had DNS=3 for my 5-1/4" 80T2S disks (NitrOS-9 will double step to read a 40T2S disk.) All most all of my disks I have archives of online have that format.

I needed to use the correct DNS=3 in my system but the CoCo world mainly has DNS=1.

It is hard to understand how the mismatch might happen for you but DMODE can be used to quickly check the Descriptor DNS setting and the utility "lsn0" or another one will read successfully LSN0 and report the disks DNS value (It my have a different name, it has been decades since I needed to).

Simply changing the descriptor using "DMODE /D0 DNS=3" after the 249 error and trying the disk again would eliminate this possibility. Your 3.5" disks leave you wide open for this problem should you try to read any of my own disks. (Ask if you need the 'lsn0' utility)

SHF 

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Bill" <cwgordon at carolina.rr.com>
To: "'CoCoList for Color Computer Enthusiasts'" <coco at maltedmedia.com>
Sent: Saturday, March 18, 2017 6:46 AM
Subject: Re: [Coco] error 249

> Well, that proves the axiom, "Never assume". I had "assumed" that as many years as I've been privileged to be part of this community, someone would "assume" that I was not as stupid as those who had never had ANY dealings with the Coco, and would be "assumed" that I know enough to NOT put an IBM, Atari, or RSDos disk and try to access it.
> 
> You want information, I will give as much information as I can provide. Actually, I DO have a clean NitrOS-9 formatted disk loaded in my physical drive. And the nos96809l2v030300coco3_dw.dsk has been booted using HDB-Dos 1.4 DW3 Coco 3 into DriveWire 4.3.30 (06/13/2013), by a VIRGIN FD-501 Tandy controller controlling a dual vertical set of 3 1/2" drives, and a TRIAD 512K SRAM Upgraded Coco3 with no MPI attached that have shown no signs of errors. The Coco 3, DriveWire 4, and the drives have NOT been showing any OTHER SIGNS of errors. The DMODE settings of the /dn drives running with the nos96809l2v030300coco3_dw.dsk had been modified (DMODE /d0 typ=21 cyl=50) and re-cobbled.
> 
> The aforementioned 'problem' floppy  disk had been previously formatted using a disk-based version of nos96809l2v030300coco3_dw with no problems. I had copied Bill Pierce's utilities on it, and was trying to access the disk while the Coco was running DriveWire 4.
> 
> Any more information will be provided upon request.
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Coco [mailto:coco-bounces at maltedmedia.com] On Behalf Of Robert Gault
> Sent: Friday, March 17, 2017 2:39 PM
> To: CoCoList for Color Computer Enthusiasts
> Subject: Re: [Coco] error 249
> 
>>> Bill wrote:
>>> I'm using Drivewire 4 and nos96809l2v030300coco3_dw.dsk, and when I 
>>> try to access a physical drive, I get an ERROR 249 message. Does 
>>> anyone have a solution to this? I can format to the physical drive, 
>>> and after that, II get the ERROR 249 again
>>>
> 
>> Bill,
>>
>> That errors meaning can be found by entering error 249 You will get
>> 249 - Wrong Type
>> which at first glance won't mean much. Based on the sparse information 
>> you have supplied, it should mean that you don't have an OS-9 disk loaded in your "physical drive."
>>
>> Now you have said that you can format a physical drive, but how do you know that the format worked? 
>> Have you checked your drive descriptors with dmode? What is the exact nature of your system?
> 
>> Without more information about your system, there is no good way to provide useful information. I can say that with the 
>> disk you mentioned mounted in DW4 disk 0, and a floppy in one of my drives on a Coco3, I can read my floppy and not get a 249 error.
> 
> 
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