[Coco] OS9Boot bugs

Robert Gault robert.gault at worldnet.att.net
Fri Jun 23 06:23:28 EDT 2006


Chester Patterson wrote:
> Hi all,
> 
> OS9 ver2 standard. Coco3 512, MPI. All worked great 12-14 years ago. But
> now... While making boot disk for my ST225 (B&B interface) I have run into
> some curious behaviour that I haven't seen before. First a standard bootup,
> load bbfhdisk and /H0. Was able to format and dircopy to /H0. And chd/chx as
> well. However when I went to use any command that access' /h0/cmds, error
> 215. OK, I thought, boot order bug. So ezgen a proper boot disk with
> bbfhdisk and H0 right after RBF and before cc3disk. Boot up. Am able to
> chd/chx and access /h0 just fine but none of the /w descriptors work! (error
> 215) All I have is the 32 column term. So I turn everything off, disconnect
> the power to the ST225, but not the cables, boot up, and presto, all the
> windows work fine. How do I get this to work? Thanks.
> 
> /Chester
> Costa Rica
> 
> 
> 

Please clear up several points of information. How long have you had the 
  B&B interface and hard disk? Has the hard disk system ever worked? 
With the standard boot, was bbfhdisk and h0 in a single merged file? If 
not, you usually can't load them separately and get things to work 
correctly. What happens if you power the hard drive but remove the cable 
from the B&B interface? Does everything other than the hard drive work 
correctly?


  First, the "boot order bug" should not be an issue here. It really 
applies to the floppy controller not hard drive systems.
  At first glance, you seem to have a power supply or memory problem. 
However, it would help to see an exact copy of the Ident results on your 
two os9boot files. There may be something not quite right with them. 
Make sure that everything in the os9boot has good CRC values.
  MPI units can have power supply problems. My own had one that was 
fixed by reseating the lock washer/bolts on the main power transistor. 
The contacts between the MPI and Coco or the controller/interface and 
MPI are known to cause problems; clean them.

  It actually reads as if you have two problems. Since turning on/off 
power to the hard drive effects the success of the boot, that suggest a 
power supply problem. Rearranging modules in the os9boot file and 
subsequent problems, seems to suggest a bad os9boot component.
  If you repeat your tests several times making them exactly the same 
test, do you get the same results or are things intermittent?



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