ins_adjb@jhunix.HCF.JHU.EDU (Daniel Jay Barrett) (06/08/89)
I have Dungeon Master and an Amiga 1000, and the game keeps crashing my machine after about 10 minutes of play. There seems to be no pattern to the crashes. Has anyone else had this problem? I am using the original disk, not a copy. (By the way, NIB V1.0 does NOT copy my disk; there must be a new protection scheme.) Symptoms: the mouse pointer suddenly freezes, and the program accepts no input at all. No GURU occurs. I press CTRL-AMIGA-AMIGA to reboot, and I get the "Insert Kickstart" (not Workbench!) prompt. Once, the mouse simply stopped working in the left-right direction. The game crashed several minutes later. I called FTL (the manufacturer) and they were mystified. I sent in my disk and got a replacement. The replacement disk has the same problem. I called FTL again and they were still mystified. They did take my name & number and promised to call me when they figure it out. My configuration: Amiga 1000 with 512K RAM + 2 megabyte RAM expansion (Starboard II), C.Ltd. (original) SCSI controller and 50-meg hard drive, C.Ltd. Timesaver, 2 floppies, Kickstart/Workbench 1.3. I have already run a memory test and it found no problems with my RAM. I am not having any other problems with the computer. Has anyone else with my configuration NOT had this problem? Has anybody else with a different configuration had this problem? Thanks! -- # Dan Barrett barrett@cs.jhu.edu (128.220.13.4) ARPANET # # ins_adjb@jhuvms.bitnet BITNET # # ins_adjb@jhunix.UUCP UUCP (unreliable) # # Dept. of Computer Science, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD 21218 #
bcl+@andrew.cmu.edu (Brian Love) (06/09/89)
> From: ins_adjb@jhunix.HCF.JHU.EDU (Daniel Jay Barrett) > I have Dungeon Master and an Amiga 1000, and the game keeps >crashing my machine after about 10 minutes of play. > > Symptoms: the mouse pointer suddenly freezes, and the program >accepts no input at all. No GURU occurs. > > My configuration: Amiga 1000 with 512K RAM + 2 megabyte RAM >expansion (Starboard II), C.Ltd. (original) SCSI controller and 50-meg >hard drive, C.Ltd. Timesaver, 2 floppies, Kickstart/Workbench 1.3. > > I have already run a memory test and it found no problems with >my RAM. I am not having any other problems with the computer. > Has anyone else with my configuration NOT had this problem? Has >anybody else with a different configuration had this problem? Thanks! I have had exactly the same problem, off and on, with completely different hardware: A2000 with Fat Agnus chips A2090A Microbotics 8-up! fully populated I've been having some trouble with my memory but it seems to have gone away for now. I've had only a single one bit error in 14 test iterations, or over 30 hours of memory testing. With your posting, I'm beginning to suspect my memory is fine, and DM has a bug. Brian C. Love -- "Time may change me, but I can change time."
ins_adjb@jhunix.HCF.JHU.EDU (Daniel Jay Barrett) (06/12/89)
Thanks to everyone who sent me e-mail about my Amiga Dungeon Master crashes. If you have also experienced mysterious crashes like mine (mouse pointer disappears and machine freezes for no apparent reason, after about 10 minutes of play), why not call FTL and tell them about it? The more people who call about this, the quicker it will be fixed, I'll bet! So far, they told me that they had never heard about the problem before. However, several of you wrote to me and said you are having the same problem.... FTL: (619) 453-5711 They were VERY nice on the phone. Dan -- # Dan Barrett barrett@cs.jhu.edu (128.220.13.4) ARPANET # # ins_adjb@jhuvms.bitnet BITNET # # ins_adjb@jhunix.UUCP UUCP (unreliable) # # Dept. of Computer Science, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD 21218 #
hpchang@spurge.waterloo.edu (Hsi P. Chang) (06/13/89)
ins_adjb@jhunix.UUCP (Daniel Jay Barrett) writes: > Thanks to everyone who sent me e-mail about my Amiga Dungeon Master >crashes. If you have also experienced mysterious crashes like mine (mouse >pointer disappears and machine freezes for no apparent reason, after about >10 minutes of play), why not call FTL and tell them about it? The more >people who call about this, the quicker it will be fixed, I'll bet! So far, >they told me that they had never heard about the problem before. However, >several of you wrote to me and said you are having the same problem.... When my friend first purchased DM for the Amiga, he tried to back it up with some professional backup program, and what you described sounds exactly like the copy protection of DM at work. He got this everytime he ran DM off the backup disk. Perhaps you're running Amiga DM off a backup disk ? =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- hpchang@spurge.waterloo.{edu,cdn} Hsi P. Chang hpchang@spurge.uwaterloo.ca 4A Computer Science, Co-op. uunet!watmath!spurge!hpchang University of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada
ins_adjb@jhunix.HCF.JHU.EDU (Daniel Jay Barrett) (06/13/89)
In article <14440@watdragon.waterloo.edu> hpchang@spurge.waterloo.edu (Hsi P. Chang) writes: >Perhaps you're running Amiga DM off a backup disk ? Nope -- original disk. In fact, this is my SECOND original disk. FTL sent me another when I told them that my first one didn't work. Both disks exhibited the problems I described. :-( -- # Dan Barrett barrett@cs.jhu.edu (128.220.13.4) ARPANET # # ins_adjb@jhuvms.bitnet BITNET # # ins_adjb@jhunix.UUCP UUCP (unreliable) # # Dept. of Computer Science, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD 21218 #
cosell@bbn.com (Bernie Cosell) (06/15/89)
In article <1909@jhunix.HCF.JHU.EDU> ins_adjb@jhunix.UUCP (Daniel Jay Barrett) writes: }In article <14440@watdragon.waterloo.edu> hpchang@spurge.waterloo.edu (Hsi P. Chang) writes: }>Perhaps you're running Amiga DM off a backup disk ? } } Nope -- original disk. In fact, this is my SECOND original disk. }FTL sent me another when I told them that my first one didn't work. Both }disks exhibited the problems I described. :-( It could be that your drives are sick or at least way out of adjustment. I _think_ that the DM copy protection scheme involves using some stuff on the disk that a normal drive is supposed to be able to *read* but it takes a hacked-up drive to *write*. If for some reason your drive/driver can't keep up with the accelerated or decelerated data rate, it might make the software think that it is a copied disk. ps, what *do* they do to the drives to get them to go faster and cram an extra sector in? Can an Amiga do that with anything approximating its 'normal' hardware? /Bernie\
ins_adjb@jhunix.HCF.JHU.EDU (Daniel Jay Barrett) (06/16/89)
In article <41454@bbn.COM> cosell@BBN.COM (Bernie Cosell) writes: >It could be that your drives are sick or at least way out of >adjustment. I _think_ that the DM copy protection scheme involves >using some stuff on the disk that a normal drive is supposed to be able >to *read* but it takes a hacked-up drive to *write*. If for some >reason your drive/driver can't keep up with the accelerated or >decelerated data rate, it might make the software think that it is >a copied disk. I guess this is possible. However, I have successfully run Faery Tale Adventure, Shadowgate, Bards Tale, Bards Tale II, Borrowed Time, Archon, Archon II, Deluxe Paint II (copy protected version), Mindwalker, The Pawn, Hitchhiker's Guide, and a host of other games with no problems. I have also seen what Dungeon Master does when it is copied onto another disk. First, it shows a very pretty blue pattern on the screen. Then, depending on what version you have, it either shows a blank screen and stops dead, or it gets to the DUNGEON MASTER logo and stops with the drive light on. If their game doesn't work because it is incompatible with my hardware, then it goes in the trash, I'm afraid. :-( Thanks for the suggestion, though!!! -- # Dan Barrett barrett@cs.jhu.edu (128.220.13.4) ARPANET # # ins_adjb@jhuvms.bitnet BITNET # # ins_adjb@jhunix.UUCP UUCP (unreliable) # # Dept. of Computer Science, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD 21218 #
stan@hpcvca.CV.HP.COM (Stan Gibbs) (06/20/89)
ins_adjb@jhunix.HCF.JHU.EDU (Daniel Jay Barrett) writes: > I have also seen what Dungeon Master does when it is copied > onto another disk. First, it shows a very pretty blue pattern on > the screen. Then, depending on what version you have, it either > shows a blank screen and stops dead, or it gets to the DUNGEON MASTER > logo and stops with the drive light on. > If their game doesn't work because it is incompatible with > my hardware, then it goes in the trash, I'm afraid. :-( I have used NIB V1.0 to archive DM. The game does display the blue pattern during initial boot-up, but seems to play fine. Previous attempts to archive DM with other programs gave me versions which usually locked-up, with and without custom alerts, after short periods of play. ============================================================================ | Stan Gibbs | | stan@cv.hp.com || {hplabs,tektronix}!hp-pcd!stan | ============================================================================
rodd@dasys1.UUCP (Rod Dorman) (06/25/89)
In article <41454@bbn.COM> cosell@BBN.COM (Bernie Cosell) writes: >It could be that your drives are sick or at least way out of >adjustment. ... If for some >reason your drive/driver can't keep up with the accelerated or >decelerated data rate, it might make the software think that it is >a copied disk. Is there a drive allignment kit that includes an allignment test diskette available for the amiga? Failing that, what about software that uses presumably "alligned" disks such as the distribution Kickstart/Workbench diskettes to run an allignment test. -- Rod -- Rod Dorman rodd@dasys1.uucp Big Electric Cat Public Unix "The ships hung in the sky in much the same way that bricks don't"