jwz@SPICE.CS.CMU.EDU (Jamie Zawinski) (11/05/87)
This happened a while ago, so my memory of it may be a little faulty, but... I had just gotten a Xebec 20meg hard disk a few days before, and was in the process of moving all of my files on to it. My logical names were set like this from my boot floppy: SYS: DH0:System/ C: DH0:System/C/ S: DH0:System/S/ etc... So one day I ran preferences, and saved it, not remembering that it was writing the info to the hard disk instead of the floppy where it was needed. Well, nothing seemed to be wrong then. But when I rebooted, at bootup it told me that volume DH0: could not be validated. So I did the only thing I could think of; I backed up the entire hard disk (since I could still read from it) and reformatted it. The next day, I ran preferences again (from the HD), and exactly the same thing happened. I'm sure that I never rebooted while disks were active, and I know that my copy of preferences is not corrupted because I have copied it to floppies and run it successfully on them. I haven't tried to reproduce this again, because I really don't like spending all day reformatting my hard disk... I get enough of that sort of thing at work!! for the betterment of humanity, -- Jamie (jwz@spice.cs.cmu.edu)
hsgj@batcomputer.UUCP (11/06/87)
In article <310@PT.CS.CMU.EDU> jwz@SPICE.CS.CMU.EDU (Jamie Zawinski) writes: > >I had just gotten a Xebec 20meg hard disk a few days before, and was in the >process of moving all of my files on to it. > [...] >So one day I ran preferences, and saved it, not remembering that it was >writing the info to the hard disk instead of the floppy where it was needed. >Well, nothing seemed to be wrong then. But when I rebooted, at bootup it >told me that volume DH0: could not be validated. > >So I did the only thing I could think of; I backed up the entire hard disk >(since I could still read from it) and reformatted it. I do not have a XEBEC, but instead a harddisk from another manufacturer. However, these comments may still apply: First, the "Disk not validated" error usually occurs because something was writing to the disk or a file was still opened, and you rebooted. If you get the "Disk not validated" error, ALL YOU HAVE TO DO IS WAIT. After about 10 minutes of very slow track to track 'ticks', your hard disk will be revalidated, and all will be cool. Make sure to delete the opened file, which typically will be some number of blocks, but of a zero file size (or some file size, but zero blocks, I forget which). Shell (By Dillon/Drew) tells you both the file size and block count with its 'dir' command. Second, preferences usually pauses for a second before it begins to write its info. Perhaps you rebooted during that pause when a file somewhere (the system-configuration, maybe) was still open. By the way, if you do get your problem fixed, having preferences saved on the hard disk will not help you when you boot (assuming you boot from a floppy). Make sure you copy HARDDISK:DEVS/system-configuration to WBFLOPPY:DEVS/system-configuration. Hope some of this helped. Again, if your hard disk has any quality, it will recover from Not Validated. If it can't, sue Xebec... -- Dan Green -- ARPA: hsgj@tcgould.tn.cornell.edu UUCP: ihnp4!cornell!batcomputer!hsgj BITNET: hsgj@cornella
cmcmanis%pepper@Sun.COM (Chuck McManis) (11/06/87)
In article <310@PT.CS.CMU.EDU> jwz@SPICE.CS.CMU.EDU (Jamie Zawinski) writes:
:This happened a while ago, so my memory of it may be a little faulty, but...
:
:I had just gotten a Xebec 20meg hard disk a few days before, and was in the
:process of moving all of my files on to it. My logical names were set like
:this from my boot floppy:
:
: SYS: DH0:System/
: C: DH0:System/C/
: S: DH0:System/S/
: etc...
These should be SYS: DH0:System
C: DH0:System/c
etc no trailing slash. I assume that this is your faulty memory coming
into play :-).
: ... But when I rebooted, at bootup it
: told me that volume DH0: could not be validated.
Two questions spring to mind :
A) Why are your workbench directorys one deep in the disk heirarchy ?
Specifically, did you really copy every thing to a directory 'System'
on the hard disk?
b) Does your L: directory contain disk-validator ?
--Chuck McManis
uucp: {anywhere}!sun!cmcmanis BIX: cmcmanis ARPAnet: cmcmanis@sun.com
These opinions are my own and no one elses, but you knew that didn't you.rchampe@hubcap.UUCP (Richard Champeaux) (11/06/87)
In article <310@PT.CS.CMU.EDU>, jwz@SPICE.CS.CMU.EDU (Jamie Zawinski) writes: > > This happened a while ago, so my memory of it may be a little faulty, but... > > I had just gotten a Xebec 20meg hard disk a few days before, and was in the > process of moving all of my files on to it. My logical names were set like > this from my boot floppy: > > SYS: DH0:System/ > C: DH0:System/C/ > S: DH0:System/S/ > etc... > > So one day I ran preferences, and saved it, not remembering that it was > writing the info to the hard disk instead of the floppy where it was needed. > Well, nothing seemed to be wrong then. But when I rebooted, at bootup it > told me that volume DH0: could not be validated. > This used to happen to me a lot with my supradrive but it turned out to be my fault. With floppies, I got into the habit of waiting for the red light to go out before rebooting. This doesn't work with hard drives. About two seconds after finishing writing to a disk, AmigaDos validates the disk. Since the motor of the floppy drives is still on durring this two second pause, the light stays on. On a hard disk, however, the motor is always on so the LED is on only durring acceses. What was happening to me is that when AmigaDos finished saving the file, the LED would go off. Then, two seconds later, it would flicker again while it was validating the disk. Since I was used to floppies, when the light turned off the first time, I would reboot or turn off the computer, and the disk was never validated. The supradrive can recover from this however, but it takes about 30 seconds of making strange noises. The first time this happened to me, it scared the hell out of me, because it didn't tell me what it was doing and I thought my drive was broken. moral: Wait for the second flicker Rich Champeaux Clemson University
jmpiazza@sunybcs.uucp (Joseph M. Piazza) (11/07/87)
In article <629@hubcap.UUCP> rchampe@hubcap.UUCP (Richard Champeaux) writes: >... With floppies, I got into the habit of waiting for the >red light to go out before rebooting. This doesn't work with hard drives. > ... moral: Wait for the second flicker > How about a command called "shutdown." When it is safe to shut off the machine (after the second flicker and/or other conditions are met) it will print a message on the screen saying "You can now safely turn off your machine." Hmmm. On second thought, it should say something else. We don't want to infringe on anybody's look and feel. :-) Flip side, joe piazza --- Cogito ergo equus sum. CS Dept. SUNY at Buffalo 14260 UU: ...{rocksvax|decvax}!sunybcs!jmpiazza CS: jmpiazza@cs.buffalo.edu BI: jmpiazza@sunybcs
rchampe@hubcap.UUCP (Richard Champeaux) (11/08/87)
In article <6365@sunybcs.UUCP>, jmpiazza@sunybcs.uucp (Joseph M. Piazza) writes: > In article <629@hubcap.UUCP> rchampe@hubcap.UUCP (Richard Champeaux) writes: > >... With floppies, I got into the habit of waiting for the > >red light to go out before rebooting. This doesn't work with hard drives. > > ... moral: Wait for the second flicker > > > > How about a command called "shutdown." When it is safe to shut off > the machine (after the second flicker and/or other conditions are met) it will > print a message on the screen saying "You can now safely turn off your machine." > > joe piazza The only conditions I've noticed is validation access, which happens about 3 seconds after the finishing a write (I said 2 seconds in my last message, but I checked and it's more like 3). By the time you typed in "shutdown", it'd be ready to shut off. I just had to learn to be patient and wait for the final flicker before rebooting. Rich Champeaux Clemson University
kaz@cadovax.UUCP (Kerry Zimmerman) (11/09/87)
In article <6365@sunybcs.UUCP> jmpiazza@gort.UUCP (Joseph M. Piazza) writes: > How about a command called "shutdown." When it is safe to shut off >the machine (after the second flicker and/or other conditions are met) it will >print a message on the screen saying "You can now safely turn off your machine." I second the motion! I would like to have the command also retract the heads of the drive so I can feel safe about transporting the Amiga. I have this command on my PC at work and don't feel totally safe without it on the Amiga. Kerry Zimmerman # {ucbvax,decvax}!trwrb!cadovax!kaz Contel Business Systems 213-323-8170 A difference between an amateur and a professional, is that a professional has the right tools.
rchampe@hubcap.UUCP (Richard Champeaux) (11/09/87)
In article <1855@cadovax.UUCP>, kaz@cadovax.UUCP (Kerry Zimmerman) writes: > In article <6365@sunybcs.UUCP> jmpiazza@gort.UUCP (Joseph M. Piazza) writes: > > How about a command called "shutdown." When it is safe to shut off > >the machine (after the second flicker and/or other conditions are met) it will > >print a message on the screen saying "You can now safely turn off your machine." > I second the motion! I would like to have the command also retract the > heads of the drive so I can feel safe about transporting the Amiga. > I have this command on my PC at work and don't feel totally safe without > it on the Amiga. > > > Kerry Zimmerman If you really want a shutdown command so bad, why don't you use the program to park the head which should come with every hard disk. The supradrive comes with a program called park that does this. This is nice when I plan to move my hard disk, but simply takes too long if all I want to do is turn off the computer. Rich Champeaux Clemis leroupseen d