AMEIJ@vax.oxford.ac.UK (Jan Ameij) (02/08/90)
As requested: a) What happened: Tempus II started delaying by tens of seconds between keypress and effect. This was only in one file: another could be edited fine, but on reloading the first the same happened. Hard reboot solved the problem. b) Hardware: Mega 2, nothing else c) Software: foldr200.prg, filefix.acc, S.I.Ramdisk @ 1Mb, Tempus II End of Report.
RiddCJ@computer-science.birmingham.ac.UK (Chris Ridd) (02/08/90)
Yep - this one strikes me too! I've never ever seen this problem mentioned
in the ST mags or anything - is it common?
I sometimes get some kind of infinitely repeated keys, but normally only
during bootup. I do boot however, with a small clock setter (SUPCLKRD - the
Supra one) which sets the IKBD's version of the time/date (the new version
does, at least).
I'm pretty careful about touching the mouse - I don't think it matters if
the mouse is moved, or not - it seems to happen 'randomly'. Also, sometimes
the whole machine crashes after doing all the \AUTO\*.PRGs, with 3 bombs.
Again, 'randomly'. Maybe it has something to do with the IKBD's time! :-)
System: 1040STFM, Mono, TOS 1.0, AUTO contents in order: SUPCLKRD, FOLDR180,
DCACHE, LGSELECT, G+PLUS. I've also had it with a bare bones AUTO: SUPCLKRD.
Other progs to look at/change the IKBD during bootup seem to die too, so Supra
isn't the culprit!
Personally I suspect a bug in the IKBD's ROM. Any 6301 hackers out there?
Chris
/*
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*/Z4648252@SFAUSTIN.BITNET (Z4648252) (02/14/90)
Scott Flinn writes:
"Has anybody else noticed any correlation between rapid sequences of
keystrokes (involving multiple backspaces) and the appearance of the Phantom?"
I think that Scott has sort of hit the nail on the head. But heck if
I can get the creature to show up at my beckoning. I wonder if it takes
a certain combination of keys that occur upon fatfingering. That would
explain why it is so difficult to get the critter to show up.
Furthermore, I still feel that it is on the keyboard side and not the
motherboard side. Seems the fact that it has happened also with Spectre
would be a significant clue.
Larry Rymal: |East Texas Atari 68NNNers| <Z4648252@SFAUSTIN.BITNET>R.D.Chafer@sysc.salford.ac.UK (02/16/90)
I have experienced the Phantom Typist a couple of times lately, only since
I bought a hard disk though (a Third Coast Technologies 45MB SCSI which I
would reccomend to anyone). The software I use is all my own and all the
keyboard interactions are via evnt_multi. No fancy keyboard tricks! Could
the use of fast DMA be affecting anything?
=========================================================================
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FTN77 Group
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or chafer%uk.ac.salford.sysc%ukacrl.bitnet @ cunyvm.cuny.eduBob_BobR_Retelle@cup.portal.com (02/21/90)
I assume, based on KBad's comments that Alan Page is a poor programmer too, or possibly I didn't sprinkle enough dried chicken blood around my ST, as I've had the "Phantom Typist" hit me while using FLASH as a text editor... Seems odd that someone who's been so involved with the ST has never heard of this "feature" that's existed as long as the ST has been available... BobR
mwjester@wsucsa.uucp (02/23/90)
In article <27180@cup.portal.com>, Bob_BobR_Retelle@cup.portal.com writes: > I assume, based on KBad's comments that Alan Page is a poor programmer too, > or possibly I didn't sprinkle enough dried chicken blood around my ST, as > I've had the "Phantom Typist" hit me while using FLASH as a text editor... > > Seems odd that someone who's been so involved with the ST has never heard of > this "feature" that's existed as long as the ST has been available... > > BobR I used to use Flash occasionally as an editor while online ( before I switched to Uniterm :^) - thanks Simon!), but I never ran across the phantom typist while doing so - in fact I've never had it happen to me. I have the 85 ROMs and normally have some fairly minor accessories running - the control panel and so forth. What kind of things were you doing when it hit? Max J.
Bob_BobR_Retelle@cup.portal.com (02/26/90)
Max J asked: >I used to use Flash occasionally as an editor while online ( before I switch >to Uniterm :^) - thanks Simon!), but I never ran across the phantom typist >while doing so - in fact I've never had it happen to me. I have the 85 ROMs >and normally have some fairly minor accessories running - the control panel >and so forth. What kind of things were you doing when it hit? I've used FLASH as my "editor of choice" for all my ST-Log articles, my Dungeon Master hintbook, and most of my other text editing.. it doesn't have all the "bells and whistles" of the "real" wordprocessors, but then again, my applications have never required any of those features.. Essentially the same symptoms as reported by others, using other programs, occurred... I would be typing in new text at the bottom of the text buffer.. A series of quick backspaces would trigger the "phantom typist", resulting in the last 10 or so characters being repeated over and over, until the syste crashed... It didn't happen often, but when it did, it was terribly annoying... I wonder if Ken knows where I can buy a new supply of dried chicken blood..? BobR
petey@fox.acslab.umbc.edu (Jack P. Axaopoulos; (C)) (03/03/90)
Moue crashes: Your st will definitley crash if you hold down any of the mouse buttons or click a button at the wrong time during booting. just a note...
dlh@raider.MFEE.TN.US (Dana L. Holt) (03/05/90)
In article <2891@umbc3.UMBC.EDU>, petey@fox.acslab.umbc.edu (Jack P. Axaopoulos; (C)) writes: > > > Your st will definitley crash if you hold down any of the mouse buttons > or click a button at the wrong time during booting. Well, I would like to add that holding down BOTH mouse buttons during boot will make the keyboard processor (6301) enter external ROM mode. It looks for ROM chips which the ST doesn't provide so of course it crashes. So, if anyone says their ST crashes at boot when they hold both mouse buttons down, say: "It's supposed to do that!".. just another note... dlh@raider.MFEE.TN.US Any questions? (You can buy a piggyback RAM upgrade to about 8K for the 6301)
bwhite@oucsace.cs.OHIOU.EDU (Bill White) (03/06/90)
After days and days of using FW+ in an attempt to get the Phantom to appear, I finally did it. Unfortunately, I didn't have my logic probe with me right there, but I did manage to get it after the machine had bombed (four bombs; don't remember whether that's bus error or what). Anyhow, counting from the top end of the connector, the values I got were: L H H P H (gap in connector) P H "L" and "H" are Low and High. P indicates a pulse. Let me explain: at first, there was no data on P (I think it was high). Then I pressed the spacebar, and I got a "make" pulse and a "break" pluse. After doing this twice more, the pulses all of a sudden didn't stop -- they just kept on coming. I have no idea whether this is an accurate representation of what was actually going on, because I think I might have had the probe set in CMOS rather than TTL. I'm connecting a buffer and a set of LED's for further verification so I don't have to type with my ST's case off. Anyone out there have a logic analyzer they'd be willing to send me for further testing??? -- | Bill White Internet: bwhite@oucsace.cs.ohiou.edu | | BILDO'S TWELFTH LAW: | | The purpose of love is to distract people from | | killing each other. |
dlh@raider.MFEE.TN.US (Dana L. Holt) (03/07/90)
In article <2891@umbc3.UMBC.EDU>, petey@fox.acslab.umbc.edu (Jack P. Axaopoulos; (C)) writes: > > Moue crashes: > > Your st will definitley crash if you hold down any of the mouse buttons > or click a button at the wrong time during booting. > > just a note... This is just another note. When you hold down both of the ST's mouse buttons during boot, it tells the keyboard processor (6301) to enter "external ROM mode". The 6301 looks for ROM to execute, but the ST doesn't provide it with any chips, so it crashes! dlh@raider.MFEE.TN.US
pegram@uvm-gen.UUCP (pegram r) (05/03/90)
From article <90.115.09:59:04@ira.uka.de>, by grunwald@Tokyo.ira.uka.de (Grunwald Betr. Tichy): > May be your mouse cable is broken. This makes the mouse response awful, until > the mouse breaks down and there is no more response. Because the cable moves > the error is not stable. Try what happens, if you stretch the cable. But do > it careful. I had that problem for several months until I had to recognise, > that the mouse keys did not work and the pointer moves only in one direction. > Knut Grunwald Yes, that is a common problem, but it's not the phantom typist. Wesley Kaplan mentions that it happens with rushed keyboard input, especially with lots of deletions. The same thing happened to me in the exact same situation with Tempus II under Neodesk 2.03 and including Turbo ST 1.6. An awful lot of the original system was replaced with that software running. As was stated here on the net before, the problem is relatively high up in the Tos - Gem software hierarchy and possibly includes a problem with the IKBD processor firmware. I have the crash dump (it happened shortly after I verified that I had finally seen the elusive typist) that Neodesk provided and will post the thing when I remember to bring it in to work. Hope you ST wizards can make something of it. Bob Pegram (Internet: pegram@griffin.uvm.edu) P.S. 1985 520ST (no modulator), Tos 1.0, 2.5meg RAM, + hard disk. RBPIII 8-)
pegram@uvm-gen.UUCP (pegram r) (05/08/90)
I coulda been a contenda, but.... everybody else has posted
interesting info on the Phantom first. My 2 cents is this dump from
after my machine crashed when I experienced the phantom typist. I was
using Tempus II, under Neodesk 2.03 with Turbo ST enabled. I was
typing quickly and goofed (read pressed 2 keys at once) when I
deleted. The last two characters typed started to repeat, and when
the characters reached Tempus' maximum line length, the machine
crashed. Moving the mouse made the characters speed up. Oh yeah, I
have Tos 1.0.
A Bus error has occurred (2 bombs)
d0: 00200069 a0: 00000000
d1: 000006DC a1: 00000005
d2: 00002300 a2: 0011A712
d3: 0000004C a3: 0011A732
d4: 00000000 a4: 0011A746
d5: 00000000 a5: 0011A74E
d6: 00000005 a6: 0000799E
d7: 00200000 a7: 00007972
ssp: 00007972
usp: 0012756A
instr.: 1083
sr: 2300 = {t:0 s:1 interrupt:011 x:0 n:0 z:0 v:0 c:0}
pc: 00FE65EA
Good luck, those of you who can figure out what's going on here.
Bob Pegram (Internet: pegram@griffin.uvm.edu)