Xorg@cup.portal.com (Peter Ted Szymonik) (09/11/89)
Went down to my 'local' ST store (70 miles) to have TOS 1.4 installed in my Mega 2. Came home, booted the system, trouble immediately. Almost NONE of my programs would run from the HD, some ran from floppies but the machine was extremely erratic - bombing for no reason, rebooting for no reason - programs would give TOS error 35 or -66. WIth NeoDesk 2.05 I got tons of Bus and Register errors. You know what I believe the problem is? I went from a 2 to the 6 ROM TOS set. Six chips add extra load to the circuitry which means the LS273 chips are probably too weak to handle the job and hence lots of Bus Errors as the Bus gets overloaded. I'm calling the dealer first thing Monday. AFter a HD re-format I have most of my program running, but the machine only stays up for 15-20 mins before a bomb.
apratt@atari.UUCP (Allan Pratt) (09/12/89)
Xorg@cup.portal.com (Peter Ted Szymonik) writes: >[Got TOS 1.4 and...] >the machine was extremely erratic - bombing for no reason, rebooting for >no reason [...] >I went from a 2 to the 6 ROM TOS set. Please troubleshoot a little before you blame Atari or the ROMs. Maybe you installed them with a bent pin, making a marginal contact with the socket. Were the sockets already in your machine? If not, that's probably it -- badly-installed sockets. Are you running some nifty utility which is TOS 1.4-hostile? You could try booting with no hard disk and a blank floppy, then running a harmless program (no funky utilities or games)... It could be a DA or AUTO folder program which is causing bombs. TOS 1.4 works in plenty of machines, and if it doesn't work in yours, there's surely a reason, but please don't blame it or us until you have some more facts. ============================================ Opinions expressed above do not necessarily -- Allan Pratt, Atari Corp. reflect those of Atari Corp. or anyone else. ...ames!atari!apratt
bammi@dsrgsun.ces.cwru.edu (Jwahar R. Bammi) (09/12/89)
In article <22043@cup.portal.com>, Xorg@cup (Peter Ted Szymonik) writes: >circuitry which means the LS273 chips are probably too weak to handle the (i think you mean the LS373 drivers) there has been some discussion about this on GEnie in the hardware category, and people there (Jim Allen the developer of Turbo16) have been recommending the 74AS373 for replacements. -- bang: {any internet host}!dsrgsun.ces.CWRU.edu!bammi jwahar r. bammi domain: bammi@dsrgsun.ces.CWRU.edu GEnie: J.Bammi
jeff@quark.WV.TEK.COM (Jeff Beadles) (09/12/89)
In article <1687@atari.UUCP> apratt@atari.UUCP (Allan Pratt) writes: > >TOS 1.4 works in plenty of machines, and if it doesn't work in yours, >there's surely a reason, but please don't blame it or us until you >have some more facts. > >============================================ >Opinions expressed above do not necessarily -- Allan Pratt, Atari Corp. >reflect those of Atari Corp. or anyone else. ...ames!atari!apratt Well, can I blame it on you that I can't BUY TOS1.4 for my ST? I have lotsa facts to support this. (IE: the roms are not in my system.) Is there someone at Atari that we can call en masse to voice our concerns, or do they care? I thought that I was buying a system that would be supported when I bought my ST. However, I haven't seen a single upgrade or update since I bought my ST. Heck, Radio Shack upgraded my old Model 4 several times over it's life. (No flame wars, please!) I don't mind paying for upgrades. However, I *WOULD* like the choice. 1/2 :-) -Jeff -- Jeff Beadles Utek Engineering, Tektronix Inc. jeff@quark.WV.TEK.COM
kbad@atari.UUCP (Ken Badertscher) (09/15/89)
Xorg@cup.portal.com (Peter Ted Szymonik) writes: | Went down to my 'local' ST store (70 miles) to have TOS 1.4 installed in | my Mega 2. Came home, booted the system, trouble immediately. [...] | You know what I believe the problem is? | I went from a 2 to the 6 ROM TOS set. This should not be a problem in any Mega. I have used four different megas (one pre-production model, and two others with different board revs) which originally held 2 chip TOS ROMs. I modified them myself for use with 6 chip EPROMs (which is what we use here during the development cycle). I don't like to point fingers, but it looks like maybe the person who made the modification for your TOS ROMs slipped up somehow. -- ||| Ken Badertscher (ames!atari!kbad) ||| Atari R&D System Software Engine / | \ #include <disclaimer>
waycott@ellymae.phx.mcd.mot.com (John Waycott) (09/16/89)
In article <22043@cup.portal.com> Xorg@cup.portal.com (Peter Ted Szymonik) writes: >Went down to my 'local' ST store (70 miles) to have TOS 1.4 installed in >my Mega 2. Came home, booted the system, trouble immediately. Almost >NONE of my programs would run from the HD, some ran from floppies but >the machine was extremely erratic - bombing for no reason, rebooting for >no reason - programs would give TOS error 35 or -66. The dealer in Phoneix (Computer Works) installed the six-chip set in my Mega 2 about two weeks ago. He had to install four sockets and before he did the work, said he may need to replace a chip. I don't know if he did that, or what chip he was talking about, but my machine works fine with the new roms. I am also running with a hard disk. It sounds like your dealer may not have installed the chips properly.
Xorg@cup.portal.com (Peter Ted Szymonik) (09/17/89)
Hi Allan, I certainly didn't mean to blame Atari or the ROMs, just wanted to make some observations on my initial experience with TOS 1.4. I did diable ALL *.ACC's before booting the first time, the inital boot up was fine, but then the system bombed. After a few more attempts I repeatedly has strange errors (TOS #35) and then discovered my FAT tables all messed up. I checked the installation and it was perfect, not an excess drop of solder or bent chip anywhere. After a refomat of the drive and re-installati of all my programs from their original disks I'm happy to report that the system is working fine! <grin> The weird part is this - why didn't my programs work when I attempted to restore from my HD backup? Why did I have to restore from original floppies? The last mystery in my TOS 1.4 experience <grin>. I'm VERy HAPPY with the upgrade and recommend that everyone get a copy - its well worth it. But it always takes a disaster to prevent future problems and answer the problems faced by new TOS 1.4 owners, I was and am more than happy to have this learning experience happen to me rather than someone who really didn't know what to do! Peter Szymonik Xorg@cup.portal.com