steve@pnet51.cts.com (Steve Yelvington) (01/08/89)
My ST seems to have gone insane. I received a new unit the day after
Christmas, replacing my trusty 520 that had blown a disk controller. It worked
just fine until last night, when I was working on writing a desk accessory
startup module for Sozobon C. I got a demonstration DA up and running to the
point that it had registered in the DA menu, but I couldn't "wake it up."
After two or three clicks on the menu item, my ST rebooted itself.
I gave up and went to bed after first setting up the event-scheduler that runs
UUMAIL. But instead of finding mail this morning, I found a "keyboard
interrupt" message from the event-scheduler -- 60 seconds before it was to
call, when nobody in the house was up -- and a nice little row of bombs.
Now I find that I can't even get the system to boot in a stable fashion. I can
get the Desktop to come up, but ANY mouse event -- just bumping the mouse --
causes a reboot. Keystrokes do not appear to cause a problem unless they're
the alt-key combinations that move the mouse.
What the heck is going on? And do Atari's replacement units come with a
warranty?
UUCP: {rosevax, crash}!orbit!pnet51!steve
ARPA: crash!orbit!pnet51!steve@nosc.mil
INET: steve@pnet51.cts.com
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stag!thelake!steve@pwcs.StPaul.GOV
"A member of STdNET -- the ST Developers' Network"apratt@atari.UUCP (Allan Pratt) (01/10/89)
In article <452@orbit.UUCP> steve@pnet51.cts.com (Steve Yelvington) writes: > Now I find that I can't even get the system to boot in a stable fashion. I can > get the Desktop to come up, but ANY mouse event -- just bumping the mouse -- > causes a reboot. Keystrokes do not appear to cause a problem unless they're > the alt-key combinations that move the mouse. > > What the heck is going on? And do Atari's replacement units come with a > warranty? I believe they do, but it looks more like your problem is in software, not hardware. Moving the mouse causes the same things to happen in hardware as typing keys; it appears to be SOFTWARE that's causing the reboots. Is your accessory still in the root of your boot device? If so, I would suspect it. Try booting your system without the hard disk. Turn off your system and your hard disk, unplug the hard disk from the ST's DMA port, and turn on your ST. If it works fine, it's probably software. Here's how to remove problem accessories and AUTO folder programs: Turn off your ST, plug your hard disk in, and turn the hard disk on. Put the disk called BOOT DISK in Drive A:. Now turn on your ST, and when the Drive A: light comes on, press and hold the "Alternate" key. This will prevent the hard disk boot sequence. Don't let go until after the hard disk light has flickered once. The hard disk will still activate, because AHDI.PRG is in the AUTO folder of the BOOT DISK. If all goes well, you'll see the Desktop and Drive C: and you'll be able to move the mouse. Remove the offending accessory from Drive C: and reboot. Back to the drawing board. ============================================ Opinions expressed above do not necessarily -- Allan Pratt, Atari Corp. reflect those of Atari Corp. or anyone else. ...ames!atari!apratt
apratt@atari.UUCP (Allan Pratt) (01/10/89)
I should have mentioned: one easy way to cause reboots is for a desk accessory to cause a bus error, address error, or anything that gives bombs. Bombs make GEMDOS terminate the program currently running, which is the Desktop if you haven't started anything else. When the Desktop terminates, the system reboots (because things are obviously very badly screwed up). ============================================ Opinions expressed above do not necessarily -- Allan Pratt, Atari Corp. reflect those of Atari Corp. or anyone else. ...ames!atari!apratt
steve@pnet51.cts.com (Steve Yelvington) (01/14/89)
I received helpful notes from a number of people about my problem with the
self-rebooting ST, generally falling into two categories:
* Hardware: Loose chips including the MMU, 68K and ROMs.
* Software: Bugs in the DA startup code I was writing.
Some tests including shutting the machine off for several hours and booting
from a blank floppy led me to the conclusion that the problem was hardware,
apparently exacerbated by heat from the internal power supply -- it didn't
crash until it had been on for 15 minutes or so. An Atari rep got quite
apoplectic when I suggested I could reseat the chips myself, so I had to send
the whole unit back to Sunnyvale. Atari's exchange-replacement program seems
quite fair, almost generous, but when things go awry all this shipping gets to
be a pain in the neck and wallet.
Now, on the software issue: The DA startup module, written after I received
some very helpful tips from several folks including kbad@atari, seems to work
just fine; my hurriedly written skeleton desk accessory loaded and registered
in the menu OK. When I get my replacement ST, I'll add some bindings to
gemdos(), bios() and xbios() so that it will work with Sozobon and dLibs, and
release it along with a module that will make Sozobon work with Don Farmer's
GEMQ bindings.
UUCP: {rosevax, crash}!orbit!pnet51!steve
ARPA: crash!orbit!pnet51!steve@nosc.mil
INET: steve@pnet51.cts.com
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stag!thelake!steve@pwcs.StPaul.GOV
"A member of STdNET -- the ST Developers' Network"steve@pnet51.cts.com (Steve Yelvington) (01/14/89)
One other thing: If there are any users of Mark Johnson's C compiler who want
to write a desk accessory, drop me a line and I'll send you a startup module
in Mark's assembler.
UUCP: {rosevax, crash}!orbit!pnet51!steve
ARPA: crash!orbit!pnet51!steve@nosc.mil
INET: steve@pnet51.cts.com
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-or-
stag!thelake!steve@pwcs.StPaul.GOV
"A member of STdNET -- the ST Developers' Network"rcd@mtuxo.att.com (XG1V6-R.DUTT) (01/17/89)
I experienced infinite reboots after installing the "DC Stuffer" desk accessory posted here some time ago. I placed all my DA's in a folder named STUFFER, as instructed, placed STUFFER.ACC on my root drive, rebooted and POW! (as Batman would say), my ST's hard disk autoboot sequence started to execute ad infinitum. I at once ruled out hardware as the cause. I've had my 1040 ST since Jan. '87, and, hardware-wise, it's been rock-solid. I got out my trusty hard-disk bypass boot floppy, booted from floppy, removed STUFFER.ACC from my C: partition, and, whew, got things back to normal. Has anyone else had this problem with DC Stuffer? In my AUTO folder I run FATSPEED, NITE.PRG, GDOS.PRG (with some Fontz-created fonts), FOLDRxxx.PRG, and BMS's clock-setting program SETCLK. All my software runs fine with this combination except for the following: 1) Laser C crashes when the compiler and linker are RAM-resident. 2) Flight Simulator doesn't run. 3) The MULTRAN.ACC desk accessory included on my Unterm 2.0d disk times out in the middle of long background file transfers. Any similar experiences or clues would be appreciated. Thanks! Rana Dutt AT&T Bell Labs, Middletown, NJ (201) 957-3389 ...!att!mtuxo!rcd
klute%trillian.irb@unido.uucp (Rainer Klute) (01/17/89)
In article <4029@mtuxo.att.com> rcd@mtuxo.att.com (XG1V6-R.DUTT) writes: >I experienced infinite reboots after installing the "DC Stuffer" desk >accessory posted here some time ago. I placed all my DA's in a folder >named STUFFER, as instructed, placed STUFFER.ACC on my root drive, >rebooted and POW! (as Batman would say), my ST's hard disk autoboot >sequence started to execute ad infinitum. > ... >Has anyone else had this problem with DC Stuffer? Yes, I had. I installed DC Stuffer, pressed the reset button and also got an infinite reboot. Well, "infinite" until I turned the power off, waited 10 seconds and turned it on again. Then it worked fine. >In my AUTO folder I run FATSPEED, NITE.PRG, GDOS.PRG (with some >Fontz-created fonts), FOLDRxxx.PRG, and BMS's clock-setting program SETCLK. >All my software runs fine with this combination except for the following: > >1) Laser C crashes when the compiler and linker are RAM-resident. > ... Laser C does not like GDOS.PRG. Try without it. Rainer Klute ---- klute@irb.informatik.uni-dortmund.de Universitaet Dortmund, IRB |)|/ klute@unido.uucp, klute@unido.bitnet Postfach 500500 |\|\ ...uunet!mcvax!unido!klute D-4600 Dortmund 50 ---- Tel.: +49 231 7554663
uace0@uhnix2.uh.edu (Michael B. Vederman) (01/19/89)
DC STuffer *does* not cause infinite reboots. A DA within DC STuffer may,
or perhaps an empty or non existent STUFFER folder.
Perhaps more info on what you had in your STUFFER folder will shed some
light on the situation.
Double Click Software
BTW - any problems in version 0.9 are fixed in v1.0 (released to contributors)
--
for (;;) : Use ATARINET, send an interactive
do_it(c_programmers); : message such as:
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University Atari Computer Enthusiasts : University of Houston UACEjgj@hcx2.SSD.HARRIS.COM (01/24/89)
> I experienced infinite reboots after installing the "DC Stuffer" desk > accessory posted here some time ago. I placed all my DA's in a folder > named STUFFER, as instructed, placed STUFFER.ACC on my root drive, > rebooted and POW! (as Batman would say), my ST's hard disk autoboot > sequence started to execute ad infinitum. My experience with DCSTUFFER is that it was not compatible with any of my desk accessories. I went out and bought MultiDesk and it works great! Some desk accessories like Thunder! will never work with these things but Thunder! works just fine if I load it as a separate menu item. ============================================================================ Jeffrey Glen Jackson _|_Satan jeered, "You're dead meat Jesus, I'm gonna jgj@ssd.harris.com | bust you up tonight." x5120 | Jesus said, "Go ahead, make my day." ~~~~~~~~~ -- Carman, "The Champion"
uace0@uhnix2.uh.edu (Michael B. Vederman) (01/27/89)
In article <46700015@hcx2> jgj@hcx2.SSD.HARRIS.COM writes: > >> I experienced infinite reboots after installing the "DC Stuffer" desk >> accessory posted here some time ago. I placed all my DA's in a folder >> named STUFFER, as instructed, placed STUFFER.ACC on my root drive, >> rebooted and POW! (as Batman would say), my ST's hard disk autoboot >> sequence started to execute ad infinitum. > >My experience with DCSTUFFER is that it was not compatible with any of my >desk accessories. I went out and bought MultiDesk and it works great! >Some desk accessories like Thunder! will never work with these things but >Thunder! works just fine if I load it as a separate menu item. >============================================================================ >Jeffrey Glen Jackson _|_Satan jeered, "You're dead meat Jesus, I'm gonna >jgj@ssd.harris.com | bust you up tonight." >x5120 | Jesus said, "Go ahead, make my day." > ~~~~~~~~~ -- Carman, "The Champion" Please, PLEASE, understand that what was posted was version 0.9 of STuffer!!! Version 1.0 (which I use all the time) does in fact work with Thunder. In fact I only know of a couple of DAs that don't run within STuffer 1.0, that being NEWWORD, and Juggler, and my own DC Deskey. The idea behind releasing version 0.9 was to develop interest and solicit a SHAREWARE contribution. Version 0.9 is not nearly as compatible as the SHAREWARE version 1.0, and we do not claim it to be. If you are interested in the way it looks and feels, and you have confidence in our abilities, then we ask you to send a contribution of whatever you feel the final version is worth to you. I think our support of DC Formatter over the past 2 1/2 years is evident that we are serious about providing top support of our programs. Remember, SHAREWARE only works if you make it work. It also takes an act of *FAITH* which should not be very difficult for you. To say version 0.9 is not as compatible as MultiDesk is not fair, since MultiDesk is a finished release product. And even MultiDesk has had quite a few updates since the original release. What I can say is that we offer one *FREE* upgrade of software to *ALL* our contributors, and send along a coupon which they can redeem for the newest version *whenever* they want a new version!! And the coupon has no expiration, so they can wait for version 2.0 before redeeming it! And we will notify them by mail of a new release. If you ask me, this is much more 'bang for the buck' than you can get from *ANY* commercial software producer. And we are just asking for whatever the software is worth to you. We have gotten from $5 to $35 for our programs, and offer the same level of support to both customers. If you feel that you have gotten your money's worth in MultiDesk, then good for you, but understand you arre not comparing it to DC STuffer v1.0!!! - mike -- for (;;) : Use ATARINET, send an interactive do_it(c_programmers); : message such as: : Tell UH-INFO at UHUPVM1 ATARINET HELP University Atari Computer Enthusiasts : University of Houston UACE
ralph@laas.laas.fr (Ralph P. Sobek) (01/27/89)
In article <710@uhnix2.uh.edu>, uace0@uhnix2.uh.edu (Michael B. Vederman) writes: | | BTW - any problems in version 0.9 are fixed in v1.0 (released to contributors) Isn't this indirect advertising? :-) :-) -- Ralph P. Sobek Disclaimer: The above ruminations are my own. ralph@laas.laas.fr Addresses are ordered by importance. ralph@laas.uucp, or ...!uunet!mcvax!laas!ralph If all else fails, try: SOBEK@FRMOP11.BITNET sobek@eclair.Berkeley.EDU
ljdickey@water.waterloo.edu (Lee Dickey) (01/30/89)
In article <280@laas.laas.fr> ralph@laas.laas.fr (Ralph P. Sobek) writes: > >Isn't this indirect advertising? :-) :-) > Shhhh. Don't tell! Somebody might get upset and then stop reading. -- L. J. Dickey, Faculty of Mathematics, University of Waterloo. ljdickey@water.UWaterloo.ca ljdickey@water.BITNET ljdickey@water.UUCP ..!uunet!watmath!water!ljdickey ljdickey@water.waterloo.edu