J.Pearce@cs.ucl.ac.uk (02/17/91)
To date I have only used UNIX CD-ROMs with A/UX, but recently I have tried to use Mac HFS CD-ROMS which seem to have caused considerable trouble. I have a MacIIci with 8M RAM and an internal 170M Quantum hard disk formatted with Silverlining. The internal hard disk is SCSI id 0 and I have an Apple CD-ROM player (a new one without a fan) at SCSI id 3. The software provided with the CD player was version B-3.0.2 and included Apple CD-ROM driver 3.0. A/UX was installed exactly as in the manual using the 6.0.5/6.1.5 disks provided with the Accessory kit. The Quantum hard disk has one of the more recent ROMs (version 501s), rather than some of the earlier 400 series ROMs that did cause SCSI timeout errors. I was initially little concerned when I tried to use the CD-ROM software installer and it wouldn't let you click the install button - reporting "You do not have an appropriate hardware or software configuration for this installation. Check your manual to see what is required". However if click customise it will let you install all the resources one by one without complaining. With the CD player switched on I restarted and rebooted A/UX with a Mac HFS CD-ROM inserted and everything seemed to be OK. However, if you start A/UX with the CD player switched on and no ROM inserted I seem to get erratic read and write errors on my internal hard disk - reporting "Disk read error c0d0s0 retry #1 successful" or "Disk write error c0d0s0 retry #1 successful". In addition I get crashes during login with what looks like the Mac debugger box with its border being continously redrawn. You can use apple-control-e to log out and try again. I have tried reinstallation and new SCSI cable and terminator with no success. However, if you remove the Apple CD-ROM driver from the Mac OS System Folder the problem totally disappears which makes me very suspicious about the compatibility of this driver with A/UX. Does anyone have any ideas what might be causing this problem, is there a more recent CD-ROM driver, has anyone encountered the same problem ? I have wasted 2 days trying to sort out this problem, and would greatly appreciate any help. John Pearce jpearce@uk.ac.ucl.cs Computer Science Department University College London Gower Street London WC1E 6BT ENGLAND Telephone : +44 71 387 7050 ext 3715 Fax : +44 71 387 1397
ksand@Apple.COM (Kent Sandvik) (02/18/91)
In article <1442@ucl-cs.uucp> J.Pearce@cs.ucl.ac.uk writes: >I have tried reinstallation and new SCSI cable and terminator with no >success. However, if you remove the Apple CD-ROM driver from the Mac OS >System Folder the problem totally disappears which makes me very suspicious >about the compatibility of this driver with A/UX. Hmm, someone please correct me if I'm wrong, but the default SCSI dev driver provided with A/UX 2.0(.1) should work with CD-ROM units. I.e. you don't need to install the MacOS dev driver, which should not work anyway because it talks with the SCSI Manager (not present as an emulated Manager under A/UX). The MacOS driver should be present though in the System folder of the Startup volume (note not the A/UX System Folder). This is especially true of drivers provided by other CD driver suppliers. There's is a known problem/limitation with CDs that are inserted into the CD drive while powering up A/UX. Don't do that. Hope this helps, Kent Sandvik -- Kent Sandvik, Apple Computer Inc, Developer Technical Support NET:ksand@apple.com, AppleLink: KSAND DISCLAIMER: Private mumbo-jumbo Zippy++ says: "C++ was given to mankind, so that we might learn patience"
J.Pearce@cs.ucl.ac.uk (02/19/91)
Kent Sandvik, Many thanks for your reply. The default SCSI device driver supplied with A/UX 2.0 works OK with A/UX file system CD-ROMs. The problem seems to be when I install the Mac OS Apple CD-ROM driver in the system folder in the Mac partition on the startup volume to read Mac HFS CD-ROMs. The B-3.0.2 installer complains and you have to install the resources one by onw. The release notes state that you have to turn on the CD-ROM drive before you startup. Then it says to insert the Mac HFS CD-ROM and login. However, if you turn on the CD-ROM drive and startup A/UX without a CD-ROM inserted I keep getting the erratic read/write errors with my hard disk. If you remove the Mac OS Apple CD-ROM driver from the Mac OS system folder on the startup volume, or startup A/UX with a Mac HFS CD-ROM inserted the problem seems to totally disappear. What limitations are there using Mac HFS CD-ROMs with A/UX. You can switch the CD-ROM driver on at any time and use A/UX file system CD-ROMs, but the only way around this problem I have found is to insert a CD-ROM when starting up A/UX. On a separate issue, regardless of whether the Mac OS Apple CD-ROM driver is installed in the Mac OS system folder on the startup volume, I get the following erratic problem ocassionally when I log in. An empty debugger/dialog box appears which appears to be continously being redrawn. You can apple-control-e and try and login again. Any help with both problems would be greatly appreciated. John Pearce jpearce@uk.ac.ucl.cs Computer Science Department University College London Gower Street London WC1E 6BT