liberato@dri.com (Jimmy Liberato) (10/15/90)
>In article <08Oct90.151432.944@ckctpa.UUCP> crash@ckctpa.UUCP (Frank J. Edwards) writes: >I'm not sure where the problem with this is, but the MSDOS-compatibility >programs don't like my 3000... There seem to be certain B2000s that have problems also. MSH, Werner Guenther's PcPatch 3.5", Project D's Omni Tool (makes diskcopies in PC format), and heavily CPed games like Shadow... all fail on my system, even when in stock configuration I had some correspondence with two others with exactly the same symtoms (a hang requiring a cold boot). I was never able to narrow down what the common factor was but it definitely seems hardware related. I would be interested in hearing from any others with similar problems on a 2000. Was there more than one manufacturer used for the floppy drives? -- Jimmy Liberato liberato@dri.com ...uunet!drivax!liberato
rhialto@cs.kun.nl (Olaf Seibert) (10/17/90)
In article <PGPRAKQ@dri.com> liberato@dri.com (Jimmy Liberato) writes: | There seem to be certain B2000s that have problems also. MSH, Werner | Guenther's PcPatch 3.5", Project D's Omni Tool (makes diskcopies in | PC format), and heavily CPed games like Shadow... all fail on my | system, even when in stock configuration. I had some correspondence | with two others with exactly the same symtoms (a hang requiring a | cold boot). I was never able to narrow down what the common factor | was but it definitely seems hardware related. I would be interested in | hearing from any others with similar problems on a 2000. Was there | more than one manufacturer used for the floppy drives? My guess is a broken index pulse, so that the beginning of the track is never found. But I never got any proof for or against this theory. I'd really like to get some, though. | Jimmy Liberato liberato@dri.com -- Olaf 'Rhialto' Seibert rhialto@cs.kun.nl How can you be so stupid if you're identical to me? -Robert Silverberg
david@starsoft.UUCP (Dave Lowrey) (10/18/90)
>In article <2299@wn1.sci.kun.nl> rhialto@cs.kun.nl (Olaf Seibert) writes: >In article <PGPRAKQ@dri.com> liberato@dri.com (Jimmy Liberato) writes: >| There seem to be certain B2000s that have problems also. MSH, Werner >| Guenther's PcPatch 3.5", Project D's Omni Tool (makes diskcopies in >| PC format), and heavily CPed games like Shadow... all fail on my >| system, even when in stock configuration. I had some correspondence >| with two others with exactly the same symtoms (a hang requiring a >| cold boot). I was never able to narrow down what the common factor >| was but it definitely seems hardware related. I would be interested in >| hearing from any others with similar problems on a 2000. Was there >| more than one manufacturer used for the floppy drives? > >My guess is a broken index pulse, so that the beginning of the track is >never found. But I never got any proof for or against this theory. I'd >really like to get some, though. > I use CrossDos, and all of a sudden, it quit working. I would try to accrss a PC disk using it, and it would just hang. The problem turned out to be a bad 8520 CIA. -- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- These words be mine. The company doesn't care, because I am the company! :-) Dave Lowrey | david@starsoft or {uhnix1,moray}!starsoft!david Starbound Software Group | Houston, TX | "Dare to be stupid!" -- Weird Al Yankovic
jesup@cbmvax.commodore.com (Randell Jesup) (11/13/90)
In article <PGPRAKQ@dri.com> liberato@dri.com (Jimmy Liberato) writes: >>In article <08Oct90.151432.944@ckctpa.UUCP> crash@ckctpa.UUCP (Frank J. Edwards) writes: >>I'm not sure where the problem with this is, but the MSDOS-compatibility >>programs don't like my 3000... > >There seem to be certain B2000s that have problems also. MSH, Werner Guenther's >PcPatch 3.5", Project D's Omni Tool (makes diskcopies in PC format), and heavily >CPed games like Shadow... all fail on my system, even when in stock configuration >I had some correspondence with two others with exactly the same symtoms (a hang >requiring a cold boot). I was never able to narrow down what the common factor >was but it definitely seems hardware related. I would be interested in hearing >from any others with similar problems on a 2000. Was there more than one >manufacturer used for the floppy drives? Yes, many different vendors have been used. Some drives meet the spec better than others. At least one doesn't (for example) move the change line until 12ms after the select line goes active, and then moves it slowly. Others pull the change line in a few dozen ns. It's possible that a batch of drives might have an index-sync problem, or be a bit too variable, since normal AmigaDos doesn't use index we might not notice. However, I have checked A3000's and they DO get index pulses, and they look good. Also, some people have reported this problem only exists (for them) under 2.0 on an A3000. I have a theory: Some of these programs aren't specifying the length argument to RAWWRITE correctly, and they're getting rejects on bad length. Under 1.3, it checks an absolute memory location instead of an absolute value, and that memory location usually has a bizarre value in it. This is the cause of some of the a2000/1.3 msdos disk problems. Normally, the problem only shows if you have 1 floppy drive, and doesn't show if you have two or more (due to how memory gets allocated). The alternate theory is that some drives in amigas don't support index sync (properly). Until I get my hands on such a drive, I don't believe it. -- Randell Jesup, Keeper of AmigaDos, Commodore Engineering. {uunet|rutgers}!cbmvax!jesup, jesup@cbmvax.cbm.commodore.com BIX: rjesup Common phrase heard at Amiga Devcon '89: "It's in there!"