Path: utzoo!yunexus!ists!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!wuarchive!gem.mps.ohio-state.edu!apple!mattd
From: mattd@Apple.COM (Matt Deatherage)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.apple
Subject: Re: More problems
Message-ID: <36618@apple.Apple.COM>
Date: 18 Nov 89 17:33:32 GMT
Article-I.D.: apple.36618
References: <3986762@ub.cc.umich.edu>
Organization: Apple Computer Inc, Cupertino, CA
Lines: 75

In article <3986762@ub.cc.umich.edu> Tabakal@UB.CC.UMICH.EDU writes:
> 
>To recap: I've been getting a ProDOS #56 error quite a bit.  Not only
>Zlink, but Kermit and other problems.  Today I had two other weird 
>events that haven't occurred before.  First is that when I booted GS/OS
>from my hard drive, it kept accessing the hard drive rapidly for a
>lengthy period after the thermometer finished.  Much too long for the
>number of DA's and startup files I have on the machine.  When I booted
>up a 5.0 disk by 3.5 disk, it booted up much more quickly.
> 
>In fact, eventually, I just hit Reset since the Finder wasn't coming up.
>After the 3.5 bootup, there's no problem with bootup, yet.
> 
>Periodically, I'm getting strange beep sounds, not when it should beep,
>but at seemingly random times in comm. programs and AppleWorks.
> 
>Finally, I tried to move two files in the finder from one subdirectory
>to another.  One move.  The other did not (shift-clicked on both).
>I got System Error #8051.  Whatever that is.  I'm starting to get
>concerned.  If I do think that I'm infected with something, not any
>virus I've seen before, BTW (including CyberAids and Festering Hate),
>what ought I do?
> 
>Backups are obviously in order...
> 
>          -- Todd

Yes, but probably not why you think they are.

Let's look at this more logically (see, I can do that.  It ain't my precious
machine that's gone mashugga.  I wonder how often indifference masquerades
as "professionalism" in other fields, like health care?  "It's not *my* leg..."
:)

Error $56 is Bad Buffer Address.  An address passed to OPEN or SET_BUF is
either not page-aligned (not likely) or already marked as used in the System
Global Page.

Error $8051 clears out to $51, which means "directory structure is damaged".
But Mr. Fixit finds no directory damage problems.  This suggests that the error
was actually a corrupted disk cache in GS/OS, which is tossed when you go to
P8 (where you run Mr. Fixit).

The disk stops booting.  Strange sounds (like beeps) come out when you're not
expecting it.

I think two solutions are much more likely than some virus (from everything I
can tell, the spread of viruses in Apple II land has been really limited and
is not the threat everyone thinks it is.  That doesn't mean people shouldn't
be vigilant, but it does mean you shouldn't think of a virus as a likely
trouble-causer):

1)  You've installed a new DA or INIT recently that's stepping on othe
    people's memory.  A CDA or INIT could install a heartbeat task whic
    continues to function in ProDOS 8, causing problems all the time.  I
    think this is the most likely solution.

2)  Memory in your system is going or has gone bad.  This would account for
    a lot of the stuff like corrupted disk cache blocks or failure to boot, but
    probably couldn't account for the ProDOS 8 error $56 (unless motherboard
    memory has gone bad as well; P8 runs in banks $0 and $1 which are always
    on the main logic board).

So I'd run a memory tester and then start removing DAs and setup files, and
see how things go.

-- 
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