Path: utzoo!attcan!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!cs.utexas.edu!uwm.edu!uakari.primate.wisc.edu!caesar.cs.montana.edu!milton!oregon!cs.uoregon.edu!news From: nparker@cie.uoregon.edu (Neil Parker) Newsgroups: comp.sys.apple Subject: SYSTEM 5.0.2 and /RAM5 Summary: (...or, How To Crash The Finder For Fun And Profit!) Message-ID: <1989Dec12.030702.529@cs.uoregon.edu> Date: 12 Dec 89 03:07:02 GMT Reply-To: nparker@cie.uoregon.edu (Neil Parker) Organization: University of Oregon Campus Information Exchange Lines: 42 I just got System 5.0.2, and I'm having a problem. If /RAM5 is installed when I boot, it is impossible to return from a program to the Finder--it crashes every single time. If /RAM5 is not installed when I boot, then everything is just fine--the system works flawlessly. I know someone out there will say "Describe the crash." Unfortunately, I have yet to get it to crash in the same way twice. Sometimes it returns to the Finder, but as soon as I try to close a window, the Finder crashes into the Monitor (I have to type "e1/c029:1" to see the text--usually it crashed at a BRK instruction, but the address of the BRK instruction may be anywhere in memory). Sometimes instead of crashing into the Monitor, everything just freezes. Sometimes it never gets all the way back to the Finder--I see "One moment please...", and then it crashes into the Monitor (again, the address of the BRK instruction seems to be random). One time it got part way back into the Finder, but it only drew an empty menu bar and an empty dialog box, and then everything froze. Often, if it does make it back to the Finder I discover that the icons in my windows have been rearranged, and the SYSTEM folder on my boot disk has the wrong icon. About the only thing consistant is that if /RAM5 is installed, then returning from some program (it doesn't seem to matter which program) to the Finder causes my system to crash. Removing /RAM5 cures the problem. Did I get a bad copy of System 5.0.2, or is there something in the new system that doesn't like ramdisks? I sincerely hope it's not the latter, since I find my ramdisk to be extremely useful, and I'm not willing to part with it. Some facts about my system, in case it helps: Apple IIGS, ROM 01 1.25 Meg (Apple's memory card, fully populated) 1 3.5 Drive and 1 5.25 Drive (both from Apple) No other hardware in the slots My ramdisk is usually set to 256K. Is this too large? The Memory Peeker seems to indicate that there's plenty of free memory even with GS/OS, the Finder, and /RAM5 all in memory at once. (And yes, I do have the 3.5" disk driver installed in System/Drivers. My boot disk was created with the Installer, using the "Latest System Files" script [which is a ROYAL PAIN IN THE *SS to use with only one drive!].) -- Neil Parker nparker@cie.uoregon.edu (preferred) or parker@astro.uoregon.edu