Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!cbmvax!peter From: peter@cbmvax.commodore.com (Peter Cherna) Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga Subject: Here we go again (was Re: The A-590/2091 FFS problem) Keywords: Location 0 Message-ID: <13203@cbmvax.commodore.com> Date: 13 Jul 90 19:55:10 GMT References: <-2085@gould.doc.ic.ac.uk=> <-6600012@okcusr.UUCP=> <-1449@nyx.UUCP=> <-38440@sequent.UUCP=> <12541@june.cs.washington.edu> Reply-To: peter@cbmvax (Peter Cherna) Organization: Commodore, West Chester, PA Lines: 77 In article <12541@june.cs.washington.edu> dylan@june.cs.washington.edu (Dylan McNamee) writes: >In article -38440@sequent.UUCP= cseaman@sequent.UUCP (Chris "I'm Outta Here, Man!" Seaman) writes: >=bscott@nyx.UUCP (Ben Scott) writes: >=- bn@okcusr.UUCP writes: >=- There's a simple clean fix for this. Go in through HD_Toolbox, to "Partition >=- Drive", then click on "Advanced Options" and you'll see a box labeled "Add/ >=- Update Filesystems" -click this and then change the version number of the FFS >=- from 0 to 1. >= >=Sorry, but this doesn't fix anything. I have had this problem since the >=day I installed my 2091, and NONE of the suggested fixes have done anything. >=Believe me, I REALLY wish this was the case. Unfortunately, it isn't. In fact, > >My experience agrees with Chris's; changing the version number did >nothing at all. I still have to run my (56 byte!) clearZero C program. You must understand what is going on here when you change the version number. You may be ONLY CHANGING A NUMBER. The real scoop: When you autoboot of an FFS drive, the FastFileSystem is not loaded from L:, since you need to be up and running to read L: from your hard disk! HDToolBox will install a FastFileSystem into the "Rigid Disk Block" of your hard disk, which can be read before the disk is booted from. Now, some hard disks were prepared with a debugging version of the FastFileSystem, that left a marker in memory location zero, which is the string "gdos". The FFS that was shipped with the 1.3.2 Workbench update does not have this effect. * IT IS NOT SUFFICIENT TO COPY THIS FILESYSTEM TO THE L: DIRECTORY OF YOUR HARD DRIVE. * IT IS NOT SUFFICIENT TO CHANGE THE VERSION NUMBER IN HDTOOLBOX. (Sorry about the caps, but this can't be made clear enough). Here is what to do: Go into HDToolbox, select Partition Drive, then Advanced Options, then Add/Update FileSystem. Then, select Update File System. A requester will appear, which has a filename ("l:FastFileSystem") and a version number in it. (Forget the version number). Ensure that the name points at a 1.3.2 disk's FFS, eg. df0:l/FastFileSystem, if your 1.3.2 disk is in df0:. Then select OK. The size of the FastFileSystem will now appear as 12248 (if you used a 1.3.2 disk). Now exit from HDToolbox, saving changes to your drive. Reboot, and you will be fine. (Changing the version number only would "magically" work if l:FastFileSystem happened to point at a correct FFS when you close the requester.) If you do this correctly, you will NOT find the string "gdos" in location zero anymore. >=If anyone has any other ideas, I am willing to try anything. However, I >=have tried the 'change the version to 1', 'manually force the filesystem >=to be updated', 'install the filesystem from another Workbench disk' tricks >=more times than I care to mention. So please, DON'T suggest I do these >=things again. THEY DON'T FIX THE PROBLEM! Chris Seaman is quite insistent he has done all the right things but still has a problem. I assure you that these steps indeed do fix the problem. I claim Chris has some other problem. Chris: can you tell me what software you launch in your startup-sequence? Do you know what value you find in location zero before you clear it? >=Chris (Insert phrase here) Seaman | /--\ > >dylan -dylan@cs.washington.edu Peter -- Peter Cherna, Software Engineer, Commodore-Amiga, Inc. {uunet|rutgers}!cbmvax!peter peter@cbmvax.cbm.commodore.com My opinions do not necessarily represent the opinions of my employer. "This is a one line proof...if we start sufficiently far to the left."