Path: utzoo!mnetor!tmsoft!torsqnt!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!bonnie.concordia.ca!uunet!garfield!roger From: roger@garfield.cs.mun.ca (Roger White) Newsgroups: comp.sys.cbm Subject: Re: GEOS Companion Disk Keywords: Simple fix... Message-ID: <1991Feb17.234810.11358@garfield.cs.mun.ca> Date: 17 Feb 91 23:48:10 GMT Sender: roger@garfield.cs.mun.ca (Roger White) Organization: CS Dept, Memorial University of Newfoundland Lines: 54 >In article <1991Feb17.024528.17465@nntp-server.caltech.edu> rknop@nntp-server.caltech.edu (Robert Andrew Knop) writes: >>Second: the problem I did have was, after creating the boot disk, I started >>moving files around on the disk so they were all organized prettily by page. >>When I was done, I discovered that the first three files on the disk, the >>system files, had vanished! Further investigation showed that their directory >>entries had been replaced with all 0's; this I was able to rectify easily >>enough (nowadays I keep on my two 1581 boot disks copies of track $28, sector >>0, in case I need to restore it). Check your boot disk to make sure that the >>system files are still there. > >The problem you describe is an intentional Trojan Horse created by >Berkeley themselves. When the DeskTop discovers that you have a Boot >Disk in the drive, it checks the copy protection on the disk, and if it >fails, the first three directory entries are zapped. (On a boot disk >they correspond to GEOS, GEOS BOOT, and GEOS KERNAL.) This is to keep >you from copying your Boot Disk. > >There are a couple ways around this problem. > >1. You can write-protect your boot disk. Even GEOS can't write to a >write-protected disk, but that means you can't ever change your config- >uration again without risking your files getting zapped. > >2. You can use an alternate DeskTop. WormDesk or QwikTop come to mind, >but there are still some nifty things you can only do from DeskTop. >Maybe the best thing to do is wait for GateWay? > >3. You can change the disk header to show that the disk is not a Boot >Disk. As you know, there are three kinds of disks in GEOS: Boot, > >-- >David DeSimone, aka "Fuzzy Fox" on some networks. /!/! >INET: an207@cleveland.freenet.edu / .. >Q-Link: Fuzzy Fox / --* >Quote: "Foxes are people too! And vice versa." / --- > 4. Do what I did... get your multi-purpose 1581 disk editor and look at the directory sector containing the boot programs (40,3). Four positions after the filename is the file type. It should be 12 decimal ($0C hex) to represent a system boot file. All you have to do is change that 12 to a 6 and the file will no longer be a system boot but an application. My disk boots perfectly since I did that and the files are no longer erased. It is a very simple fix and doesn't harm your files in any way. The only change is that the boot programs will be seen as applications, and you may be able to run them from the desktop (not recommended!). (Of course, Maverick's 1581 convertor is much better and much faster when booting) R.White -- Boot it up? I did A LOT of that!| Roger White (Sam-Cheers) | Memorial University of Newfoundland --------------------------------| St. John's, Newfoundland, Canada ..uunet!odie.cs.mun.ca!roger, roger@odie.mun.edu, roger@odie.cs.mun.ca