Path: utzoo!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!asuvax!noao!ncar!hsdndev!cmcl2!uupsi!rodan.acs.syr.edu!jfbruno
From: jfbruno@rodan.acs.syr.edu (John Bruno)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.atari.st
Subject: Re: booting from hard disk
Message-ID: <1991Mar7.080027.17305@rodan.acs.syr.edu>
Date: 7 Mar 91 08:00:27 GMT
References: <1991Mar06.205849.23089@lynx.CS.ORST.EDU>
Distribution: na
Organization: None.
Lines: 43

In article <1991Mar06.205849.23089@lynx.CS.ORST.EDU> you write:
>I just got my syquest w/advantage+ system hooked up and running well.  I
>have one small problem, though.  It **never** boots correctly the first time.
>After a long wait, I get on of the following:

Same as what I got. I noticed the same problem, and I think it works ok if you
stick a floppy (any Atari formatted floppy) in drive A and THEN boot, so try
this first...

>
>   floppy turned on:  desktop with just a: and b: icons
>   floppy turned off: blank desktop with just a menu bar 
>
>When I hit reset, it boots from c: just fine and desktop appears exactly
>the way I want it.
>
>This isn't a horrible problem, but for all the dough I just shelled out, I
>want it to boot on the first try on powerup.
>
>Other info:  Old 520ST w/TOS 1.4.  (Almost) empty auto folder on c:  (all I
>have is UIS III since memory is a little tight right now).

I have an old 1040ST w/TOS1.4.  I use a floppy in drive A that has a boot 
sector program on it (disks w/auto-booting boot sectors will force a boot
from floppy w/o the hard drive.  What this program does is wait for the
connected hard drive to spin up and then boot from it.  It ALWAYS boots fine
the first time for me now.  Sorry I don't remember the name of the program, 
but I'm pretty sure it's on terminator.cc.umich.edu (available via FTP).
Check the /atari/diskutils folder for something that sounds ... whoa, hang
on, I just found a file list for terminator. Try the files:

  /atari/diskutils/duck31.arc

That's the only one I see.. Try it and let me know how it goes!

---jb

>
>If this is normal and expected, or wierd and a sign of trouble, please let
>me know.
>
>Thanks in advance,
>John Thaanum       thaanuj@prism.cs.orst.edu