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From: thaanuj@prism.CS.ORST.EDU (John Thaanum)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.atari.st
Subject: problems with pd game 'Goldrunner'
Message-ID: <1991Mar13.044006.11292@lynx.CS.ORST.EDU>
Date: 13 Mar 91 04:40:06 GMT
Sender: @lynx.CS.ORST.EDU
Reply-To: thaanuj@prism.CS.ORST.EDU (John Thaanum)
Organization: Oregon State Univ. -- Computer Science
Lines: 33
Nntp-Posting-Host: prism.cs.orst.edu

The syquest drive I purchased recently had about 25meg of pd stuff on it,
which I am just now sorting through to see what is worthwhile.  One of
the programs was a pd game called Goldrunner.  I unarc-ed it and tried playing
in monochrome.  Here is where an interesting sequence of events occurs:
1.  Many bombs appear.  I figure it must only run in color.
2.  I hit reset, thinking I'll play it later.  Computer fails to boot.  Solid
    black screen.
3.  I turn off the machine, wait a few seconds, and turn it back on.  Nothing.
4.  I try booting in color.  No problem.
5.  I try to play Goldrunner again.  Bombs-o-plenty during loading.
6.  I hit reset.  Same screen with program title at top of screen and busybee
    -immediately- appears without any disk accesses.  Computer is locked up.
7.  I power down, wait, and power back up.  Same screen as #5 and #6 above,
    slightly corrupted by an occasional stray pixel.
8.  Repeat #7.  Same results.
9.  Since the cover is currently off my computer (I have been fiddling with
    ram upgrades) I decide to unplug it, and ground every pin on each of the 
    ram chips.
10. I reboot in mono.  All appears well.  I load Flash! and call my campus
    network server and hookup to the machine I am typing this on.
11. In the middle of the first article in c.s.a.8bit,  I set a new personal
    record:  13 bombs!  I have never seen anything like it!.  Computer is
    now hopelessly locked up.
12. Repeat #11.  I login and start typing this article.  So far so good...

Now I don't know if Goldrunner is the problem, but I deleted it and will
never know for sure now.  I have owned my ST for about a year, and the person
I bought it from got it originally in 1986.  For all these years it has been
about as reliable as an anvil, so I don't think it was my computer's problem.
My advice to you is to avoid 'Goldrunner' unless one of your hobbies is
computer-masochism.

John Thaanum         thaanuj@prism.cs.orst.edu