Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!watnot!watmath!clyde!cbatt!ucbvax!XX.LCS.MIT.EDU!MILLGRAM%OZ.AI.MIT.EDU From: MILLGRAM%OZ.AI.MIT.EDU@XX.LCS.MIT.EDU.UUCP Newsgroups: comp.sys.atari.st Subject: Subject: help! (and warning) re crabs and hard disk Message-ID: Date: Tue, 10-Mar-87 15:11:00 EST Article-I.D.: MIT-OZ.MILLGRAM.12285336907.BABYL Posted: Tue Mar 10 15:11:00 1987 Date-Received: Wed, 11-Mar-87 19:36:19 EST Sender: daemon@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU Distribution: world Organization: The ARPA Internet Lines: 41 There's a cute program called crabs that the literature at my local user group says is innocuous, but which has caused a problem that I think I can solve by zeroing my hard disk. I would lose a couple of days work doing that; so if you're able to suggest a less painful way out, please do. FYI, crabs is an ACC file that causes small crab-like creatures to eat your screen. I have talked to people who ran it on floppy-only systems, and who say that in their cases it was indeed innocuous. Here's the best description of the bug I can manage now: I put CRABS.ACC and CRABS.RSC in C:, the logical drive on my SH204 where my other ACC files reside. Upon booting I found that crabs did indeed eat my screen (cute). Clicking on CRABS!! in the desk accessory menu froze the screen; I warm booted, and after a little bit of this decided that enough was enough, and deleted the files. Upon rebooting, I discovered the following: My ST reads and loads the files in my AUTO folder on my A: disk, looks at the C: disk (presumably--the hard disk makes brief noises) ---and reboots. (Enter endless loop...) Could the problem have been caused by trying to delete the file while it was running, so that the init thing loses? Is there a way to tell the machine to boot gently (without dying when it sees something it doesn't like, or running the ACC files, so that I can look at the directory space)? Is there *anything* I can do, short of reformating my hard disk? Suggestions/advice/help would be much appreciated. Lije BTW: Even if you don't have advice, be warned... Elijah Millgram lije@oz.ai.mit.edu