Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!lll-winken!lll-tis!ames!elroy!mahendo!wlbr!etn-rad!steve
From: steve@etn-rad.UUCP (Steve Childress)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.tech
Subject: Re: Disk Driver vs. 1.3
Summary: After debugging...
Message-ID: <558@etn-rad.UUCP>
Date: 23 Jul 88 00:58:55 GMT
References: <549@etn-rad.UUCP> <4245@cbmvax.UUCP>
Reply-To: steve@etn-rad.UUCP (Steve Childress)
Organization: Eaton Inc. IMSD, Westlake Village, CA
Lines: 22

Re the problem with FORMAT 1.3 and "handler not found".

I tried using gamma 7 disks, and the problem prevailed.

Hour of experimentation seemed to indicate that FORMAT makes some decisions
based upon reading block 0 of the mounted partition. It seems to look for
DOS or DOS\001 to guess about the state of the disk. I believe that it is
FORMAT that is reading block 0, because I have MOUNT=1 in the mountlist
entry, and from debug traces, I see that block 0 is also read, at mount
time, by, I guess, the validator or file manager. It's the fact that format
seems to read block 0 that is giving me fits. Seems to me that FORMAT should
assume that the media is totally undefined and should not be read before
it is formatted.

If I erase block 0 with a sector killer utility, the symptoms change.

I seem to recall a similar problem with 1.1's FORMAT utility when I first
started on my disk driver in early '86.

Any ideas welcome!

			steve childress   818-706-5247
			PLINK: OPS274