#Imagine/PC strange hangs
17 messages in this thread
Hi,
Imagine/PC turned up this morning. After installation I have detected some
strange circumstances when starting Imagine. If I boot my PC in a 'clean' state
(ie. simple config.sys and autoexec.bat) with just the mouse driver loaded,
when I start Imagine it hangs before it can show the intro picture. But if I
boot my machine and start Windows, then simply quit Windows and start Imagine,
all is OK. Strange! It seems to me that Imagine needs the VGA card to have been
initialised by Windows before it will work.
My system is as follows:
Ti'ko 486/DX 33Mhz.
120Mb IDE Hard Disk.
147Mb SCSI Hard Disk.
Orchid Farenheight 1280 VGA card with onboard VESA ROM, running on local bus.
I know the Orchid F1280 has caused lots of other people problems (mainly games)
so I think its the culprit.
Any thoughts?
Phil Camp, UK.
Phil, Imagine needs your VESA driver to be initialized prior to running.
Obviously, your Windows.ini is doing this, but your clean boot is not. –Rick
Howdy Rick, Any truth to the rumour that Impulse is porting Imagine to the
SGI Platform????? Any updates on the release of Amiga Imagine 3.0? Thanx
Impulse plans to port Imagine to the SGI platform as soon as 3.0 is out later
this year. My guess for release of 3.0 is late summer. –Rick
Thanx for the Imagine/SGI info. If you have ANY Pull with the Programmers
PLEASE tell them to do something about the Cycle Editor. Or Better Yet
Have em Add a EASY TO USE Feature Like the New Lightwaves "Bones"
My Jaw hit the Ground with a Resounding THUD when I saw Lee Stranahan Demo
LW3D 3.0 at WOCA. Also the Slice Editor need s MAJOR Overhaul, it's too
hit and miss right now.
The Impulse newsletter said that Imagine 3.0 would have a "Bones" feature
in it. Actually, Imagine 3.0 is sounding more like it will more closely
resemble Lightwave than 2.0.
Vance
Thanx for the info from the Impulse Newsletter which I don't recieve for
some unknown reason. When I called Impulse about it I was Told to TEAR the
Front Cover off my Manual and Send it to them. Even tho the Manual is
TRIPE I still am Loathe to Tear it's cover off so I guess I'll ever be
Newsletterless.
I think a BETTER Suggestion would be for me to send them my ORIGINAL Disk
with the Models on it Via Registered/Insured Mail.
Awaiting 3.0 BEFORE Getting Toasted, Tho I REALLY LIKE The Toaster.
My Buddy is probably bouncing off the walls of his studio and
drooling now that Toaster 3.0 was announced as well as the A4000
Toaster. Maybe I can get his old one on "loan" hehehehehehehe
Actually, Vance, Impulse was talking and promoting Bones before
Siggraph last year, whi is the first time I heard Alan Hastings talk
about it. Developments in graphics design happen and are adopted by
many programmers at once. No one in the Amiga community may take
credit for this particularfeature. –Rick Rodriguez
I was only informing Peter that Imagine 3.0 was getting a "Bones"
feature. Personally, I don't care who-makes-what first for features,
as long as I see it in the software I've invested in. Sorry if I
didn't state myself clearly. *8)
Rick,
I think its more than just the VESA needing initing. The F1280 board has the
VESA on a ROM so there is no driver to load etc. The LINKS386 Pro game comes
with a couple of utilities for showing the VESA status, these all run fine and
indicate that the VESA modes available etc. Running Links386 has the same
effect as Windows (ie. Imagine runs OK after running Links386).
I think the clinching thing is that if you get Imagine running by pre-running
Windows or Links386, Imagine will not run again if you quit Imagine, you have
to run Windows/Links386 again. There must be something in the state of the
F1280 that has to be reset by Windows/Links386 every time you want to run
Imagine.
I'm sure its the F1280 as I took Imagine and tried it on a machine at work
thats the same as mine apart from the VGA card (it has a Tseng ET4000). That
machine ran Imagine fine.
BTW: I too can confirm that Imagine wont run with MSDOS 6. I installed MSDOS 6
on the Tseng machine that was running Imagine fine, and it stopped Imagine. Its
slightly different from the F1280 problem in that on DOS 6 Imagine runs, clears
the screen, pauses then dumps you back to the prompt. On the F1280 it never
even gets to clear the screen and hangs the m/c solid (ie. no CTRL/ALT/DEL
reboot).
I can understand the problems Impulse will have getting the PC version perfect,
the IBM has so many variables it must be a nightmare. Still, once you get it
running, Imagine/PC is VERY impressive.
Phil Camp, UK.
Phil, did you get PC Imagine Direct from Impulse or Via Mail order? How
Much?
Thanx
Peter,
I got the Imagine upgrade direct from Impulse, the upgrade fee for registered
Amiga Imagine 2.0 users is $100.
Phil Camp, UK.
Thanx for the info Phil. Now if I only had a 486-DX66 laying around
…….
Phil, on the machine with the Tseng card that you installed MSDOS 6 onto (and
thus stopped Imagine), try this experiment: start Imagine with
IMAGINE > ERROR.TXT
That will send Imagine's error message into a file called error.txt. After
Imagine drops you back to the dos prompt, check that file and see if it doesn't
contain the message I reported earlier, "failed to enlarge CS/DS init_mem()
failed."
I've gotten that same message on two machines running MSDOS 6. The message
actually comes up on the screen on these two, but it's too fast to catch the
whole thing. Sending the output to a file captures it. Using SETVER to try to
trick Imagine into thinking you're using dos 5.0 won't work either – it looks
like a real memory problem with dos 6.
Phil, the DOS 6 bug was discovered Friday and has been corrected, if you need
DOS 6 compatibility, send in your disk for a replacement. As to the F1280, I
suggest that you contact Impulse directly with a complete description of your
system. They can use all the help they can in uncovering hardware conflicts!
–Rick