#CrossPC HD Boot
19 messages in this thread
I was wondering if someone could shed some light on a problem with
CrossPC. I recently decided to make a small HD partition into an MSDOS
partition for use with CrossPC. I followed the instructions given in the
manual and readme file and still cannot get CrossPC to boot from the
partition. These are the steps that I took:
– Set up an HD partition called PC using HDToolBox (fastfile system)
– Used CrossDOS install program to "prep" an amiga partition as an
MSDOS partition
– Booted using CrossPC from PC0 (A:) and used FDISK to set up the
partition as the primary dos partition.
– formatted C: from CrossPC using command FORMAT C: /S/V
Everything appears fine. I can copy files to and from C:. I can move
through the directory structure, etc… The system was transferred and
the files are on C:, but when I try to boot from C:, all I get is a blank
screen and one quick blip on the HD light. The amiga is not locked up (I
can switch back to Workbench), but the MSDOS side will not respond at all,
no prompt, Ctrl Alt Delete will not reboot, etc…
Also, the CrossPC icon has C=PCC as a tool type.
If anyone has any suggestions I sure would appreciate it.
Bill
Bill,
I don't know if this will help, but you might try it. Firstly,
change the AmigaDos partition name using HDToolBox to something like MH0:,
rather than PC. Next insert the original (or copy of) CrossDos disk and
run the install program. At the appropriate screen select the option to
configure an MSDOS drive on an Amiga partition (it should be the first of
the two choices). When the requestor pops up asking you to provide a drive
ID it will already have the letters PC in the string requestor. Don't
change anything, because this will result in an MSDOS drive called PCC.
Follow the rest of the instructions being sure to answer yes when asked if
you want the MSDOS drive configured to run with CrossPC. After you exit
install you should find in the DosDrivers subdirectory of DEVS: a new file
called PCC along with PCC.info. When you reboot either you need to run PCC
or, if you have configured your startup, then PCC will be run for you.
Now, insert an MSDOS boot disk into the A: drive and boot up MSDOS. Run
FDISK and follow basic instructions to set up the partition. You must be
sure in FDISK that you not only go through the drive prep, but also select
the DOS partition AND set the partition as a boot partition. When all that
is done you must reboot the MSDOS side once again from floppy and this time
run FORMAT C: /s /v:labelname. When the format is done then copy your
MSDOS files onto the C: drive. Before you attempt to reboot from the C:
drive be sure you change CONFIG.SYS so that any references to files on A:
are change to C:. Same for AUTOEXEC.BAT. If your CONFIG.SYS looks for
something on A: when booting from C: you may just find the system won't
boot.
If none of this works, you might need to go through this whole process but
using Expert_ConfigDrive on the CrossDos disk. This program is needed for
certain controllers. Hope this helps. It's essentially the routine I went
through to do the same thing on an A3000, except that I use DRDOS rather
than MSDOS.
Thanks for the suggestions, but it didn't seem to solve my problem. I
followed your directions exactly, even to the point of removing all
references to CrossPC and CrossDOS before trying to reinstall. One thing
that did catch my eye though was that I did not get asked if I wanted the
MSDOS drive configured to run with CrossPC. The sequence that I got was:
load CrossDOS, configure partition for MSDOS, finish up with CrossDOS,
install CrossPC, finished.
I wonder if there may have been a bug fix release since I got my disk. I
sent in the money for the upgrade long before the release of version 5 of
the software so I'm sure that I have one of the very first copies of
release 5. Maybe its time to call consultron.
Thanks
Bill
Bill –
> I wonder if there may have been a bug fix release . . .
I assume that you have the patch file that was/is? in LIB 9 here:
[72030,474]
CROSSD.LZH/Bin Bytes: 98359, Count: 60, 19-Oct-92
Title : Patch CrossDos to latest version 5.05
Keywords: CROSSDOS
Patch to upgrade CrossDos+ 5.0,5.01,02,03,04 to 5.05. From
Consultron's BBS. You can tell your version by looking at the
readme file on yo
REC
——
It seem like I did a patch before…
Looking at my readme says I have version 5.04, guess I'll d/l that file
and see what happens. Thanks
Bill
Good luck. I plan to try the procedure too, as soon as I get a 2nd hard
drive installed (<– no room on 1st 🙂
REC
——
Bill,
There has been a revision release to 5.04 and it's around here in
one of the LIBs. However, if the installation went through without a
hitch, then there shouldn't be a problem with the creation of the drive. I
wonder if perhaps it's a problem with MSDOS. Which version are you using?
If you are using 5.0, then you might try to get a copy of 3.3 and try
installing the drive with it to see if it will autoboot. When I got DRDOS
I had a problem getting my C drive to autoboot on the bridgeboard. It
turned out that the DRDOS FDISK and FORMAT commands had minor bugs which
would not correctly install a bootblock on certain drives. Although that
may not be your problem, it never hurts to try with 3.3 just to see. I
never could get MSDOS 5.0 to install on a bridgeboard using the
pseudo-drive, although there was no obvious reason why it shouldn't, but it
just wouldn't. What SCSI controller do you use? Maybe there's a problem
with CrossPC and that controller. CrossPC will not install a drive on my
Nexus controller or my IVS controller, although it works just fine on my
A3000. I'm sort of stumped, though, on what further suggestions to make.
Thanks for all of your help and suggestions. I am using an A3000 with the
built in SCSI controller. I am using MSDOS v.5.0, maybe that is the
problem. The C: drive works great for everything except booting, so I am
kindof stumped also. I guess I can try another version of DOS…
Bill
Bill,
I'm using Cross-PC with my 3000 and MSDOS 5.0. I have used it to setup
a Syquest cart as a bootable disk with no problem. I couldn't believe how
easy it was! The installation program is impressive. I am using Cross-dos
5.05.
Goin' AP
…..Mark Sterling
Yeah, the installation program is nice, and I have used CrossDOS for
several years now without any trouble what-so-ever so I feel reasonably
sure that it something I am doing wrong, but what? The install program
doesn't leave alot of room for me to mess things up (not that I really
need alot of room for that).
Bill
Bill,
There may be a problem with DOS 5.0 creating the boot block. As I
said I did have a problem with an early release of DRDOS, but I was able to
get the drive working under 3.3. Only real problem with 3.3 is that you
can't create a drive larger than 32 Meg. However, perhaps once you get it
to boot you can then try re-installing 5.0. Perhaps then it will work.
You could try 4.0 as well, since it will let you create larger partitions
than 3.3 did. You could also get DRDOS, which I know does work since I have
installed it both on the bridgeboard and under CrossPC. Good luck with it.
I guess I should point out that at this point I am attempting to setup a
small partition (about 5 meg) as my DOS hard drive, so a large drive size
is not a problem. I'll have to see if I can get MSDOS 3.3 to work.
Bill
Bill,
I hope you are successful, but it still is a puzzle as to why you
are unable to do it with 5.0, especially given that some other users here
have similar setups to yours and have had no problem. BTW, as I sit here
thinking about it, check your mountlist entry for PCC to be sure that the
DosType parameter is correct. It should be 0x4D534800. In the manual
there is a typo error giving the wrong value for DosType. This will
definitely screw things up if the DosType is wrong, but I think if that
were the problem that the drive won't even show up, which it has in your
case. But it ''s a though. Also be sure that you format the drive from
MSDOS and not from CrossDos. CrossDos can format the drive, but cannot
make it bootable. Only formatting from MSDOS can do that. Also be sure
that the partition is named as PCC. The first MSDOS partition must end in
a 'C'. Of course double check in the CrossPC icon to be sure that all the
ToolTypes are correct. I know this all sounds sort of obvious, but it's
always easy to overlook even something simple. Oh, be sure to also check
in the drive's mountlist to be sure the Unit is correct. I accidently left
the Unit at 0 when it should have been 1 and ended up trashing my Amiga
partition on another drive!
Have you looked in your USer-Startup sequence to see if the PCC: is being
mounted? You should have three lines that look like this:
;BEGIN CrossDOSV5+ – mounting hard drive PCC:
Mount >nil: DEVS:DOSDrivers/PCC
;END CrossDOSV5+ – mounting hard drive PCC:
Other than that, all I can suggest is that you check your mountlist entry
(in Devs:Dosdrivers) against what I've got in mine:
/* Mountlist Entry for Ms-Dos image partition. */
/*
* Disk Size: 80 Meg
* Vendor and drive name: 006 QUANTUM P80S 980-80-94xx
*
* Partition Size: 19 Meg
*/
Surfaces = 1
BlocksPerTrack = 70
LowCyl = 1784
HighCyl = 2342
DosType = 0x4d534800
Buffers = 5
BufMemType = 0
Activate = 1
Device = scsi.device
Unit = 6
Flags = 0
FileSystem = L:CrossDOSFileSystem
StackSize = 2000
Priority = 5
GlobVec = -1
S:User-StartUp has the mount commands and Devs:DosDrivers has an item
called PCC that is similar to yours (the size of my drive is different
from yours so blocks per track, high & low cylinder etc are different).
Thanks though, I'll try a couple of other suggestions and see what
happens.
Bill
Are you starting CrossPC from the icon? If I start it with a utility menu
program then I cannot boot from the hard drive either. If I start it with
its icon then it boots just fine.
I just got this thing set up. Man, it is painfully slow on my 3000/16.
Icon or no, still no C: boot… :<
Bill
I'm using CrossPC 5.05. Dos 5.0. Amiga 3000. So we have basically the
same setup.
Have you called Consultron yet?
No, I haven't called Consultron yet, the manual gives their tech hours as
10-5 eastern (9-4 my time), and I manage to stay busy enough at work as it
is. I guess I'll just have to try them next week. The only problem is
the amiga is my home machine so I'll have to get their advice and try it
out overnight and call them back the next day if it doesn't work. This
could be a real bummer.
Bill