V2.04 install danger!!!
32 messages in this thread
I have a warning to all hard drive users who are installing 2.04, roms and
software, on a 2000 or 500. It probably does not apply to anyone who is
using purely Commodore hardware.
My 2.04 rom was installed, as required, at the dealer's. We booted with
the 2.04 install disk, and to my pleasant surprise my Kronos hard card with
Seagate 157n was mounted correctly. We proceeded with the install script
very routinely, right thru to the 'reboot to use the new software' message.
That's where the fun begins; if you are using a non-Commodore drive you can
have a big problem. The install moves and renames a number of files; in my
case the Mountlist was one of them. My system would no longer boot with
the Kronos installed (until at the suggestion of a GVP tech I removed the
autoboot EEPROM).
The correct way to handle the problem is either to prevent the renaming or
moving or deletion of files, or to carefully examine the disc BEFORE
rebooting to clean up the mess. I can't be sure, but I'd probably not now
be ordering a new controller if I'd known about this. I can no longer
autoboot, but at least I can use the drive.
The basic problem is being confirmed by at least 2 NYC dealers, and no
doubt many in the days to come. Please be very carefull!
Ron
Sorry to hear about your trouble Ron… I might point out tho, that most of
the modern controllers use the Rigid Disk Block for mounting information
and not the mountlist, so those controllers shouldn't have the problem you
had with the Kronos.
So, before you install 2.04, if you know that your drive needs the
mountlist to boot properly, go back and read Ron's warning (I think that
the file is renamed to a 'Old<something>' directory). If you have one of
the newer controllers that doesn't need the mountlist, you'll probably
still want to go back and look in the Oldxxxx directory to see what's
there, but you may be able to reboot into 2.0 first.
One other bit of advice… you'll notice that the 2.04 Startup-Sequence
is now broken up into 2 files, Startup-Sequence and User-Startup. You
should resist the urge to go in and make a bunch of changes to the
startup-sequence file, instead put your own prefered startup information in
the User-Startup file. That way, when new OS releases come out, they can
safely over-write the s-s file and leave the User-Startup intact.
– Keith
Ron;
I suspect that you will have to 'reinstall' SCSI DOS3.0. There are a
couple of files that are found by LOCATION in that system. If the files
are moved or otherwised changed then the Kronos can not autoboot (the
mountlist is not one of them however).
-bill/ARS KB7LX
Except that it does read the mountlist, if I remember right. The other
files were apparently where I left them.
Because of all this, I've given up on the Kronos and will have a GVP
controller if GVP doesn't lose my address again.
Remember; the first autoboot with the new rom worked fine. The install of
the software scrambled something. Further attempts to boot even with a
floppy in place hung the machine unless the Kronos was removed. FInally, I
was advised to yank the autoboot eeprom and try again; with autoboot
disabled I can now boot off floppy and then bring up the hd using the
floppy with devinstall, etc.
Ron
Ron:
Check to see where the SetAutoboot routine is storing the controlle
information. I found that if I changed the setup to Fast Ram rather than
Chip, I had no problems. I'm autobooting off the Kronos with no problems.
Bill Perez
San Juan, PR
The machine would hang on every boot attempt with the eeprom in place.
Since I can't boot with it I can't run SETAUTOBOOT, so I can't change any
of those settings.
Ron
Ron:
Well, initially, I was getting a Guru on boot up. But since, I think Bill
Leach had said early on that he had been able to get the Kronos to operate
while he was Beta testing, I figured there must be something wrong in the
setup. I also disabled "SCSI Reset on Warmboot." I'm not sure if that made
any difference, but I stopped fiddling with it once I got the system
running. I must admit it took me two days to figure it out. You know, trial
and error.
Now I have to search around for an upgrade to WordPerfect, since it's not
printing. A minor matter, since it does such a lousy job with the
LazerXpress printer. But I just hate to have stuff that doesn't work right
and I get kind of compulsive.
Bill Perez
San Juan, PR
Ron;
I think that you are taking the right approach. I mount all of the Kronos
stuff manually myself and consider the potential problems in trying to keep
the Kronos as an Autoboot unit is just too much trouble. I disabled to
Kronos Autoboot under 1.3 quite some time back…. when I installed the GVP
controller.
BTW, you don't have to remove anything. The SCSIDOS3.0 software has a
configuration program that lets you tell the Kronos not to boot. That is
the way that I have been operating for about a year.
-bill/ARS KB7LX
No; if you can't boot the machine with the board in you have no way of
running the board to tell it not to autoboot. This board is going to GVP
as part of an upgrade, a few days after I get the new board going
correctly.
Ron
Ron;
Are you talking about the Kronos? In my case the Kronos was still an
Autoboot board when I installed the GVP controller. I set up the GVP and
associated drive so that it would boot and then moved the cards so that the
GVP 'came before' the Kronos card.
The GVP then 'won' the boot race. I then ran one of C-Ltd's utilities that
configures the Kronos NVRam so that the Kronos would no longer boot.
-bill/ARS KB7LX
Ah. Having only one easily usable hd, I didn't have that luxury. Either
way, the GVP (knock on wood, cross my fingers, etc) seems to be working
well now for the most part. In fact, my main concerns now are limited to
wishing it was safe to use Blitzdisk (any idea?) and bad/wierd hd
performance on the bridge partition.
Ron
Ron;
Sorry, I don't have any idea if either of those programs are safe for your
setup (or any other setup for that matter).
-bill/ARS KB7LX
Bill, I've been autobooting with KRONOS ever since my GVP Series I card
started acting weird in autoboot mode. I've even had the KRONOS working
under an old beta version of 2.0 once. Of course I didn't keep it on the
system, just wanted to see if it worked. All KRONOS partitions showed up
except dh0: until I reformatted it with the LoCyl being 1 instead of 0. I
hope that when I install my new ROM that I can continue autobooting from
KRONOS. My system works fine the way its setup now, and AMAXII has been
working quite well. All the AMAX partitions boot from the GVP board.
Chris
Chris;
You should be able to continue to use your Kronos under KS 37.175 and WB
37.64/67 software. There are a couple of guys on BIX that have been using
the Kronos without problem.
-bill/ARS KB7LX
Can the files on the disk be moved manually or MUST you use the install
script. I almost never use install scripts unless it is from a company I
REALLY trust and even then I try to read the script to find out what it is
going to do.
It is a very extensive script. Of course you can do things by hand, but be
prepared for lots of work. If you have a Rigid Disk Block system, I'd do
full backups first, then install, then do NOT reboot but first check things
out very carefully. IMHO, of course.
Ron
When I finally get 2.0 I'll probably (depending on whatmy dealer says)
do a complete backup of the hard drive and move items one at a time with
DiskMaster2. I assume Arexx comes with the upgrade. Is the new graphic
chip (Denise?) included and can the system run the 1.3 files with the 2.0
ROM installed? Thanks.
Leslie,
If you do decide to do the installation by hand, you should print out
the install script and follow it as closely as possible. The scripts
weren't put together lightly, they delete certain c: programs for a reason
(a lot of them are built into the shell now).
It can be done, but you may end up with more trouble than if you had
used the scripts.
– Keith
I have a lot more confidence now that you and the other forum members
have done so well with the script. Did you do the ROM installation
yourself? Will my dealer use the install script? Did the new Denise come
with the package?
I haven't put my ROM in yet, and as a developer, I'm constantly pushing
and pulling chips/boards/drives/etc, so yes, I'll be installing my own, but
I'd recomend a dealer doing it where a warranty is concerned.
I haven't seen the Enhancer kit yet, so I don't know about the Denise
chip. Whether or not your dealer will use the script probably depends more
on who your dealer is (my guess would be "yes").
– Keith
Leslie,
I just installed the Enhancer kit myself. No, The new Denise chip
is not part of the package. The Enhancer package includes the ROM, a
Getting Started booklet, the complete Docs for 2.04 which is comprised of a
rather hefty binder and includes docs for both Workbench and AmigaDos, and
the software on 4 disks. It took me about 1 hour to install the Rom and
software, and 2 days of fiddling to configure it like I wanted it. I have
been working with computers since 1968 and microcomputers since 1980 so I
have much experience poking around inside them. I would recommend that you
have the dealer install the roms and software if you are not comfortable
poking around the inside of your machine and definately if the machine is
still under warranty. User installation voids the warranty on both the
machine and the Rom.
Blaine
Leslie,
Re: "never use install scripts unless it is from a company I REALLY
trust…"
What, you don't trust Commodore? 😉
–Gord
>>What, you don't trust Commodore? 😉
Welllll…..
Actually, I would trust Commodore if I had a complete Commodore setup
(their controller, "system and work" drawers, etc.) However, anything
other than that and I'm leary.
Leslie,
You'll of course need to use your own judgement, but the install scripts
are written very well, and even TELL you (at least the early ones did) what
files are about to be moved/replaced. I beleive it even stops
periodically, tells you whats about to happen and gives you the option of
proceeding or not.
All-in-all it's non-destructive, it will make copies of your s-s and
mountlist (and maybe others I'm forgetting), so if you know that your hard
disk controller needs the mountlist entries to boot the machine (most
auto-booting controllers don't need it) just be sure that you have what you
need before you re-boot.
Of course, it's always prudent to make a backup (of atleast your boot
parition) before installing a new OS.
Personally, given the above precautions, I'd use the install script (I'm
one who also never uses them, generally). If you do it by hand, I'd
recommend following the scripts (they are fairly involved tho), otherwise
you may cause yourself more trouble then using the script to start with.
– Keith
Boy didn't we have fun (yeah right) with that, Ron?
BEN:Leigh's Computer's
Yeah. Fun. Lots of it.
That's why I'm so annoyed right now that GVP's salesperson lost my address
and delayed the shipping till tomorrow; which for various reasons means I
might not have it for about 10 days.
The Kronos is a tad flaky at this point. BUT I got backups, I've done some
cleanup (the install left me 0% free), and I'll backup my cleaned up disc
in a few days (crossing my fingers).
Ron
"in a few days", Roonnnn aren't we asking for trouble?
BEN:Leigh's Computer's(look who's talking the man whose idea of disk
managent is to let it crash, but heyI might as well teach since i don't
do!)
I've already backed up the cleaned up disc, I have the GVP board, and am
now contemplating on its installation! 🙂
Ron
Good luck!
BEN:Leigh's Computer's