CompuServe Thread

Joan, we will need to take these things gently. We still don't know what type of Amiga computer you are using, or anything much about your Workbench version (this last will normally print out when the computer boots up, but you can lawyas command VERSION and then tell us what you see as a reply). Your typing ENDCLI can cause no harm to the Amiga system. If the Workbench isn't loaded, your screen would go blank temporarily; that's expected, and it would clear up next time you booted/powered on. If your screen is now blank when you switch the power on, there's something else at work here, and we need to track it down. Here's some information you can give us: when you switch on, the screen will first change color several times. THEN you should see a "console" window with stuff printed on it. QUESTION: do you ever see this console window, or do you get stuck on a color? If so, which color (the exact color tells us about the problems on your machine). Next step. Boot the computer on the Workbench disk. Don't worry about installing the disk yet; but DO be sure you have the write-protect set on the disk (you *could* have a virus, and we don't want it infecting your Workbench disk). When the boot is complete, you'll likely be in Workbench. Tell us about the icons you see. Then, start up a Shall window, command INFO, and write down everything it says so you can tell us. What we're looking for here is whether or not the system can "see" your hard disk. You might also try the command INSTALL DH0: CHECK and tell us what the reply is. By the time you give us this information, we may have a fairly good idea of what you need to do next to get your system back into shape. –Jim

Joan, this is a two parter, since you have multiple problems. The first one that I can see is that your install disk is not named properly, I believe. Boot from your Workbench disk, as normal now, and after Workbench appears, insert the Install disk. Make absolutely sure that it is named Install. If you are the least be uncertain that this is the case, select the disk by clicking on it once and then select from the Workbench menu, Rename under the Icons menu. Make sure that there are no leading blanks. AmigaDOS is fussy that way. Now to restore your system after you fix that. You CAN do an installation of AmigaDOS to an already existing hard drive partion. Simply use the install disk and when it asks you where to install, select the name of the hard drive partition that you boot from. It will happily overwrite those files that have been corrupted or deleted. I do it all the time, which says things about the way my hard drive behaves <sigh>. More importantly, it will NOT overwrite anything that has to do with your applications. So long as the hard disk has not been corrupted, you should be able to re-install AmigaDOS and go. It only overwrites system files. One caution though. If you have, somehow, corrupted that partition (i.e. if your are seeing Checksum Errors or somesuch), you need a more powerful tool. Try DSALV.LHA in library 9 of AmigaUser. It's a very capable program capable of salvaging some of the worst messes I've every created. I hope this helps.