#PC0: si, DF0: no! Why?
5 messages in this thread
Since this morning, if I put a normally formatted disk in df0: (the only floppy
drive on my accelerated A2000), after quite a bit of spinning and complaining I
get two icons, labelled respectively:
DF0:NDOS, PC0:????
If I try to open DF0: I naturally get the old "Not a DOS disk in DF0:"
message.
But if I put in an MS-DOS formatted disk (cleverly named MSDOS2), the icons
get relabelled immediately as
DF0:???? and PC0:MSDOS2
and I have no problems opening PC0:.
A blank disk in DF0: gives me DF0:???? and PC0:???? under the icons. I can
almost format the blank disk; it formats and verifies about 78 tracks then
starts to initialize. But it never finishes, and finally I get the requester
"Not a DOS…"
Wild hypothesis #1: PC0 is in Devs and thus presumably runs from RAM, but DF0
probably runs from ROM, so perhaps my 2.04 ROM is going bad. Experiment #1:
Try booting from 1.3 ROM (still installed on my mother board, and
software switchable). Result #1: 1.3 boot disk in DF0: is not recognized as
a DOS disk; boot fails.
Wild hypothesis #2: ??? (Any guesses?)
Bart Mathias
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Bart,
MS-DOS keeps it's initial information (root directory and FAT) on the
front of the disk. AmigaDOS keeps it's eqivalent of the root directory in the
middle of the disk (the bitmap is still on the front of the disk).
Thus, it's quite possible to read the beginning of the disk and have it
presume it's a good disk (PC0:) but not be able to read the middle of the disk
(DF0:) so presume that is a bad disk.
My first thought would be out of alignment…but you should be able to
format then. My second though would be the 8520's…try swapping them (ONLY IF
YOU KNOW WHAT YOU'RE DOING!). My final thought would be the drive itself is
bad and/or dirty…try cleaning it…see if that makes any difference.
Don
Don,
Thanks for the quick and ultimately encouraging response. I've played
enough with DiskEd to know where AmigaDOS' root is, but knew nothing about
MS-DOS. I had not tried actually reading any of the MO-DOS disk's files until
a little while ago. When I do, I get read errors, which seem to me to point to
the alignment problem you suggest.
This evening I have been having intermittent success at getting AmigaDOS disks
recognized, and ECHOed a very short file onto an otherwise empty one, which I
can usually read out.
Will try cleaning. If that doesn't work, the 8520s…
Thanks again,
Bart
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Bart,
It sounds to me like your DF0: drive either kicked the bucket or is in
dire need of alignment.
My $0.02
Robb
Robb,
Thanks. That makes sense, and I can live with either one. I haven't the
foggiest about how to get a drive back into alignment but there may still be
one Amiga servicer left in Hawaii… If worse comes to worst, sounds like I
can "just" replace it.
I appreciate the help.
Bart
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