Hi everyone,

For some time now I have been experiencing problem with my Risc PC on startup.
In short, it doesn't! Well not always. The probelm has been getting more
frequent until now I have to reboot - i.e. reset or power down/up - virtually
every time I switch on before I get a working . Also it displays the same
behaviour if I do a reset.

Always there is some initial disc activity but then it either sits there
doing absolutely nothing (even after 10 mins) while other times it eventually
goes into the RISC OS Boot menu displaying the message:
An error has occured during Boot
The disc drive is empty
Press any key to continue

The machine is a Strong ARM RiscPC700. There is an old 10GB drive on ADFS::4
in the base. Also, I have a removable drive, ADFS::5, in a caddy which is
only used for backup and which is not always present.
The main drives and CDROM are attached to an UniPod. IDEFS::4 "Boot" is the
boot drive. This is actually a partitioned 80GB Seagate drive (2 partitions).

At first I thought that it might be the disc drive about to fail but I
swopped disc and there is no difference. Also I set the machine up so that I
could boot from another disc and did so from the RISC OD Boot menu. The
normal disc the machine boots from wasn't shown.

So, where do I go from here? Is there any way I can determine if it's the
UniPod causing the problem? What else can I try?

I really could do with some help and advice please. This is bugging me!

TIA

Kind regards,
Rod Grover

--
GroverR@orpheusmail.co.uk

In message <4e6185cea9GroverR@orpheusmail.co.uk>
Rod at Orpheusmail <GroverR@orpheusmail.co.uk> wrote:


Could this be due to the 10GB drive failing - i.e. the one that has to
be there to avoid long delays before booting from IDE ?


So you booted from a different disk, and the 80GB disk, still
connected, did not show up?

Are your master/slave relationships correct on both the Unipod
channels? Does adding "another" disk to boot from upset this?


I think we ned a bit more information, i.e. ADFS - what is master,
what is slave, Unipod 1, master and slave, Unipod 2 master and slave,
which is "normal" boot, which one worked when you looked for, and
didn't find, "normal" boot. Did you change the hardware config. to
boot from a different disk, or only the software settings?




--
Alan Adams, from Northamptonshire
alan.adams@orchard-way.freeserve.co.uk
http://www.nckc.org.uk/

In article <fdf4cc614e.Alan.Adams@orchard-way.freeserve.co.uk>,
Alan Adams <alan.adams@orchard-way.freeserve.co.uk> wrote:

Hadn't thought of that. I'm going to be away for a while but when I get back
I'll substitute it for another drive.


Correct.


Yes! Got this wrong before so I now always double check!


ADFS Master is a 10GB drive situated in the base of the machine
ADFS Slave is an 80GB drive in a removeable caddy - only inserted to do
backups.

UniPod IDEFS 1 Master is an 2 partition 80GB drive - the 1st partition is the
'normal' boot drive
UniPod IDEFS 1 Slave is a Philips CDRW Rewriter
UniPod IDEFS 2 Master CD ROM drive

The 'alternative boot' was on the ADFS 10GB drive and I booted this from the
RISC OS Boot menu. I haven't tried setting the machine to boot from this
directly; good idea, I'll try it.


Don't follow, can you elaborate please? Or do you mean changing "*Con. drive"?
One thing, am I right in assuming the "*Con. drive" on acts on ADFS and not
on IDEFS?

Later...

I've tried booting from ADFS::4 and it boots OK. I've only tried it 4 or 5
times but it booted every time.

I swapped the normal boot drive onto Unipod 1 Master (IDEFS::4) and it still
didn't boot every time! That seems to point to 2 broken hard drives or a
broken UniPod!

I'm away now for a while so I can't do much more untill I get back.

Thanks for your help.
Kind Regards,
Rod Grover

--
GroverR@orpheusmail.co.uk

In message <4e62871133GroverR@orpheusmail.co.uk>
Rod at Orpheusmail <GroverR@orpheusmail.co.uk> wrote:


I was wondering whether you added a disc in order to boot from it.
Apparently not, so that disturbance element doesn't apply.


Have you tried removing the CD - I wonder whether it could be
interfering with communication on the IDE cable from which you are
trying to boot?


--
Alan Adams, from Northamptonshire
alan.adams@orchard-way.freeserve.co.uk
http://www.nckc.org.uk/

In article <8a1cc7624e.Alan.Adams@orchard-way.freeserve.co.uk>,
Alan Adams <alan.adams@orchard-way.freeserve.co.uk> wrote:

[big snip]


I'm now back home and have had a chance to fiddle. I tried removing the CD
ROM drive (AOpen 52x) and although it was better it didn't solve the problem
completely; i.e. rarely started on powerup but usually started after the 1st
reset.

I've resorted to stripping down the machine and replacing my old 10GB Quantum
Fireball with a 40GB Maxtor which I'm now booting from. It boots up first
time, every time with the MYhopper box and the ViewFinder connected.

Then I replaced the UniPod and added another drive. This is connected to the
IDEFS Primary Master. Again, all works OK and no problems booting.

Next I'll try the CD Writer! Let you know how I get on.

Regards,
Rod Grover

--
GroverR@orpheusmail.co.uk

In article <4e6c844370GroverR@orpheusmail.co.uk>,
Rod at Orpheusmail <GroverR@orpheusmail.co.uk> wrote:

Try *Unplug CDFSSoftATAPI at the command line. If you're using a
Unipod, you don't need it.

Also, if using a CD reader and a CD writer on a Unipod make sure the
writer is the master.

--
*Don't worry; it only seems kinky the first time.*

Dave Plowman dave@davenoise.co.uk London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

In article <4e6cda4708dave@davenoise.co.uk>,
Dave Plowman (News) <dave@davenoise.co.uk> wrote:

I thought I had done this but when I checked I found that while CDFSSoftATAPI
and CDFSSoftSCSI2 were unplugged CDFSSoftChinonEESOX, CDFSSoftHitachiEESOX,
CDFSSoftPhilipsEESOX, CDFSSoftSonyEESOX and CDFSSoftToshibaEESOX were all
active again. Why this is I've no idea; what could have reactivated them?
Anyway, I've left CDFSSoftATAPISimtec active as I intend to refit the CD
writer next and have '*Unplugged' the rest.

What is the difference between 'Dormant' and 'Unplugged'? Although I've
'Unplugged' them they are flagged as 'Dormant' (using !Verma).


But how important is this when using a hard drive and a CD writer? i.e a hard
drive as master and CD writer as slave on the same channel?

Despite everything it still doesn't boot cleanly, i.e. after a power up. I'm
still having to do a reset before it will work.

One other thing, does !Boot => Configuration => Discs => CD-ROMs apply just
to the native ADFS side or to the UniPod as well?

Thanks for you help. I will persevere and get to the bottom of this.

Kind regards,
Rod

--
GroverR@orpheusmail.co.uk

On 28-Sep-2006, Rod at Orpheusmail <GroverR@orpheusmail.co.uk> wrote:


It's important for CDBurn as it only checks the first CD drive it finds on
any filing system to see if it's a writer. If it finds the reader first it
won't find the writer.

--
David Holden - APDL - <http://www.apdl.co.uk>

In article <4o275iFcel2rU1@individual.net>, David Holden
<URL:mailto:black_hole@apdl.co.uk> wrote:

I don't think so, we were working on a customers machine yesterday that had
CDFS:0 as a CD Reader and CDFS:1 as a CDRW drive.
They were both SCSI which might make a difference.

However my collegue things his IDEFS CDRW is slave to an IDEFS CDR
and we have had Iyonix PCs with the CDRW as :1 though they maybe on the
second cable.


Chris Evans

--
CJE Micro's / 4D 'RISC OS Specialists'
Telephone: 01903 523222 Fax: 01903 523679
chris@cjemicros.co.uk http://www.cjemicros.co.uk/
78 Brighton Road, Worthing, West Sussex, BN11 2EN
The most beautiful thing anyone can wear, is a smile!

Rod at Orpheusmail <GroverR@orpheusmail.co.uk> wrote:

Don't worry about CDFSSoftReallyAncientDrives - they'll only activate when
ReallyAncientDrives are attached. Unplugging CDFSSoftATAPI is wise if you
don't have any motherboard IDE drives, because otherwise it'll hang waiting
for them.


'Dormant' means 'the module gave an error when the kernel tried to start
it so it's not loaded'. 'Unplugged' means 'the user issued a *Unplug
command or a *Unplug command last time set the relevant CMOS RAM bit which
we remembered'. The difference being that when you reboot the Dormant
modules will try to reinitialise (and will succeed if they don't produce an
error) while the Unplugged ones won't.


Both. CDFS scans its CDFSSoftXXXX driver modules for drives of all possible
connections, and this tells it how many to expect. I've never quite
understood why this is necessary - but at the very least it tells CDFSFiler
how many drive icons to put up.

Theo