A5000 - diving in at the deep end!

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rubber_jonnie
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Re: A5000 - diving in at the deep end!

Post by rubber_jonnie »

I would add that the clock does work. It can be set and it does hold time, which suggests that the data connections and clock crystal connections are fine, but why won't it boot from HDD?
Collector of many retro things!
800XL and 65XE both with Ultimate1MB,VBXL/XE & PokeyMax, SIDE3, SDrive Max, 2x 1010 cassette, 2x 1050 one with Happy mod, 3x 2600 Jr, 7800 and Lynx II
Approx 20 STs, including a 520 STM, 520 STFMs, 3x Mega ST, MSTE & 2x 32 Mhz boosted STEs
Plus the rest, totalling around 50 machines including a QL, 3x BBC Model B, Electron, Spectrums, ZX81 etc...
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Re: A5000 - diving in at the deep end!

Post by rubber_jonnie »

Well it seems to be stable now but won't boot from any drive... I think I have a service manual somewhere.
Collector of many retro things!
800XL and 65XE both with Ultimate1MB,VBXL/XE & PokeyMax, SIDE3, SDrive Max, 2x 1010 cassette, 2x 1050 one with Happy mod, 3x 2600 Jr, 7800 and Lynx II
Approx 20 STs, including a 520 STM, 520 STFMs, 3x Mega ST, MSTE & 2x 32 Mhz boosted STEs
Plus the rest, totalling around 50 machines including a QL, 3x BBC Model B, Electron, Spectrums, ZX81 etc...
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HigashiJun
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Re: A5000 - diving in at the deep end!

Post by HigashiJun »

rubber_jonnie wrote: Mon Jan 27, 2025 11:25 am I know what you mean about each boot being a new surprise...

The main issue I have is that if I set booting, so *configure boot, all it'll try to boot from is the FDD and not the IDE or SCSI drives. Though yesterday it surprised me by booting properly from the IDE drive...

Ho hum.
A very weird behaviour indeed...

I really hope you'll find out what the issue is.
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Re: A5000 - diving in at the deep end!

Post by stephen_usher »

If you boot into the ROM monitor what does *config show?

I take it that it does boot into the ROM version of RISCOS.
Intro retro computers since before they were retro...
ZX81->Spectrum->Memotech MTX->Sinclair QL->520STM->BBC Micro->TT030->PCs & Sun Workstations.
Added code to the MiNT kernel (still there the last time I checked) + put together MiNTOS.
Collection now with added Macs, Amigas, Suns and Acorns.
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rubber_jonnie
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Re: A5000 - diving in at the deep end!

Post by rubber_jonnie »

HigashiJun wrote: Mon Jan 27, 2025 10:34 pm
rubber_jonnie wrote: Mon Jan 27, 2025 11:25 am I know what you mean about each boot being a new surprise...

The main issue I have is that if I set booting, so *configure boot, all it'll try to boot from is the FDD and not the IDE or SCSI drives. Though yesterday it surprised me by booting properly from the IDE drive...

Ho hum.
A very weird behaviour indeed...

I really hope you'll find out what the issue is.
Me too!
Collector of many retro things!
800XL and 65XE both with Ultimate1MB,VBXL/XE & PokeyMax, SIDE3, SDrive Max, 2x 1010 cassette, 2x 1050 one with Happy mod, 3x 2600 Jr, 7800 and Lynx II
Approx 20 STs, including a 520 STM, 520 STFMs, 3x Mega ST, MSTE & 2x 32 Mhz boosted STEs
Plus the rest, totalling around 50 machines including a QL, 3x BBC Model B, Electron, Spectrums, ZX81 etc...
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rubber_jonnie
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Re: A5000 - diving in at the deep end!

Post by rubber_jonnie »

stephen_usher wrote: Mon Jan 27, 2025 10:51 pm If you boot into the ROM monitor what does *config show?

I take it that it does boot into the ROM version of RISCOS.
*config doesn't show me anything, either from the supervisor console or when I hit F12 from RiscOS, which does boot and is ROM based.

The failure is at the point the machine starts.

If it is configured to boot, which it is, the following sequence happens when everything is normal:
  1. The boot process starts a bit like a PC, the FDD seeks and then a message appears on screen 'RISCOS 4096K' followed on the next line by 'ACORN ADFS'
  2. Next what should happen is the !BOOT folder should be read either from hard disk, provided the disk is configured using OPT 4, 2 which it is. This will load drivers such as those for the network adapter etc.
  3. Once the drivers are loaded, RISCOS will boot to the initial desktop, after which it should load the !BOOT file (This is inside the !BOOT folder) and this is what provides the customisations, such as open windows, window position and background etc.
What I'm getting in reality is that if a floppy disk is in the drive, that has opt 4,2 set and a !BOOT folder, it will try to boot from that. It will fail as the !BOOT folder I have on there is incomplete as there isn't enough space on the floppy, however it does try.

However, if the FDD is empty or the floppy is not bootable, it should then boot from IDE if it bootable, and failing that, SCSI. It is simply not booting from either.

What is odd is that both IDE and SCSI can be configured as present, and in that state the machine can see and use both types of drive, just can't boot from either.
Collector of many retro things!
800XL and 65XE both with Ultimate1MB,VBXL/XE & PokeyMax, SIDE3, SDrive Max, 2x 1010 cassette, 2x 1050 one with Happy mod, 3x 2600 Jr, 7800 and Lynx II
Approx 20 STs, including a 520 STM, 520 STFMs, 3x Mega ST, MSTE & 2x 32 Mhz boosted STEs
Plus the rest, totalling around 50 machines including a QL, 3x BBC Model B, Electron, Spectrums, ZX81 etc...
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Re: A5000 - diving in at the deep end!

Post by rubber_jonnie »

So I used *configure and *status, the results being here:

IMG20250128104611.jpg
IMG20250128104611.jpg (234.93 KiB) Viewed 47 times
IMG20250128104619.jpg
IMG20250128104619.jpg (270.18 KiB) Viewed 47 times
IMG20250128104644.jpg
IMG20250128104644.jpg (235.88 KiB) Viewed 47 times
IMG20250128104656.jpg
IMG20250128104656.jpg (263.79 KiB) Viewed 47 times

I'll need wot have a trawl through all this later I think.
Collector of many retro things!
800XL and 65XE both with Ultimate1MB,VBXL/XE & PokeyMax, SIDE3, SDrive Max, 2x 1010 cassette, 2x 1050 one with Happy mod, 3x 2600 Jr, 7800 and Lynx II
Approx 20 STs, including a 520 STM, 520 STFMs, 3x Mega ST, MSTE & 2x 32 Mhz boosted STEs
Plus the rest, totalling around 50 machines including a QL, 3x BBC Model B, Electron, Spectrums, ZX81 etc...
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stephen_usher
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Re: A5000 - diving in at the deep end!

Post by stephen_usher »

OK, the configuration does have boot set. Hmmm...
Intro retro computers since before they were retro...
ZX81->Spectrum->Memotech MTX->Sinclair QL->520STM->BBC Micro->TT030->PCs & Sun Workstations.
Added code to the MiNT kernel (still there the last time I checked) + put together MiNTOS.
Collection now with added Macs, Amigas, Suns and Acorns.
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rubber_jonnie
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Re: A5000 - diving in at the deep end!

Post by rubber_jonnie »

stephen_usher wrote: Tue Jan 28, 2025 12:59 pm OK, the configuration does have boot set. Hmmm...
Yeah, it's a bit weird.
Collector of many retro things!
800XL and 65XE both with Ultimate1MB,VBXL/XE & PokeyMax, SIDE3, SDrive Max, 2x 1010 cassette, 2x 1050 one with Happy mod, 3x 2600 Jr, 7800 and Lynx II
Approx 20 STs, including a 520 STM, 520 STFMs, 3x Mega ST, MSTE & 2x 32 Mhz boosted STEs
Plus the rest, totalling around 50 machines including a QL, 3x BBC Model B, Electron, Spectrums, ZX81 etc...
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stephen_usher
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Re: A5000 - diving in at the deep end!

Post by stephen_usher »

Looking at your settings you have 1 floppy and one IDE drive configured but no "Hard Drives" i.e. SCSI drives. It's also set to boot from drive 0, the IDE drive I think. Adding the SCSI "Hard Drive" may allow it to boot from there. I don't know what drive number that has though.
Intro retro computers since before they were retro...
ZX81->Spectrum->Memotech MTX->Sinclair QL->520STM->BBC Micro->TT030->PCs & Sun Workstations.
Added code to the MiNT kernel (still there the last time I checked) + put together MiNTOS.
Collection now with added Macs, Amigas, Suns and Acorns.
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