[RESOLVED] X1000 won't boot from HD into Workbench

[SteveH]

Following a recent power outage, my X1000 no longer boots into Workbench - or at least, it won't display Workbench. The boot process starts fine and I get as far as selecting the AmingaOS boot partition but after the OS4.1 splash screen appears, the monitor goes black. I have tried booting from two different partitions and used two graphics cards, with the same result. I can, however, boot from the AmigaOS4.1 CD with no problem.
I assume a driver or setting has become corrupted but don't know which one it might be - and pointers would be appreciated. What should I be checking?
Steve

[nbache]

The best and fastest way to find out is to set up a serial link to another machine and see what the boot process reports there. That should give us a clue.

See the guide on the AmigaOS Wiki: https://wiki.amigaos.net/wiki/Advanced_Serial_Debugging_Guide

BTW, it is not necessarily a problem with the monitor or the monitor drivers. Most likely the boot process just stops for some reason before the display kicks in, so you never get the error on the screen. That's why we need to look for it in the serial log.

Best regards,

Niels

[SteveH]

Finally captured serial output (turns out I needed a new internal serial cable). Crash log attached.
Steve

[nbache]

Did you save that log on a Mac? There are no line feeds in it, only CRs, which makes it almost impossible to read. I'll have to find an editor with line end conversion ...

Best regards,

Niels

Edit: Here it is with proper LFs.

[nbache]

It seems to crash in IPrefs, i.e. while loading/setting up Workbench with whatever settings and auto-started programs you have there.

The last loglines before the crash mention the charset having been initialised, but I'm not sure what should happen right after that. And it seems to be quite a bad crash, since Grim Reaper also crashes right after that. Hmm, maybe something with the GUI or Font settings?

You could, while booted from the CD, try to rename your .prefs files in Prefs/Env-Archive/Sys/ one by one and try booting from HD after each. I know, tedious work, but it should lead to more enlightenment :-).

Another possibility, of course, is to create a new installation on HD (assuming you have any unused disk space for another partition) and see how that goes. Then you can either do the above process from there (a bit faster boot), or yyou can try recreating all your settings on the new partition.

BTW, you might catch the eyes of more OS4 devs and beta testers over on Hyperion's forum. Edit: Oh, you were also there already - I got confused. Sorry :-).

Best regards,

Niels

[SteveH]

You could, while booted from the CD, try to rename your .prefs files in Prefs/Env-Archive/Sys/ one by one and try booting from HD after each. I know, tedious work, but it should lead to more enlightenment :-).

Thanks for the advice, Niels. I have been trying this when I get time, renaming .prefs files one by one in date order (ie, those most recently modified first) and then rebooting, but no joy so far
Would running a higher level of debug provide additional useful information?
Steve

[nbache]

Would running a higher level of debug provide additional useful information?

I doubt it. The debug level is primarily affecting the output from the kernel. But since are not yet sure what the problem is, it could be worth a try.

You probably shouldn't go higher than 4, though, that would be more bother than useful.

Best regards,

Niels

[SteveH]

You could, while booted from the CD, try to rename your .prefs files in Prefs/Env-Archive/Sys/ one by one and try booting from HD after each. I know, tedious work, but it should lead to more enlightenment :-).

Interesting - I took the "nuclear option": while booted from the CD, I renamed the entire Prefs/Env-Archive/Sys/ drawer on my HD and copied over the one from the CD. After doing this, I could successfully boot from HD into Workbench, although of course most tools weren't working and the screenmode was incorrect ... but it does prove the problem lies somewhere in Prefs/Env-Archive/Sys/
Will now replace the .prefs files with ones from the renamed folder.
Steve
[EDIT] Partial success - as I am slowly reinstating files from the original Prefs/Env-Archive/Sys/ drawer, I'm still able to boot from HD and more functionality is returning, including correct screenmode. I'll keep going until bootup fails, as which point I'll know what the problem was.
[RESOLVED] Turns out the culprit was locale.prefs. Having removed that file, and re-setting the locals preferences, all is working again - thanks to Niels for the advice about checking the .prefs files

[nbache]

Good - let's know how you fare!

BTW, it could turn out to be one of the things you start with WBStartup, so if you get to the point of restoring that prefs file, and it then fails, you have yet another task in disabling/enabling things one at a time in the WBStartup prefs editor.

Best regards,

Niels