Amiga.org
Amiga computer related discussion => Amiga Software Issues and Discussion => Topic started by: orb85750 on December 02, 2011, 06:59:04 PM
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I just received my new (old) A1200 from the UK with OS 3.9 installed on the CF drive. The problem is that when it boot up, all I get on my 1084 monitor is a messy bar that scrolls up the screen (although the hard drive light works for quite a while, so I think it actually boots fully). If I remove the CF card, I do get the usual 3.1 ROM insert disk animation. So I'm thinking there is some screen mode set in OS 3.9 that I cannot use with my 1084? But is there some way to change it? I tried a couple of other boot options with the early start-up menu and all I got was a black screen. This my first-ever experience with OS 3.9. Thanks in advance for any help you can offer.
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Have you tried using the RF out or the RCA video jack with a TV?
I remember using my UK A1200 in the States with my old A1081 monitor with no problems. The RF out was obviously PAL, but I also had access to a really old TV on which I could adjust the vertical hold to get a steady B&W picture (I had to use it like this while I waited for my A1081 to arrive).
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Well, if you can get the early startup screen, you should be able to boot with no startup-sequence. Once you do that, simply get rid of the screenmode.prefs file to set it back to the PAL (or NTSC) defaults. At the prompt, type
cd envarc:sys
delete screenmode.prefs
and reboot. You should then get the same screenmode that the early startup screen is, and from there use the preference programs to change your screenmode preferences as you need to.
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3 possibilities:
1) If you have the VGAOnly and VGAOnly.info in your Devs:Monitors directory and it might be causing a problem. copy them back to Sys:Storage/Monitors/ and delete them from Devs:Monitors
2) your monitor does not support the saved screenmode
boot without startup-sequence and delete the
screenmode.prefs in SYS:Prefs/Env-Archive/Sys
cd SYS:Prefs/Env-Archive/Sys
delete screenmode.prefs
3) does pressing spacebar in boot menu (hold two mouse buttons) have any strange effects?
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3 possibilities:
1) If you have the VGAOnly and VGAOnly.info in your Devs:Monitors directory and it might be causing a problem. copy them back to Sys:Storage/Monitors/ and delete them from Devs:Monitors
2) your monitor does not support the saved screenmode
boot without startup-sequence and delete the
screenmode.prefs in SYS:Prefs/Env-Archive/Sys
cd SYS:Prefs/Env-Archive/Sys
delete screenmode.prefs
3) does pressing spacebar in boot menu (hold two mouse buttons) have any strange effects?
Thanks for the suggestions.
I first deleted the screenmode.prefs file as recommended by Daedalus and you in #2 above, but it had no effect.
I then followed your advice in #1. It did have an effect, but not the right one. The upward scrolling still occurs, but it is clearly slower than it was before I moved the VGA stuff out of that directory.
As for #3, hitting the spacebar (or any other key) is just toggling me between the PAL and NTSC modes.
Any other possibilities??? Thanks again.
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if you can see the early boot menu than you must see the Workbench screen too. They use the same frequency :)
Try moving the PAL monitor file to storage as well like you did with the VGAonly file.
What happens when you boot without startup-sequence and use the command loadwb from there?
also try choosing ntsc from the display option and click use and click boot.
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if you can see the early boot menu than you must see the Workbench screen too. They use the same frequency :)
Try moving the PAL monitor file to storage as well like you did with the VGAonly file.
What happens when you boot without startup-sequence and use the command loadwb from there?
also try choosing ntsc from the display option and click use and click boot.
I removed the PAL and PAL.info files, which appeared to have no effect.
When I typed loadwb, a requester for 'volume ENV' came up.
Choosing the NTSC option at boot-up resulting in a plain black (or very dark grey) screen.
There's a bunch of stuff in the devs:monitors directory but nothing for 1084. That's not unusual is it?
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There's a bunch of stuff in the devs:monitors directory but nothing for 1084. That's not unusual is it?
Actually it is very unusual. Why did you copy all that stuff there? The Devs:Monitors directory should be almost empty with only those drivers in it your monitor supports. If you put drivers in there which you monitor does not support, you can even kill the monitor.
If your 1084 is NTSC, then put NTSC into Devs/Monitors, if it is PAL, put PAL into Devs/Monitors. Nothing else. And before you put the CF card into your Amiga run Prefs/ScreenMode in WinUAE and select a screen mode the 1084 supports (either PAL:Highres or NTSC:Highres).
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Actually it is very unusual. Why did you copy all that stuff there? The Devs:Monitors directory should be almost empty with only those drivers in it your monitor supports. If you put drivers in there which you monitor does not support, you can even kill the monitor.
If your 1084 is NTSC, then put NTSC into Devs/Monitors, if it is PAL, put PAL into Devs/Monitors. Nothing else. And before you put the CF card into your Amiga run Prefs/ScreenMode in WinUAE and select a screen mode the 1084 supports (either PAL:Highres or NTSC:Highres).
Thanks for the info. I didn't put anything in that directory. This is exactly how the computer came to me from the UK. It is a PAL unit. My monitor? I thought the 1084 was compatible both with NTSC and PAL?? As for WinUAE, I know absolutely nothing about it.
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Hmmm... Yeah, it's normally not a problem to have extra monitors in there, but might be the cause of your particular problem if you have some sort of customised setup. Normally, without screenmode.prefs, the Workbench is exactly the same screenmode as the early startup screen, so it's very strange that it's still happening. Perhaps the previous owner had a scandoubler or some funky monitor drivers for a weird monitor. Copy everything out of there, reboot and see how you get on. The 1084 should be able to do PAL and NTSC modes - my one did anyway until it died...
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Do you have some kind of internal scan doubler?
or do you use some kind of external display adapter? You should connect your 1084 directly to your Amiga without anything between them.
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Please describe how the 1084 is connected to your Amiga. What port on your Amiga is the cable plugged into?
Yes 1084 is fully PAL and NTSC capable.
Here are my theories:
1. Connected together wrong.
2. P96 or CGX is installed and forcing the workbench onto some impossible frequency.
3. Your monitor or tv is from Europe and you are in USA so you are using the wrong powersupply.
Since you can see the early startup screen that actually rules out 1 and 3.
So it must be #2.
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Still getting a black screen with nothing in devs/monitors (same as with only PAL and/or NTSC stuff in there). I am connected directly from the RGB port to my 1084S. I just received this A1200 yesterday. I have no idea what the previous owner had for a monitor set-up. He has not replied to any of my messages (at least not yet). Is there somewhere else I should be looking possibly to change/delete things when I boot up without the start-up sequence??
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Please describe how the 1084 is connected to your Amiga. What port on your Amiga is the cable plugged into?
Yes 1084 is fully PAL and NTSC capable.
Here are my theories:
1. Connected together wrong.
2. P96 or CGX is installed and forcing the workbench onto some impossible frequency.
3. Your monitor or tv is from Europe and you are in USA so you are using the wrong powersupply.
Since you can see the early startup screen that actually rules out 1 and 3.
So it must be #2.
What is P96 or CGX? Anything I can do to remove/modify?
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What is P96 or CGX? Anything I can do to remove/modify?
Do you have the Workbench disks and a spare harddrive or a card so that you can do a fresh install of AmigaOS ?
If you are seeing the early boot menu properly in both ntsc and pal modes, there's something wrong with your Workbench install. Probably some library is a wrong version.
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Do you have the Workbench disks and a spare harddrive or a card so that you can do a fresh install of AmigaOS ?
He sent me what appears to be a pirated CD copy of OS 3.9 (blurry image on front of CD and no case). I have no idea if it works. There is a built-in CD drive in the back of this A1200! (also no idea yet if it works properly). I do have an extra CF card. Should I be able to do a fresh install, or does the CD drive need to be mounted somehow from within the existing OS?
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What is P96 or CGX? Anything I can do to remove/modify?
P96 and CGX are hack patches that modify AmigaOS into being able to use a pc gfx card. If it is installed and your workbench is trying to load up onto a gfx card screen then you will not get a picture on your RGB port.
The easy way to remove it is to just delete the appropriate monitor driver out devs:monitors/
But copy them to another safe place first before deleting in case u want them back someday.
Do you have any monitor drivers that contain the words Virge, Voodoo or anything pc or windozey sounding? .... hmmm u should post us a list of all your monitor drivers so we can see if anything suspicious is lurking about in there.
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P96 and CGX are hack patches that modify AmigaOS into being able to use a pc gfx card. If it is installed and your workbench is trying to load up onto a gfx card screen then you will not get a picture on your RGB port.
The easy way to remove it is to just delete the appropriate monitor driver out devs:monitors/
But copy them to another safe place first before deleting in case u want them back someday.
Do you have any monitor drivers that contain the words Virge, Voodoo or anything pc or windozey sounding? .... hmmm u should post us a list of all your monitor drivers so we can see if anything suspicious is lurking about in there.
No, there was nothing like that in the directory. That directory is completely empty now, but I still just get a black screen. How can I get OS 3.9 to boot in the same exact screen mode as the 'boot without start-up sequence' option? (which looks perfect)
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boot without startup-sequence
now type the following:
S:
ed startup-sequence
take clear pictures of your startup-sequence text (a couple of them since it should be a long text, simply scroll down and take other pictures) and show them to us.
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Can you copy your S:Startup-Sequence and S:User-startup to your internet computer and post them here?
There has to be some sort of hack installed that is breaking your workbench.
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Can you copy your S:Startup-Sequence and S:User-startup to your internet computer and post them here?
There has to be some sort of hack installed that is breaking your workbench.
Let's see..... Is there some way to access a CF card in the PCMCIA slot when in this mode?
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I don't know about the CF card;
But you can try mounting pc0 to read and write to 720kb double density pc floppies.
I guess it would work when you boot without startup-sequence? anyone?
try to write the following:
sys:storage/dosdrivers
mount pc0:
if it works, you'll be able to copy files to a pc formatted double density floppy this way:
copy S:Startup-Sequence to PC0:
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Crap, I don't have a floppy drive in my Windows PC.
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go and get one from the nearest shop! :)
or take a couple of clear photos to show us what's in your startup-sequence and user-startup files.
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OK, good news is that I simply got rid of the user-startup by renaming it and now OS 3.9 boots for me! The screen is rather unimpressive, but I'll fumble around with the user-startup until I sort of understand what's going on inside it.
Thanks, everyone, for your offers of help. Much appreciated and solidifies the fact that most Amiga users are cool and willing to help others. :-)
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There is an evil hack in your user-startup that is fraxx0rizing your sweet innocent workbench. I would really like to know which hack caused your problem so we will know what to tell the next victim who comes along.
Here is my next guess: (and it isn't even an evil hack :)
You have ModePro or some similar hack in your user-startup and it was set to promote your workbench to some impossible thing.
Or maybe it was Planes2Fast. That will make all workbench gfx disappear.
I wish u would show us ur user-startup :)
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@ChaosLord
Sure, I will copy it over here soon -- though I'm done for tonight!
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This evil user-startup file was the culprit (for anyone interested).
Perhaps it only makes sense along with the startup-sequence file
-- forgot to copy that over, I'll get it later.
;Assign CON: DISMOUNT
;Assign RAW: DISMOUNT
;Mount CON: from DEVS:KingCON-mountlist
;Mount RAW: from DEVS:KingCON-mountlist
run >nil: nil:
Assign ncomm: sys:s
SetPatchMrgCop
;BEGIN MUI
if exists "WorkBench:MUI"
assign MUI: "WorkBench:MUI"
if exists MUI:Libs
assign add LIBS: MUI:Libs
endif
if exists MUI:Locale
assign add LOCALE: MUI:Locale
endif
version >nil: exec.library 39
if not warn
if exists MUI:Docs
if exists HELP:dummy ; do not remove
endif ; this entry!
assign add HELP: MUI:Docs
endif
endif
endif
Assign JPEGTMP: "sys:T"
Assign DOPUS: Workbench:Dopus
Assign F1GP_Disk_#2: Games:RacingGames/GrandPrix
Assign ImageFX: "Graphics:ImageFX2"
SetEnv ImageFX/JPEG_Smoothing ON
Assign Breathless: Games:doomclones/breathless
Assign Screech: games:RacingGames/Screech
Assign Breathless: "Games:DoomClones/Breathless"
Assign Motorola1: Games:Shootemup/MotorolaInvaders
Assign Motorola2: Games:shootemup/MotorolaInvaders
Assign L3: Games:platform/Lemmings3
Assign DPaintV: " Graphics:DPaintV" defer
Assign Obsession-1: Games:Games
Assign Obsession-2: Games:Games
Assign glf1: Games:Games/pgagolf
Assign glf2: Games:Games/pgagolf
Assign fifa_1: "Games:Games/FIFA"
Assign fifa_2: "Games:Games/FIFA"
ASSIGN FIFA_3: "Games:Games/FIFA"
Assign >NIL: JPEGTMP: RAM:t
Assign >NIL: PPaint: Graphics:PPaint
Assign FMS: WorkBench:FMS_Disks
C:Mount ff0:
C:Mount ff1:
C:Mount ff2:
C:Mount ff3:
C:Mount ff4:
C:Mount ff5:
C:Mount ff6:
C:Mount ff7:
C:Mount ff8:
C:Mount ff9:
;BEGIN JPEG DataType
Assign >NIL: JPEGTMP: RAM:t
;END JPEG DataType
;GEGIN ActivateCrossIDEfix
;;;ActiveCrossIDEfix ALL
;END ActiveCrossIDEfix
;BEGIN CacheCDFS
;END CacheCDFS
;BEGIN ViNCEd
; Remove the ; default console handler CON:
; Entfernen Sie das ; die Standardkonsole CON: verwenden wollen.
; Remove the ; gadgets with new functions from ViNCEd that can be set with prefs tool ViNCEd.
; Entfernen Sie das ; Fähigkeiten von ViNCEd in Texteingabefeldern wollen. Diese konfigurieren Sie
; auch mit dem Voreinsteller ViNCEd.
;StringSnip >NIL: INSTALL
; Remove the ; assigns in pattern matching commands.
; Entfernen Sie das ; Unterstützung der mehrfach Assign in Dateinamensmustern wünschen.
;TrueMultiAssigns
;END ViNCEd
;BEGIN Genesis
assign AmiTCP: "Workbench:Internet/Genesis"
;END Genesis
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run >nil: nil:
SetPatchMrgCop
I bet it's SetPatchMrgCop.
I don't even know what they are for! :)
the first one looks like maybe the person you bought the machine from made a script which clears the memory.
simply put a ; in front of those lines to comment them out (or simply delete those lines) and save the file. Won't be causing any more problems.
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run >nil: nil:
SetPatchMrgCop
I bet it's one of these two. :P
I don't even know what they are for! :)
(the rest are mainly assigns to installed programs&games and some lines added by AmigaOS3.9)