Disaster has struck. For only the second time since 1982 has my acorn computer failed me. My original BBC B died of power supply failure, the A 5000 never missed a beat and the RiscPC (nowSA) bought in 1996, has been soooo reliable. But alas, now being very much an end user, I don't know what to do. Would the faithful in the northern hemisphere please advise me if anyone can.
The problem: The computer boots happily and screen appears normally. However any attempt to click on an icon (any button), either on the icon bar or on the well populated pinboard/desktop evokes an error message. Quitting or cancelling removes the icon. Describe (if available) yields info (see below). 'Tis the same for each icon, until all are removed. Often after clicking on several pinboard icons the whole of the pinboard blanks. I can not even shutdown, the Task manager suffers the same result. I can access the Command Line via F12 and run a simple program from the root directory eg !ConfInfo successfully.
Typical Errors: HD's, ADFS,IDEFS,SCSI Application may have gone wrong. Click Describe; Internal error: undefined instruction at &022D924B*,
Typical Errors: Internet (ANT Suite) Internal error, no stack for trap handler: Internal error: undefined instruction at &022D924B*, pc=022A9120: registers at 00018CF8#
* and # or similar addresses, differing I think, after different boots. Normally the same address for each icon per boot.
The Computer: RiscPC 710 now SA, Riscos 4.02, 130M (2x64+ 2VRAM) +IDEFS +SCSIFS, +Network card.
The problem does not occur if I Shift-Break to restart, hence not running the !boot file(s). Runs in Mode 28. All programs seem to run as expected, allowing for those which have a problem with finding specific paths. Clicking on !Scrap and !System solves alot of that. The Internet (Ant) and the network seem OK, Mail and newsgroups do their thing as does OvnPro.
What was I doing when the problem occured: I had noticed on the net that a new version of Decor, the desktop wallpaper controller that I have used for years was available. I downloaded it, removed the old copy from tasks and replaced it with the new one. Rebooted. Error message saying can't find Decor choices, going to use defaults. OKed this and so rebooted. Now the problem. No worries, I'll just Shift-Break and remove the Decor. Made no difference and nothing I have done since has helped. I'm well and truely stuck.
So what have I tried to solve it. Many Delete/R Power Ons. Reset the Tasks Boot, replaced the whole !Boot directory with a backup (1 month old). Restored the CMOS with a Saved file (1 year old). Lots of cursing etc. Pulled everything out and checked connections, rom seatings, memory seating, used 1 64M bank then the other. Nothing made any difference.
Because of my difficulty in reading my news, could I ask anyone, who knows what is wrong (and how to fix it), to email me at bmcqu...@pnc.com.au.
I can read (and send) using PNC webmail on a PC.
Cheers -- Brian N. McQuillan WINMALEE NSW 2777 AUSTRALIA.
> The problem does not occur if I Shift-Break to restart, hence not running > the !boot file(s).
So there's probably nothing wrong with the basic computer hardware itself, though there might be code in boot that turns on or changes the config of something in hardware that then causes a problem.
> What was I doing when the problem occured: I had noticed on the net that a > new version of Decor, the desktop wallpaper controller that I have used > for years was available. I downloaded it, removed the old copy from tasks > and replaced it with the new one.
It sounds to me as if the old one left something behind, ie wasn't completely uninstalled.
> Rebooted. Error message saying can't find Decor choices, going to use > defaults. OKed this
Was it OK? Should the old choices still have been present? Do those choices involve paths to anything, such that the defaults might not in fact suit your machine?
> and so rebooted. Now the problem. No worries, I'll just Shift-Break and > remove the Decor. Made no difference
If apart from the user-facing part of the app there's some internal trickery that hooks into the pinboard or something, and you've only got rid of half of it, that might be relevant...
It says on: http://www.riscos.info/index.php/Decor that "Decor is a small TSR program" from the Mac, converted for RO. TSRs (in PC terms anyway) were not straightforward user applications, but instead got loaded into memory once and stayed there.
I'm sure the maintainer, Peter Naulls, will be helpful. I've copied this reply to him.
> and nothing I have done since has helped. I'm well and truely stuck. > So what have I tried to solve it. Many Delete/R Power Ons. Reset the > Tasks Boot, replaced the whole !Boot directory with a backup (1 month > old). Restored the CMOS with a Saved file (1 year old). Lots of cursing > etc. Pulled everything out and checked connections, rom seatings, memory > seating, used 1 64M bank then the other. Nothing made any difference.
In the midst of these no differences, did trying more Shift-Break boots still work ok?
If you have a successful boot this way, what happens if you try to run Decor just by double-clicking its application icon?
-- Jeremy C B Nicoll - my opinions are my own.
Email sent to my from-address will be deleted. Instead, please reply to newsreply...@wingsandbeaks.org.uk replacing "nnn" by "284".
In message <ant0904570b0Z...@riscy.nom> you wrote:
<snip>
> What was I doing when the problem occured: I had noticed on the net that a > new version of Decor, the desktop wallpaper controller that I have used for > years was available. I downloaded it, removed the old copy from tasks and > replaced it with the new one. Rebooted. Error message saying can't find > Decor choices, going to use defaults. OKed this and so rebooted. Now the > problem. No worries, I'll just Shift-Break and remove the Decor. Made no > difference and nothing I have done since has helped. I'm well and truely > stuck. > So what have I tried to solve it. Many Delete/R Power Ons. Reset the > Tasks Boot, replaced the whole !Boot directory with a backup (1 month old). > Restored the CMOS with a Saved file (1 year old). Lots of cursing etc. > Pulled everything out and checked connections, rom seatings, memory > seating, used 1 64M bank then the other. Nothing made any difference.
As you've replaced the !Boot with a backup, it seems likely there is something in your boot which tries to run something which is held outside !Boot. One thing may be the contents of Apps on your hard disc, which I think is booted during startup. Is Decor held in there?
Indeed, does Decor try to run during your startup with a new !Boot? Is it in "Run at startup" or "Look at" ? (although as they are stored within !Boot, it shouldn't be)
If not, there must be something else.
The most radical fix would be to replace !Boot with the original copy from CD, and rename Apps (and maybe also Utilities), then Delete-power-on boot. Assuming that works, (which I sincerely hope it would) then add back the changes until it breaks.
> Click Describe; Internal error: undefined instruction at &022D924B*,
First thing, get where from http://www.armclub.org.uk/32bit/ put it in $.Library and when the error occurs press F12, type *where and paste and copy down the results.
Jeremy Nicoll - news posts <jn.nntp.scrap...@wingsandbeaks.org.uk> wrote:
> It says on: http://www.riscos.info/index.php/Decor that "Decor is a small > TSR program" from the Mac, converted for RO. TSRs (in PC terms anyway) > were not straightforward user applications, but instead got loaded into > memory once and stayed there.
Decor on the *Mac* was a TSR: AIUI, Decor on RISC OS is just a standard application that can be made to run without an iconbar presence.
Steve Fryatt <n...@stevefryatt.org.uk> wrote: > Jeremy Nicoll - news posts <jn.nntp.scrap...@wingsandbeaks.org.uk> wrote:
> > It says on: http://www.riscos.info/index.php/Decor that "Decor is a > > small TSR program" from the Mac, converted for RO. TSRs (in PC terms > > anyway) were not straightforward user applications, but instead got > > loaded into memory once and stayed there.
> Decor on the *Mac* was a TSR: AIUI, Decor on RISC OS is just a standard > application that can be made to run without an iconbar presence.
I'm going to not explain this very well...
I wondered if it might have been a module wimp task, and/or hook into any of the OS's vectors. It struck me that something appeared to be affecting clicks on icons and pinboard, and therefore - maybe - some stub of a routine had been inserted somewhere but it no longer had a routine it called, or something.
I did actually download the app and unzip it, but I did so on windows, and couldn't tell what the runnable part of the app was.
-- Jeremy C B Nicoll - my opinions are my own.
Email sent to my from-address will be deleted. Instead, please reply to newsreply...@wingsandbeaks.org.uk replacing "nnn" by "284".
Jeremy Nicoll - news posts <jn.nntp.scrap...@wingsandbeaks.org.uk> wrote:
[Decor]
> I wondered if it might have been a module wimp task, and/or hook into any > of the OS's vectors. It struck me that something appeared to be affecting > clicks on icons and pinboard, and therefore - maybe - some stub of a > routine had been inserted somewhere but it no longer had a routine it > called, or something.
It appears under Application Tasks in the Task Manager, and the !RunImage is an absolute file. I suspect that means that its running in application space, although that doesn't absolutely rule out other nastiness (not that a backdrop changer would need to use any).
I think the Pinboard plots its icons on the fly, so anything that broke the redraw could cause issues with clicks on that. A corrupt or moved JPEG that somehow got past the error checking?
In article <ant0904570b0Z...@riscy.nom>, Brian N McQuillan
<URL:mailto:bmcqu...@pnc.com.au> wrote: > Disaster has struck. For only the second time since 1982 has my acorn
<snip>
Thanks to all, no luck as yet. I'll perservere with removing and then replacing files in !Boot directory that pertain to some external operation in the hope I can find the culprit. Any further ideas would be most welcome.
Brian
-- Brian N. McQuillan WINMALEE NSW 2777 AUSTRALIA. Experience is something you don't get until just after you need it.
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