Problems with V12.04 and my 250 GB hard disk

[Strider]

Hello,

I just upgraded from v9.03 to v12.04 on my Falcon.
It is a towerized Falcon with CT60, 3 SCSI drives (2 CD-Roms, 1 Jaz), 2 IDE drives (hard disk as master, Compact Flash reader as slave).
There is absolutely no problem with v9.03, all is working very well.

Now with the latest version, I have a big problem: my Falcon displays bombs at boot (most of the time 2 then 3, and sometimes 4) and get stuck.
I have to boot from floppy disk using Alternate key, and then I am able to start HDDriver. When I run it this way, it recognizes all my devices.

Please note I make my tests in 030 mode.
In 060 mode it doesn't work either.

My hard disk is a 250 GB Hitashi Deskstar (March 2006).

I tested with other hard disks:
- WD200 (20 GB)
- WD1600 (160 GB)
- IBM Deststar (30 GB)
and version 12.04 works well with them.

So I guess this problem comes from my drive.
How to be sure the problem is linked to my hard disk? Is it a hardware problem?
Do I have to re-partition it (even if I don't enjoy this idea very much), or should I stay with v9.03?

I can give more information if needed. Thanks for your reply.

[uweseimet]

This might have to do with the fact that all HDDRIVER versions older than 12.04 had a bug that affected IDE drives > 128 GB (drives used as IDE master only), i.e. also your Deskstar drive might have been affected. viewtopic.php?t=325 has more details, but the thread is hard to track. Essentially, sectors beyond the 128 GB boundary were often not written at all when the drive was an IDE master drive. Slave drives were not affected.
It is impossible to tell, though, whether your problem is related to this bug. If it is, re-partitioning would resolve the issue, but if it is something else re-partitioning may not change anything.
When booting from the Deskstar drive, do the bombs appear before or after HDDRIVER displays its startup message and the information on the available partitions?
Which OS and partitions types are you using? I am asking because with TOS and FAT16 partitions you would not be able to use the full capacity of any of your drives. So I assume that you are using either MiNT or MagiC, and several FAT32 or EXT2 partitions?

[uweseimet]

One more thing affecting Falcons with CT* (and similar hardware): You cannot use the option to install HDDRIVER in TT-RAM with these machines. This only works with real TT-compatible RAM (TT, Milan), but not with (fast) alternate RAM like it is provided by some Falcon add-on hardware. Sometimes this additional RAM is called "TT-RAM", but this is just a marketing gag. It is not fully TT-compatible. When using this option with the Falcon there are issues when booting.
Also note that the AB040FIX (FIXES folder) has been renamed to ALTRAMFX. It is required for Falcons with alternate RAM (Afterburner040, DFB1, CT*) in order to use SCSI peripherals. The README file in the FIXES/ALTRAMFX folder provides more information. (Remember, the CT* has never been an officially supported platform.)

[Strider]

This might have to do with the fact that all HDDRIVER versions older than 12.04 had a bug that affected IDE drives > 128 GB (drives used as IDE master only), i.e. also your Deskstar drive might have been affected. viewtopic.php?t=325 has more details, but the thread is hard to track. Essentially, sectors beyond the 128 GB boundary were often not written at all when the drive was an IDE master drive. Slave drives were not affected.
It is impossible to tell, though, whether your problem is related to this bug. If it is, re-partitioning would resolve the issue, but if it is something else re-partitioning may not change anything.

First, thanks for your reply.
I got my hands on another drive > 128 GB. It is a Seagate Barracuda 7200.7 (200 GB).
I created same partitions than those on my regular Deskstar drive.
Then I installed HDDRIVER 12.04 on it.
I reboot and... same problem!

When booting from the Deskstar drive, do the bombs appear before or after HDDRIVER displays its startup message and the information on the available partitions?
Which OS and partitions types are you using? I am asking because with TOS and FAT16 partitions you would not be able to use the full capacity of any of your drives. So I assume that you are using either MiNT or MagiC, and several FAT32 or EXT2 partitions?

Bombs appear before HDDRIVER displays its startup message.
I use TOS 4.04 and also MiNT, but for my tests it's only in 030 mode ans TOS 4.04.
Here is the partition scheme:
C: 127 MB, BGM
D: 1023 MB, BGM
E: 1023 MB, BGM
F: 1023 MB, BGM
G: 1023 MB, BGM
H: 2.9 GB, LNX
I: 225.8 GB, F32

On the new drive (Barracuda 200 GB), I created the same partitions, except the last one due to smaller capacity (183 GB only).

The good thing is now I have a drive to play with :-)
I'm going to re-partition it with only little BGM partitions, to avoid using more than 128 GB. I keep you informed.

And thanks for the other information (TT-Ram and ALTRAMFX), I already read that on your web site.

[uweseimet]

Because this does not appear to be a general issue (viewtopic.php?t=325 has successfully been resolved and tested) a Hatari setup (if possible with the current Hatari release 2.5.0) that reproduces the problem would be very helpful. With such a setup I would most likely be able to reproduce any problem with my own hardware. Otherwise, as we can see in viewtopic.php?t=325, a lot of time might be spent without making much progress.
Note that when testing you have to ensure that when you partition your drive HDDRIVER 12.04 must be running, and not any older version. The bug with IDE drives > 128 GB was a bug in HDDRIVER, not in HDDRUTIL.
If there is something wrong with HDDRIVER it would affect both, a bootable HDDRIVER.SYS, but also HDDRIVER.PRG launched from a floppy disk drive. HDDRIVER.SYS and HDDRIVER.PRG are identical. But the environment when booting is different from the environment when lauching a program in the AUTO folder, which may explain if there appears to be a difference. Any general issue would exist in both cases, though.

[Strider]

I made several tests on the Barracuda 200 GB.
I created little BGM partitions.
Sometimes it worked, sometimes not. I couldn't determine the right pattern. It sounds like a random behaviour,

And finally I put back my Deskstar drive to reinstall HDDRIVER... and it worked after some tries.
Well, I don't know exactly why.
In HDDRUTIL, I removed HDDRIVER from C: and reinstall it. Of course I only use HDDRIVER 12.04.
Now it boots perfectly, in both 030 and 060 modes.
And also with a Compact Flash drive attached as IDE slave.
To be sure, I also switched off and on the Falcon, still OK.

Anyway, thanks for your advices and time.

[uweseimet]

That's really strange. In case you observe a reproducable issue (again), please get back to me. The fact that you also had a problem with small BGM partitions shows that whatever happened, it was not related to the drive capacity. Preserving a copy of the HDDRIVER.SYS file that could not properly boot might be helpful, if it happens again.
Anyway, please ensure that you do not use an older version than HDDRIVER 12.04 with any IDE master drive > 128 GB, at least not if you need to properly read/write data beyond the 128 GB boundary.

[Strider]

Thank you, I will follow your advices.