IOMD Softload & OS 4.02

IOMD Softload tool 1.16 fails on StrongARM RiscPC OS 4.02

Any more info than that? E.g. how does it fail?

Apparently the softload tool claims everything is OK, but just causes the machine to reboot into 4.02 instead of the new OS.

https://www.riscosopen.org/forum/forums/5/topics/825?page=1#posts-9632

Unfortunately I never upgraded to RISC OS 4, so I can’t do much to help.

SOLVED!

In the file !!SoftLoad.Loader change the line:

Run <Softload$Dir>.SoftLoad -v -m 12M riscos .NONE.

To:

Run <Softload$Dir>.SoftLoad -v -m 12M <SoftLoad$Dir>.riscos .NONE.

My RiscPC is now running OS 5.17!
Well Chuffed.

Glad it was something simple. I guess I should update the tool so that it tells you which ROM it’s attempting to load instead of just silently skipping the files it can’t find.

Im running 4.02 and on changing the loader line it does progress but then my monitor then starts giving an “Out of Range” error – but works perfectly well with a boot into 4.02. :-(

Try pressing F12 – the type ‘wimpmode 28’ Rtn Rtn

Sorry Colin, good suggestion but it doesn’t work having softloaded OS5. If I restart, boot into 4.02 change to mode28 and save it it wont reboot into OS5 giving the same monitor error but will boot back into 4.02 in mode 28.

Hello Ned, if you press F12 and then Ctrl-G do you get a beep? I fear you may need to work through all the modes your monitor supports. What !Boot are you using? I’m using a hacked about ROOL !Boot so it is happy booting into 4.02 and 5.17.

Ned, what podules do you have installed? Also, do you hear the startup beep?

Remember that there’s no viewfinder support in RISC OS 5, so if you’re trying to use one of those you’d better switch back to using VIDC graphics.

The change with the SoftLoad line is in CVS now and the latest images on this site include that fix.

Hi All,
Softloading OS5 and pressing F12 and ^G doesn’t give a beep, the !Boot is V0.67 23-Feb-1998. Ive Irlam VideoDesk and Eesox Fast SCSI podules.

Ive tried loading the latest development 5.19 release, the !SysMerge of the Open Release !System of update for modules. and Im still getting the monitor problem so now am taking Andrews advice and working through more monitor modes. OS4.02 still boots correctly.

I don’t think there’s much point going through and testing all the screen modes. From what you’ve described it sounds like RISC OS is crashing very early in the ROM initialisation, long before the screen is initialised.

One thing that we’ve found from Gavin’s thread is that it looks like the IOMD softload doesn’t work properly with all RAM configurations. Sometime in the next few days I’ll try and find the time to have a go at fixing it. But if you’re desperate to get 5.19 working now then you could have a go at trying different RAM sizes or changing which sizes are in which slot.

Many thanks Jeffery for your help, I looked at Gavins thread and tried the two !boot suggestion but its still giving the same error. Ill now follow the other thread for further suggestions.

Ned, when it attempts to boot into OS5 (and the screen goes off), does the keyboard stay active? Can you turn caps lock on and off?

If so, it might be worth blindly typing “Desktop” before F12 and Ctrl-G as a test, just in case it failed to go into the Desktop (like I’m getting – except I can see it happening). If so, you could then try the old configure monitortype 4 and configure mode 40.

Right. Ive:
Created !Boot5 which contains the ROOL !Boot from HardDisk4
Added the softload in Boot>Choices>Boot>PreDesk
Copied over the !System from !PlingSytem.zip
Renamed !Boot to !Boot4
Renamed !Boot5 to !Boot
Restarted and it now gets to a supervisor error
Message token * not found (error number &AC2)

I can then get into the desktop from the supervisor prompt but with much of the boot sequence being bypassed. I can then rename !Boot to !boot5 etc to get back to the normal OS4.02B

Has anyone tried this on an A7000?

Handy if the ‘SoftLoad’ C prog was linked with StubsG