No keyboard present problem

Not specifically RISC OS, but the message comes during the boot sequence, halts execution and stops in the RISC OS command line (in the black box), from which I can type *desktop – which shows the keyboard is connected!

A message from Desktop then reports that machine startup has not completed successfully, but on clicking Cancel the desktop appears, minus almost everything except drive and Apps icons on the left, display and raspberry icon on the right. A plugged-in USB stick opens normally, but very few of the files can be run as the filetypes are not recognised (and the applications for them are on the RISC OS section of the SD card!

The SD card shows the PiBoot files, including RISCOS/img file. There is no access to the RISC OS section of applications and files.

What has happened, and how can it be fixed. Any help and advice gratefully received!

Assuming you are using a Pi, the keyboard not present message is a red herring. The Pi always says that.

You have another problem which is that the !Boot sequence is not being seen at start up.

It may help if you type *status and tell us the values for Filesystem and SDFSdrive.

| The Pi always says that

Thanks, although I’ve not noticed it on my Pi 3b before.

| the !Boot sequence is not being seen at start up

Useful hint. The status report is:

Baud 4
Boot Cache On
No Caps
Num Data 4
Delay 32
DumpFormat 4
FontSize 256K
Ignore 10
Language 11
Mode Auto
MonitorType EDID
MouseStep 2
MouseType 7
Print 1
PrinterBufferSize 1K
Quiet
RAMFSSize 0K
Repeat 0
RMASize 256K
ScreenSize 160K
Scroll
SpriteSize 0K

Seems to make sense – except nothing is reported for Filesystem or SDFSdrive. I’m none the wiser.

You’re actually missing a lot.

What does *Unplug say?

Unplugged modules are: RAMFS

Nothing else.

I was going to have a no-computer day, so I’ve just powered up to show you what *Status ought to say (Pi 1B, but my other machine (3B+) will say the same).

*Status
Configuration status:

Baud       4
Boot
Cache      On
No Caps
Num
Data       4
Delay      32
DumpFormat 4
FontSize   256K
No Ignore
Language   11
Loud
Mode       Auto
MonitorType Auto
MouseStep  2
MouseType  7
Print      1
PrinterBufferSize 1K
RamFSSize  0K
Repeat     8
RMASize    256K
ScreenSize 160K
Scroll
SpriteSize 0K
Sync       0
SystemSize 32K
TV         0,1
WimpMode   Auto
FileSystem SDFS
Truncate   On
Territory  1
DST
TimeZone   +1:0
WimpFlags  111
WimpFont   8
WimpDragDelay  5 * 1/10 second
WimpDragMove  32 OS Units
WimpDoubleClickDelay  10 * 1/10 second
WimpDoubleClickMove  32 OS Units
WimpAutoMenuDelay  10 * 1/10 second
WimpMenuDragDelay  10 * 1/10 second
WimpIconBarSpeed  200 OS Units / second
WimpIconBarAcceleration  100 OS Units / second²
WimpSpritePrecedence  RAM
WimpButtonType  Click
WimpIconiseButton  Off
WimpAutoFrontIconBar  On
WimpAutoFrontDelay  5 * 1/10 second
WimpAutoScrollDelay  5 * 1/10 second
WimpClickSubmenu  Off
FontMax1   12 points
FontMax2   64 points
FontMax3   32 points
FontMax4   24 points
FontMax5   24 points
FontMax    4096k
Country    Default
SoundSystem  16bit Oversampled
SoundDefault 1 7 5
SCSIFSDirCache 255K
SCSIFSDrive 0
SDFSdrive  0
BootNet    Off
FS           0.254
LMTransport  IP
LMNameServer (unset)
CDROMBuffers 256K
CDROMDrives 0
FreewayAutoAddress Off

Use *Configure to set the options.
*

RAMFS shouldn’t be unplugged. It will stay dormant until you allocate space for a RAMdisc, either in the configuration or by dragging out some memory in the task manager.

Try entering *ROMModules – on a recent build of RISC OS 5.29 it ought to list 137 modules. Some will be marked “Dormant” (RTC if no hardware, the Econet stuff, and Pi4 specific things).

Do you have DiscKnight? That can check your SD card and see what’s going on there.

If you don’t, you can get a read only (test, not fix) version from https://armclub.org.uk/products/discknight/ to see if there’s a problem that needs to be fixed.

Discovered that status reports more if I press Escape after the items I listed before. Unfortunately it then flashes past in the black box until it reaches the end. So from the end, there are a number of Wimp and FontMax, Country and Sound settings, then we get to:

SCSIFSDirCache 255K
SCSIFSDrive 0
SDFSdrive 0
BootNet Off
FreeWayAutoAddress Off
FS (unset)
LMTransport IP
LMNamerServer (unset)
CDROMBuffers 256K
CDROMDrives 0

If someone knows how to pause the status report I could maybe read more.

Seems to make sense – except nothing is reported for Filesystem or SDFSdrive.

The display may have paused after one screenful of data. You may have pressed ESC at this point, but what you should have done was press the SHIFT key to display the next screenful.

Failing that, try *status filesystem which should list the filesystem as SDFS.

Thanks for your time and help, Rick.

| If someone knows how to pause the status report I could maybe read more

Doh -stupid me! Must be the heat. Now getting the full facts from a task window in the desktop.

FileSystem is SDFS – nothing wrong there. But the RAMFS module is unplugged; how to I plug it in again?

But the RAMFS module is unplugged; how to I plug it in again?

Try *RMReinit RamFS

Running DiscKnight on the SDFS disc reports an abort on data transfer, the postmortem then reports

ad5c in function CheckBootBlock (with arguments)
87e8 in function main (more arguments)
fc179a0 in shared library function
18fe8 in anonymous function

This is incomprehensible for me, but suggests the SD card is cooked. Disappointing, as I bought it only a few months ago.

Thanks for the hint, Stuart. It refuses to restart the module, reporting

RAM disc size too small. That’s after I configured RAMFSSize to 128K.

Hi

I had aproblem with a failing SD card recently and the symptom was incomplete boot and loads of filecore in use errors.

Used win32diskimager to make a copy, then tried to validate. A problem was found and would not complete validation. Problem was at about 50% through.

However, more in hope than anything else I copied the image back onto a new SD card and by some miracle the boot completed and I have yet to come across any missing files. Go figure.

but suggests the SD card is cooked.

That was my conclusion. I suggest buying two more – the second as a backup.

| by some miracle

Thanks Gwyn. I’m definitely praying for a miracle. Might try that route, but my other computers are Apple. Still, there must be an equivalent utility. Will have to buy an SD card first. Fortunately all my files – including the ones on the SD card – are backed up.

Can’t help with Apple but as you say there must be something

Still, there must be an equivalent utility.

Raspberry Pi Imager will allow you to burn an image of your choice to an SD card (choose “Use custom” as the operating system). I’ve used it on macOS to burn an old RISC OS Pi image to SD: as it does a “verify” pass after writing the image you get an immediate indication if your SD card (or card reader) is faulty.

Always useful to have a spare SD card (or two) with a working system.