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Documentation about the Vampire hardware

New User With Boot Issues

Mark Fastabend

Posts 9
21 Sep 2022 00:14


I just purchased a new, unopened Vampire 4+ standalone on eBay.
It will not boot.
The internal CF card has ‘ApolloOS R81’ written on the back in red marker pen.
The CF card LED flashes, tries to boot and then stops, ending in a blank screen.
I have checked that the CF card connectors and IDE connectors are properly attached.
Using the mouse, holding down two buttons, I get the Boot screen.  The CF card is listed there in two partitions DH0 and DH1.
DH0 is the only ‘bootable’ option.  When selected, the machine will not boot.
What am I doing wrong?
Any help would be appreciated.
Using the manual, I have verified that everything is plugged in correctly.
With the CF card removed, the machine boots to a ‘splash’ screen.
Thank you in advance for helping out this newbie.




Gunnar von Boehn
(Apollo Team Member)
Posts 6207
21 Sep 2022 06:54


Hello Mark,

Welcome to the club of Vampire owners.
I hope you have a lot of fun.

Its very hard from here to see what the cause of your problem is.

It could be something very harmless, like that the screen resolution that is selected on the WB is not loved by your TV. And that your system did boot fine but only the TV not shows it.
You could try another TV or PC Monitor to double-check this.

You can also hold both Mouse button to come to early menu.
In early Menu you can select boot without SS,
this will bring you to a CLI. This CLI has 640 resolution, does your Monitor show this?



Mark Fastabend

Posts 9
21 Sep 2022 11:21


Thanks for the quick response, Gunnar.
Using the early boot menu, and selecting boot without SS, I do get the CLI.
Before I start playing around with commands, is there something I should check using the CLI?
The CLI shows Apollo OS 7.3 2021-20-21.
Thanks again for your help.
Mark



Gunnar von Boehn
(Apollo Team Member)
Posts 6207
21 Sep 2022 11:29


Sounds like you have an older install from 2021.
A lot time has passed since then and several OS updates were released.
Once you get everything running a System upgrade might be worth to do.

I wonder if maybe the selected Workbench resolution is simple not loved by your TV? And that changing this is all you need.

In CLI you can type "LOADWB"
You will then need to click a few times cancel, and then you should have a WB coming up, please resize the CLI to see it.




Mark Fastabend

Posts 9
21 Sep 2022 14:17


Thank you, Gunnar.
  Yes, I can get to the Workbench using the CLI, but nothing works.
  Do I edit the Startup Sequence or is there a way to reset?
  Sorry for the questions, but this is all new to me.
  Thanks again,
  Mark
 
  ERROR message: datatypes library 'filename' can't open
  This message appears for almost every action
Instructs to add "C:AddDataTypes REFRESH QUIET' before "IPREFS" in Startup-Sequence.
When I go into ED Startup-Sequence using the CLI, the instruction 'C:AddDataTypes REFRESH QUIET" is already in place.


Mark Fastabend

Posts 9
22 Sep 2022 03:02


I can run the adddatatypes command from the CLI and those errors disappear, but the V4 still only boots with the startup-sequence disabled.
Additionally, I get an "insert volume ENV in any drive".
This missing ENV volume seems to be causing my boot issues as well?
At this point, perhaps just downloading and reinstalling everything to the CF card, or does someone see a simpler solution?
Thank you.
Mark



Henrich Raduska

Posts 62
22 Sep 2022 10:04


ENV: is virtual drive, where system stores his own variables. It can be assigned by ASSIGN command into RAM:ENV. If you boot without startup-sequence, ENV: is not properly assigned (and stored screen resolution is not activated) and system use default resolution.
  This is why you have an image on your monitor.
  You problem is probably not a boot issue, but it is problem with screen resolution, which your monitor can't display.
You can delete stored screen resolution in ENV-ARCHIVE to boot into default resolution.


Sam Avenger

Posts 12
22 Sep 2022 10:28


When i had this Problem i had to change the CF Card to another one, then it worked.


Mark Fastabend

Posts 9
22 Sep 2022 13:36


Thanks for the help!
What specific file in ENV-ARCHIVE should I delete to boot into default resolution? It's not obvious to me which one needs to go.
I've tried the V4+ on 4 different monitors (two of them I've had to use DIGITAL-VIDEO adapters).  The monitors range from a 1990's MultiSync CRT to a NVidia GSync LED with an extremely wide range of resolutions and refresh rates with no luck.  It only works with the startup-sequence disabled.
Also, what would happen if I just deleted all the settings in ENV-ARCHIVE?  Would I get the FIRSTBOOT startup to run again?
Thanks again for the response and your help.




Tim Noyce

Posts 156
22 Sep 2022 14:48


You can try holding the spacebar down while it boots, see if that allows running in standard PAL vs RTG. Otherwise, you would have to delete the screensettings.prefs file in env-archive I believe.

Newer versions of ApolloOS have a resetprefs script, but I don't believe that one did. It's been a while since I had to do that manually, but I believe there's a Firstboot file which has a single value stored, either zero or 1. It's set to 0 as part of the initial boot setup. Might be as simple as resetting that flag to zero and rebooting.

There may be a specific script which runs firstboot too, I don't recall and unfortunately can't check right now as I'm not near the V4.

Hope this helps.



Tim Noyce

Posts 156
22 Sep 2022 14:52


Also have to wonder if maybe the CF has Amiga OS rather than ApolloOS despite the writing on the label, as you can see the ENV error during boot if the wrong OS is on the CF. the AROS.ROM is not able to boot Amiga OS and vice-versa.
 
  It certainly would have shipped with ApolloOS.
 
 


Mark Fastabend

Posts 9
22 Sep 2022 17:20


OK.
I went in thru the CLI and loaded adddatatypes and loadwb.
Using file directory I renamed env-archive to NOTenv-archive and then added a new drawer labeled env-archive.
I then rebooted and, voila, the V4 booted to the workbench desktop.
Now, I have been copying back to the new env-archive files from the NOTenv-archive to find the boot problem.
To everyone who thought this was a monitor/video issue a tip of the hat.  You were correct.  Apparently, the only resolution my monitor supports is 640x480.  So, now I am looking for a solution to that problem.  How do I get to a higher resolution without using a new monitor?  I've tried every option available in ScreenPrefs and NOTHING above 640x480 works.
Anyway, thank you all for your help.  It's nice to have a V4+ that boots!
Mark



Henrich Raduska

Posts 62
22 Sep 2022 21:07


As far as I know, the V4 only supports higher resolution 1280 x 720 or (depending on the core version) 960 x 540. On my V1200V2, user can adjust the screen resolutions using the picasso RTG system and adjust the pixel clock and refresh rate (a common cause of problems) to values suitable for his monitor.
Therefore, try to choose one of the resolutions mentioned above (don't save, just use). Most likely, 960x540/60Hz will work.
Your problem is probably 1280x720/50Hz as is described in V4_Guide_3b page nr. 5.




Mark Fastabend

Posts 9
23 Sep 2022 01:55


Thanks for the tip.  I gave it a try and no go; however, I did find that 720x576 @ 50Hz works.
I'm not sure what the Picasso RTG system is, but the adjustable refresh rate might do the trick.
Thanks again,
Mark
 


posts 14