Tried to move file, it caused corruption of ATR file system

[JGroth]

Hi all,

I tried to move a file from one directory to another but that corrupted the file system on a SIDE2 CF card.

Had a file called CFS.TXT made with TLW in directory >ASM. Tried to move it to

>ASM>PROJECTS>CFS directory with command:

COPY /M CFS.TXT >ASM>PROJECTS>CFS (tried several permutations of that command like copy >asm>cfs.txt  /m. Current directory was >ASM>PROJECTS>CFS but it didn't work).

It says something like 'file not found', 'files are the same' or something like that. So I tried to move it with sc.exe and that worked, at least no errors, or so I thought. Directory CFS was empty

and CFS.TXT had been moved to the root and the directory structure was corrupt.

It used to look like:

ASM>PROJECTS>CFS <DIR>

BASIC <DIR>

MAC65 <DIR>

 

Now it looks like

ASM>PROJECTS>CFS           <DIR>

<HEARTHEART>BASIC          <DIR>

<HEARTHEART>HELLO     C <DIR>

 

The <HEART> is CONTROL-, on the Atari keyboard.

BASIC and HELLO.C directories are inaccessible. ASM still is OK but I don't dare to store or change anything there in case this spreads to other partitions.

Is there a way to recover from this situation or do I have to reformat the partition?

 

Regards,

JGroth

 

[drac030]

13 minutes ago, JGroth said:

Had a file called CFS.TXT made with TLW in directory >ASM. Tried to move it to

>ASM>PROJECTS>CFS directory with command:

COPY /M CFS.TXT >ASM>PROJECTS>CFS (tried several permutations of that command like copy >asm>cfs.txt  /m. Current directory was >ASM>PROJECTS>CFS but it didn't work).

When the current dir is >ASM>PROJECTS>CFS, to move a file from >ASM> to >ASM>PROJECTS>CFS> you need to do either:

 

a) COPY /M >ASM>CFS.TXT

 

(the destination is implied)

 

or

 

b) COPY /M >ASM>CFS.TXT >ASM>PROJECTS>CFS>

 

But in any case no operation like this sould cause damage to the file system. If it does, it probably means a hardware problem. I would check the power supply (for example, if it is powerful enough, 1A is not enough).

 

If you can, dump the card's contents and upload somewhere for inspection. If you cannot do that, dump it anyway to have a backup, then try to fix the FS with CLX.

 

[JGroth]

24 minutes ago, drac030 said:

When the current dir is >ASM>PROJECTS>CFS, to move a file from >ASM> to >ASM>PROJECTS>CFS> you need to do either:

 

a) COPY /M >ASM>CFS.TXT

 

(the destination is implied)

Tried that and got an error message.

24 minutes ago, drac030 said:

 

or

 

b) COPY /M >ASM>CFS.TXT >ASM>PROJECTS>CFS>

Same thing, error message.

24 minutes ago, drac030 said:

 

But in any case no operation like this sould cause damage to the file system. If it does, it probably means a hardware problem. I would check the power supply (for example, if it is powerful enough, 1A is not enough).

Power supply is brand new, bought from Lotharek's Lair. I do have a U1MB, VBXL and a SIDE2 cartridge installed.

24 minutes ago, drac030 said:

 

If you can, dump the card's contents and upload somewhere for inspection.

I can dump the entire CF card (256MB) with dd if that is OK? Block size would be 512 bytes. Don't know where to put it though.

24 minutes ago, drac030 said:

If you cannot do that, dump it anyway to have a backup, then try to fix the FS with CLX.

Got a backup on a diskette which I made just before the move attempt (thank God for a working 1050 ). Is CLX part of SpartaDosX, sorry but I've never heard of CLX. I'm sure I can figure out how it works though.

 

Regards,

JGroth

 

[_The Doctor__]

@JGroth,

 

are you saying the cf cards fat directories are munged or just within the atr itself....

 

if the CF cards file system munged is the case, make the cf card from the ground up exactly as before (make a backup on your wintel of it) and then try the exact operations again... make a backup on your wintel of that as well if it fails as spectacularly as the first time.... then let the experts have at it.

Could be firmware on side or ultimate 1mb...

 

Try it many many times.... if it doesn't fail, write it off as a power quality issue from the mains (electric company supply)

if it fails do make a back up of the failed items....

screen shots of all in use and settings of u1m, side cart, etc.... would prolly help them as well...

 

otherwise it's almost the same deal to check the atr... but you might clue us into what versions of DOS name and types used during issue...

using sparta toolbox if using sparta there are filesystem fixing tools.

 

MyDos also has some tools as well.. might be vtoc fixer etc...

Edited May 28, 2020 by _The Doctor__

[drac030]

If these commands threw errors (what errors exactly, btw.?), this means that something was already screwed before you attempted the move.

 

CLX is a part of the SDX Toolkit, you can download it (the Toolkit ATR image) at the SDX website. That program is a tool to repair SpartaDOS filesystems.

 

But in afterthought I am not sure if the CLX would be of any help here, as it seems that the contents of the directory got screwed in a way which requires manual repair. CLX is not so intelligent, it will probably just suggest you to delete the screwed directory entries (BASIC and M65 - if they are empty, you can just go for it, if there is contents in them, do not).

 

The "heart" before a file name seems to indicate that while writing back the directory contents the data got off by one byte. This in turn suggests that your Atari-SIDE2-CF connection is not working correctly: an extra write was issued to the CF card while writing data (e.g. Atari wrote 23 bytes, but the CF card received 24 write signals). This is a typical symptom of a problem with the PHI2 signal in the computer. But I believe that U1MB firmware should be able to catch this problem and throw a write error, so maybe the real cause is different.

 

[danwinslow]

Did you try the forms that draco suggested before or after your original attempt? If you tried them after the original attempt, then as draco says it was already munged at that point so errors would not be surprising. If you tried them before what you originally posted then, also, it was already munged but means that your original attempts did not cause the problem.

[JGroth]

3 hours ago, danwinslow said:

Did you try the forms that draco suggested before or after your original attempt? If you tried them after the original attempt, then as draco says it was already munged at that point so errors would not be surprising. If you tried them before what you originally posted then, also, it was already munged but means that your original attempts did not cause the problem.

I haven't tried anything since I posted the original message, real life started to interfere (darn work). Will try to make a more thorough investigation tomorrow evening. If it is the power supply I bought from Lotharak's Lair is too weak, I've got a new one in the works that is fused at 1.6 A (should be enough).

I will also check the connection between PHI2 on U1MB and PHI2 on the motherboard and make sure it is solid.

[_The Doctor__]

when you say new one, where from, what type?

picture plz...

[JGroth]

12 minutes ago, _The Doctor__ said:

when you say new one, where from, what type?

I also said "in the works" ie its a DIY kit. You download the Gerber files and get the PCBs, after that you buy the components and solder it your self. The guy that designed it made a Youtube video (Greisis Workbench)

of how to assemble it and how he tested it. It is the thorough testing of the PSU that make me trust it. As you can see the PSU was originally made for a C64 and a 1541-II (disk drive). C64 requires +5V DC and 9V AC so don't connect the 9V AC part and you have an Atari PSU.

12 minutes ago, _The Doctor__ said:

picture plz...

OK.

 

As you can see only half of the PCB is populated, that is the 5V DC part, the other part is for 12V DC or 9V AC which is not needed for that Atari.

 

[_The Doctor__]

@JGroth

I don't believe the 9 VAC side will be strong enough for a pass through to an 800, 1050, etc.. anyway as I think they want 9v 31V so not utilizing that is no loss.

 

*edit* okay the BOM shows 5v 3 amp but it's a switching regulator (which the builder said he doesn't care for earlier in the clip?)

You may need to beef up the filtration, as these have been known to put noise/refresh bars in the Atari video output...

Edited May 28, 2020 by _The Doctor__

[JGroth]

After trying most things in this thread I finally tracked down what was wrong. The original PSU gives a voltage of 5.3V, the one I bought from Lotharek's Lair gives 5.1V and mine 5.081V. Both mine and the one from Lotharek simply didn't give the 800XL enough juice for the MB, a U1MB, a VBXL and a SIDE2 cart.

So I adjusted mine to 5.336V and everything has been rock stable after that.

Thank you all for your help.

 

Regards,

JGroth

 

[JGroth]

On 5/28/2020 at 11:12 PM, _The Doctor__ said:

@JGroth

I don't believe the 9 VAC side will be strong enough for a pass through to an 800, 1050, etc.. anyway as I think they want 9v 31V so not utilizing that is no loss.

I wont be using this PSU for anything else but one Atari computer at a time. My 1050 has its own PSU, which is just a AC/AC transformer. The 1050 has its own power regulators. I should probably recap it and replace the regulators in that drive, I think. I use it almost everyday.

On 5/28/2020 at 11:12 PM, _The Doctor__ said:

 

*edit* okay the BOM shows 5v 3 amp but it's a switching regulator (which the builder said he doesn't care for earlier in the clip?)

He said the Commodore doesn't care for a switching regulator because of the noise on the line. But Greisis showed that his PSU only produces very little noise under full load and no overshoot when powered on and everything is discharged correctly at power off.

On 5/28/2020 at 11:12 PM, _The Doctor__ said:

You may need to beef up the filtration, as these have been known to put noise/refresh bars in the Atari video output...

I think the current filtration is good enough. The VBXL produces a very good picture. The 600XL is fine as well, I certainly can't see any difference in the picture quality between stock PSU and the one I built.