0.4.13 on IBM T42, working with glitches

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MrJayCobPL
Posts: 0
Joined: Mon Dec 28, 2020 2:02 pm

0.4.13 on IBM T42, working with glitches

Post by MrJayCobPL »

Hello and welcome,
Recently I have tried out ReactOS 0.4.13 (latest release) on my IBM ThinkPad T42 laptop. It sort of works but not too well. But first things first, here are the laptop's specs:
  • Intel Pentium M 735 Processor at 1.7 GHz
  • 1.25 GB of DDR RAM
  • Fujitsu 40 GB IDE Hard Drive
  • Intel 855PM North Bridge, Intel ICH4-M South Bridge
  • ATI Mobility Radeon 7500 Graphics with 32 MB Video Memory
  • Analog Devices AD1981B AC97 Audio (integrated)
  • Intel 82540EM Gigabit Ethernet (integrated)
  • Intel 2200BG Wireless LAN (miniPCI)
The installation went flawlessly. Until I installed any of the drivers, it worked just fine. After installing graphics driver (Version 6.14.10.6547) it stopped shutting down properly - it would still boot just fine, but nothing happens after choosing to shut down from the Start menu, making me have to press and hold the Power button to turn off the laptop. Additionally, the UI drawing became glitched as seen in the attached picture. Installing audio driver had no effect - there still was no sound. Also, installing driver for the WLAN adapter not only did not make it work, but also triggered random BSODs while using the OS.
[ external image ]

My USB flash drive seemed to work fine under this version of ROS. I could browse the drive's contents and read files. Saving files, however, seems glitched. One time when I futilly tried to shut down properly and was about to push and hold Power button, I realized that I forgot to copy some files. The text file has been properly written. I took a screenshot of glitched UI drawing in Paint and saved it directly to the flash drive. No errors were reported. However, while I was holding down the Power button to turn off the laptop, I got a BSOD as in the attached picture. I guess this could be related with the flash drive, because when I tried to open the screenshot on my main computer, the file turned out to be corrupted.
[ external image ]

There's one more thing worth to mention. The laptop does not have the COM/RS-232 port directly on its chassis. It is however accessible via the port replicator. I tried fetching debug information this way and it worked just fine.

Hope this report helps anyone.
Julcar
Posts: 164
Joined: Thu Jul 31, 2008 8:19 pm

Re: 0.4.13 on IBM T42, working with glitches

Post by Julcar »

MrJayCobPL wrote: Mon Dec 28, 2020 3:03 pm ...laptop does not have the COM/RS-232 port directly on its chassis. It is however accessible via the port replicator. I tried fetching debug information this way and it worked just fine...
Well, that's a good start milestone, if you were able to fetch debug logs, maybe on these resides the answers to every glitch you mentioned before.

Very likely every action that couldn't be performed as intended by the Os (maybe caused by the drivers) printed a log entry with clues about the issue.

As example, when I did tests over real hardware, and it crashed, I was able to report with the logs and the devs were able to find the cause and fix it.

Here are some links of my reports:

https://jira.reactos.org/browse/CORE-14624
https://jira.reactos.org/browse/CORE-14617
https://jira.reactos.org/browse/CORE-7822
https://jira.reactos.org/browse/CORE-7649
oldman
Posts: 1179
Joined: Sun Dec 20, 2009 1:23 pm

Re: 0.4.13 on IBM T42, working with glitches

Post by oldman »

Try with one of the latest builds and see if that works better for you.
Please keep the Windows classic 9x/2000 look and feel.
The layman's guides - debugging - bug reporting - compiling - ISO remaster.
They may help you with a problem, so do have a look at them.
MrJayCobPL
Posts: 0
Joined: Mon Dec 28, 2020 2:02 pm

Re: 0.4.13 on IBM T42, working with glitches

Post by MrJayCobPL »

Sure, I will try the latest build. Actually, before testing latest release I tried the latest build then. I didn't keep track of build versions though, and since new builds appear nearly every day, I don't want to post misleading infos here.

While I could indeed get debug logs via the COM/RS-232 port, every time I started ROS by ReactOS (Debug) startup option, the logs always stopped printing out about the time desktop loaded up, with the last message device is already in D0 state. I wonder if this is normal, or am I doing something wrong? I would like to help ReactOS devs even this way, and that's why I bought the port replicator for my T42 and a null modem cable in the first place.

Also, one time while I was using the ReactOS Explorer, it crashed. The crash log was saved automatically to the desktop and I copied that log to my flash drive. Where could I submit it?
Last edited by MrJayCobPL on Tue Dec 29, 2020 3:42 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Julcar
Posts: 164
Joined: Thu Jul 31, 2008 8:19 pm

Re: 0.4.13 on IBM T42, working with glitches

Post by Julcar »

MrJayCobPL wrote: Tue Dec 29, 2020 3:41 pmThe crash log was saved automatically to the desktop and I copied that log to my flash drive. Where could I submit it?
You must:

a) indentify the misbehavior
b) find a replication process
c) submit a ticket in https://jira.reactos.org

For example:

a) logs stopped printing out with the last message "device is already in D0 state".
b) occurs everytime the desktop is loaded up

before stepping to C, you should verify that B is caused by A by performing a lot of tests, with clean installations, with livecds, etc.
middings
Posts: 1073
Joined: Tue May 07, 2013 9:18 pm
Location: California, USA

Re: 0.4.13 on IBM T42, working with glitches

Post by middings »

MrJayCobPL wrote: Mon Dec 28, 2020 3:03 pm... The laptop does not have the COM/RS-232 port directly on its chassis. It is however accessible via the port replicator. I tried fetching debug information this way and it worked just fine.
Please identify (manufacturer and model number) which port replicator you used.
Other ReactOS experimenters with an IBM Thinkpad T42 may find that helpful.
Kevin Castro
Posts: 125
Joined: Sat Jan 27, 2018 2:55 pm
Location: Australia

Re: 0.4.13 on IBM T42, working with glitches

Post by Kevin Castro »

After installing graphics driver (Version 6.14.10.6547) it stopped shutting down properly
I've had much success with twelve and thirteen in 2015-era hardware (with onboard graphics) without installing a graphics driver. At some point during the initial setup of ReactOS, it will display, “The list below shows the current device settings.”; these include the screen resolution. Conversely, you can zoom through the installation and choose your display resolution afterwards. There are many choices offered (I use 1280×1024×32 for my 19" 5×4 monitor) and I'm not convinced you need to install a driver. I hope you have success—I'm in the (small) camp that hopes to see more people putting ReactOS through its paces in real hardware. Never give up!
0.4.14: Gigabyte GA-F2A68HM-DS2, AMD A4 7300 (dual-core APU at 3.8GHz), various SSDs
—Option A: TP-Link TG-3269 PCI gigabit LAN card (XP Beta driver online)
—Option B: TP-Link TG-3468 PCI-E gigabit LAN card (XP driver off disc)
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