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Posted: Wed Jan 03, 2007 5:54 pm
by hto
madmax69 wrote: I have edited 2 or 3 recent releases and all of them show a very nice text mode boot loader as well as the debug traces I printscreened and linked to by URL to this thread. Wish it was enabled by default!
There was a bug in ReactOS and debug log to screen did not work till now.
madmax69 wrote: Not sure if case is significant [...]
Not significant.

Posted: Wed Jan 03, 2007 5:55 pm
by hto
PeterK wrote: BootCD switches to an invalid video mode
phoenix wrote: I also have got this error [...] That happens right after "loading blue.sys"
Maybe it's BIOS problem. It would be nice to test Video BIOS.

Posted: Wed Jan 03, 2007 10:20 pm
by PeterK
madmax69 wrote:
Well, how can I see anything ? I have no debug output (does it still work, logging with a second PC over serial port ?).
You'll need to load the ISO into an ISO editor such as WinISO, extract freeldr.ini, add the edited options= line as per above then re-insert the freeldr.ini file back into the ISO and re-save ... ..
...
..
I'm very happy to help ReactOS to become a working OS. But recreating the ISO file is too much efford for me at the moment (I would have to do this with every SVN release ?) I'm working full time, have children and - if time's left - sometimes other hobbies .. What's about a boot menu with options in the boot procedure ?

If the ReactOS developers like to have benefit from testers, it then should be a little bit easier to find out software bugs or lacks ... Again, I'm happy to help !
hto wrote:
PeterK wrote: BootCD switches to an invalid video mode
phoenix wrote: I also have got this error [...] That happens right after "loading blue.sys"
Maybe it's BIOS problem. It would be nice to test Video BIOS.
I have the same result on 2 actual computers (AMD CPUs with AsRock mainboards, onboard VGA chips), and on a MMX200 and a MMX 400 MHz. All with different VGA cards / chips ..

Posted: Thu Jan 04, 2007 3:03 am
by hto
I would have to do this with every SVN release ?
LiveCDs are broken. There is no point to test all of them.
What's about a boot menu with options ?

If the ReactOS developers like to have benefit from testers, it then should be a little bit easier to find out software bugs or lacks ...
It is developers who should decide.
I have the same result on 2 actual computers (AMD CPUs with AsRock mainboards, onboard VGA chips), and on a MMX200 and a MMX 400 MHz. All with different VGA cards / chips ..
Here: http://www.5748.nm.ru/testbios/

I have made DOS program which can do the same video BIOS calls as BootCD bootloader after loading blue.sys. Can you please test it? If you will get invalid video mode again, it's problem in the BIOS. It should run under DOS, not from Windows command prompt. First, try testbios.exe 0. It should change video mode. If it will lead to trouble, try then testbios 1, ... up to testbios 7, testbios 8 is the same as testbios 0. You will know on which stage problem occurs.

It may be difficult to catch these hardware-dependent errors. Now I have kernel crash after VBE Video BIOS calls on my machine. But works well in emulator.
Again, I'm happy to help !
Thanks!

Posted: Sat Jan 06, 2007 12:06 am
by phoenix
Maybe it's BIOS problem. It would be nice to test Video BIOS.
No, it is not... it is really a problem of the incompatible video mode, as it only happens on my TFT monitor, not on the CRT one.

Posted: Sat Jan 06, 2007 1:13 am
by PeterK
phoenix wrote:... it is really a problem of the incompatible video mode, as it only happens on my TFT monitor, not on the CRT one.
It doesn't work on my 1 TFT and 2 CRT displays.
Only the old 15" CRT shows a picture, but it's unsynchronized ..
hto wrote:I have made DOS program which can do the same video BIOS calls as BootCD bootloader after loading blue.sys. Can you please test it?

Thanks!
ELSA WINNER 2000AVI on MMX200 PC:
0 - 7 all do work !

ELSA WINNER 2000/Office on PII / 400:
0 - 7 all do work !

Mainboard AsRock K7S41GX BIOS L2.01
0 - 7 all do work !

AMD Duron 650 MHz:
0 - 7 all do work !

Sorry, but all video modes do work ..

Thanks!

Posted: Sat Jan 06, 2007 1:56 am
by hto
phoenix wrote: it is really a problem of the incompatible video mode, as it only happens on my TFT monitor, not on the CRT one.
Bootloader uses (or should use) standard video modes.

After loading "blue.sys", it changes mode first to 80x25 and then to 8x8 characters (so screen is 80x50).

Can you please also do that test?
PeterK wrote: Sorry, but all video modes do work ..
Thanks. Just to be sure.

So problem somewhere in other place. Or maybe bootloader makes these BIOS calls incorrectly.

Posted: Sat Jan 06, 2007 7:36 pm
by PeterK
hto wrote:.. problem somewhere in other place. Or maybe bootloader makes these BIOS calls incorrectly.
I've checked SVNs (only bootCD-dbg type) up from 23753 and down from 25257 (see bug #1917 in bugzilla..).

Somewhere between 24000 and 24400 there must be the major change - 24000 works (I had it only run up to SETUP text, and didn't install completly yet ..), 24400 does have the "invalid video mode" error.

Can You - probably - find out which SVN exactly it is where the code chanded ?

Thanks.

Posted: Sat Jan 06, 2007 8:04 pm
by hto
> Can You - probably - find out which SVN
> exactly it is where the code chanded ?

OK, I will try.

Posted: Sat Jan 06, 2007 8:47 pm
by hto
Can you please file bug report to Bugzilla?

http://www.reactos.org/forum/viewtopic.php?p=9943#9943

Posted: Sat Jan 06, 2007 10:47 pm
by hto
BootCD switches to an invalid video mode
Try to boot from this (intentionally) broken iso to see where is the bug. http://www.5748.nm.ru/iso/

Posted: Sun Jan 07, 2007 4:05 am
by PeterK
hto wrote:Can you please file bug report to Bugzilla?
bug report created:

"Invalid Sync after loading BLUE.SYS (bootCD-dbg)", The bug number is #1953
hto wrote:
BootCD switches to an invalid video mode
Try to boot from this (intentionally) broken iso to see where is the bug. ..
"Broken" ISO, after blue.sys:

screen gets black, no message, no "invalid sync".
But no more activity on cdrom ..


Another info: I tried SVN 24300 bootCD-dbg, it works (up to SETUP text). So Code change must be between 24300 and 24400.

Posted: Sun Jan 07, 2007 8:59 am
by hto
"Broken" ISO, after blue.sys:

screen gets black, no message, no "invalid sync".
But no more activity on cdrom ..
As it should be. So problem not in bootloader, but in the kernel (or driver).

There was no changes in blue.sys between 24000 and 24400.

Posted: Sun Jan 07, 2007 12:12 pm
by PeterK
hto wrote: There was no changes in blue.sys between 24000 and 24400.
I found the point of change:

bootCD-dbg 24350 is ok on mainboard K7S41GX (up to SETUP text)
bootCD-dbg 24370 is not ok on the same mainboard, makes "invalid sync".
And .. in addition to newer versions of bootCD-dbg, 24370 causes a reboot (on K7S41GX) ..

Instead of this result,
bootCD-dbg 24350 is not ok on mainboard Biostar M5ATA (ALI 154x chipset, MMX200).
Instead of SETUP text there is written "serial debugging enabled".
.. the same on mainboard with KT133 K7 (Duron 650).
.. the same on mainboard I440BX-SMC93X-2A69KN0AC (PII 400).

Posted: Sun Jan 07, 2007 12:40 pm
by PeterK
The last available LiveCD-dbg (before bootCD 24350) is 24300. It stops on mainboard K7S41GX with

*** STOP: 0x0000001E (0xc0000005, 0x80091FC8, 0x00000000, 0x00000000)

*** ntoskrnl.exe - Address 80091FC0 base at 80000000, DateStamp 453940fe