Hi all! I'm new to Amiga's so bear with me. When I boot the machine it boots to "c-shell" and I hve to type "loadwb" in the window. I think it should boot to workbench. Thanks.

@djm

Hello and welcome to the Amiga and World forums.

I had this kind of problem recently. Three things come to mind. From my recent experience.

1. Is the Workbench volume marked as bootable? There should be a HDToolbox in the Tools drawer. So you can check the partitions marked as bootable. It's slightly technical but surely easier than on Windows that hides it's partitioner several layers deep!

2. Check if there is an S:Startup-Sequence file. If none is found it will drop to a shell. Without an error that isn't helpful I realise.

3. Check the above file is actually loading LoadWB and doesn't have any errors or things needed with lines commented out with a semi-colon.

Last edited by Hypex on 31-Oct-2020 at 08:14 AM.

@Hypex

Hi, I checked "s:startup-sequence" there is no responce, no error, nothing. In "hdtoolbox" it searches for the drives but finds nothing, the "hard drives in system, interface address lun, status, drive type" box is empty. Below are seven options to interrogate the drive. 1. change drive type. 2 modify bad block. 3. low-level format. 4. partition. 5. verify data. 6. save. and help. version 2.22 Thanks

@djm

If it's dropping to a shell automatically then the system volume must be marked as bootable. Otherwise you would see "the hand" or a disk. I don't know what else to advise about HDToolbox without knowing what drive interface it is using or if it has a "hard card". A HDD on a card. Or it's simply using the built in SCSI.

It's likely the S:Startup-Sequence. You can try a test. Open up the S:Startup-Sequence file in an editor from the boot shell. Then at the top insert insert the following:
Set echo on

That will display output of each line executed as it runs. The easiest way to edit the file is to use Ed. The "nano" of the Amiga world. At the shell prompt you can type:
Ed X

The X doesn't matter really. When it opens use the menu to open S:Startup-Sequence. Then press Escape and Q to save and quit.

What version Kickstart is it? Version command will tell you. In fact:
List S:

@Hypex

My kickstart version is 37.175 with workbench 37.67. When I start the amiga two screens are displayed with the cshell screen over the workbench screen but the workbench screen displays no folders. Then I type loadwb in the cshell box and it loads ramdisk, system 2. and work into the workbench window. My harddrive is a quantum prodrive lps 105s a scsi drive that plugs into the system board. It's not a hard card. I type "ed test" in cshell then I type "s:startup-sequence set echo on" then escape and q. NOTHING HAPPENED, could you explain the sequence again. Thanks.

@djm

Okay. What you call the "cshell screen" is actually a window. Behind it would be the Workbench screen backdrop which is named Workbench reagardless of it being loaded or not.

After you type "ed test" the Ed editor should load up. Use the right mouse (menu) button to "Open..." the Startup-Sequence file from the Project menu. From the "S" directory. Put "set echo on" by itself on the very first line. Then save it from the menu.

Give a few seconds to save the files and reboot it. You should see a boot log.

@Hypex
Tried everything you suggested but it didn't work. When I use the right mouse button there is no menu. I just tried typing "s:startup-sequence set echo on" escape q and this time I got this...ram: t already exists, ram: clipboard already exists, ram: env already exists, ram: env/sys already exists, amiga release 2 kickstart 37.175, workbench 37.67,device speak: already mounted, device aux: already mounted, device pipe: already mounted. Thanks.

@djm

Can you enter type s:Startup-Sequence and capture its content. If there is too much for the screen, press space to stop the output and backspace to resume. Perhaps take a photo of the screen content so we can see what's in the startup-sequence because that is the key to your problem.

@djm

It won't work that way. What that will do is pass "set echo on" as arguments to which will be ignored. It must be inside the file, not passed to the file. Which is what would happen with what you typed.

If Ed doesn't load up something is wrong. There at least should be an error. A window should pop open with "Ed" in the title.

But by the sounds of it the script is already being executed then terminates before bringing up Workbench. If you can actually get to a Workbench it may be easier to find an editor and go from there. But 2.0 may be a bit basic for even an easy text editor and Ed, which lacks an icon, at least has a file requester. The LoadWB command may be disabled.

Last edited by Hypex on 11-Nov-2020 at 03:32 PM.
Last edited by Hypex on 10-Nov-2020 at 03:11 PM.

@Hypex

progress! I think. I tried a different mouse and finally got the menu to drop in "ed", the other mouse has a problem with the right click button. Once I select open there's a whole list of "info" files, is there a email I could send a picture of my screen. Thanks.

@Steady

Hi, Is there a email address I could send it to. Thanks.

@djm

You can PM it to me here but if you are able to share it here more people can help.

@djm

There's one on my profile. So there was a hardware problem with an input device. In the File window that opens there should be a "Volumes" button on the bottom. Press that and scroll down to find an "S:" assign. That's where the Startup-Sequence file will be.

Or just type in the CLI and I should have mentioned this earlier:
Ed S:Startup-Sequence

Then you can take a look.

@Steady

Hi, I was unable to attach the photo's to any amigaworld.net email account. I think the only way to do it is with a personal account. I finally got " ed" to open now I just need help with the next step. Thanks.