X-Surf 500 on ACA500+ with ACA1234 running OS3.2 built-in network installer fails

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Don't Panic. Please wash hands.
  • I'm running OS3.2 and I can't seem to get the ACA500+ network installer to ... install


    I'm not running a fancy OS config, pretty well stock startup-sequence.

    I saw another persons startup-sequence a few messages back, exact same.


    Proof of Life:


    Boots, run, plays games... Does what Amiga's do...


    I received my X-Surf 500 in the mail, popped it onto the ACA500+

    Flipped the power on, pressed F7, then F5



    Hit enter, and it starts unpacking what I can only assume are the drivers I need :)

    Great!



    And then I get dropped off here



    I don't know where here is, but it's a lot like a computer with a NIC and no drivers :)


    Per the other message, where the guy showed his whole Startup-Sequence:


    ---

    ; $VER: Startup-Sequence_HardDrive 47.14 (7.3.2021)

    ; Startup-Sequence for hard drive systems


    Version exec.library version 47 >NIL:

    If Warn

    LoadModule L:System-Startup ROMUPDATE

    EndIf

    SetPatch >NIL:

    ---


    Mines exactly the same...


    Jens said "Next steps: Check file L:System-Startup for anything unusual, check if the assign for L: is pointing to the right place."

    I just:

    ---
    ; $VER: Startup-Sequence_HardDrive 47.14 (7.3.2021)

    ; Startup-Sequence for hard drive systems


    Version exec.library version 47 >NIL:

    ;If Warn

    ;LoadModule L:System-Startup ROMUPDATE

    ;EndIf

    SetPatch >NIL:

    ---


    As I have no idea what that "if" and "LoadModule" does, I thought... let's skip it.


    Reboot, computer boots OS3.2 without that line, so it can't be all that critical...


    Reboot again, I go back and try to network install F7, F5, Enter, and now I get this error



    And I thought.. well... what would Jens say about this error ?
    So I commented out the lines that use MakeLink, they didn't look all that important either :)


    ---

    ;If EXISTS ENVARC:

    ;MakeLink RAM:ENV to ENVARC: FORCE

    ;Else

    MakeDir RAM:ENV

    ;Endif

    MakeDir RAM:T RAM:Clipboards

    ---


    Reboot, computer still boots OS3.2, I think I lost some environment variables because my video mode changed, but that's fine.

    and I spotted another MakeLink near the end and commented it out too


    ---

    ;MakeLink RAM:Disk.info TO ENVARC:Sys/def_RAM.info SOFT

    ---


    Reboot, computer still boots OS3.2, same as before

    Reboot again, I go back and try to network install F7, F5, Enter, and now I get this error



    And right here is where I give up on self help...


    While the inclusion of the "Tour of AmigaDOS Errors" is an amazing added bonus feature of the X-Surf 500 product, I'm kinda hoping there is a skip button..
    I'd love to get busy messing up my home network, frankly figuring out the Amiga's IP address was supposed to be the hard part :)



    Thank you,

  • If anyone else runs into this...


    Head on over to the 'store' side of the website, log in as you...

    Look at your past purchases

    There should be a link where you can download your AmiTCP install software.


    Once I had the software, it installed fine, I did add the SYS:Workbench to my path, after spotting that this was useful a couple threads over.


    "Mount iComp" worked straight away

    And then I popped in AmiSSL and iBrowse

    And they just worked, no tinkering needed...



    The only problem I had with this new toy is the bit that's meant to be clever and supply AmiTCP auto-magically ... yeah it's not so clever with OS3.2
    Oh and not knowing that I needed to look in my account history to get access to the install files... that was non-intuitive...

    But, a couple more hours of staring at the problem, cursing it, maybe some worse stuff... and I finally figured it out.


    My Miggy's on the information super highway, blowing smoke, four-ways a flash'n, traffic backed up for miles and smile on my face :D

  • And then I get dropped off here

    This looks like the system did not boot from the network installer disk, but from the OS3.2 partition. The network installer disk does not use LoadModule at all. You may have set the boot priority of your system partition very high.


    frankly figuring out the Amiga's IP address was supposed to be the hard part

    It will be the easier part, as a) our GUI uses the DHCP client that was developed specifically for iComp, and it shows the assigned IP address as soon as it's there.

    Head on over to the 'store' side of the website, log in as you...

    Look at your past purchases

    There should be a link where you can download your AmiTCP install software.

    That's a backup for ACA500 (non-plus version) users. It's actuially mentioned in the product description that the software can be found there.


    We'll update the network install disk in the near future, as OS3.2 messed up a few things. An intermediate version of the network install disk is in the flash of the ACA1234. Just open the DosDrivers drawer of the virtual ACA1234 install disk, there's a couple of links to all the disks included with the product. One of them is the network install disk that also makes the required Path addition for OS3.2.


    However, what the install disk can never do is to override the boot priority settings of your system partition. That's what I *assume* was happening when you tried the network installer from the ACA500plus flash. Would be great if we found out what caused the computer to not boot from the virtual disk, and what the reasoning was behind the setting. IMO, no boot prio should ever be set any higher then the df0: boot prio.

  • I’d love to help figure out what is happening so it doesn’t affect others or me again for that matter, after I’ve forgotten about this wrinkle.


    So, this boot priority stuff, where do I find it ? Is this just the priority numbers in the partition table ? Or do you have something else in mind ? Happy to go screen capture,

  • This looks like it would not interfere with the boot prio of the virtual disk.


    As far as I remember, you're a pretty new ACA500plus customer, so your card should have been delivered with the network update pre-installed. Anyway, you could try installing the "network update" and see if it then boots from the network install disk?

  • Okay,


    I downloaded the Network Update ADF from here:
    http://wiki.icomp.de/w/images/f/f5/UPD500P_netinstall.zip


    Popped it onto my DOS formatted CF, powered on, selected Flash Update from the menu, placed my CF card in AUX port when prompted



    Update completed without error:



    Rebooted, F7, F5, Enter


    The ACA500plus starts unpacking some files



    And then lands me back here, same as before.



    So, once it finishes unpacking those files, it just starts booting my OS install

  • Ohh..
    Interesting find...


    If I power on..

    The ACA500plus menu launches

    I press F7 then ESC

    then hit enter


    My computer fails to boot and I get that LoadModule failed return code 10


    If I shut the power off...

    Then power back on

    The ACA500plus menu launches

    then hit enter as I so often do


    My computer boots as normal


    The failure to boot OS3.2 in my case only requires having entered the F7 Installer menu

    not selecting any feature, just entering that menu... changes something... and the computer can no longer boot to WorkBench

  • The ACA500plus menu is coded in a way that "looking at settings" is not what you do - what you see is *always* what you get. So if you're calling a menu that shows certain settings, these settings will be set, and if you're just pressing return, the last settings you "looked at" is what you'll get.


    What I assume happens (will confirm with Toni) is that when going to the installer menu, it prepares the system for a launch with the 3.1 Kickstart from the ACA500plus flash. If you then return to the main menu and hit enter, these settings remain in the menu's memory, so you're attempting to launch your 3.2 installation with Kickstart 3.1 - and possibly other settings that won't make it work well.


    I assume that you won't get this behaviour if you specifically choose a profile with one of the number keys or if you choose a preset with the F-keys.


    However, it doesn't really explain why the network installer won't boot from the virtual disk. This is something we need to investigate. Can you share a screenshot of your flash config and the main profile that you've saved?


    thanks for your patience!

  • We need a new emoji

    {nods head in agreement, but lacks a concrete idea of what is really wanted}


    screenshot of "flash config"

    Okay...I'm guessing you mean this:


    As I searched here:

    http://wiki.icomp.de/wiki/ACA500plus

    For the term 'Flash Config' and got no matches.

    So, I've sent you my best guess at what a flash config might be in the context of an ACA500plus.


    screenshot of "main profile"

    Okay...I'm guessing again, perhaps you mean this:


    As I searched here:

    http://wiki.icomp.de/wiki/ACA500plus

    For the term 'Main Profile' and got no matches.

    Once again, I'm sending you my best guess within the context of an ACA500plus.


    Extras:

    Since I'm doing a lot of guessing in this response, I'm sending some extra stuff that could be what you want to see.

  • Thanks - this config is about what I expected. Next step would be to launch the network installer disk, and hold down both mouse buttons after pressing the F-key, so you will get into the early strartup menu. This is where you should see all mounted media, including it's boot priorities. We do work with priority bumps in the menu system, but this was only implemented for switching between a 3.1 and a 1.3 partition. It's not supposed to do anything during network install - the early startup may give an answer.

  • Yes, my normal boot card is partitioned, with CF0 as boot, CFX as backup to CF0, CF1 for applications, CF2 for data and is plugged into the ACA500plus boot CF slot. I also have in this snap shot a FAT formatted CF card in the CF AUX slot of the ACA500plus, though I repeated this boot with that card removed and got the same result of the machine not booting the network installer.

  • We have a similar support case in the German part of this forum where we already established that going back to a genuine Commodore Kickstart fixes everything. If you could confirm that as well, we know where to turn for support [Hyperion].