BBC Alive
Disk Help
Can't get auto boot to work on drive 2
How do I make my drive become drive 0?
Disk error messages Follow this link
for a list of disk error codes and their meanings and some advice as to how to
resolve them.
Q. With my BBC B, Acorn DFS and Watford twin double
sided disk drive I cannot get autoboot to work in drive 2, although it works in
drive 0. A *OPT4,3 has been used on both sides of my disks and only the default
directory and library are used. What is wrong?
A. The auto boot sequence of SHIFT+BREAK will only
work on side 0 because the action of pressing BREAK automatically sets the
micro to drive 0 (this is the the way things were designed). With SHIFT+BREAK
the micro then searches the current drive (ie 0) for a file called !BOOT which
will contain instructions as to what to do next. Putting *DRIVE 2 in the !BOOT
file for the disk side in drive 2 won't do any good as the micro never gets to
see it. The only way to run an autoboot file on drive 2 is to access it from the
drive 0 !BOOT file by switching to drive 2 first, although many programs assume
that the disk is in drive 0.
Q. My 5.25 inch disk drive automatically
defaults to drive 1. Most game therefore don't work as they require drive 0. How
can I change the default? I also have a 3 inch drive and would like to be able
to switch either so that it is drive 0.
A. Inside each disk drive is a row of links or small
switches which tell the drive what number to respond to. The links may be
labelled 0,1,2,3 as well as a few other letters. You will find that the link for
your 5.25 inch drive is set to 1. Remove this and make the link 0. Note that
when you do this no other drive connected to your system must have link 0 made
as then two drives would attempt to transfer information at the same time. So
one drive must be 0, the other 1. The drive motors will come on together but
only one light will be lit. Alternatively, you may be able to get hold of a
special floppy cable which has a twisted bit in it. All you then have to do is
switch the plugs around on the cable.
Back to Technical Help
Ports Printing Roms Video Miscellaneous
Front Page Technical Help Index Resources
History
Contact Home