Re: superformat troubles
Pete Zaitcev wrote:
> > I'm trying to format a floppy disk using superformat from fdutils 5.2pl4 but
> > it fails leaving the kernel in an unstable state. I'm then unable to run other
> > programs as the kernel tells me there is a bug in the free list.
>
> You did not mention which platform you use. It is long known that you
> cannot format a floppy on sun4c under RH4.2. Firstly, counter in one of
> busy loops is too small, but this does not help, because secondly it
> writes garbage to track anyways. I dare to note that faster machines
> may suffer as well.
It's a sun4m machine type: a SparcClassic/X promoted to SparcClassic after I
fixed the NVRAM. The floppy drive is a MT-19 coming from an IPC workstation.
I know it's an unusual combination of hardware, but it's the only one I got for
free ;-)
I can read and write data with no problem. Just can't format.
I don't know if the trouble is hardware related (very old floppy drive),
kernel related or application related (fdformat/superformat). Any pointer
is welcome.
I also built old fdformat from util-linux-2.5+RH4.2 fixes (with libc5)
then did a trial:
$ fdformat /dev/fd0
Could not determine current format type: No such device
$ fdformat /dev/fd0u1440
Double-sided, 80 tracks, 18 sec/track. Total capacity 1440 kB.
Formatting ...
ioctl(FDFMTBEG): No such device
The bootlog shows the following lines:
Floppy drive(s): fd0 is 1.44M
FDC 0 is a post-1991 82077
And eject /dev/fd0 is working, so the device is configured.
Hope this help.
--
Eric Delaunay | "La guerre justifie l'existence des militaires.
delaunay@lix.polytechnique.fr | En les supprimant." Henri Jeanson (1900-1970)
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