I am new and having trouble starting 6.1. I created a boot 1.44m disk OK, and switched my machine (Windows, Pentium, 16mb RAM) to boot from A:. It starts with dots at the bottom of the screen, goes to a 6.1 splash screen then dies with part of the image blanked and a "negative "hi/low sound.
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Be sure to checkout “Tips & Tricks” Dear Guest Visitor → Once you register and log-in please checkout the “Tips & Tricks” page for some very handy tips!
/Steve. -
BootAble – FreeDOS boot testing freeware
To obtain direct, low-level access to a system's mass storage drives, SpinRite runs under a GRC-customized version of FreeDOS which has been modified to add compatibility with all file systems. In order to run SpinRite it must first be possible to boot FreeDOS.
GRC's “BootAble” freeware allows anyone to easily create BIOS-bootable media in order to workout and confirm the details of getting a machine to boot FreeDOS through a BIOS. Once the means of doing that has been determined, the media created by SpinRite can be booted and run in the same way.
The participants here, who have taken the time to share their knowledge and experience, their successes and some frustrations with booting their computers into FreeDOS, have created a valuable knowledgebase which will benefit everyone who follows.
You may click on the image to the right to obtain your own copy of BootAble. Then use the knowledge and experience documented here to boot your computer(s) into FreeDOS. And please do not hesitate to ask questions – nowhere else can better answers be found.
(You may permanently close this reminder with the 'X' in the upper right.)
On the floppy, there is a program in the autoexec that runs to produce the splash screen. Edit that and put REM (for remark i.e. to disable it as a commend) in front of the splash screen command. This way you can maybe see what is happening next.
There are so many variables to explore, here's a list off the top of my head:
SRSPLASH.SYS runs from the CONFIG.SYS.
SRSPLASH.SYS is not necessary or functional.
It just imitates the prior SpinRite splash screens that were built into the prior
SpinRite executables, remember these dancing snakes?
Remark out all items from CONFIG.SYS except BUFERS=
I use BUFFERS=98
Remark out all AUTOXEC.BAT entries.
I like starting SPINRITE manually with NORAMTEST.
Other command line options turn off various SPINRITE features, experiment
to see if any make it work for you.
SKIPVERIFY
FORCEBIOS
ROCFG
VIDEO
See @ColbyBouma's terrific
https://gitlab.com/GRC-Community/spinrite-6.1-wiki/-/wikis/Command-Line
for more.
But, as noted, the low amount of the computer's RAM may be a challenge
- can you find additional RAM chips?
See https://grc.com/groups/spinrite.dev:13461 for Steve Gibson's own
explorations, I think he suggests 32 MB RAM minimum?
Download the current latest versions of SpinRite 5 and SpinRite 6 to see if
they run, see https://www.grc.com/sr/faq.htm
Note: SpinRite 6 needs the MDFYSR60.COM patch to successfully run
DynaStat recovery on any drive larger than 549 GB,
see https://www.grc.com/sr/kb/b04e.htm
All versions of SpinRite can be in the same boot drive, mine are named:
SR0.COM
SR1.COM
SR2.COM
SR3.EXE
SR4.EXE
SR5.EXE
SR6.EXE
SR61.EXE
SpinRite 6 and earlier work under MS-DOS, too.
SpinRite 6.1 expects FreeDOS, but the KERNEL.SYS is different, so try an
original FreeDOS KERNEL.SYS as well as the SpinRite KERNEL.SYS.
SETOEMFD.COM is an MS-DOS hack program to convince SpinRite 6.1 that
MS-DOS is really FreeDOS, see https://www.grc.com/groups/techtalk.retro:127
Does free Rufus for Widows offer to build an MS-DOS or FreeDOS diskette,
perhaps via a USB-to-diskette adapter?
Pre-build a \SRLOGS directory or turn off the logging option from within
the SpinRite when it ever gets on screen.
Remove anything not needed for the diskette so there's lots of space.
Run SpinRite 5 to test the diskette surface to make sure the boot diskette is happy.
Move the diskette drive itself around so the diskette and the same drive stay
together, don't expect the drive to read a diskette that was written to in another
computer's diskette drive.
Format up an old hard drive in a USB adapter and have Spinrite or Rufus put
FreeDOS and SpinRite on that HDD, then move that drive to boot the computer,
and use that to boot and test a second drive installed in the computer.
We've all got tips and tricks - endless, there are so many variables.
Of course, let us know how it goes.
.
SRSPLASH.SYS runs from the CONFIG.SYS.
SRSPLASH.SYS is not necessary or functional.
It just imitates the prior SpinRite splash screens that were built into the prior
SpinRite executables, remember these dancing snakes?
Remark out all items from CONFIG.SYS except BUFERS=
I use BUFFERS=98
Remark out all AUTOXEC.BAT entries.
I like starting SPINRITE manually with NORAMTEST.
Other command line options turn off various SPINRITE features, experiment
to see if any make it work for you.
SKIPVERIFY
FORCEBIOS
ROCFG
VIDEO
See @ColbyBouma's terrific
https://gitlab.com/GRC-Community/spinrite-6.1-wiki/-/wikis/Command-Line
for more.
But, as noted, the low amount of the computer's RAM may be a challenge
- can you find additional RAM chips?
See https://grc.com/groups/spinrite.dev:13461 for Steve Gibson's own
explorations, I think he suggests 32 MB RAM minimum?
Download the current latest versions of SpinRite 5 and SpinRite 6 to see if
they run, see https://www.grc.com/sr/faq.htm
Note: SpinRite 6 needs the MDFYSR60.COM patch to successfully run
DynaStat recovery on any drive larger than 549 GB,
see https://www.grc.com/sr/kb/b04e.htm
All versions of SpinRite can be in the same boot drive, mine are named:
SR0.COM
SR1.COM
SR2.COM
SR3.EXE
SR4.EXE
SR5.EXE
SR6.EXE
SR61.EXE
SpinRite 6 and earlier work under MS-DOS, too.
SpinRite 6.1 expects FreeDOS, but the KERNEL.SYS is different, so try an
original FreeDOS KERNEL.SYS as well as the SpinRite KERNEL.SYS.
SETOEMFD.COM is an MS-DOS hack program to convince SpinRite 6.1 that
MS-DOS is really FreeDOS, see https://www.grc.com/groups/techtalk.retro:127
Does free Rufus for Widows offer to build an MS-DOS or FreeDOS diskette,
perhaps via a USB-to-diskette adapter?
Pre-build a \SRLOGS directory or turn off the logging option from within
the SpinRite when it ever gets on screen.
Remove anything not needed for the diskette so there's lots of space.
Run SpinRite 5 to test the diskette surface to make sure the boot diskette is happy.
Move the diskette drive itself around so the diskette and the same drive stay
together, don't expect the drive to read a diskette that was written to in another
computer's diskette drive.
Format up an old hard drive in a USB adapter and have Spinrite or Rufus put
FreeDOS and SpinRite on that HDD, then move that drive to boot the computer,
and use that to boot and test a second drive installed in the computer.
We've all got tips and tricks - endless, there are so many variables.
Of course, let us know how it goes.
.
Bad news, my system has been corrupted. It is over 20 years old so definitely is "legacy" and apparently isn't enough for version 6.1. As I said before, the 6.1 splash screen did seem to work, but in a few seconds something overwrote part of the screen, then the system died. Now I can do very little, no hard disk space is available, the Windows "swap file", has a size of 0 bytes. things like a CDdrive cannot be installed by config.sys, etc. Trying "Chkdsk C:" gives "abort, retry, fail". I will try to find version 6.0 (or download v5 as you suggested) that I backed up somewhere years ago and make a boot floppy from that. (The current 6.0 FreeDOS boot floppy I have has failed clusters, so does not work)
@DaveH
As a SpinRite 6.1 owner you can download SR 6.0 (or SR 5.0) for free!
From the GRC SpinRite FAQ page: https://www.grc.com/sr/faq.htm
To obtain and download SpinRite v5.0 or v6.0 instead of v6.1, all you need to do is change the filename in the software download link from “spinrite.exe” to “sr5.exe” or “sr6.exe” To do that:
If anything goes wrong you may refresh and reload the receipt page to obtain new fresh links that can be used to download copies of your personally licensed SpinRite versions.
As a SpinRite 6.1 owner you can download SR 6.0 (or SR 5.0) for free!
From the GRC SpinRite FAQ page: https://www.grc.com/sr/faq.htm
To obtain and download SpinRite v5.0 or v6.0 instead of v6.1, all you need to do is change the filename in the software download link from “spinrite.exe” to “sr5.exe” or “sr6.exe” To do that:
- Display a fresh copy of your SpinRite v6.1 receipt by entering your SpinRite purchase transaction code into our customer service page.
- Then, instead of clicking on the page's software download link (which would immediately download a copy of “spinrite.exe” and disabled the single-use link), right-click on the link and select “Copy link address” to copy the link to your Windows clipboard.
- Next, right-click in your browser's URL address line and select “Paste” to paste the software download link into the address line without using it yet.
- Now edit the filename end of the URL, changing it from “spinrite.exe” to “sr5.exe” or “sr6.exe”.
- Finally, press Enter to use that edited URL and retrieve your own individually licensed copy of SpinRite v5.0 or v6.0.
I messaged Steve in his newsgroup about the minimum specs for SpinRite 6.1. I'm afraid you won't be able to run it on a machine with less than 64mb of RAM. His recommendation is to stick with SpinRite 6.0.
Thanks. I have version 6.0 working now. When starting, Option 2, it took about 5 minutes displaying "Discovering System's Mass Storage devices..." and "Working..." then >5 min for "Selecting Drive for Use..." and "Working..."
It has found a few bad sectors so far (1 hour), and estimated time = 51+ hours. (0.04% completed) It isn't a large drive, only about 130 MByte Maxtor. Is it normal under the "Real Time" screen, "Locus of Control" on the left side to highlight " diskdrive or bios" vs. "spinrite software"?
It has found a few bad sectors so far (1 hour), and estimated time = 51+ hours. (0.04% completed) It isn't a large drive, only about 130 MByte Maxtor. Is it normal under the "Real Time" screen, "Locus of Control" on the left side to highlight " diskdrive or bios" vs. "spinrite software"?
This is telling you when SpinRite is relying on something else (the BIOS or the drive itself) to do something. SpinRite basically runs a tight loop scheduling activities for the disk to fulfill, via the BIOS (or it's own drivers in 6.1) and this lets you know, should a problem develop (i.e. a hang/crash) whether it was likely the computer or the BIOS or the drive that is likely at fault.
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