Problem with OS4.1FE Soundplayer

I have experienced for a long time frequent but irregularly appearing freezes with AmigaOS4.1FE, during the loading of WB... I have suspected that they would originate from USB, X-dock or even a graphics card.

Now I finally found a way to localize the problem with the following method (without the need of buying a second machine with a serial port):

1) Created a small FFS partition on my HD which I named "Debug:"

2) Added to the start of my startup-sequence the line:

C:DumpDebugBuffer Debug:1.txt >nil:

3) Added to the startup-sequence, after each command (or command group) the following line, with running number (n):

echo "n" >>Debug:Echoes.txt

With this method I was able to track that the culprit (or one of them) for these freezes is the command line with "Soundplayer", which is at the end of startup-sequence :

Run >NIL: *>NIL: Soundplayer QUIET

My question is now, for what reason(s) can this command fail or crash, so that it halts the booting of AmigaOS 4.1? Are there any known bugs in that program, which has not yet been fixed?

@Gregor

Better if you used putty and rs232 cable.

If you are getting grim repairs they should show up there.

@LiveForIt

You have to use the 'tools' which are available... As already said, I do not have the hardware needed for what you suggested. And my 'hw investments quota' is already spent for a couple of years .

@Gregor

Quote:There was one report years ago which from the crash log (obtained via serial) looked like something else had messed with the program's memory. It couldn't be reproduced, and since nothing pointed towards this command as the culprit, it was closed.

Apart from that, none.

But it could of course be a similar situation.

Could you try commenting out the SoundPlayer command altogether without making any other changes to your startup? If it still happens, it would point to such a situation, i.e. that SoundPlayer is just a random victim of something else accessing memory it shouldn't.

Although of course since it is the last thing in your startup, we might not see the crash anyway. But worth a try.

Best regards,

Niels

@nbache
>Could you try commenting out the SoundPlayer command altogether without making any other changes to your startup?
>If it still happens, it would point to such a situation, i.e. that SoundPlayer is just a random victim of something else accessing
>memory it shouldn't.

I tested first a few days with just SoundPlayer commented out. I still got a few freezes but clearly fewer than before. In these cases it was the 'LoadWB' which got stuck (the 'echo' after it was not recorded).

I tested further by removing 'X-Dock' from 'WBStartup' and run it from Startup-Sequence (as last item there). With this arrangement I did not get any freezes when machine was started from the power button. Only one freeze (LoawWB) appeared when I first run Linux and left it by 'reboot' to get to AmigaOS.

Now I'm testing with another Soundcard (Sound Blaster Live! SB0220 PCI; the previous one was an Envy24HT PCIe), and both 'X-Dock' and 'Soundplayer' at the end of Startup-Sequence. No freezes so far but have to follow the situation a few days further...

@Gregor

Interesting results.

As for the freezes where it looks like LoadWB is stuck, I get those sometimes as well (X1000, both public OS and latest beta version).

So far nobody has succeeded in finding out why they happen (one of those random things which always seems to happen when you're not prepared for gathering evidence, and of course it doesn't produce any debug output or other clues ), but I have a feeling they are unrelated to the other freezes you have been investigating.

Anyway, it will be interesting to see if the new audio card keeps the situation at bay.

Best regards,

Niels