Valis II suddenly not booting?

[Psygnosis8]

Hey guys!  Haven't been around in awhile.  Hope everybody's doing okay.

So, for some reason Valis II (from superdeadite's V4 baller image), which suddenly worked before on my Compact via CF, has out of the blue started giving me and LHES error message and not booting.  I cleared the SRAM and set up switch.x again, but this stubborn game just won't boot.  I'm a huge Valis fan, and wanted to play this when I got around it (it's gorgeous, even if the gameplay is a little wonky).  Anybody have this issue as well?

Thanks in advance.
P8

[famiac]

I would run memtest to make sure your x68k is doing alright.

[Psygnosis8]

Is that just a dos command?

[skpstmgs]

I think famiac means use this:
http://nfggames.com/x68000/Mirrors/Neill%20Corlett/memtest68k.zip
Write to a floppy and boot from it. It should automatically start running the tests.

If you have any spare compact flash cards, maybe try re-writing the stock v4 image and see if that boots? Maybe the partition has gone corrupt or something?

[Psygnosis8]

Yeah, I'll try to reburn the image.  My non baller v4 image went crAzy too, so I'll redo the v4 baller while I'm in there.

[famiac]

so was it the CF card?

[Psygnosis8]

Been too busy to try, haha!  But I'm gonna do it soon.  Probably this weekend.

[Psygnosis8]

So, rewriting the CF images did help the cards that weren't booting at all, but Valis 2 still won't boot.  I have to go to my friend's house to use a pc with windows XP on it so I can burn the ram utility onto a floppy.

Do I need to do something in switch.x to make it detect the math coprocessor?  Maybe that's the problem?

[famiac]

What math co-processor?

I would try removing it to see what happens

[SuperDeadite]

What math co-processor?

I would try removing it to see what happens

He's referring to the MC68881.  The XVI has a socket on the mobo for it.  The XVI Compact has a socket on it's special internal Ram expansion board.  Older models need an I/O Slot board for it.  However this is only used by the system when you load the driver Float3.X at boot.  Without that driver, the system will not even check for the chip being installed.

99% of software uses Float2.X which emulates the co-pro.  Game wise, Xak II and Crossfire EX specifically support it.  If you force the system to use it by loading the driver, a few games do benefit from the upgrade such as Prince of Persia. 

As for Valis II, the game only runs at 10mhz.  16mhz breaks it.  Also running it via 2HDBoot requires a LOT of Ram as it's 8 or disks.

[Psygnosis8]

Okay, good to know.  I've actually got an external 10mg  expansion with an MC6681 on the same board, but I'm not using it because the guy I bought it one put an internal one inside (which I hear is a rather elusive peripheral).

I'll try running it at 10mhz but it won't even boot.  Maybe I should go back to the external board?  How do I boot it outside of 2HDboot?  Just load it through dos?

[SuperDeadite]

Okay, good to know.  I've actually got an external 10mg  expansion with an MC6681 on the same board, but I'm not using it because the guy I bought it one put an internal one inside (which I hear is a rather elusive peripheral).

I'll try running it at 10mhz but it won't even boot.  Maybe I should go back to the external board?  How do I boot it outside of 2HDboot?  Just load it through dos?

Your post isn't very clear.   Sounds to me that you installed the special internal RAM board for the Compact on the mobo, and removed the 10mb IO Slot board you had installed before.  If this is true, then that is your issue.

The Compact internal expansion is a 2mb board, but can be upgraded to 4 or 6mbs.  But that is the limit of the internal expansion.  Meaning your machine currently has 4-8mbs installed.  That is not enough RAM to load Valis II.

[Psygnosis8]

Okay, good to know.  I've actually got an external 10mg  expansion with an MC6681 on the same board, but I'm not using it because the guy I bought it one put an internal one inside (which I hear is a rather elusive peripheral).

I'll try running it at 10mhz but it won't even boot.  Maybe I should go back to the external board?  How do I boot it outside of 2HDboot?  Just load it through dos?

Your post isn't very clear.   Sounds to me that you installed the special internal RAM board for the Compact on the mobo, and removed the 10mb IO Slot board you had installed before.  If this is true, then that is your issue.

The Compact internal expansion is a 2mb board, but can be upgraded to 4 or 6mbs.  But that is the limit of the internal expansion.  Meaning your machine currently has 4-8mbs installed.  That is not enough RAM to load Valis II.

http://youtu.be/v3rhQc666Sg

That's probably the issue.  My buddy's got that card right now.  I'm gonna be a jerk and take it back.  Thanks for the help.