Problem . . . and Solution

[atrax27407]

For years, I have had a very stable TI system. Significantly, it boots from an HRD16 (Horizon RAMdisk clone) via @Insanemultitasker's SPLASH program. It has booted flawlessly for several years. Suddenly, I started experiencing all sorts of strange behavior as if the cartridge (XB) was not inserted in the cartridge slot correctly. I removed and re-inserted the cartridge several times and it still wouldn't boot correctly. I knew that 1) the XB cartridge wasn't defective and 2) it WAS inserted correctly. So, it had to be something else.

 

I reasoned that, since the SPLASH/MENU programs and the inserted cartridge competed with each other for dominance at boot-up, that HAD to be the conflict. Although it had been stable for years, I decided to re-install the ROS for the HRD16. That completely solved the problem. No more problems with the cartridge and everything was once again rock solid.

 

I suspect that, one or more of the bits in ROS had become corrupted either by an electrical spike when turning the console off and on or just plain "bit rot" over time and that was what caused the problem. In an email exchange with @Insanemultitasker we agreed that it might be a good idea to periodically re-install a fresh copy of ROS in the RAMdisk as a regular maintenance procedure. At least, it was a viable and complete solution to the problem that I was having. So, every six month or so, I will be re-installing a fresh, pristine copy of ROS just to prevent any future problems.