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. [EMAIL PROTECTED] | En les supprimant." Henri Jeanson (1900-1970) -- TO UNSUBSCRIBE FROM THIS MAILING LIST: e-mail the word "unsubscribe" to [EMAIL PROTECTED] . Trouble? e-mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] .