Updating a Strand 300

[themadhippy]

not sure about strands dos but from my past days as a dosser you could change the attributes of files so you could see/edit/delete them

think the comand was something like

attrib -r -s -h  drive\path\file name

you maybe able to check the correct syntax by using

 attrib/?

[propmonkey]

I ran 220clean and now its working fine. im going to update our other concole later hopefully it wont have the same problem.

[strand600X]

The 300 has a 8mb chip that it stores its information on if you need more memory strand have available a 64mb chip as an upgrade I think this would solve most of your problems

cheers

Strand600x (new desk?)

 

:)

[Ynot]

OK - I know there was another thread somewhere about updating the 300, but can't put my finger on it, so going with this one.

 

Finally got round to looking at updating our 'backup' machine again - had some problems a few months back, and never succeeded, so gave up. Time to try again.

 

Now, the initial problem was that I faced was the same as I had in January - the system kept failing when I started to try to load the files from floppy. Before it even got going, came up with 'Data error reading drive A'. But I was ready for that - had filched another floppy drive from an old machine and swapped that over - tried again - same results..... :( Not happy.

 

OK, thinks I...

That was the C3 software, newly downloaded and unzipped from the Strand site.

Tried the HC files - Help files. Now THAT disk loaded everything ok, but after it auto-rebooted, it gets so far into the DOS bootup and stalls, stopping at a DOS prompt! Darned thing won't load ANYTHING, now!! :)

 

Still won't load the C3 stuff so looks like I have stuffed the whole thing...!

 

Other than consulting Strand Support in the morning, (which I intend to do) anyone got any ideas??

 

Tony

 

Bit more info..

Ran 220clean. Passed all tests til it got to checking the OS files.

Tells me that "Showvin.exe is different".... Reinstall OS.

 

Which I've tried from the download disks, but I recon this may not be feasible from an update!

Haven't got the original disks here with me - they're at the theatre..... Doesn't look as if they're downloadable, either....

[Kazeja]

Hello.

 

How much memory have you got left?

 

Shut down and go into DOS.

 

Type DIR enter, and this will tell you how much is free.

 

When you say you can load shows, I assume it is off the internal memory as opposed to floppy. Is this correct?

[Ynot]

How much memory have you got left?

 

When you say you can load shows, I assume it is off the internal memory as opposed to floppy. Is this correct?

I think you've got the wrong end of the stick.

I'm not trying to load shows - I'm trying to update the OS software from 2.5 to 2.86.

There's more than adequate space on the drive - I wiped all shows a while back to make sure that wasn't the problem.

The original problem was an inability to read the files off the floppy with the CS3 data on it - after loading the HC files I now can't even boot the system up to get as far as logging on!

 

Something is seriously screwed now!!

 

:)

[Liam FitzG]

I would advise you to contact your Strand Dealer or Strand. I would suspect that they will want to bring the desk into a shop to work on it. They will most likely want to wipe the "disk" and reload the DOS and then the software.

So before you let it go save any ssf show files which you want off the desk.

We have come across a few consoles which have had software loading errors which have corrupted the installation (the node upgrade files loaded onto a console cause havoc, for example). The process usually only takes an hour or two.

 

Liam

 

Edit:

PS it should be noted that loading the various disks out of order is not recomended, and can lead to problems. Always load the disks System (C3 / C5 / Ci) then Network (CN) the Help (HC).

[Ynot]

I would advise you to contact your Strand Dealer or Strand. I would suspect that they will want to bring the desk into a shop to work on it. They will most likely want to wipe the "disk" and reload the DOS and then the software.

So before you let it go save any ssf show files which you want off the desk.

We have come across a few consoles which have had software loading errors which have corrupted the installation (the node upgrade files loaded onto a console cause havoc, for example). The process usually only takes an hour or two.

I'm awaiting a reply from one of my friendy Strand contacts and suspect it may well be that this is the way I'll need to go.

I think I mentioned it's a backup desk/base unit, so not essential for main-stream use (though one of my lads wants to hire it for a show he has outside the venue next week), and all the show files were cleaned a while back anyway.

 

Cheers

TD

[Kazeja]

Can you access BIOS on power up and do you have a dos boot disk?

[Ynot]

Can you access BIOS on power up and do you have a dos boot disk?

Such as the BIOS is on the 300, yes.

And no I don't have a boot disk for this deks, though not sure why I would want one at this stage....

Can you explain your thoughts?

 

Tony

[Kazeja]

My understanding was desk would not power up at all, just hangs.

Set bios to boot via floopy, insert dos boot disk, format hard drive and reload dos for the 300 series.

 

A boot disk created on a 500 console or any true dos platform will suffice.

 

Then load 300 series software.

 

Prior to this, you may want to run the CRCCHECK which is on each floppy to check the integrity of the files.

 

Will now read the earlier responses in more detail to get a better picture.

[Ynot]

No - not quite right.

 

The desk powers up OK, but instead of running the OS properly, and starting the actual Genius software, it gets so far, complains that a couple of files 'are different' and stops, giving me a DOS prompt.

I'm in no doubt that the most likely course is going to be a reload of the full software package, but as I don't think this is as simple as running the downloaded update files off the web, (which simply fails, anyway) I need some confirmation, and(hopefully) a source for the full package.

(And some indication of what exactly is causing the floopies to be unable to read the files on the floppy (two different drives)

[JMC]

The files off the web are indeed the full software, and you can launch them from DOS for a clean install, it dosnt have to be done through Archive..

 

In dos, type a:\C3INSTAL.EXE <enter> (with your C3 floppy in) and see how far you get re-installing it that way!

[Ynot]

I've already tried this - originally I wastrying to install via archive from within genius, but since it has been giving me problems, I've only had the option of installing from DOS.

(I'm an old fart, btw - whilst I've forgotten a lot of what DOS is, I still remember the pre-Windows days when that was all you had!! :D)

[Kazeja]

Just so I'm sure, I assume that you have downloaded the C3.zip file of the web and extracted the 6 zipped files to a floppy.

 

If so then run CRCCHECK on the floppy files whilst the floppy is still in the PC. At least this way we'll know whether the files on the floppy or the floppy itself is OK.