ROS and XP dual boot makes ROS startup much slower.

Ask your support questions in here

Moderator: Moderator Team

Post Reply
Reziac
Posts: 27
Joined: Fri Dec 23, 2016 7:35 am

ROS and XP dual boot makes ROS startup much slower.

Post by Reziac »

Using 0.4.4 (FOSDEMO version) installed on real hardware:

So today I re-imaged ROS on C: so it's a clean install, checked it (working properly), then installed WinXP (SP3 build 5512) on D: formatted as FAT32. The plan was to try ROS's own filemanager on a sacrificial XP, to see if it could shed light on the problems discussed elsewhere. (Nope. Won't run. Oh well.)

XP installs fine and automatically sets up a dual boot in the usual way. (And I was treated to the spectacle of fullblown WinXP using only 100mb RAM. That's less than my TinyXP install uses, wtf.)

When I select "Unidentified OS on C:" I get the ROS boot menu as expected. So far so good.

But now instead of taking 12 seconds to reach the desktop, ROS takes just over a minute, most of which is a blank screen following the normal splash-loading screen.

Is there a known reason/fix for this?

And is there anything you want me to try while I've got it set up this way?
LuxenDM
Posts: 32
Joined: Sun Jan 01, 2017 9:29 pm

Re: ROS and XP dual boot makes ROS startup much slower.

Post by LuxenDM »

You installed ROS and XP into the same partition? ~maybe~ ROS is stuck looking at XP files and takes that long to figure out it can ignore them? Have a debug log?
Reziac
Posts: 27
Joined: Fri Dec 23, 2016 7:35 am

Re: ROS and XP dual boot makes ROS startup much slower.

Post by Reziac »

No, as I said ROS is on C: and WinXP is on D:

How do I make a debug log? (using the ROS "debug" boot didn't seem to create one, at least that I could find.)
oldman
Posts: 1179
Joined: Sun Dec 20, 2009 1:23 pm

Re: ROS and XP dual boot makes ROS startup much slower.

Post by oldman »

Reziac wrote:No, as I said ROS is on C: and WinXP is on D:

How do I make a debug log? (using the ROS "debug" boot didn't seem to create one, at least that I could find.)
Running in Debug mode sends the debug output to the serial port, so you will need a serial (null-modem) cable connected between your testing computer and a second computer with Putty running to capture the debug output from the test computer.

Running Ros in 'Debug to File' mode will write a debug log to your test computer's hard drive. The only other alternative is to run in 'Debug to Screen' mode and take a photo of the debug info on the screen.
Please keep the Windows classic 9x/2000 look and feel.
The layman's guides - debugging - bug reporting - compiling - ISO remaster.
They may help you with a problem, so do have a look at them.
Reziac
Posts: 27
Joined: Fri Dec 23, 2016 7:35 am

Re: ROS and XP dual boot makes ROS startup much slower.

Post by Reziac »

Well, that's weird. In DEBUG (FILE) mode (which I hadn't previously tried, I don't know why I didn't notice it), the long delay didn't happen.

And then when I rebooted into normal mode, the problem was fixed and ROS starts fast again. <scratching head>

I wonder if a boot flag had got stuck wrong and was cleared by the DEBUG (FILE) boot. I notice that the DEBUG (FILE) boot wrote (or rewrote) BOOTFILE.DAT, but the normal boot didn't change this file.

BTW the debug.log file is marked read-only and refuses to be copied elsewhere. I had to open it in Editpad Lite and save it to a flash drive to keep a copy. (Doesn't show as RO in File Explorer or Properties, but EditPad told me it was -- it won't save over a RO file and wants you to know it..)

The logfile is here:
http://www.doomgold.com/temp/ROS/ROSdebuglog0001.rar
middings
Posts: 1073
Joined: Tue May 07, 2013 9:18 pm
Location: California, USA

Re: ROS and XP dual boot makes ROS startup much slower.

Post by middings »

The long startup delay with ReactOS that you encountered in your dual boot configuration is an interesting bug. If you can reproduce it starting from a clean install, please make a bug report in JIRA. (Please, one bug only per bug report)

The debug.log file being marked as read only might be an intentional feature. I don't know. However, the debug.log file "refuses to be copied elsewhere" behavior is certainly a bug. Copying or saving the debug.log file with a different name might be a workaround. I searched JIRA for a copy file bug similar to the one you describe. The JIRA issues CORE-12611 and CORE-12515 seem similar to the bug you saw. If you cannot find an existing bug report (issue) in JIRA that reports your bug, please make a new bug report in JIRA. Identify the file copying method(s) you attempted that failed.
Reziac
Posts: 27
Joined: Fri Dec 23, 2016 7:35 am

Re: ROS and XP dual boot makes ROS startup much slower.

Post by Reziac »

When I get a chance I'll do a complete new install, and see what happens.

As to the file copy problem, this is chronic and manifests somewhat randomly, but it smells to me like it might really be a filesystem bug. I mutter some about it here:

viewtopic.php?f=4&t=16255#p125088
User avatar
EmuandCo
Developer
Posts: 4723
Joined: Sun Nov 28, 2004 7:52 pm
Location: Germany, Bavaria, Steinfeld
Contact:

Re: ROS and XP dual boot makes ROS startup much slower.

Post by EmuandCo »

It could have installed NTLDR over FREELDR. ROS once did load fine from NTLDR after a massive rework of the boot process, so it might be still possible.
ReactOS is still in alpha stage, meaning it is not feature-complete and is recommended only for evaluation and testing purposes.

If my post/reply offends or insults you, be sure that you know what sarcasm is...
Reziac
Posts: 27
Joined: Fri Dec 23, 2016 7:35 am

Re: ROS and XP dual boot makes ROS startup much slower.

Post by Reziac »

On C: root I see ntldr, freeldr.sys, and freeldr.ini

Since I used the DEBUG (FILE) boot, ROS has been starting normally, 12 seconds to desktop as before, hovering around 100mb RAM. Now that it's got past whatever initially ailed it, it's perfectly happy.

For comparison, WinXP Pro SP3 (MSDN Final) is 9 seconds to desktop, and WTF, this fresh install is bottoming out at 71mb RAM. (This is my everyday XP too, and I've never seen it be that economical before. It must love ROS. :)

It's quite interesting to have them side by side. Even with various stuff not yet working, ROS feels comfortably like WinXP (which even the most XP-like linux desktops don't quite manage). Everything looks and behaves as expected.
Post Reply

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 22 guests