Atari ST core simply refuses to start (no OSD)

[eobet]

Has this happened to anyone else?

I tried the latest and the second latest releases, exactly the same: Screen goes dark/garbled and the OSD button stops working so the only thing to do is Reset.

Also, no, deleting the config as in this thread doesn't work because I don't have a config for that core.

Arcade cores work well, console cores work well... this is the only one which gives me trouble. How can I find out more about this? Are there logs anywhere? Can I enable debug modes?

[kathleen]

Hi @eobet,

What about the TOS image ?, have you put the TOS.IMG at the right location ?
TOS.IMG is the operating system (from 1.0 for the early system to the 2.06 for the latest STE) of the ST. All versions are easily findable on the web. Just rename one to TOS.IMG
Actually the core expects to find the TOS in a file called TOS.IMG. If it is not there, then you'll see a black screen. If it is, then you should see a white screen for about 20 seconds followed by the GEM Desktop, unless you have mounted a floppy disk (blank or a game or so).
This is exactly how behaves a real Atari ST(E)

[eobet]

Thank you!

I had used the Update All script before, which apparently didn't get the TOS images for this core. Fixed now.

(Also, small note, I haven't used a real Atari ST in three decades, but I don't remember it taking 20 seconds to display a desktop... wasn't the whole point of TOS that it took something like 2 seconds to get to the desktop?)

EDIT: Wow, managed to bork it again, but this time removing the config worked... never encountered such a finnicky core!

[Malor]

I'm not an expert, but I think it depends on the TOS. Early ones are really quick, and some later ones are painfully slow, doing things like testing all the memory in the machine. You might possibly have a TOS that's scanning for hard drives that aren't there.

[FoxbatStargazer]

You can usually skip the memory test by pressing enter or spacebar.

[RealLarry]

(Also, small note, I haven't used a real Atari ST in three decades, but I don't remember it taking 20 seconds to display a desktop... wasn't the whole point of TOS that it took something like 2 seconds to get to the desktop?)

TOS is trying to boot from floppy drive A, but when no disk is inserted, it's trying and trying and trying... Insert an empty floppy image into drive A and the Core will boot into TOS within a sec. And as @kathleen already stated, TOS 2.06 has a RAM test before boot, which you can abort by hitting a key.

[ItalianGrandma]

If you want to skip the memory test with some later TOS images without needing to press a button, you can also use the disk attached below. I forget what the program's called, but I made this disk a while ago in order to automatically skip past the memtest.