From: hslama AT datacomm DOT ch (Heribert Slama)
Newsgroups: comp.os.msdos.djgpp
Subject: RHIDE 1.4 (debugger) MANGLED File Allocation Table
Date: Fri, 10 Oct 1997 00:53:48 GMT
Message-ID: <343d7a07.4446068@news.datacomm.ch>
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To: djgpp AT delorie DOT com
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Two days ago, I downloaded the latest release of RHIDE __1.4__
(binaries only) after reading
http://www.tu-chemnitz.de/~rho/rhide.html
and Installed it.

Re-compiled and linked a program in a _Windows_DOS-box_, then selected
'Run / Go to Cursor'.

This raised hell; Windows (3.1) issued a cryptical message going like
this: 'System Integrity lost ....... re-start your System'. I clicked
OK. Screen went black, then msg  'COMMAND.COM not found'.

Ctrl-Alt-Del,......., Beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep continuously!!!

I shoved in my emergency diskette and during the next hours found out:

Harddisk 1 containing drives C: (home of DOS) and D: (home of Windows)
had their FAT's (File Allocation Tables) corrupted. One of the FAT's
was obviously overlaid by TEXT (part of the mouse drivers INI-file).
Even the 2nd copy of the FAT (good old Norton Disk Doctor!) was
damaged.
Most files were still there, but many important ones (Windows INI and
group files, the registry!, some DOS modules) were lost. Window's
trying to shut down must have aggravated the damage.

OTOH, Harddisk 2 (home of DJGPP) got only nicked (one chain of lost
clusters).

I could copy a lot of files to Harddisk 2 but still had to rebuild DOS
and Windows from setup diskettes. Most Win applications must be
re-installed, because ini-files and registry are lost.

A few technical details:
I downloaded not from Robert's site, but from a local one:
ftp://sunsite.cnlab-switch.ch/mirror/simtelnet/gnu/djgpp/v2apps/rhide14b.zip
(file date not recorded in FTP log).
I run Windows 3.1 on MS-DOS 6.2; RHIDE 1.3b worked well. I didn't
upgrade any of the other DJGPP components (binaries only): GCC2721,
GDB416. DJGPP stuff always runs under control of a special PIF file.

Has anybody observed a similar incident?
(Can't see much of Oct 8+9 on my (infamous) news server.)

If I may give an advice: Try RHIDE 1.4 (debugging) first under plain
DOS, with write disk caching disabled. If there really is a bug, the
damage may be much smaller this way.

Rebuilding my Windows
and still sobbing,
	-Heribert

[Posted & e-mailed to Robert Hoehne
<Robert DOT Hoehne AT Mathematik DOT TU-Chemnitz DOT DE>]

P.S.: Robert, I don't dare firing up RHIDE again to produce a standard
"Bug Report". I hope you understand ;-)


---
Heribert Slama <hslama AT datacomm DOT ch>
Systems programmer
Muttenz, Switzerland