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First post, by jasa1063

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I have been trying to figure out why on a lot of my retro computers Turbo BASIC v1.1 will either freeze on starting or freeze when trying to open any files or change directory. I finally narrowed it down to all my computers running with an XT-IDE BIOS. I did some testing with 86Box with and without the XT-IDE BIOS loaded and replicated it there as well. Has anyone else run into this and if so is there any known work around?

Reply 1 of 4, by Jo22

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Hi, may I ask what computer are you using ? XT or AT ?
I'm not sure how to help, but if it is an AT class computer, you could try that 386 build of XTIDE Universal BIOS (XUB) that works with Win95.
Maybe it would be more compatible, not sure. I have no real XT-TIDE card at hand.

"Time, it seems, doesn't flow. For some it's fast, for some it's slow.
In what to one race is no time at all, another race can rise and fall..." - The Minstrel

//My video channel//

Reply 2 of 4, by jasa1063

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Jo22 wrote on 2020-07-26, 07:45:

Hi, may I ask what computer are you using ? XT or AT ?
I'm not sure how to help, but if it is an AT class computer, you could try that 386 build of XTIDE Universal BIOS (XUB) that works with Win95.
Maybe it would be more compatible, not sure. I have no real XT-TIDE card at hand.

These are XT Class computers, 386 and above seem to be unaffected as I have tested that as well.

Reply 3 of 4, by Jo22

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I see. I'm really sorry that I'm of no help.
- I'm using an ancient 20MB MFM/RLL drive in my one and only XT.

Anyway, here are some random ideas for you.
a) try smart drive - maybe it has more compatible file handling than DOS itself
b) try doublespace/drivespace - same reason as mentioned before
c) use a more modern BIOS - http://www.phatcode.net/downloads.php?id=101

"Time, it seems, doesn't flow. For some it's fast, for some it's slow.
In what to one race is no time at all, another race can rise and fall..." - The Minstrel

//My video channel//

Reply 4 of 4, by jasa1063

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I found out that setting XT-IDE BIOS to full operating mode will solve the issue. I can confirm that this works. It will not work on Tandy 1000s that use system memory for video memory. If you have a Tandy 1000 with VGA card or one that has a 128K memory expansion installed for 768K, it will then work just fine.