Re: "unable to load basic.system"

[ludditetech@mac.com (Simon Williams)]

> I would assume from that error message that ProDOS has found BASIC.SYSTEM
> and encounters an error when trying to load it. Which versions of ProDOS and
> BASIC.SYSTEM are you using? Maybe there was an incompatibilty between
> older/newer versions at some point.
> 
> Can you boot into BASIC from a good disk and then run BASIC.SYSTEM from one
> of the ones that won't boot? Use the hyphen (run anything) command,
> "-BASIC.SYSTEM".


At first I thought it must be a corrupted file, but since I was
initially copying the ProDOS and BASIC.SYSTEM files in pairs from
working Apple Utilities disks, I figured it must be something more
arcane...
Incidentally, I did manage to produce bootable disks by repeatedly
copying and deleting said files.  I'm guessing this would point to the
drives as the source of the error.(?)
Also, I wasn't aware that there were compatibility issues with
BASIC.SYSTEM and ProDOS versions -- though I'm certain that wasn't the
problem in this case...
Thanks for the suggestion, any further ideas? How can test a floppy
drive?
SW----->