waldref@psueea.UUCP (Greg Waldref) (09/27/86)
I am trying to install a Seagate st-251 40 meg drive in my AT clone. I am useing a 16 bit Western Digital controler #wd1003- wa2, and IBM ms-dos 3.2. The drive has 6 heads and 820 tracks, so far all I've been able to do is call it a 'type' 8 and the advanced diagnostics will then format it using 5 of the heads and 733 tracks (32 Megs). If I set the type as 15, the diagnostics tries to do the low level format starting at track 1024, barfs, un, dies! I've found some info in an old Byte about setting up a drive type table and putting the pointer for it in INT 46h. However it doesn't tell where to put the table, or how to 'put the pointer in INT 46h. I've tried the debug methode: -g =c800:5, but there is not code there so this would do no good. Also I don't want to spend anouther $40 to $130 for a program to do the setup. I've tried getting the info from Micro Soft, but they say they don't suport Micro Soft DOS (must be anouther companys product!), also IBM says they don't suport DOS (or their Hardware) unless I have a reciept FROM THEIR STORE (not 'some other IBM store in anouther city). Seagate's answer is: It can only be done with the hard drive setup software offered by other companies ($40 to $130). Ok, but the software can do it, why can't it be done by hand?? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanx in advance greg waldref ...!tektronix!psu-cs!psueea!waldref
burton@parcvax.Xerox.COM (Philip M. Burton) (09/30/86)
<------> I had a similar problem, trying to match a CDC 36 MB drive to my AT. My solution was to get "DUB-14" from Golden Bow Systems, San Diego, CA. (See their ads in the back pages of PC Week and other rags.) For all o f $95, I got two prom chips which plugged into the empty sockets on my motherboard and software that expanded the AT's drive type table from 15 to over 50 drive types, with additional types being added. It is very likely that your drive will be supported. Along with the software were installation notes for various removable hard disks, and a special series of notes on patching Xenix 1.0 (S III) for various non-standard drives. A caveat. If you re-run IBM's SETUP program, you lose your hard disk until you rerun Golden Bow's setup program. Also, you better be a bit adept with hardware installation. Their instructions aren't for the faint-hearted. However, their support was *excellent and friendly*. No connection except as a satisfied customer, etc., etc., .etc. Phil Burton Xerox Corp.
berger@clio.Uiuc.ARPA (10/02/86)
The problem here is that the drive parameters are in ROM on the disk controller board, and you're limited to the specific drives that were anticipated by the controller manufacturer. The Golden Bow roms add additional drive parameter tables and possibly (I have no way to verify this) the code to let the disk controller read the drive parameters from the first sector of the disk (thus the need to use the special Golden Bow device driver). Some disk controller firmware, such as the Adaptec 2070, has this feature built-in.
stuart@BMS-AT.UUCP (Stuart D. Gathman) (10/04/86)
In article <260@psueea.UUCP>, waldref@psueea.UUCP (Greg Waldref) writes: > I am trying to install a Seagate st-251 40 meg drive in my AT We have found the simplest method of installing Brand-X disks in PC's is to use a ROM burner to copy the BIOS ROMS (from the controller for XT, from the motherboard for AT) to your PC, patch the drive table and burn new EPROMS. I attempted the software solution initially, but finally gave up as I lost count of how many places the ROM was accessed directly instead of using the vector. (How do you get the vector there before DOS boots? That's a good question: you have to modify the boot sector to put it there for you. Unfortunately, the rest of the boot sequence has to be tweaked as well since that vector is not used consistently until you are up and running. I was able to make it work by booting off a diskette and having a small memory resident program supply the hard disk table. This is hardly worth it.) Modifying the ROM also works for SCO Xenix (but not Microsoft, ie. IBM, Xenix. You have to patch several different programs: /boot, /xenix, /etc/fdisk, /etc/badtrack and maybe some others. How do you patch these before you install Xenix on your new disk? Ahhh, good question! You pretend you are a smaller supported disk; install; make the patch; reinstall.) * * * G R I P E * * * Both ROM and boot programs are the absolutely wrong place to put disk size information. Any intelligent DOS (or Unix port) would put disk size info on the home block of the disk (the boot sector) where it can always be read. I can only think of snivelling marketing reasons why Microsoft did things the way they did. (You should have bought True Blue.) Actually, the info is already there provided you don't have to worry about reduced write current and stuff! The number of tracks/cylinder and sectors/track can be deduced from the partition table since partitions are required to reside on cylinder boundaries. -- Stuart D. Gathman <..!seismo!{vrdxhq|dgis}!BMS-AT!stuart>
burton@parcvax.Xerox.COM (Philip M. Burton) (10/06/86)
<++++++++++++++> Rather than hassle with a PROM burner, which isn't something everyone has lying around, just spend 95 bucks for "DUB-14", from Golden Bow Systems in San Diego. You get a software disk plus two PROM chips to plug into your motherboard, in the unused PROM sockets. The software in the chips expands the AT's ROMBIOS table of drives, by almost 50 extra. The approach is so good that it fools even the Dealer Diagnostics for the AT. The only problem you will have is that if you rerun the SETUP program, you must rerun the Golden Bow setup program. Just a satisfied customer, etc. The usual disclaimers ..... Phil Burton Xerox Corp.