[comp.lang.c] Quick C / Western Digital controller bug, FAT erasures

hal@ugacs.UUCP (Hal N. Brooks) (12/18/87)

Forgive me if this somewhat dated news item has already made the rounds, but 
I thought it significant enough to make sure that everyone knows.

According to the Dec. 7 issue of `InfoWorld, The PC News Weekly', Quick C has
(or had) a tendency to erase the FAT (file allocation table) of hard disks
connected by a Western Digital controller with a BIOS that WD discontinued
two years ago.  It seems that the BIOS and Quick C used the same interrupt
vector for different purposes.

The problem ROM can be identified by the label "EPROM #62-000043-010".
If you call Western Digital at 1-800-847-6181, extension 3400, they will
supply a revised BIOS.  Microsoft says they will correct the problem
by the year's end.

-hal   (gatech!ugacs!hal)

cy03+@andrew.cmu.edu (Chao-Ping Yang) (12/21/87)

I am glad that hal@ugacs.UUCP (Hal N. Brooks) posted this note because
I have just purchased a Quick C and I sort of remember seeing something
about QC and WD and was wondering what to do since I do have a WD on one
of my PC.

I have another PC which is a true IBM XT, can somebody tell me if I should
worry about using QC there too?

Thanks in advance.

==Chaoping