thfisher@lion.waterloo.edu (Terry Fisher) (12/04/89)
I have been trying to get the DRIVPARM command to make a clone recognise
the 3.5" drive as 720K. I keep getting an error message about an
unrecognized command in config.sys. Does this command work, or am I
doing something wrong.
Terry Fisher thfisher@lion.waterloo.edu
Waterloo, Ontario, Canada {...}!watmath!lion!thfisher
(519) 885-2785hollen@eta.megatek.uucp (Dion Hollenbeck) (12/04/89)
From article <18968@watdragon.waterloo.edu>, by thfisher@lion.waterloo.edu (Terry Fisher): > I have been trying to get the DRIVPARM command to make a clone recognise > the 3.5" drive as 720K. I keep getting an error message about an > unrecognized command in config.sys. Does this command work, or am I > doing something wrong. > Terry Fisher thfisher@lion.waterloo.edu > Waterloo, Ontario, Canada {...}!watmath!lion!thfisher > (519) 885-2785 Yes, but it depends on what version of DOS and how you use the command. Since you do not specify the exact command you are trying to use and also do not specify what version of DOS, nor do you specify XT or AT or 386, it is hard to say what your problem is. Therefore, I will give some general information which may lead you to the right answer. In DOS 3.2 on an XT DRIVPARM works as advertised. The command I use is DRIVPARM= /d:2 /f:2 which says that drive C, my third floppy is a 720k. Nevermind that it is a 5 1/4" 80 track, it works fine. You could have done this to drive A or B without opening the case. If you wanted to add a third or fourth floppy, be sure to open the case and reset the DIP switches the indicate the total number of floppies you have in the system. This same command on DOS 3.3 WILL FAIL. Previous postings to this newsgroup (unfortunately I cannot find the copy I saved) told how to add several CTL-A characters and some other characters to the end of the line and this will magically work!!! Maybe some kind soul would post this again for you. The other possiblity is trying DRIVER.SYS to handle the non-standard configuration, but the drive will be numbered ABOVE you hard disk and DRIVER.SYS takes valuable memory. Regardless of DOS version if you have an AT and are trying to add a third or fourth floppy, even if your controller card will support it, 9 out of 10 BIOS's will not let you indicate more than 2 floppies in the CMOS setup program. I curse shit-for-brains idiots who first came up with this, since it has become the standard rather than the exception. Since when does upgrading to a more powerful machine mean that you do not need as many type of I/O devices? Hope this helps and if your problem is DOS 3.3 (that's one of the reasons I have stayed with 3.2), hope someone will post the fix I mentioned. Dion Hollenbeck (619) 455-5590 x2814 Megatek Corporation, 9645 Scranton Road, San Diego, CA 92121 uunet!megatek!hollen or hollen@megatek.uucp
baird@cod.NOSC.MIL (John M. Baird) (12/05/89)
From article <18968@watdragon.waterloo.edu>, by thfisher@lion.waterloo.edu (Terry Fisher): > I have been trying to get the DRIVPARM command to make a clone recognise > the 3.5" drive as 720K. I keep getting an error message about an > unrecognized command in config.sys. Does this command work, or am I > doing something wrong. Depending on the supplier and the version of DOS, it should work. See the attached comments from HELPSB. John Baird, Naval Ocean Systems Center, San Diego, CA USA --------- Under Microsoft's version of DOS 3.3 and later (and most OEM's): DRIVPARM= /D:n [/T:t] [/S:s] [/H:h] [/F:f] [/N] [/C] Each DRIVPARM line configures a device on your computer and tells DOS to assign a unique drive name (letter) to it. Diskette drive names will follow the "standard" A: and B: (if present). Hard drive names will follow C: (and any other drive names assigned to partitions on the drive C: occupies). Under IBM's version of DOS 3.3 and later (and a few OEM's): DEVICE=[d:][pathname]DRIVER.SYS /D:n [/T:t] [/S:s] [/H:h] [/F:f] [/N] [/C] Each DEVICE line installs a device driver for a disk on your computer and assigns a unique drive letter to the disk. The assigned drive name will follow C: (and any other drive letters assigned to partitions on the drive C: occupies). Also a hint for those systems apparently without DRIVPARM: DRIVPARM lines if available on your system. [Actually, most DOS 3.3 and later systems have it, though some don't document it. To use it on those systems, try putting a Ctrl-A character between the DRIVPARM= and the first option.]
thfisher@lion.waterloo.edu (Terry Fisher) (12/06/89)
In article <18968@watdragon.waterloo.edu> I write: >I have been trying to get the DRIVPARM command to make a clone recognise >the 3.5" drive as 720K. I keep getting an error message about an >unrecognized command in config.sys. Does this command work, or am I >doing something wrong. I was trying to use it with DOS 3.3. The trick that worked was inserting a Control-A after the =. Thanks to all who gave me info. Terry Fisher thfisher@lion.waterloo.edu Waterloo, Ontario, Canada {...}!watmath!lion!thfisher (519) 885-2785
strike@clmqt.marquette.Mi.US (Strikemaster) (12/06/89)
thfisher@lion.waterloo.edu (Terry Fisher) writes: >I have been trying to get the DRIVPARM command to make a clone recognise >the 3.5" drive as 720K. I keep getting an error message about an >unrecognized command in config.sys. Does this command work, or am I >doing something wrong. >Terry Fisher thfisher@lion.waterloo.edu >Waterloo, Ontario, Canada {...}!watmath!lion!thfisher >(519) 885-2785 I have been told by several sources that DRIVPARM dropped dead with DOS 3.1. I have tried the same thing when I installed my 1.44 drive, and came up with the same problems. I am now using DOS 3.3, my demented system BIOS still thinks the drive is a 1.2 meg, and I just work around the mess with a few kludged .BAT file for formatting disks. All drive operations run normally, including DMA backup operations with PC-Tools 5.5, so there is hope yet. All this is taking place on a IBM 286 clone, so the situations might not be similar. Hope you get your problem cleared up. If all else fails, use DRIVER.SYS and configure the 3.5 as an external drive. You won't be able to boot from it, but at least you'll have it around for swapping files with the PS/2 gang. -- Tim Bowser ("Strikemaster") | Standard | mailrus!sharkey!clmqt!strike Enterprise Information System | Disclaimer | strike@clmqt.marquette.Mi.US Marquette, Mi. USA | Here | Voice:(906)-346-6735 => UNIX: The Adventure Begins... To vi, or not to vi, that is the question. <=
coffman@sparky.UUCP (Clark Coffman) (12/07/89)
In article <18968@watdragon.waterloo.edu> thfisher@lion.waterloo.edu (Terry Fisher) writes: [I have been trying to get the DRIVPARM command to make a clone recognise [the 3.5" drive as 720K. I keep getting an error message about an [unrecognized command in config.sys. Does this command work, or am I [doing something wrong. A friend mentioned something about this to me a year ago and wrote to Microsoft about it and they sent him a patch for it. He was using Dos 3.3 and once the patch was installed he had no more problems. You might try this. The program was called PATCH33.COM. I haven't ried it myself, don't have the drive yet. Good Luck. Hey, who else would you expect to be responsible for what I say? ----------(=- Dagda Mor -=)----------- Clark W. Coffman coffman@sparky.UUCP Fargo, N.D. - 701-232-9531 coffman@sparky.nodak.edu
leoh@hardy.harris.com (Leo Hinds) (12/07/89)
What does it take to get DRIVPARM to work with MSDOS4.01? ... I have been following this thread, & tried the ^A & ^A^A^A suggestions, but to no avail. Any other thoughts?
psfales@cbnewsc.ATT.COM (Peter Fales) (12/12/89)
After seeing several articles on this topic, it looks like it is
time to post this again. It has already been reposted several times
(by me), in addition to the original posting. I have no idea how
anyone found this out, but I have tried it on several different DOS 3.3
systems and it works great:
----------------------------- begin repost -------------------------------
From ttrdc!att!rutgers!apple!bbn!csd4.milw.wisc.edu!bionet!agate!ucbvax!decwrl!sun!pitstop!sundc!seismo!uunet!mcvax!ukc!harrier.ukc.ac.uk!rde Mon Feb 27 04:25:16 1989
Path: ttrde!ttrdc!att!rutgers!apple!bbn!csd4.milw.wisc.edu!bionet!agate!ucbvax!decwrl!sun!pitstop!sundc!seismo!uunet!mcvax!ukc!harrier.ukc.ac.uk!rde
From: rde@ukc.ac.uk (R.D.Eager)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc
Subject: Re: DRIVPARM config.sys variable - how do I access it?
Keywords: PC-DOS 3.30,DRIVPARM,config.sys
Message-ID: <238@harrier.ukc.ac.uk>
Date: 27 Feb 89 10:25:16 GMT
References: <606@infovax.lan.informatik.tu-muenchen.dbp.de>
Reply-To: rde@ukc.ac.uk (R.D.Eager)
Organization: Computing Lab, University of Kent at Canterbury, UK.
Lines: 18
I did post this before, but I fear it got lost....
There is a simple way of making DRIVPARM work, at least on PC-DOS 3.3 (I have
tried it and it works). It is *extremely* baroque, but who cares?
Place three control-A characters (yes, the ASCII value 1) into the line
after the DRIVPARM= bit, before the parameters. If we represent CONTROL-A
as ^A, the line might look like this:
DRIVPARM=^A^A^A/D:n /F:n ... etc
I don't know why it works, but it sure does!
--
Bob Eager
rde@ukc.UUCP
...!mcvax!ukc!rde
Phone: +44 227 764000 ext 7589
--
Peter Fales AT&T, Room 5B-420
N9IYJ 2000 N. Naperville Rd.
UUCP: ...att!ihlpb!psfales Naperville, IL 60566
Domain: psfales@ihlpb.att.com work: (708) 979-8031