tom@vrdxhq.UUCP (Tom Welsh) (09/28/88)
I am still having problems with my compaq ...
I tried a later version of dos (MS-DOS 3.2) and it still won't boot
from hard disk -- only floppy. I would like to hear from someone
who has the following configuration and boots from the hard disk
with no problem --
Compaq Deskpro (8086 NOT 8088) (Actually, I have a NEC V30)
1 5.25 360K drive
1 20 MB hard disk
1 3.5 720K drive
640K memory
(the memory is: 256k on mother board
256k on DAVONG memory board (bought in 1982 and
NO memory errors ever!)
128k on AST 6-pack plus)
THe Compaq was originally purchased in Aug 85 (Davong board was inherited
from my vintage IBM-PC)
To support the 3.5 drive, I use device = driver.sys. Bizarrely, both
B: and D: point to the 3.5 drive (B is 360k, D is 720k).
Anyway -- I need help. (And thanks to the people who suggested I
check FDISK to make sure I had an active partition...that would be a
pretty brainless mistake -- but one I am certainly capable of. Alas,
that WAS NOT the problem.)
I am not desperate, but I did resort to writing to Jerry Pournelle.
Thanks in advance ... Tom Welshberger@clio.las.uiuc.edu (09/30/88)
You didn't mention what kind of hard disk controller you have. If
you have an intelligent one, then it should boot. If you have a
stupid one, you need the right level of ROM BIOS in your Compaq.
Check with Compaq to see if your BIOS ROM needs to be replaced.
Mike Berger
Department of Statistics
Science, Technology, and Society
University of Illinois
berger@clio.las.uiuc.edu
{convex | pur-ee}!uiucuxc!clio!bergerleonard@bucket.UUCP (Leonard Erickson) (10/01/88)
In article <10269@vrdxhq.UUCP> tom@vrdxhq.UUCP (Tom Welsh) writes:
<I am still having problems with my compaq ...
<
<I tried a later version of dos (MS-DOS 3.2) and it still won't boot
<from hard disk -- only floppy. I would like to hear from someone
<who has the following configuration and boots from the hard disk
<with no problem --
<
< Compaq Deskpro (8086 NOT 8088) (Actually, I have a NEC V30)
< 1 5.25 360K drive
< 1 20 MB hard disk
< 1 3.5 720K drive
< 640K memory
< (the memory is: 256k on mother board
< 256k on DAVONG memory board (bought in 1982 and
< NO memory errors ever!)
< 128k on AST 6-pack plus)
<
<THe Compaq was originally purchased in Aug 85 (Davong board was inherited
<from my vintage IBM-PC)
<
<To support the 3.5 drive, I use device = driver.sys. Bizarrely, both
<B: and D: point to the 3.5 drive (B is 360k, D is 720k).
This is normal behavior for Driver.sys. You might try DRIVPARM=/d:1
instead of DEVICE=DRIVER.SYS in CONFIG.SYS. It works with DOS 3.2
and lets B: be a 720k.
<Anyway -- I need help. (And thanks to the people who suggested I
<check FDISK to make sure I had an active partition...that would be a
<pretty brainless mistake -- but one I am certainly capable of. Alas,
<that WAS NOT the problem.)
Here's another suggestion. Use Norton utilities or something to see where
on the disk IBMBIO.COM and IBMDOS.COM are. They *must* be the first
entries in the root directory, and IBMBIO must be in a contigous block
*immediately following the directory (ie clusters 2-???). On DOS 3.2
and later, IBMDOS doesn't have to be contigous, but I think it still
has to *start* immediately following IBMBIO.
At work I've had to help people recover from this mistake several times.
It seems that if you tell Norton Commander to copy *everything* on a
bootable floppy, and tell it it's ok to overwrite, it will merrily
copy these two files to the hard disk, and *then* delete the old
ones. This means that at boot, the system can't find IBMBIO where it
expects it....
--
Leonard Erickson ...!tektronix!reed!percival!bucket!leonard
CIS: [70465,203]
"I used to be a hacker. Now I'm a 'microcomputer specialist'.
You know... I'd rather be a hacker."