radon@phoenix.Princeton.EDU (Radon Research) (05/10/88)
I recently installed an Intel Inboard PC 386 board in a real XT and encountered some problems. I want to know who (if anyone) else has seen similar things. First, my 20 meg Seagate drive generates seek errors (it NEVER did this before) It is so bad I'm going to replace it as soon as I complete a "women and children first" backup. These seek errors persist for certain files even when the speed is bumped down or extra wait states added to hard disk requests. Also, the machine now fails on occasion to boot up. The disk whirrs, but no video (not even a cursor) comes on. This means no memory count, no boot, - just a big desk heater. has anyone else got similar negative reports to make, or glowing positive reports? Is it going to nuke my new disk as well? (at least this one will be nuked under warranty) -- Bill Radon *Phoenix Gang* "Ask anyone - Bill's a Gas" Disclaimer: If you don't like what I have to say, I will infiltrate your home and eat your children's lungs till they puke blood.
goldberg@mit-caf.UUCP (Andrew F. Goldberg) (05/10/88)
In article <2826@phoenix.Princeton.EDU> radon@phoenix.Princeton.EDU (Radon Research) writes: >I recently installed an Intel Inboard PC 386 board in a real XT and >encountered some problems. I want to know who (if anyone) else has seen >similar things. >First, my 20 meg Seagate drive generates seek errors (it NEVER did this >before) It is so bad I'm going to replace it as soon as I complete a >"women and children first" backup. These seek errors persist for >certain files even when the speed is bumped down or extra wait states >added to hard disk requests. Also, the machine now fails on occasion to >boot up. The disk whirrs, but no video (not even a cursor) comes on. >This means no memory count, no boot, - just a big desk heater. > has anyone else got similar negative reports to make, or glowing >positive reports? Is it going to nuke my new disk as well? (at least >this one will be nuked under warranty) I installed Intel inboards in 2 genuine IBM XT's and have only glowing praise. Norton index of 16.7. At the same time I replaced the original 10MB hard disk with a 40MB Seagate drive (from PC Connection - came with OnTrack Disk Manager) and have had no problems, EXCEPT.... Sometimes executable programs would not run off the hard disk unless recopied from the distribution floppy. CHKDSK was happy, and so was norton's disktest utility in "check data" mode, but not "check file" mode, for which it reported errors on the files I was having trouble with. I believe the problem was with the disk cache software (ICACHE.COM) that came with the Inboard. In the manual it mentions that the default mode is to read not just the sector you need, but the entire track in which the requested sector resides. The manual mentions that if there is a bad sector in the track the cache software may fail. This apparently includes even known bad sectors that DOS would otherwise tolerate. So unless you have a disk with absolutely NO bad sectors (I don't) this default mode will, if I am correct, bring you guaranteed trouble. Fortunately there is a way to turn off this "feature" (/T-) and read only the sector that is requested. Using the /T- switch has made this repeatable problem go away from both XT's. Andy Goldberg MIT Laboratory for Electromagnetic and Electronic Systems Cambridge, Mass. internet: goldberg@lees.mit.edu
wnp@dcs.UUCP (Wolf N. Paul) (05/12/88)
In article <2826@phoenix.Princeton.EDU> radon@phoenix.UUCP writes: >I recently installed an Intel Inboard PC 386 board in a real XT and >encountered some problems. I want to know who (if anyone) else has seen >similar things. >First, my 20 meg Seagate drive generates seek errors (it NEVER did this >before) It is so bad I'm going to replace it as soon as I complete a >"women and children first" backup. These seek errors persist for >certain files even when the speed is bumped down or extra wait states >added to hard disk requests. Do these errors persist when you take the Inboard board out of the machine? I would try that first, before replacing the hard disk. >Also, the machine now fails on occasion to >boot up. The disk whirrs, but no video (not even a cursor) comes on. >This means no memory count, no boot, - just a big desk heater. Same recommendation -- check to see if it still misbehaves when you "uninstall" the Inboard PC 386. -- Wolf N. Paul * 3387 Sam Rayburn Run * Carrollton TX 75007 * (214) 306-9101 UUCP: ihnp4!killer!dcs!wnp ESL: 62832882 INTERNET: wnp@DESEES.DAS.NET or wnp@dcs.UUCP TLX: 910-280-0585 EES PLANO UD
jcmorris@mitre-bedford.ARPA (Joseph C. Morris) (05/12/88)
In a recent article radon@phoenix.Princeton.EDU (Radon Research) writes: >I recently installed an Intel Inboard PC 386 board in a real XT and >encountered some problems. I want to know who (if anyone) else has seen >similar things. I'm currently trying to install an InBoard/386 in an ancient (5-slot) PC with an expansion chassis...unsuccessfully so far. Problems seen: (1) The system POD's resent the simultaneous presence of the InBoard/386, an IBM EGA board (with or without extra memory) and the IBM expansion transmitter card (with or without the expansion chassis attached). The EGA card works OK in character mode but has trouble addressing the graphics memory. Substituting another IBM EGA board didn't help matters but replacing it with a QuadEGA+ board fixed *that* problem. Intel says that they never tested that combination. (2) With the QuadEGA installed everything boots up OK, but the diagnostic disk complains about the IBM monochrome adapter memory. The mono board is in the expansion chassis. (3) The unit generates I/O channel errors attempting to write to the hard disks in the expansion chassis (WD RLL controller). This may be linked with item (2) as a DMA interface problem. Intel has these problems somewhere in its queue for its compatibility lab. Stay tuned for further developments as they occur. Film at 11.
wtm@neoucom.UUCP (Bill Mayhew) (05/13/88)
I just installed an Inboard 386 in the Epson Equity III that I am using right at this very instant. Here are some observations: 1. Sometimes requires turning the power switch on and off several times before the POST starts running. 2. Will not boot at all with the BUS speed switch on the back of the equity set to 8 MHz; has to be 6 MHz. 3. Hangs while reading the config.sys file, if you try to use the Intel-supplied iemm386.sys ems memory emulator. 4. The only way to reboot is hitting the power switch. The front panel reset switch or the 3-finger-salute (ctrl-alt-del) won't do it; they just hand the system. 4. Boots up in a very slow speed of 4.4 as reported by Norton's version 4 SI program. 5. Running Intel-supplied "speed.exe 4 256" increases the speed as reported by SI to 14.4. 6. Running 386-to-the-max improves things a whole bunch!! The 386max EMS emulator DOES work, the SI is increased to 16.7, the 3-finger-salute is restored to proper functionality. 7. It DOES run windows 386, but much, much more slowly than my IBM model 80. This is surprising, since the RAM on the inboard is 32 bits wide. Must be the fact that this equity has an EGA board, which is much less efficient than the VGA on the model 80. (In this case, both '386s are 16 MHz.) All in all, I have to give the the inboard a lukewarm reception. It really doesn't speed normal DOS operations all that much (except for spreadsheet recalcs, which are admittedly much faster. In fact about 1/2 the time on the '386). There are a lot of sort little gremlins that might rise up and bite a neophyte user. If you are a power user, you'll probably know what is going on, and be able to deal with it. If you use the inboard, I very strongly recomend getting 386-to-the-max as well; it fixes a lot of things that are broken with Intel's software. As for hardware compatibility; it seems excellent once the dang thing is booted. The flaky start up seems to be only a power up problem. The peripherals in use on this system are: WD AT disk controller / Rodime 45 meg 3.5", 28mS drive AST EGA 3+ / NEC Multisync Taiwan special generic serial/parallel board EPROM burner Inboard with 3 megs of memory Motherboard floppy / 1.2 meg / Archive tape backup Motherboard serail port Motherboard clock/cal DOS 3.2 --Bill