rlb@cohesive.UUCP (Bob Braun) (11/08/90)
The problem is that I can't do a low-level format on my two Maxtor 4380 hard disks. My system is an Everex 486-25 with MS-DOS 4.01. The system previously had an Omti 8620 controller, and both disks worked fine. I decided to change to a better controller and that is where the fun started. I have had five different ESDI controllers since then and none of them can recognize the drive. What gives? does the Omti do something strange to the drive? Omti has been no help and neither has Maxtor. Please post suggestions as my email is flaky.
freewill@pawl.rpi.edu (Jenni L. Lexau) (11/09/90)
Everex's Step machine's BIOS has supported ESDI controllers directly for a couple of years, but this doesn't work with all controllers. The recommended method is to set the drive type to either 'none' or 1 (try both) with setup, then low-level the drive with the controller's BIOS (usually debug g=c800:5). The controller's BIOS should be enabled with a jumper setting. (A drive type of 1 will give an incorrect cylinder/head display initially.) Quimby (quimby@rpitsmts.bitnet, quimby@mts.rpi.edu)
jc58+@andrew.cmu.edu (Johnny J. Chin) (11/10/90)
ESDI drives are different from MFM drives. The drive specs are stored on the
drive itself. You tell the system BIOS that the drive type is 1. And run
debug to configure and low-level format the drive. (Someone out there please
correct me if I'm wrong). The debug instructions should have come with the
controller card.
In order for the new controllers (the ones you replaced the OMTI 8620 with),
you must run debug and reconfigure the drive. Each manufacturer may have a
different encoding for the drive specifications, in the the way they store
them on the drive. In other words, you will lose everything on the drive.
I hope this helps ...
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