nina@panix.uucp (Nina Yuan) (06/28/91)
I have an interesting problem installing PC-DOS 5.0 in a 6 MHz IBM AT with a Plus Hardcard IIXL (50 meg). When, as directed, I put Upgrade Disk 1 in Drive A and reboot, I get a message to the effect that "DOS cannot be installed on Drive C because it has an incompatible FAT" or something to that effect. I highly suspect that this is due to the fact that the Hardcard requires a device driver (atdosxl.sys) to be run in order to access the drive. Also, since I have a 6 MHz AT (sigh), a program ATPLUS must be run to modify the IBMBIOS file in some way. Unfortunately, the upgrade disk seems to require that the computer be rebooted with the disk in the drive. Other attempts, such as booting the system "clean" execpt for atdosxl.sys and typing autoexec at the A> prompt only result in a request to reboot, which leads back to the first message. Has anyone else installed PC-DOS 5 (or even MS-DOS 5, do the installs differ?) with a Hardcard? If so, how did you do it? Does anyone have any suggestions on how to run the driver before installation? Or on how to create a bootable copy of DOS 5 so that I can install it manually? I'd really hate to resort to IBM's support line (which will probably ask why I'm using a Plus card in the first place!), or, even worse, Plus Development's 1-900 line (which was singularly unhelpful the last time I called and they charged me $5). Any suggestions or comments, by email or post, will be very gratefully received! :) Thanks! Note: I know that PC-DOS and the Hardcard SHOULD work because, in the new version of ATPLUS I got yesterday from the Plus bulletin board, it states that Plus fully supports PC and MS-DOS 5.0. -- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Nina H. Yuan Harvard College PANIX -- Public Access Unix of NY yuan1@husc.harvard.edu nina@panix.com
schuster@panix.uucp (Michael Schuster) (06/28/91)
In article <1991Jun28.010440.25453@panix.uucp> nina@panix.uucp (Nina Yuan) writes: >I have an interesting problem installing PC-DOS 5.0 in a 6 MHz IBM AT with >a Plus Hardcard IIXL (50 meg). When, as directed, I put Upgrade Disk 1 in >Drive A and reboot, I get a message to the effect that "DOS cannot be >installed on Drive C because it has an incompatible FAT" or something to >that effect. I highly suspect that this is due to the fact that the >Hardcard requires a device driver (atdosxl.sys) to be run in order to access >the drive. Also, since I have a 6 MHz AT (sigh), a program ATPLUS must >be run to modify the IBMBIOS file in some way. > I haven't seen the IBM version of DOS5, but MSDOS5 lets you install to floppies (SETUP /F). Is this possible to do with your AT. How about removing/disconnecting the hard drives so that DOS =must= install to floppies first? -- Mike Schuster | -CIS: 70346,1745 -NY Public Access UNIX: schuster@panix.com | -MCI Mail, GENIE: -The Portal (R) System: schuster@cup.portal.com | MSCHUSTER
yev_g@athena.mit.edu (Yevgeny Gurevich) (06/28/91)
In article <1991Jun28.012725.26058@panix.uucp> schuster@panix.uucp (Michael Schuster) writes: > >I haven't seen the IBM version of DOS5, but MSDOS5 lets you install to >floppies (SETUP /F). Is this possible to do with your AT. How about >removing/disconnecting the hard drives so that DOS =must= install to >floppies first? > > I believe that simply booting from a DOS 3.xx or 4.xx floppy, replacing it with the DOS 5.0 install disk and running the install program should work. There are also .txt files on the install disks which discuss the hardcard. >-- > Mike Schuster | -CIS: 70346,1745 >-NY Public Access UNIX: schuster@panix.com | -MCI Mail, GENIE: >-The Portal (R) System: schuster@cup.portal.com | MSCHUSTER -------------------- [ Yevgeny Gurevich ] -------------------- -- zctl set zwrite-signature "Yevmeister"
nina@panix.uucp (Nina Yuan) (06/29/91)
In article <1991Jun28.010440.25453@panix.uucp> nina@panix.uucp (Nina Yuan) writes: >Has anyone else installed PC-DOS 5 (or even MS-DOS 5, do the installs differ?) >with a Hardcard? If so, how did you do it? Does anyone have any suggestions >on how to run the driver before installation? Or on how to create a bootable >copy of DOS 5 so that I can install it manually? > Well, I finally got PC-DOS 5.0 up and running. For those who might be interested, as suggested by a fellow netter, the solution was as simple as making a DISKCOPY of Upgrade Disk 1, adding the Hardcard device driver and a config.sys that loaded the driver, and running ATPLUS.COM (for 6 MHz AT's) on the resulting disk. Rebooting with the Disk 1 copy resulted in a functioning install. Rather painless actually -- for some reason, it just didn't occur to me to do a DISKCOPY with one physical drive. Then again, it didn't occur to the two IBM technicians I talked with either... So, to add another data point to the discussion of differences between PC and MS-DOS, it seems that IBM's setup is less flexible, i.e., it won't let you install to floppy disks, and it requires a reboot before starting. It will certainly run on a less than 100% True Blue system, but it might take some fiddling to do it. Thanks to everyone who helped me out with this! -- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Nina H. Yuan Harvard College PANIX -- Public Access Unix of NY yuan1@husc.harvard.edu nina@panix.com