[comp.os.msdos.misc] AT Hard Disk Tables and CMOS

luce@aurs01.UUCP (J. Luce) (12/21/90)

I have an AT clone (Hyundai 286C) and I have an Atasi HD with 7 heads
and 644 cylinders of 17 sectors. The drive table for CMOS configuration
does not have this model in there. How can I get the info into CMOS? I
looked at CMOSER.EXE and it shows the drive table but not how it maps to
the CMOS... any help would be greatly appreciated...

Please respond in this group as Mail never reaches me.

Thanks.
John Luce

ralphs@sumax.seattleu.edu (Ralph Sims) (12/21/90)

luce@aurs01.UUCP (J. Luce) writes:

> I have an AT clone (Hyundai 286C) and I have an Atasi HD with 7 heads
> and 644 cylinders of 17 sectors. The drive table for CMOS configuration
> does not have this model in there. How can I get the info into CMOS? I
> looked at CMOSER.EXE and it shows the drive table but not how it maps to
> the CMOS... any help would be greatly appreciated...

Set it up as a user-defined drived (maybe a Type 47?).

lwb@pensoft.UUCP (Lance Bledsoe) (12/22/90)

In article <59398@aurs01.UUCP> luce@aurw46.UUCP (J. Luce) writes:
>I have an AT clone (Hyundai 286C) and I have an Atasi HD with 7 heads
>and 644 cylinders of 17 sectors. The drive table for CMOS configuration
>does not have this model in there. How can I get the info into CMOS? I
>looked at CMOSER.EXE and it shows the drive table but not how it maps to
>the CMOS... any help would be greatly appreciated...

Go get a package called SPEEDSTORE.  Speedstore will allow you to "add your own
disk parms" by inserting them into the boot sector on the disk.  This will allow
you to use any MFM, RLL, ESDI, etc. disk without having the correct parms in 
CMOS.  Another benifit is that there are no special drivers required.

Some clone mfgs will ship you a system with a disk that has more heads or cyls
than the CMOS type suooprts.  Speedstore can allow you to make your disk 
slightly larger (altough I have seen increases as much as 8-10 meg).

There is no way to "add" new parms (permanantly that is) to the CMOS without
burning a new set of ROMS.

good luck



-- 
Lance Bledsoe                       Off:    (512) 343-1111                 
Pencom Software, Inc.               Fax     (512) 343-9650                 
8716 Loop 360 N. Suite 300          UUCP:   cs.utexas.edu!pensoft!lwb      
Austin, Texas  78759                UUNET:  uunet!uudell!pensoft!lwb       

hartnegg@sun1.ruf.uni-freiburg.de (Klaus Hartnegg) (12/23/90)

lwb@pensoft.UUCP (Lance Bledsoe) writes:

>Go get a package called SPEEDSTORE.  Speedstore will allow you to "add your own
>disk parms" by inserting them into the boot sector on the disk.  This will allow
>you to use any MFM, RLL, ESDI, etc. disk without having the correct parms in 
>CMOS.  Another benifit is that there are no special drivers required.

My disk was formatted with SpeedStore but I HAVE to write
device=\sstor.sys
in config.sys otherwise Norton's NDD (Version 5.0) hangs
when analyzing the partition table of this drive.

Why is there such a driver contained on the SpeedStore-Disk when
it is not needed?
-- 
---------------------------------------------------------------
Klaus Hartnegg, Kleist-Str. 7, D-7835 Teningen, Germany
Bitnet : HAKL@DFRRUF1, Internet : HAKL@ibm.ruf.uni-freiburg.de
X.400  : G=klaus;S=hartnegg;OU=ibm;OU=ruf;P=uni-freiburg;A=dbp;C=de

hollen@megatek (Dion Hollenbeck) (12/24/90)

In article <1990Dec22.191039.15435@sun1.ruf.uni-freiburg.de> hartnegg@sun1.ruf.uni-freiburg.de (Klaus Hartnegg) writes:
In article <1990Dec22.191039.15435@sun1.ruf.uni-freiburg.de> hartnegg@sun1.ruf.uni-freiburg.de (Klaus Hartnegg) writes:
> lwb@pensoft.UUCP (Lance Bledsoe) writes:
> 
> >Go get a package called SPEEDSTORE.  Speedstore will allow you to 
> >"add your own disk parms" by inserting them into the boot sector 
> >on the disk.  This will allow you to use any MFM, RLL, ESDI, etc. 
> >disk without having the correct parms in  CMOS.  Another benifit 
> >is that there are no special drivers required.
> 
> My disk was formatted with SpeedStore but I HAVE to write
> device=\sstor.sys
> in config.sys otherwise Norton's NDD (Version 5.0) hangs
> when analyzing the partition table of this drive.
> 
> Why is there such a driver contained on the SpeedStore-Disk when
> it is not needed?

With packages like SpeedStore and Ontrak Disk Manager, the driver
is usually not needed if you are dealing with a drive that DOS 
and application programs can deal with directly.  If not (i.e.
partitions greater than 32mb  or drives bigger than 32mb with
multiple partitions on DOS prior to 3.3), then the driver IS
needed.  When you go this route, be SURE that you set up the
CMOS to have "NO HARD DRIVE INSTALLED".  In this manner, only
the loaded device driver will be trying to access the disk.
I HAD to do this with my OMTI controller card because it has
an on-board BIOS and even though the drives were ones which
could be recognized by the CMOS setup, they had to be accessed
through the controller BIOS.



--
	Dion Hollenbeck             (619) 455-5590 x2814
	Megatek Corporation, 9645 Scranton Road, San Diego, CA  92121
        uunet!megatek!hollen       or  hollen@megatek.uucp

lwb@pensoft.UUCP (Lance Bledsoe) (12/24/90)

In article <1990Dec22.191039.15435@sun1.ruf.uni-freiburg.de> HAKL@ibm.ruf.uni-freiburg.de writes:

>My disk was formatted with SpeedStore but I HAVE to write
>device=\sstor.sys
>in config.sys otherwise Norton's NDD (Version 5.0) hangs
>when analyzing the partition table of this drive.
>
>Why is there such a driver contained on the SpeedStore-Disk when
>it is not needed?

I believe that the driver is for pre-DOS 4.0 (or COMPAQ DOS 3.3) large
partitons (larger that 33 MB).  I have noticed that when using Speedstores
automated setup, the driver is sometimes used when it isn't needed.

Lance


-- 
Lance Bledsoe                       Off:    (512) 343-1111                 
Pencom Software, Inc.               Fax     (512) 343-9650                 
8716 Loop 360 N. Suite 300          UUCP:   cs.utexas.edu!pensoft!lwb      
Austin, Texas  78759                UUNET:  uunet!uudell!pensoft!lwb       

luce@aurs01.UUCP (J. Luce) (12/28/90)

To clarify this further, Hyundai USES Type 47 as a specific drive. The
table is in ROM and only those listed can be set up via the front-end
configuration prg (also in ROM).