smithj@ohstpy.mps.ohio-state.edu (05/25/91)
A friend of mine is forced to use an original IBM PC-XT with a 10Mg HD. When he received it we erased everything and reformated the drive using the FORMAT command under IBM-DOS 2.10. Everthing worked fine. He then bought IBM-DOS 3.30 and installed that system (including command.com in the root). But when we rebooted the computer it just hung. We reintalled 2.10 and the same thing happened. Next we again reformatted using 2.10 and everything was OK again. So we figured we should use the FORMAT from 3.30 but that didn't solve the problem. If you have any suggestions please help but please follow these guidlines: 1. I have used IBM-DOS 3.30 on an original PC-XT before so it's not just incompatible. 2. He can't just run out and buy a newer computer so give that suggestion to someone else. 3. I'm not a complete moron so while all suggestions are encouraged please try to avoid the obvious neophite mistakes. (i.e. we have used FDISK, etc.) 4. My guess is that the hard drive needs a new low-level format. If you agree with this diagnosis let me know where I can get a program to do the trick. I only set up these guidelines to reduce the net traffic. Something about which not enough users are concerned (unfortunately). Thanx. -- I knew how the game was going to end when I took Brenda into the filing room but I took her in anyway. --Al They have one big advantage over us: *they* know where they're going. --Batman Has your family tried 'em, Powdermilk? --Garrison Keillor /* Jeffery G. Smith, BS-RHIT (AKA Doc. Insomnia, WMHD-FM) * * The Ohio State University, Graduate Physics Program * * 3193 Smith Lab, Columbus, OH 43210 (614) 292-5321 * * smithj@ohstpy.mps.ohio-state.edu */
nef@mace.cc.purdue.edu (paulhicks) (05/26/91)
In article <10177.283d9e6a@ohstpy.mps.ohio-state.edu> smithj@ohstpy.mps.ohio-state.edu writes: >4. My guess is that the hard drive needs a new low-level format. If you agree > with this diagnosis let me know where I can get a program to do the trick. > Jeffery, I cannot solve your problem, however, the way to format the hard drive is to use the IBM Diagnostic disk which came with the machine, unless ofcourse your disk drive controller has the ability to format the disk itself. If you truely have an origional IBM-PC/XT with its origional drive and controller, you will need the Diagnostic disk. There may be a few gurus out there who know better and I would welcome the help to enlighten me :-) Good Luck, Paul __________________________________________________________________ | | |"...and on the eigth day god created the Sauter Mean Diameter." | | - D.W.Senser | |________________________________________________________________|
atc@waikato.ac.nz (05/26/91)
In article <7560@mace.cc.purdue.edu>, nef@mace.cc.purdue.edu (paulhicks) writes: > In article <10177.283d9e6a@ohstpy.mps.ohio-state.edu> smithj@ohstpy.mps.ohio-state.edu writes: > >>4. My guess is that the hard drive needs a new low-level format. If you agree >> with this diagnosis let me know where I can get a program to do the trick. >> > Jeffery, I cannot solve your problem, however, the way to format > the hard drive is to use the IBM Diagnostic disk which came with the > machine, unless ofcourse your disk drive controller has the ability > to format the disk itself. If you truely have an origional IBM-PC/XT > with its origional drive and controller, you will need the Diagnostic > disk. There may be a few gurus out there who know better and I would > welcome the help to enlighten me :-) > > Good Luck, Paul I once had a client who dropped his original IBM XT on the ground, this damaged the hard-disk (according to nortons anyway), as I didnt have the original diags disk I removed the harddrive and attached it to the controller in my Commodore PC 10iii (20 meg MFM) reformatted it according to the commodore pc10 operations guide, then put it back in the IBM XT! Low and behold it worked. Just an idea, and I DONT GUARANTEE this will work for all variations that could arise. -- Andrew Chambers Computer Services University of Waikato New Zealand ATC@WAIKATO.AC.NZ
lion@dat1hb.north.de (Daniel Tietze) (05/27/91)
smithj@ohstpy.mps.ohio-state.edu writes: [ sad story deleted .... ] > 4. My guess is that the hard drive needs a new low-level format. If you agre > with this diagnosis let me know where I can get a program to do the trick. That could suffice. On your XT - assuming that you have a) a standard controller BIOS, and b) some means of starting DOS's DEBUG on the defunct computer, typing g=c800:5 at DEBUG's prompt SHOULD call a low-level formatting routine. Don't blame me if it doesn't - I didn't build the stupid thing :-) (On seconds thoughts - I wish I had). > I only set up these guidelines to reduce the net traffic. Something about > which not enough users are concerned (unfortunately). Right! I'll stop right away. Just let me get my sig in. Daniel Tietze +------------------------------------------------------------------+ | Daniel Tietze, 2800 Bremen 1, Tel.(voice) : 0421/448806 | |-=============- DATELINE Communications, Bremen. The home of DMS | | Mail: (private) lion@dat1hb.north.de (univ) E07J@DHBRRZ41.BITNET | |-====- DMS-Support: dateline@dat1hb.north.de | +------------------------------------------------------------------+
mrr1@Isis.MsState.Edu (mark r rauschkolb) (05/28/91)
I will assume that when you installed the 3,30 system you used the SYS
command.
You said you reformatted the drive. Does this mean that there is nothing
on it, including no AUTOEXEC.BAT or CONFIG.SYS? If these are there, try
removing them - one of the drivers in CONFIG.SYS may not be compatible.
Can you boot the system from the 3.30 floppy?
If so, can you run CHKDSK, FDISK, or FORMAT on drive C?
If CHKDSK doesn't find a large number of bad sectors, ignore the
low-level format (which can be done by running DEBUG and giving
the command G=C800:5 and following the prompts)
Do a FORMAT c: /s (from drive a)
rebooting the system should work - no autoexec or config.sys to cause
problems.
-Mark
(no .sig )phys169@csc.canterbury.ac.nz (06/05/91)
In article <10177.283d9e6a@ohstpy.mps.ohio-state.edu>, smithj@ohstpy.mps.ohio-state.edu writes: > A friend of mine is forced to use an original IBM PC-XT with a 10Mb HD. I bet it doesn't have a partition table. That's the first source of confusion. > When he received it we erased everything and reformated the drive using the > FORMAT command under IBM-DOS 2.10. Everthing worked fine. He then bought > IBM-DOS 3.30 and installed that system (including command.com in the root). > But when we rebooted the computer it just hung. That's happened to me. The problem basically is: DOS stores information in the boot sector, such as how many sectors each FAT takes. For some stupid reason, DOS often ignores that information, and goes by its own estimation of where things should begin. Unfortunately, this varies between versions of the operating system, and the calculations used by the boot program when you start up are different to the calculations used while the thing is running. So you can boot from a floppy and see all the files on a hard disk okay, then try booting from it, and everything is wrong. The only DOS to pretty consistently get it right seems to be DRDOS 5. The factors that make the most difference are: (1) the difference between DOS 2.x and DOS 3.x (2) smallish drives, where some O/S's choose 12-bit FATS and others 16-bits (3) not having a partition table. Mainly a problem for those trying to install new software "by the book" and wondering why it doesn't work. (4) The fact that some drives formatted under different versions of operating system can be accessed when you boot from floppy, but not from the drive itself. As an interesting exercise, you might like to boot from DOS2 and DOS3 (and even DRDOS5) floppies, and run Norton's NU on the drive, seeing where the root directory seems to be. The solution is to either install DRDOS 5 (which seems to work with anything), or boot from whatever version of DOS will read the disk, copy everything off that you need, reformat the disk (a good opportunity to use HDDIAG or some other good disk utility to look for bad blocks and low-level format), then boot from a floppy containing the version of O/S you want, and FDISK then FORMAT then SYS the disk. Note that a low-level format *shouldn't* be needed, but is a good idea, partly because I have once or twice come across a hard disk with a bad block in an area important to the operating system when it was loading, which made me think there was a software fault. Hope this helps, Mark Aitchison, Physics, University of Canterbury, New Zealand.