rcharbon@athena.mit.edu (Ray Charbonneau) (02/28/91)
I would like to find a method of doing a low-level format on original IBM PC-XT 10 Meg hard disks without having to get the Advanced Diagnostics. Unfortunately, Norton 5.0's Calibrat program doesn't deal with this type of disk. Please e-m, but I will be checking for posts. -- Ray Charbonneau | Appropriate remark! - Dave Barry rcharbon@athena.mit.edu | b.i.b.w.y.l.o.a.i.w.y.i.t.b.w.- Brian Smith MIT and the Library Systems Office are glad that I'm posting my opinions here so that they don't have to listen to them anymore.
campbell@dev8h.mdcbbs.com (Tim Campbell) (03/06/91)
In article <1991Feb28.135914.10949@athena.mit.edu>, rcharbon@athena.mit.edu (Ray Charbonneau) writes: > I would like to find a method of doing a low-level format on original > IBM PC-XT 10 Meg hard disks without having to get the Advanced > Diagnostics. Unfortunately, Norton 5.0's Calibrat program doesn't > deal with this type of disk. > > Please e-m, but I will be checking for posts. > The low-level program is in the rom bios - to activate it, use DOS "debug". After carefully backing up everything you need, (and make sure you have a floppy that will boot DOS - just in case) do the following: Assume that you insert a floppy with the MS-DOS "DEBUG" program in drive A: C>A: A>DEBUG - <- debug uses the hyphen as it's prompt -g=c800:5 <- execute the program located in segment c800 starting at offset 5 (5 bytes) - this segment (c800) is the location of the hard drive controller's rom bios. you'll notice that if you run PC-Tools or Norton's "system info" there's always a line that says something to the effect of "additional bios located at hex paragraph C800" - that's this program - and some other bios routines that service the hard disk. The program will start prompting you for info. Questions like: What drive do you want to format 0, or 1, 0=drive c:? 1=drive d: (first and second PHYSICAL drives attached to that controller). What interleave factor do you want to use (I think 3 was the most common interleave factor - picking the wrong one wont "hurt" anything but response time. If you don't know your optimum interleave - Spinrite (available at most computer stores for about $80) will tell you. Otherwise assume 3. After it completes the low level format, you'll have to execute DOS "fdisk" to partition the drive, followed by DOS "format" to complete a high-level format. The address I gave you (c800:5) was pretty common - it is "possible" that your bios does it differently - some drives had an external program they provided on a floppy for this purpose - these instructions will "probably" work - BACK UP ANY IMPORTANT DATA! -Tim --------------------------------------------------------------------------- In real life: Tim Campbell - Electronic Data Systems Corp. Usenet: campbell@dev8.mdcbbs.com @ McDonnell Douglas M&E - Cypress, CA also: tcampbel@einstein.eds.com @ EDS - Troy, MI CompuServe: 71631,654 Prodigy: MPTX77A P.S. If anyone asks, just remember, you never saw any of this -- in fact, I wasn't even here.
dd2x+@andrew.cmu.edu (David Eugene Dwiggins) (03/08/91)
I was under the opinion that only RLL and above hard drives have formatting programs built into ROM. All the MFM controllers (except the ones that translate sectors) I've ever seen required a low-level formatting program on disk. (LLFORMAT.COM, etc.) David
schuster@panix.uucp (Michael Schuster) (03/08/91)
In article <4bpab3G00WCSRfv2wK@andrew.cmu.edu> dd2x+@andrew.cmu.edu (David Eugene Dwiggins) writes: >I was under the opinion that only RLL and above hard drives have formatting >programs built into ROM. > >All the MFM controllers (except the ones that translate sectors) I've ever >seen required a low-level formatting program on disk. >(LLFORMAT.COM, etc.) Read the subject line again. XT hard disk controllers, no matter what type, =must= have a ROM because the XT BIOS does not contain the code for hard disk support. On an AT it's different because the planar BIOS supports HD's by itself. -- Mike Schuster | CIS: 70346,1745 NY Public Access UNIX: ...cmcl2!panix!schuster | MCI Mail, GENIE: The Portal (R) System: schuster@cup.portal.com | MSCHUSTER
amichiel@rodan.acs.syr.edu (Allen J Michielsen) (03/10/91)
In article <1991Mar6.13430> campbell@dev8h.mdcbbs.com (Tim Campbell) writes: >In <1991Feb28.135914.10949>, rcharbon@athena.mit.edu (Ray Charbonneau) writes: >> I would like to find a method of doing a low-level format on original >> IBM PC-XT 10 Meg hard disks without having to get the Advanced >> Diagnostics. Unfortunately, Norton 5.0's Calibrat program doesn't >The low-level program is in the rom bios - to activate it, use DOS "debug". >Assume that you insert a floppy with the MS-DOS "DEBUG" program in drive A: >-g=c800:5 <- execute the program located in segment c800 starting >After it completes the low level format, you'll have to execute DOS "fdisk" >to partition the drive, followed by DOS "format" to complete a high-level >The address I gave you (c800:5) was pretty common - it is "possible" that Sorry tim, you don't get the cigar this time. The original poster said quite clearly that he has a original ibm with 10 MB. That quite clearly indicates that he PROBABLY is using a IBM controller. (Which was made by somebidy else, probably, but definately does NOT use thec800:5 address, and while it MUST have some sort of onboard bios extension, does NOT have ANY onboard software for doing a low level format. The IBM advanced diagnostocs (dealer only {not for sale} or from your local pirate) or some other software which has this provision built in is clearly indicated and the only solution available. Disk manager will NOT work, the other's I've never tried. The norton hardware manual includes debug directions for making a bootable floppy whose only function is to low level format all mfm & rll drives regardless of the controller software. It's about a page of typing, but is quite simple... A side note, thie program predates ide,scsi,esdi drives and other really 'smart' controllers that remap heads or cylinders or logical partitioning capabilities and probably won't work right on them.... I'd use this software (I haven't yet) ONLY on systems which require it (read that as with IBM hard disk systems which otherwise require the IBM advanced diagnostics...) al -- Al. Michielsen, Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering, Syracuse University InterNet: amichiel@rodan.acs.syr.edu amichiel@sunrise.acs.syr.edu Bitnet: AMICHIEL@SUNRISE