[comp.sys.ibm.pc.misc] help: peculiar msdos 3.3 crash

pollack@dendrite.cis.ohio-state.edu (Jordan B Pollack) (10/01/90)

After some software anomolies, I decided to run a disk optimizer
(fastrax), which had me run chkdsk first.  It found problems in a
hidden file ibmbio.com among others, and truncated it. Not knowing the
significance at the time, I compacted away.  Later, when my machine
wouldn't boot, I deleted and copied both ibmbio.com and ibmdos.com
several ways, ("sys" didnt work), but cannnot solve it and I suspect
some directory tinkering might.  I am runing msdos 3.30 on a zenith
supersport286e.

I know I can fully back up my disk, then reformat it, and run
install and sys, but that will take many hours and floppies. Do any
experts know a shorter way? Thanks in advance.


--
Jordan Pollack                            Assistant Professor
CIS Dept/OSU                              Laboratory for AI Research
2036 Neil Ave                             Email: pollack@cis.ohio-state.edu
Columbus, OH 43210                        Fax/Phone: (614) 292-4890

andy (Andy Vaught) (10/02/90)

pollack@dendrite.cis.ohio-state.edu (Jordan B Pollack) writes:

> After some software anomolies, I decided to run a disk optimizer
> (fastrax), which had me run chkdsk first.  It found problems in a
> hidden file ibmbio.com among others, and truncated it. Not knowing the
> significance at the time, I compacted away.  Later, when my machine
> wouldn't boot, I deleted and copied both ibmbio.com and ibmdos.com
> several ways, ("sys" didnt work), but cannnot solve it and I suspect
> some directory tinkering might.  I am runing msdos 3.30 on a zenith
> supersport286e.
> 
> I know I can fully back up my disk, then reformat it, and run
> install and sys, but that will take many hours and floppies. Do any
> experts know a shorter way? Thanks in advance.
 
It looks like you're going to have to go and do a low-level reformat and 
backup. IBMDOS and IBMBIO require very special treatment, since they have 
to be loaded by a simple loader that has almost no idea of what the DOS 
file structure is like. This is because IBMDOS and IBMBIO *are* DOS. The 
following restrictions apply:
 1) IBMBIO.COM (IO.SYS) must be the first file in the root directory
 2) IBMDOS.COM (MSDOS.SYS) must be the second file
 3) The files must be the first files stored on disk, and they must be
stored in order in contiguous clusters.
 
As you can see, after deleting these files and compacting your HD, things 
are truly screwed up. As it is now, other files occupy these reserved 
directory entries and clusters. Although it would be possible to move the 
two files to new directory entries, and reassign the first clusters, it 
would not be easy at all. I know of no program that allows one to get this 
"low level" with file structure, and writing such a special utility would 
probably be more trouble than its worth. Reformat time...

pnl@hpfinote.HP.COM (Peter Lim) (10/04/90)

pollack@dendrite.cis.ohio-state.edu (Jordan B Pollack) writes:

> After some software anomolies, I decided to run a disk optimizer
> (fastrax), which had me run chkdsk first.  It found problems in a
> hidden file ibmbio.com among others, and truncated it. Not knowing the
> significance at the time, I compacted away.  Later, when my machine
> wouldn't boot, I deleted and copied both ibmbio.com and ibmdos.com
> several ways, ("sys" didnt work), but cannnot solve it and I suspect
> some directory tinkering might.  I am runing msdos 3.30 on a zenith
> supersport286e.
> 
> I know I can fully back up my disk, then reformat it, and run
> install and sys, but that will take many hours and floppies. Do any
> experts know a shorter way? Thanks in advance.
>
Well, you don't exactly have to reformat things. I heard that NORTON
DISK DOCTOR will move things around and solve this problem with a
one stroke action.

Alternatively, if you have NORTON UTILITIES, you can run NU to look
at you disk map. Find the first few first on your disk (I mean in
terms of physical position). Generally say the first 5 clusters would
do. Note the file names, copy them to another names ... Then, delete
the original files. Now, do SYS C:. Pretty complicated ?? Then, you
can rename those files back. And you are set.

The whole idea is to create enough room at the start of the disk for 
IBMBIO and IBMDOS. This should confuse you totally ...  :-). This is
how I upgrade from DOS 3.30 to DOS 4.01.


Regards,                       ## Life is fast enough as it is ........
Peter Lim.                     ## .... DON'T PUSH IT !!          >>>-------,
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37KGLLQ@CMUVM.BITNET (Tony Papadimitriou) (10/05/90)

>The whole idea is to create enough room at the start of the disk for
>IBMBIO and IBMDOS. This should confuse you totally ...  :-). This is
>how I upgrade from DOS 3.30 to DOS 4.01.

That's not necessary with 4.01.  Just boot from drive A: and run SYS C:
The SYS program is a little smarter about making sure the files are in
the right place.