Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!cs.utexas.edu!usc!bbn!mit-eddie!attctc!bobc
From: bobc@attctc.Dallas.TX.US (Bob Calbridge)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc
Subject: Re: Fastback DMA failure (8237A-5) defective chip
Summary: and another thing
Message-ID: <10280@attctc.Dallas.TX.US>
Date: 21 Nov 89 04:53:59 GMT
References: <1247@adds.newyork.NCR.COM> <1589@dsac.UUCP>
Distribution: usa
Organization: The Unix(R) Connection, Dallas, Texas
Lines: 23

In article <1589@dsac.UUCP>, nfs0294@dsac.UUCP (Glendell R. Midkiff) writes:
` I tried installing Fastback Ver. 5.14 on my Northgate 386/16 an got the 
` message of 'bad DMA chip'.  I then tried installing Fastback+ ver 2.01
` and there was no indication of any problem.  DMA speed configured to 'fast
` mode'.  If there really is a hardware problem, why does one version of Fastback
` work and the other won't.  Smells fishy to me.  Anyone have any ideas?????

Reminds me of another Fastback Plus problem we ran into.  We were running
Fastback on a number of machines to make sure that the one we decided on was
going to work with all of our software.  Of course, you have to install
Fastback Plus and test the DMA etc.  Well, since one of the machines we were
testing had a high density floppy drive, when it came time to put a disk in
the drive we stuck in a 1.2Meg disk.  We kept getting a DMA failure.  It seems
that even though Fastback Plus knew ahead of time that there was a 1.2M drive
it was asking for a 360K disk to be inserted in the drive.   Once we realized
this everything worked fine.  Wierd stuff.
 
Bob
-- 
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
=             I know it's petty..........                                     =
-                  But I have to justify my salary!                           -
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=