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From: plim@hpsgpa.HP.COM (Peter Lim)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc
Subject: AMI BIOS vs. ESDI problem
Message-ID: <340045@hpsgpa.HP.COM>
Date: 8 Dec 89 07:07:04 GMT
Organization: HP Singapore IC Design Ctr
Lines: 46

I need help with AMI BIOS and ESDI hard disk !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I have an 80386 25MHz machine with AMI BIOS (03/03/89, I think
that is the date stamp of the BIOS). Everything has been running
smoothly until my long awaited ESDI drive arrived.

After trying for two long nights, I still can't get the drive
installed properly. My controller card is WD-1007A (can't remember
the rest). Seems to have very strange problems.

I tried SpeedStor as well as the generic DiskManager to do low
level formatting. Seems to go thru' either of them okay. I set
the CMOS RAM drive type to 47 (user defined type), and enter 35 sectors
per track and the rest ... Then, I used FDISK (or the utilities in
DiskManager) to partition the drive into 5 drives (max. 32MB per
partition). Then I did DOS format using either HP's MS-DOS or PC-DOS
version 3.30.

From here on the problem begins. DOS format seems to have put the
system files onto the wrong place ! I used Norton's Untilities to
look at the Boot Sector, FAT etc. It seems like format placed the
system/boot record on sector 18 instead of sector 1 of track 0 !
Seems to me like DOS's confused and treated the disk as 17 sectors
per track instead of 35. I tried many times and had in one occasion
managed to get PC-DOS 3.30 on the system and booted up on the harddisk.
But then, I can't restore files from my backup properly. They came
into the hard disk but not good. Seems to me like file allocation
is up the creek ! Anybody seen anything similar and/or solved it ?

Almost forget to mention, my hard disk is the Micropolis 1355 (171 MB
unformatted).

Thanks in advance for any tips/help/idea/clue/suggestions ......


Regards,
Peter Lim.
HP Singapore IC Design Center.

      E-mail address:              plim@hpsgwg.HP.COM
      Snail Mail address:          Peter Lim
                                   Hewlett Packard Singapore,
                                   (ICDS, ICS)
                                   1150, Depot Road,
                                   Singapore   0410.
      Telephone:                   (065)-279-2289