Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!abvax!iccgcc!browns From: browns@iccgcc.decnet.ab.com (Stan Brown, Oak Road Systems) Newsgroups: comp.os.msdos.misc Subject: Re: help: peculiar msdos 3.3 crash Message-ID: <1286.270b48d3@iccgcc.decnet.ab.com> Date: 4 Oct 90 19:36:02 GMT References: <5XwDq2w163w@bluemoon.UUCP> Followup-To: comp.os.msdos.misc Lines: 36 In article <5XwDq2w163w@bluemoon.UUCP>, andy (Andy Vaught) writes: > It looks like you're going to have to go and do a low-level reformat and > backup. In an earlier posting, I disagreed. I still disagree.(*) > 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. True as far as it goes. But "almost no idea" is not the same as "no idea". > 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. 1 and 2 are true for all DOS versions up through 3.3 (which was the original poster's question). 3 is >> FALSE << for DOS 3.3. Sometime before then-- I'm not sure how far back--Microsoft removed condition 3 so that you could install a new version of DOS by doing SYS C: without formatting the hard disk. As a side effect, you can also RE-install the same version of DOS, unless IBMBIO.COM or the first sector of IBMDOS.COM has been deleted. There may be another problem that will make you reformat your hard disk, but this problem is not it. (*) If IBMBIO.COM/IBMDOS.COM are scrogged beyond repair, and something else is occupying their sectors, then you do have to reformat your hard disk. But it's not a low-level reformat, just a simple "FORMAT C: /S". The above is my own opinion and not attributable to any other person or organization. email: browns@iccgcc.decnet.ab.com Stan Brown, Oak Road Systems, Cleveland, Ohio, U.S.A. (216) 371-0043