Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!swrinde!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!usc!orion.oac.uci.edu!ucivax!megatek!tau!hollen From: hollen@megatek.UUCP (Dion Hollenbeck) Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware Subject: Re: How do I add a 3.5" 1.44M drive to my old XT? Message-ID: Date: 22 Mar 91 16:18:40 GMT References: <12206@pasteur.Berkeley.EDU> Sender: hollen@megatek.UUCP Organization: Megatek Corporation, San Diego, California Lines: 29 In-reply-to: sadoyama@argon.berkeley.edu's message of 21 Mar 91 09:46:38 GMT In article <12206@pasteur.Berkeley.EDU> sadoyama@argon.berkeley.edu (Eric Sadoyama) writes: > I've got an old Leading Edge Model D (an XT-compatible) that I'd like > to add a 3.5" 1.44M drive to, either internally or externally. I've > been told that for various reasons, I can't do this. Why? > I went through this with an old DTK 8088 motherboard and DTK BIOS and eventually ended upgrading to a 286. Yes, I was in the same situation as you, I wanted larger floppies on my wife's trusty 8088. I got the proper controller, which will most likely be necessary since XT's did not generally recognize 1.44m drives. Then, I could not get it to be recognized by the BIOS. Tried installable device drivers, these failed too. Upgraded the BIOS (actually tried 6 different versions from different makers) and finally got a DTK BIOS new enough to be able to recognize the drive. The trouble was that even though FASTBACK could use the drive, and NORTON SF could format a disk, DOS format kept giving me a "general failure" error. I tried upgrading to DOS4.01from 3.2. This did not help. The bottom line is that it MAY be possible to get the right combination of controller, BIOS, device driver and DOS to get what you want, but I would bet dollars to donuts you are going to go through a lot of money and more time and cursing trying to get it to work. -- ----- Dion Hollenbeck (619) 455-5590 x2814 Megatek Corporation, 9645 Scranton Road, San Diego, CA 92121 uunet!megatek!hollen or hollen@megatek.uucp