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From: ralph@mtunf.ATT.COM (Ralph Heredia)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.att
Subject: Re: PC6300 hard disk and controller questions?
Message-ID: <744@mtunf.ATT.COM>
Date: Fri, 2-Oct-87 08:50:42 EDT
Article-I.D.: mtunf.744
Posted: Fri Oct  2 08:50:42 1987
Date-Received: Tue, 6-Oct-87 06:16:29 EDT
References: <21066@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU>
Reply-To: ralph@mtunf.UUCP (tjk-Ralph Heredia)
Organization: AT&T ISL Middletown NJ USA
Lines: 54
Keywords: hard_disk hard_disk_controller

In article <21066@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU> brand@janus.UUCP (Graham Brand) writes:
>I have a number of questions about hard disk drives and controllers
>in general and those of the PC6300 in particular. I have a 2 year old
>PC6300 with a dealer installed 20MB HD and controller (Western digital 
>or Data Technologies Corp., I am not sure.) One or the other
If the controller is a DTC or Data Technology Corporation card it is
a long card next to the hard disk.
If the controller is a WD or Western Digital card it is
a short card next to the hard disk.
The inscription on the hard disk controller for the DTC is 5150BX and
the WD card is W1002 or W1001.
The rom on the DTC should say something like BXD0x (where x is one of
4-6).
The WD rom should say something like 8 digits long.
....
>the message does say "Optional ROM at C8000....etc", I cant't remember
>the exact details. I must admit, though, that I haven't noticed any
>
>(1)	What exactly is this "Optional ROM" and what does it do?
If your controller is a WD then the optional rom is needed to identify
to the PC what type of hard disk is installed in the machine.
NOTE: This is only necessary if you have a Motherboard ROM BIOS
earlier than 1.43. ex., (1.0,1.1,1.21)...
The 1.43 has support for the WD controller.
If your controller is a DTC and your drive is a standard 20 MEG
like the Seagate ST225, then your machine can use the DTC controller
with this drive without the rom on the the controller.
All the roms listed above support the DTC but 1.21 and 1.43 are the
only drives that support the 20 Meg HDU's.
>(2)	Where does it reside physically - on the motherboard, on a
>	separate memory board?
On the Controller Board.
>(3)	Could I not have any Optional ROM and still get this message?
No.
>
>(4)	How do I use the diagnostic disk (or other means) to confirm 
>	which item is defective (HD or controller)?
If you have one of the roms listed above you can't because the
Diagnostic supplied with your machine looks in to the motherboard
table for the hard disk parameters. If there is a rom id doesn't know
what kind of drive is attached.
You will have to remove the rom on the controller and get 1.43 BIOS
if using the WD controller to diagnose the PC.
>(5)	If it is the hard disk, I may want to replace it with a 30 MB.
>	Might there be any problem in doing this?
Not really as long as the drive is supported in either the ROM BIOS on
the motherboard or in the ROM on the controller card.
>
>Any assistance would be greatly appreciated.
>-Graham Brand (brand@janus.berkeley.edu)

Ralph Heredia
AT&T DSD
mtunf!ralph