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From: gm@romeo.cs.duke.edu (Greg McGary)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc
Subject: Making a PC-XT hard-disk bootable again...
Message-ID: <13186@duke.cs.duke.edu>
Date: 31 Dec 88 20:50:12 GMT
Sender: news@duke.cs.duke.edu
Lines: 34

A friend has a True-Blue PC-XT with PC-DOS 2.10.  I have a Hyundai 286c
with MS-DOS 3.30.  Out of curiosity, I tried booting my MS-DOS 3.30
floppy on the XT, and it worked.  I then got the bright idea that I
would try to make the XT's hard disk boot up with DOS 3.30.  In that
endeavor I failed, and in the process managed to mangle the DOS system
stuff on the XT's hard-disk so that it won't boot from drive C:
anymore.  It still boots fine from the floppy drive A: and the data on
the C:  drive is fine.  I looked through the DOS manuals and couldn't
discern any procedure less drastic than re-formatting the whole
hard-disk to make it bootable again.  I tried running the `sys' command
to transfer the system files from the DOS 2.10 floppy to the hard-disk,
but no go.

So, I have two questions:

* Can I truly accomplish my original goal of `upgrading' to DOS 3.30
  bootable from C: & if so, how?

* If that won't do, how can I restore DOS 2.10 to bootability on C:
  without having to reformat the disk?

Don't hesitate about giving me the gory technical details--I've been
a UNIX kernel hacker for a number of years, so I can take it.  Up until
now, I've managed to totally ignore everything about DOS, so that's why
I'm doing and asking about stupid things...

By the way, of the zillions of books on the shelf purporting to tell me
about the naughty bits of DOS, which ones are the best?

Thanks!
-- Greg McGary	
-- 4201 University Drive #102, Durham, NC 27707   (919) 490-6037
-- {decvax,hplabs,seismo,mcnc}!duke!gm
--				    gm@cs.duke.edu