Path: utzoo!utgpu!watmath!clyde!att!osu-cis!killer!ames!pasteur!ucbvax!agate!bionet!csd4.milw.wisc.edu!bbn!apple!voder!pyramid!prls!philabs!micomvax!ray From: ray@micomvax.UUCP (Ray Dunn) Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc Subject: Re: 1.44Mb drive in XT clone -- followup (plus DRIVPARM bug?) Message-ID: <1617@micomvax.UUCP> Date: 10 Jan 89 23:30:21 GMT References: <19363@shemp.CS.UCLA.EDU> Reply-To: ray@micomvax.UUCP (Ray Dunn) Organization: Philips Electronics Ltd. (TDS - Montreal) St. Laurent QC, Canada Lines: 38 In article <19363@shemp.CS.UCLA.EDU> wales@CS.UCLA.EDU (Rich Wales) writes: >However, I now seem to be running into another problem -- this time >with the DOS FORMAT program. If I put a 1.44Mb disk into the drive and >say "FORMAT B:", it only formats half the disk (tracks 0-39). I tried >the following (probably more verbose than necessary) DRIVPARM line -- > > drivparm=/d:1 /h:2 /s:18 /t:80 /f:7 > >-- and rearranged the order of the parameters in several different ways, >but the same thing would always happen. If, however, I give the command >"FORMAT B: /T:80", everything works fine and I get all 1.44Mb of the >diskette formatted. > The BIOS on your new floppy controller must not be returning the correct value for INT13 function 8 - Get Drive Parameters. This info is called for and *stored* by DOS early in its booting sequence and used by subsequent calls of FORMAT. The "problem" is essential in FORMAT, not in the BIOS, but is one of these areas that the BIOS must take the brunt and and attempt to implement an existing silly mechanism. If a 1.44 Mbtye drive is in use, the BIOS *must* return parameters for 1.44 Mbytes, even though a 720K diskette is being booted, or booting is taking place from hard disk, (and the BIOS cannot tell whether a 1.44 drive is present or not). If it does not, you get this effect and *must* supply the track arg to the FORMAT command. BTW if it does default to 1.44Mbytes, all this means of course, is that you must supply the required args to format a 720K floppy - you can't have it both ways, the way FORMAT is brain damaged. The good news is that this *only* affects the FORMAT command. -- Ray Dunn. | UUCP: ..!philabs!micomvax!ray Philips Electronics Ltd. | TEL : (514) 744-8200 Ext: 2347 600 Dr Frederik Philips Blvd | FAX : (514) 744-6455 St Laurent. Quebec. H4M 2S9 | TLX : 05-824090