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From: ppa@hpldola.HP.COM (Paul P. Austgen)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc
Subject: Re: AMI BIOS vs. ESDI problem
Message-ID: <11250121@hpldola.HP.COM>
Date: 2 Jan 90 17:23:26 GMT
References: <340045@hpsgpa.HP.COM>
Organization: HP Elec. Design Div. -ColoSpgs
Lines: 62

> / hpldola:comp.sys.ibm.pc / emmo@moncam.co.uk (Dave Emmerson) /  5:40 am  Dec 21, 1989 /
> In article <11250116@hpldoro.UUCP>, ppa@hpldoro.UUCP (Paul P. Austgen) writes:
> > > / hpldoro:comp.sys.ibm.pc / darcy@druid.uucp (D'Arcy J.M. Cain) /  4:52 am  Dec 16, 1989 /
> > > In article <11250114@hpldola.HP.COM> ppa@hpldola.HP.COM (Paul P. Austgen) writes:
> > > >[deleted]]
> > > >There doesn't seem to be any code at c800:5 to do a low level
> > > >format.
> > > 
> > > Try c800:6
> > 
> > As I recall, I unassembled at c800:0 and didn't see any code
> > anywhere in sight.  I will give :6 a try, however.
> > 
> This kind of confusion seems commonplace on 'expandable' systems.
> 
> These days you can't rely on the HD's BIOS being at c800, it could
> appear anywhere from C000: to EE00:
> 
> use debug to check the first few bytes of ALL the likely addresses,
> you'll usually see the text of the copyright notices in the ascii
> listing. When you've found the one for your controller, then you can
> use g=xxxx:5 or whatever.
> At the risk of insulting your intelligence, if you don't savvy hex
> or debug, you need:
> -d C000:0
> -d C200:0
> -d C400:0
> -d C600:0
> -d C800:0
> -d CA00:0
> -d CC00:0
> -d CE00:0
> -d D000:0
> -d D200:0 
> 		..etc, till you either find it, or reach EF00:
> 
> If you have Norton's SI, you can speed this up, it will list the addresses
> of all your bios's. If the one you want isn't in that list then you have
> 2 boards using the same address, and will have to reconfigure one.
> 
> Hope that helps,
> 
> Dave E.


I think that the problem is more complex than you state, Dave.  I
have Norton, and I know where the code is.  Most of the areas
you mention, however, contain code that has nothing to do with
hard disks, however.  They are for video, lan cards, HP-IB, etc.

Anyway, many HD controllers simply do not have code on board.
This seems to be especially true for 386 systems, although one of
my 286's uses a Mountain 35 Mb disk with a controller with no ROM
for formatting.  A disk is shipped with it for this purpose.

What I conclude is that anyone trying to venture into unproven
configurations of disks and controller cards had better have a
lot of cheap time on their hands.  Four or five nights of
frustration seems a lot against 100-200 dollars for a new
controller card with built-in routines.

> ----------