So I finally got a little more time to play around with this thing... but still
no luck. For reference the interface is an ID2CF from Startech.com
(https://www.startech.com/en-us/hdd/ide2cf) and the CF card itself is a 16GB
no-name. I've tried messing with both FreeDOS 1.2 and 1.3-RC3 but had the same
luck with both.
When I boot up my machine (Dell P3 at a blazing 600MHz) it does see the disk in
during POST as:
Fixed Disk 0: CF CARD-(PM)
ATAPI CD-ROM: LG CD-RW CED-80000-(SM)
After the CD grinds for a bit I get to this screen:
FreeDOS kernel 2042 (build 2042 EOM:0xfd) [compiled May 11 2016]
Kernel compatibility 7.10 - WATCOMC - FAT32 support
(C) Copyright blah blah blah
- InitDiskWARNING: using suspect partition Pri:1 FS 0b: with calculated values
2-2-33 instead of 4-4-1
WARNING: Partition ID does not suggest LBA - part Pri:1 FS 0b.
Please run FDISK to correct this - using LBA to access partition.
start 2-2-33, end 4440-8-48
C: HD1, Pri[ 1], CHS= 2-2-33, start= 1MB, size=2048MB
After that it trundles on until it gets to the "C: is not partition, do you
want to do that now?" screen I tell it yes and I *think* I see a message about
something terminated but it only flashes on the screen for a split second.
After that it says it needs to reboot but then I end up down the same path in
the installer. If I tell it I want to go back to DOS and I try doing any of
these: "fdisk" or "fdisk 0" or "fdisk /fprmpt" or "fdisk /dump" I end up with
the same error
Error Reading Hard Disk:
Function number or drive not permitted.
Program Terminated.
I don't have a way to test the IDE to CF interface elsewhere but I can put the
CF card in a reader and attach it to either a Linux laptop or a Win10 desktop
and it shows up just fine in either case. I've currently got the CF card
partitioned to having only a 2GB primary partition. On the Linux I tried to
partition it via cfdisk (W95 FAT32 LBA) and set it to be bootable before
writing out the partition. I also did roughly the same thing via gparted but
that didn't have any more favorable results.
This machine does have a 3GB IDE spinning disk (with FreeDOS 1.2) in it but
I've got to think that it's of a vintage that it may or may not last much
longer. I don't have any reason to believe it's having a problem but it's going
on perhaps 15 years so I know it won't last forever and I figured I'd get a
jump on getting this updated where I can. I did try booting off of the spinning
disk and making the CF card the slave instead of the master (or
primary/secondary depending on how you feel about such things). Both the
spinning and the CF showed up during POST but I wasn't able to use fdisk (or
fdisk131) to get to the CF card... although doing an fdisk /dump did show 8
potential disks with only the first one having anything to say for itself (as
that's where the spinning disk is).
Thanks,
Greg
‐‐‐‐‐‐‐ Original Message ‐‐‐‐‐‐‐
On Monday, January 4th, 2021 at 1:07 PM, Ralf Quint <freedos...@gmail.com>
wrote:
> On 1/4/2021 7:02 AM, Bob Pryor wrote:
>
>> Greg
>>
>> Did the gparted computer partition the CF card as GPT? I believe FreeDOS
>> only recognizes MBR partitions.
>
> That is correct, but not necessarily the only potential issue...
>
>>> But after the reboot it comes back and asks again about partitioning.
>>> Granted, I'm guessing that FreeDOS and/or fdisk wasn't expecting this sort
>>> of hardware so maybe this is yet another wrinkle?
>
> I personally don't trust those CF to IDE adapters, and CF cards in general,
> they just seem to add indeed another layer of potential problems...
>
>>> I did take the CF card and put it on another machine and (via gparted) made
>>> four 2GB partitions and formatted them as FAT32. When I tried the reinstall
>>> again it still comes up saying that the "disk" needs to be partition though.
>
> HOW did you create those partitions? DOS (any DOS) will work only with one
> "primary" partition (partition ID 0Bh/0Ch), any additional ones need to be
> "extended" partitions (0Fh, all assuming FAT32).
>
> Ralf
>
> https://www.avast.com/sig-email?utm_medium=email&utm_source=link&utm_campaign=sig-email&utm_content=emailclient&utm_term=icon
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