Dear Bernie,
My source (Pocket PCRef, from Sequoia Publishing - excellent
book), lists it as "MFM, 71MB formatted". Checking, I find that
2^20*71 = 74.4 million bytes, 2^20*68 = 71.3 million bytes. So I'm
not sure about the discrepancy that the sizes show, except that
perhaps when it was last formatted, a size that was closest to the
actual parameters (without being over) was chosen from the default
types?
I don't know for a PS/2 system, but on "standard" PCs, you could
usually start the low-level format process by starting the DOS
program "debug.exe" and then typing in the command:
g c800:5
and following the prompts after that point. (Which usually asked
for cyclinders, landing sector, etc.)
Is there a user-definable type available in the BIOS setup?
Anthony J. Albert
On 5 Mar 00, at 8:14, Bernie wrote:
> Yesterday I was booting my PS/2 286 (with 386 upgrade). Since the computer
> stopped after ca 1 minute (complete power shut down) I took out a screw
> driver and started taking it apart.
> This wouldn't have mattered much if it wasn't for the fact that I also
> removed the speaker (I was going to try and see how well it would work in
> my own PC instead - older ones are often of "better" quality). To make a
> long story short the battery for the CMOS was on the speaker (I wondered
> why I was so big).
> Since I now lost my CMOS settings I needed to get them back. I downloaded
> the PS/2 refrence disk (since I missplaced my earlier download) and started
> working on it. Soon I realised I needed to know what "type" my second HD was.
> Now I'm desperate, I could guess my way across the setup - but with a max
> of 230 diffrent types to test and ca 80 seconds for each test it might take
> me a while.
>
> There must be some way to get the data from the HD itself - I did find a
> program that would help me ID my MCA-16 cards, but that doesn't help me at
> this point. (It probably will later when I'll ID my NIC).
>
> The facts I have are these:
> Type: ESDI or MFM (diffrent sources claim diffrent)
> Size: 85MB (it's formatted for 65 - how do I perform a low-level format?)
> (it's 71 as max when formatted)
> Manufacturer: Micropolis (1986)
> Modell: 1335
> Cylinders: 1024
> Heads: 8
> Sectors: 17
> Bytes/sector: 512
>
> Now there's a match for these specs if it had been a IDE drive (type 29 in
> older BIOSes) but that isn't right in the IBM PS/2 world. Does anyone know
> how I can find the correct type?
>
==============================================================
Anthony J. Albert [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Systems and Software Support Specialist Postmaster
Computer Services - University of Maine, Presque Isle
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