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Modifications to my IBM5155 & 5160

modem7 said:
One of the causes of FDISK's "error reading fixed disk" is that the drive isn't low-level formated (via the connected controller).

The low-level format of an ST-225 takes about 5 minutes. During the low-level format, there is a single step about every half second. Obviously, something is going very wrong for you.

Whilst you could have a bad ST-225, there are other things to consider first. One thing is the connection of the two cables (control and data).

I know that with an XT-GEN/ST-225 combination, one cause of the symptom of short bursts of quick steps during a low-level format, is an incorrectly connected data cable (the 20 pin cable). On the XT-GEN2, ensure that the data cable is plugged into J2, not J3. Also, check that pin 1 of cable goes to pin 1 of J2, and to pin 1 on the drive.

Is the data cable correctly connected?
Click to expand...

Hi there

THanks for the reply. I did actually come right in the end. And all it was is that I did not RTFM properly :| I had a jumper placed on the ST225 that enables "Radial" whatever that is. And in the manual for the WDXT card it specifically states that one should not have radial active.
After this I tried using Diskmanager as well, and that gave me a seek error on track 0 head 0 or cyl 0 or something. In the end I redid the lowlevel format with the WDXT's internal format util, and it worked fine this time around, created a partition table with my AcerDOS 3.2 disk, did a logical format, and it worked.

My Old Man has a saying: Measure 10 times, cut onnce! If I had read the manuals properly the first time around I probably would have come right much quicker. But I'll take it as a lesson learned. :)

Then another quick question -->
Does DOS 3.2 have an "install" or "setup" option at all? What I did was just to do a format /S. made a DOS directory and copied the contents of the 2 floppies into the DOS folder, is that suficient?

Thanks!
 
Aha, thanks for that info, think that is going to save me quite a bit of heartache!

On the transferring software, has anyone used FastWire2 before? I used it to great results in my 386 times. Going to try that anyway...
 
Well thanks for all the help in this thread guys, appreciate it!

Just thought I would update on my last progress anyway!

On a Hardware side, all I need to do still is find a "blanking plate" for the HDD, the ST225 that I have does not have the black faceplate with the LED in it like I remember them... Looks a bit off with the HDD showing :?

Then on the software side, all is happy, I have DOS 3.20 on it, running like a dream! :) I am now busy copying some games across using FastWire2. Using my HP Omnibook 3000 CPx (a Pentium MMX laptop running DOS 6.22) I agree with the threads posted by modem7, 9600bps serial is SLOW ;) Luckily it's only 9MB (Only! :eek: ) of games I'm copying across :D

Then another question, how does one Park the HDD? If I read properly, the ST225 does not have autopark. Seeing that the machine is indeed Portable (sic!) I don't want the HDD getting hurt if I can help it.

Thanks again everyone!
Jonathan
 
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