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Compaq Deskpro 386/20

Just for fun, I tried the VGA card I have. No difference.

I am using a new-ish 3.5" 1.44MB drive for A: and a 5.25" 1.2MB drive for B:. I am currently only using 1.44MB floppies, as 720KB ones didn't read. The 5.25" drive doesn't seem to be able to read or write either.

I am not using the dual drive, but I have tried it. The 3.5" part didn't read the 720KB floppy at all, whereas the newer one can examine files, but returns an error when a file is run.

The Windows 95 disk has these files:
Code: 
DRVSPACE.BIN
COMMAND.COM
FORMAT.COM
HIMEM.SYS
FDISK.EXE
ATTRIB.EXE
EDIT.COM
DEBUG.EXE
CHKDSK.EXE
CONFIG.SYS

The disk Chuck made has these files:
Code: 
COMMAND.COM
TEST.COM
ARSTART.COM
SETUP.EXE
INSPECT.EXE
MDMI.EXE
README.CPQ
README.TXT
AUTOEXEC.BAT

The 3.5" drive turns on first, then the 5.25". That seems to be working just fine.

Kyle
 
Chuckster_in_Jax said:
DAMN!!! Didn't find that one in Windows help. Usually I use the /f:720 switch.
Gotta write this one down for future use.
Click to expand...

It's a big "maybe" on XP. If I try to format a 720K, it gets most of the way through and then aborts with "device busy". On a different machine (same SP level), it works fine. Formatting under MS-DOS (not XP) in the troublesome machine works fine.

So, YMMV.
 
antiquekid3 said:
What else might cause a system to hang when trying to boot from MS-DOS but not Win95?
Kyle
Click to expand...
My money's still on some discrepancy between disk and drive types (or even a bad diskette).
How about a chkdsk of the various disks involved?
What if you copy the INSPECT.EXE from the diags disk to the W98 disk and try to run it?
If that's a copy of SP0308, where'd the Grid systems DOS come from?
And you're booting from a 1.44 although the BIOS default is 1.2?
I'm really confused...
 
Last edited:
Chuck(G) said:
It's a big "maybe" on XP. If I try to format a 720K, it gets most of the way through and then aborts with "device busy". On a different machine (same SP level), it works fine. Formatting under MS-DOS (not XP) in the troublesome machine works fine.
So, YMMV.
Click to expand...
Hmm, good to know JIC, but I've never had any problems. Then again I haven't done it on as many machines as you probably have...
 
Yeah, I have no way of making the 5.25" version though. That would probably work, but when I boot into Win95 on the Compaq (my only computer at the moment that has a 5.25" drive), I can't format any disks in the 5.25" drive.

If I'm not mistaken, all of those programs (INSPECT, SETUP, and TEST) require ARSTART.EXE to function. I could be wrong though.

Kyle
 
antiquekid3 said:
If I'm not mistaken, all of those programs (INSPECT, SETUP, and TEST) require ARSTART.EXE to function. I could be wrong though.
Click to expand...

SETUP should function on its own--and be relatively independent of the OS version. SETUP runs on my Micron 360/20 with Win98SE installed.

I've got some more ideas...stay tuned.
 
antiquekid3 said:
...when I boot into Win95 on the Compaq (my only computer at the moment that has a 5.25" drive), I can't format any disks in the 5.25" drive.
Click to expand...
Why not?

If I'm not mistaken, all of those programs (INSPECT, SETUP, and TEST) require ARSTART.EXE to function. I could be wrong though.
Kyle
Click to expand...
I'd be very surprised if that were the case. I'm not about to drag out an old Compaq but I tried INSPECT and SETUP and they both certainly start but obviously complain about not being on a Compaq.

This really sounds like a simple problem that's just gotten too confusing and time-wasting.

Run chkdsk to verify that the disks are really 1.44M without errors.
Copy INSPECT and SETUP to the bootable disk and see what happens when you run them.
 
When I run SETUP.EXE or INSPECT.EXE by itself, here's what happens:
Code: 
Packed file is corruptInvalid COMMAND.COM
Enter correct name of Command Interpreter (eg, C:\COMMAND.COM)
>>

I just checked all of my floppies on my Windows machine using CHKDSK, and none of them had any errors.

As for why I can't format my 5.25" disk in the B: drive, I haven't a clue. Here's what it does if I try to format 1.2MB:
Code: 
A:\>format b: /f:1.2
Insert new diskette for drive B:
and press ENTER when ready...

Checking existing disk format.
Formatting 1.2M
Parameters not supported by drive.

When I try to format the disk as 360KB:
Code: 
A:\>format b: /4
Insert new diskette for drive B:
and press ENTER when ready...

Checking existing disk format.
Formatting 360K
Invalid media or Track 0 bad - disk unusable.
Format terminated.
Format another (Y/N)?

When I run Chuck's program to verify what kind of drives I have installed, I can see that the A: drive is 1.44MB and the B: drive is 1.2MB. This goes right along with what I have in CONFIG.SYS:
Code: 
drivparm /d:0 /f:7
drivparm /d:1 /f:1
DEVICE=HIMEM.SYS

Without the second line, the B: drive defaults to 360KB. I have tried formatting the disk in B: with and without that line of code, and by changing the parameters.

Kyle
 
And on my Windows machine, all of those programs refuse to run and still complain about the DOS version. When I run the programs by themselves, it gives me the packed file error.

Kyle
 
Here's something else to try, just to get your system with CMOS configured with a 1.44MB A: drive. Unzip and copy the files to your Win95 boot diskette, then run

CMOS /LOAD CMOS.SAV

This will update your CMOS to a known configuration (1.44M A: 1.2M B:, no hard disk).
 

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antiquekid3 said:
When I run SETUP.EXE or INSPECT.EXE by itself, here's what happens:
Code: 
Packed file is corruptInvalid COMMAND.COM
Enter correct name of Command Interpreter (eg, C:\COMMAND.COM)
>>

I just checked all of my floppies on my Windows machine using CHKDSK, and none of them had any errors.
Click to expand...
And they are all 1.44MB, right?

As for why I can't format my 5.25" disk in the B: drive, I haven't a clue. Here's what it does if I try to format 1.2MB:
Code: 
A:\>format b: /f:1.2
Insert new diskette for drive B:
and press ENTER when ready...

Checking existing disk format.
Formatting 1.2M
Parameters not supported by drive.

When I try to format the disk as 360KB:
Code: 
A:\>format b: /4
Insert new diskette for drive B:
and press ENTER when ready...

Checking existing disk format.
Formatting 360K
Invalid media or Track 0 bad - disk unusable.
Format terminated.
Format another (Y/N)?
Click to expand...
What kind of diskette(s) are you using? Trying to format a DD diskette as 1.2MB will certainly give you that error, and an HD as 360K doesn't work too well either...


When I run Chuck's program to verify what kind of drives I have installed, I can see that the A: drive is 1.44MB and the B: drive is 1.2MB. This goes right along with what I have in CONFIG.SYS:
Code: 
drivparm /d:0 /f:7
drivparm /d:1 /f:1
DEVICE=HIMEM.SYS

Without the second line, the B: drive defaults to 360KB. I have tried formatting the disk in B: with and without that line of code, and by changing the parameters.

Kyle
Click to expand...
I thought Chuck's program said:
A: 1.2M 0 3f0H 0 2 6 6 CH 0
B: 360K 1 3f0H 1 2 6 6 0

Did you change something?
 
I ran the code like you said, but now on bootup, I get a screen that looks like this:
Code: 
08192 KB OK

800000 FD 201-Memory Error
 162-System Options Not Set-(Run Setup)
     Insert DIAGNOSTIC diskette in Drive A:

 (RESUME - "F1" KEY)

So that FD memory error is new. What's that about?

Oh, and I'm trying to use some brand new Precision 2S-2D disks. After running the CMOS code, it is finally formatting as 360K using the /4 switch. YAY! It also is formatting 1.2M just fine as well. Thanks Chuck!!!

As far as the SETUP is concerned, IT WORKS!!! Wow Chuck! You are awesome! I think I'll have this all going and put back together tonight. Pictures are soon to come of this big (and expensive back in the day) gem!

Kyle
 
Not to worry--I didn't know how much memory you had on your system, so I just used my default of 13MB.

For this one, I'd appreciate at least a pitcher of beer.

Have fun!
 
That FD memory error hasn't come back. It looks like this computer is running "The Compaq Personal Computer MS-DOS Version 3.31." Cool!

There are lots of files on this 134MB hard drive, but nothing that looks like it's worth saving. Thanks so much again for all the help! You guys are great!

Kyle
 
Haha, Chuck! I'm not to the age of drinking just yet, but if we're ever over in Europe at the same time, you can count on me getting you a beer!

Should I keep MS-DOS 3.31 or do you think 6.22 is better suited? I'd like a fresh install, but is that possible without getting some new disks?

Kyle
 
Not sure why you'd need a "fresh install." MS-DOS doesn't get bloated over time like later Windows. If you can run the programs you want on it, I'd leave it alone.
 
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