Denniske1976
Experienced Member
Hey everyone,
I was hoping you guys could help me out on this one (please forgive if this is posted in the wrong section):
This weekend I went to pick up a few HeadStart Explorer computers... both of them had the harddrive (MiniScribe 8450XT unfortunately) broken. One harddrive won't be detected, the other one will but when I try to FDISK it all that happens is it started rattling (the typical MiniScribe sound for reading the disk) for about 20 minutes and then a message "No space available to create partition" :-(
Anyhoo, that set aside I'm actually trying to get something else. One of the Explorers had an XT-IDE card installed (version 1), however I can't get this working (neither could the previous owner, he posted here a couple of years ago and I've seen the thread). What happens is I boot the computer off a floppy with DOS (debug,fdisk,format etc). That little HeadStart Explorer logo comes up and it boots to the floppy. So far so good, but I think I should be getting a menu too from that XT-IDE card? (I'm not too familiar with it, I've been reading up here in the forums and in the Tech Support thread too). I've tried some other DIP settings as well and nothing comes up... I can however read the BIOS info of the card at the address it's set for with debug (d d000:0??), I see the description that should come up (XT-IDE BIOS v1.5 and some more text).
It seems there is no way to disable the on-board controller, since there's no DIP switches to be found anywhere. Could it be that the on-board controller is somehow preventing the XT-IDE controller to work? I'd like to get this working, not for me personally (except the "personal victory") but I've promised the previous owner that if I got it working he'd be getting his Explorers back (since it was his first computer).
So, anyone have an idea where I should start? Like I said, I can read the ROM address and see the BIOS. I've tried enabling and disabling the ROM jumper (JP1) and that makes no difference either. Or is there another way I can go (using the on-board controller?).
Thanx for reading and hope I can get some help from you guys ;-)
Dennis
I was hoping you guys could help me out on this one (please forgive if this is posted in the wrong section):
This weekend I went to pick up a few HeadStart Explorer computers... both of them had the harddrive (MiniScribe 8450XT unfortunately) broken. One harddrive won't be detected, the other one will but when I try to FDISK it all that happens is it started rattling (the typical MiniScribe sound for reading the disk) for about 20 minutes and then a message "No space available to create partition" :-(
Anyhoo, that set aside I'm actually trying to get something else. One of the Explorers had an XT-IDE card installed (version 1), however I can't get this working (neither could the previous owner, he posted here a couple of years ago and I've seen the thread). What happens is I boot the computer off a floppy with DOS (debug,fdisk,format etc). That little HeadStart Explorer logo comes up and it boots to the floppy. So far so good, but I think I should be getting a menu too from that XT-IDE card? (I'm not too familiar with it, I've been reading up here in the forums and in the Tech Support thread too). I've tried some other DIP settings as well and nothing comes up... I can however read the BIOS info of the card at the address it's set for with debug (d d000:0??), I see the description that should come up (XT-IDE BIOS v1.5 and some more text).
It seems there is no way to disable the on-board controller, since there's no DIP switches to be found anywhere. Could it be that the on-board controller is somehow preventing the XT-IDE controller to work? I'd like to get this working, not for me personally (except the "personal victory") but I've promised the previous owner that if I got it working he'd be getting his Explorers back (since it was his first computer).
So, anyone have an idea where I should start? Like I said, I can read the ROM address and see the BIOS. I've tried enabling and disabling the ROM jumper (JP1) and that makes no difference either. Or is there another way I can go (using the on-board controller?).
Thanx for reading and hope I can get some help from you guys ;-)
Dennis