Hard disk Driver Card WD1002A-WX1 Without Bios

[Dwight Elvey]

I did similar for my NC4000 computer. I'd drag it out but I recall removing the socketed EPROM and re-purposing it. The code on the my machine was Forth and didn't need a mass storage system to boot. I used it to store transient code, like the meta compiler and editor.
I suspect the code on these boards is all the same or compatable. I would think someone has usable BIOS code in another XT machine. The call goes out to other people with XT machines, to do a dump of the hard drive BOIS on their computer. About the only problem might be disk drive size information in that code.
Dwight

 

[exidyboy]

'10/20/30' is odd. It is not a date, and not even an abbreviated form of a BIOS revision that Western Digital use for their XT-class and AT-class hard disk controllers. The BIOS may be a user-modified version of a Western Digital BIOS ROM, and "10/20/30" indicates to the user what the modification is.

Could it indicate compatible drive capacities in MB?

 

[Chr$]

Hello. New here. Hope it's ok if I post something related here, instead of a new post...

I too have a WD1002A-WX1 controller card and a Seagate ST225 HDD. The combination doesn't seem to work (yet), but I'm pretty sure it's the HDD and that the controller is ok.

The ROM version on my controller is labelled 62-000094-002 and it was soldered on but I've removed and socketed it. I read here that it can be replaced with a 2764 Eprom and have seen the link to the F300 version. I'll pop that on an Eprom.

My question is though, what is the pin-out of the original ROM on the chip? It doesn't seem to be compatible with a 27x Eprom. Is there some way I can read it with an Eprom programmer?

 

[modem7]

Hello. New here. Hope it's ok if I post something related here, instead of a new post...

Welcome to these forums.

My question is though, what is the pin-out of the original ROM on the chip? It doesn't seem to be compatible with a 27x Eprom.

Based on what I see at [here] for the WD1002A-WX1, the ROM is expected to be either 2732 compatible or 2764 compatible.
Why do you write, "It doesn't seem to be compatible with a 27x Eprom" ?

Is there some way I can read it with an Eprom programmer?

Based on what I see at [here] for the WD1002A-WX1, if there is nothing printed on your ROM that identifies size, then I suggest that you do two reads of the ROM, one with your EPROM programmer set to 2732, and one with your EPROM programmer set to 2764. Looking at the overall contents of each read should reveal code size, and thus whether 2732 or 2764.

 

[Chr$]

Based on what I see at [here] for the WD1002A-WX1, the ROM is expected to be either 2732 compatible or 2764 compatible.
Why do you write, "It doesn't seem to be compatible with a 27x Eprom" ?

It reports pin errors on all pins before reading as a 2732 (it's 28 pins so is unlikely to be that type). Same thing (but less 'wrong' pins - just pins 1(!) and 3 to 10) when I choose 2764. I even put headers on the lower 24 pins and tried to read it as a 2732 with pin 3 in the 1 position, just in case. I suppose it could just be dud! I wondered if anyone else had read the rom with an eprom programmer rather than dumping the content when installed. I know that custom made mass produced rom chips are not always 27x eprom compatible.

If a 2764A with the F300 version burnt onto it is definitely compatible, then I'll install that.

And thanks for minuszerodegrees.net, that's an excellent resource!

 

[Chr$]

News: The controller card with the original rom chip still fitted seems to work as I eventually found a PC that 'liked' it and would allow me to boot with it installed. In debug with g=c800:5 the low level format prog started and is currently attempting to low level format the drive, but I don't think it's working as the head doesn't seem to be moving at all. The light HDD LED is on. How long should a LLF of an MFM ST225 take?

Not wishing to moan, but my post above has been awaiting approval for 14 hours now. I understand the forum management can't be too careful with spammers etc, but I'd really like some expert input. I will of course dump the 62-000094-002 rom version and post it here..... eventually

 

[Chr$]

I'm pleased to report that I now have a fully working WD1002A-WX1 controller working in combination with a Seagate ST-225. It took quite a lot of fiddling, including opening up the drive, because it kept misbehaving (permanent LED lit and taking a while before it would eventually boot from floppy) and then not making itself visible to fdisk or Speed Stor. It seems fine now and only has one defect on the SSTOR defect table.

Back to the rom situation... the 62-000094-002 that was originally on the controller is what is installed now. I did try the 2764A eprom with the F300 BIOS on it but that didn't work at all, as the controller board doesn't seem to be 2764 compatible - the PC wouldn't even boot.

If anyone fancies holding my hand and giving me directions to use debug to save a copy of the 62-000094-002 rom then I'm all ears.

 

[jafir]

These WD BIOS versions make no sense to me. I see here there are versions posted for a WD1002S-WX2, with a formatter version 6.0, from 1985. I've got the same card, with a version 1.0S formatter, from 1986. I'd expect the lower version number to be an older date.

I actually picked up 3 of these cards, and they seemed to be un-used, but none of them seems to have the 62-x number on the ROM, they all just had a shiny silver sticker. They've also got strange brackets that don't fit "normal" PC cases, so perhaps this was a custom ROM for a particular computer, and therefore no 62 number.

 

[Chuck(G)]

Wasn't the -WX1 the factory controller for the Olivetti M24/AT&T 6300? I think I recall the BIOS looking for it, at least for the last version of the BIOS.

 

[modem7]

If anyone fancies holding my hand and giving me directions to use debug to save a copy of the 62-000094-002 rom then I'm all ears.

See post #2 of the thread at [here].

 

[Chr$]

Thanks modem7. Will give those methods a try.

The config docs for the card found by google do appear to be from the Olivetti technical manual, so I think you're right Chuck(G).

 

[Chr$]

Here's my dumped WD1002A-WX1 62-000094-002 ROM file. When using debug and g=c800:5 it reported 'Super Bios Formatter Rev 2.4' and 1987. No idea if it's special but '87 seems later than others I've seen.

 

[modem7]

Here's my dumped WD1002A-WX1 62-000094-002 ROM file. When using debug and g=c800:5 it reported 'Super Bios Formatter Rev 2.4' and 1987. No idea if it's special but '87 seems later than others I've seen.

Turns out that your 62-000094-002 ROM has the same contents as the 62-000094-032 ROM (at [here]).
Both have a CRC-32 of B5ABDBF7.

 

[Chr$]

Oh, sorry I should have checked. You can't go by those WD stickers alone!

 

[modem7]

Oh, sorry I should have checked. You can't go by those WD stickers alone!

Exactly. It was a surprise to me.

 

[wrljet]

For what it's worth, none of the ROM images mentioned on this thread, nor on here , result in anything other than 1701 errors for me on an original IBM 5160, with the Western Digital WD1002A-WX1 specimen I have.

I understand there is more than one version of that hardware. But the board I have is effectively a brick to me, damaged, wrong BIOS, whatever.

I bought it off eBay. It came without a ROM, but the jumper for the ROM BIOS was present.

 

[modem7]

For what it's worth, none of the ROM images mentioned on this thread, nor on here , result in anything other than 1701 errors for me on an original IBM 5160, with the Western Digital WD1002A-WX1 specimen I have.
I understand there is more than one version of that hardware. But the board I have is effectively a brick to me, damaged, wrong BIOS, whatever.
I bought it off eBay. It came without a ROM, but the jumper for the ROM BIOS was present.

This could be a card that failed in use, then the owner-at-the-time decided to use the card's EPROM (assumption: EPROM, not masked ROM) for another purpose.

Did you low-level format the hard drive? I ask, because there are some HDD BIOS' that will generate a 1701 error if the BIOS is one that tries a test read of the drive's first sector, and that read is unsuccessful.

If you did (without reported error during the low-level format operation), then what does part 5 of the RAYXTMFM tool at [here] report ?

 

[wrljet]

The controller that gives the 1701 errors doesn't even show up in the diagnostics selection of SpeedStor.

But yes, the two drives I've tried have been low level formatted with the working WD controller both with G=C800:5 and with SpeedStor.

At this point I think you are correct, that board was probably pulled when it went bad, and saved rather than just being thrown out.

I will try the RAYXTMFM tool.

 

[wrljet]

This is getting nutty!

I put the 1701 board back in, to run RAYXTMFM.

First run, 1701 error, RAYXTMFM it told me the ROM wasn't in its database, and quit. (attached log file RAY1.TXT)

So I put in one of the other ROMs I had prepared, 1701 error, and got the same RAYXTMFM results, except that one (and the system BIOS) also told me the ROM checksum was bad.

Third run I swapped in the first BIOS I had ever tried, the WD Super BIOS.
I turned my back while waiting for the POST memory to count up, and when I looked at it again it had booted off the hard disk.

What the...?!

RAYXTMFM then ran through everything and reported nothing that looked odd to me. (attached log file RAY3.TXT)

---

Another odd thing here...
Neither this WD1002A-WX1 card, nor my WDXT-GEN2-PLUS (which works), will boot from the disk unless the XUB BIOS is present in the machine.

Everything seems to work on the WDXT-GEN2-PLUS, like the low level format, SpeedStor, FDISK, FORMAT, SYS, and reading and writing files from DOS, *except* it won't boot. Adding the XUB BIOS then it boots.

*******************************************************
* RAYXTMFM version 2.9
* Executed: 01/01/1980 00:03:43 (dd/mm/yyyy hh:mm:ss)
*******************************************************

+--------------------------------------------------+
| Part 1 of 5 - Motherboard class |
+--------------------------------------------------+
CPU type = 8086/8088/80186/80188/V20/V30
Motherboard class = PC or XT class (based on CPU type)

+--------------------------------------------------+
| Part 2 of 5 - ID the motherboard's BIOS ROM |
+--------------------------------------------------+
Model byte at FFFFE = FE (XT)
Date at FFFF5 = 11/08/82 (in clones, do not trust this date)
Checksum of last 8 KB = 000E9A00 (simple byte addition)
CRC32 of last 8 KB = 19F624A8
CRC32 indicates = IBM revision 11/08/82
For IBM Portable PC (IBM 5155)
and early IBM XT (IBM 5160)
Contains "1501512 COPR. IBM 1981"

+--------------------------------------------------+
| Part 3 of 5 - ID the BIOS expansion ROM at C8000 |
+--------------------------------------------------+
Present ? = Yes (first two bytes are 55 AA)
Declared size = 8 KB (third byte is 10)
Checksum of that size = 000BA700 (simple byte addition)
CRC32 of first 8 KB = B5ABDBF7
CRC32 indicates = Western Digital
"62-000094-032" or "62-000094-032" on ROM sticker.
Has been seen on a WD1002-27X.
Has been seen on a WD1002A-WX1.

+--------------------------------------------------+
| Part 4 of 5 - INT 0Dh (used for IRQ5) |
+--------------------------------------------------+
C8000 ROM address - Start = C8000
C8000 ROM address - End = C9FFF (based on the declared size)
Int 0Dh vector points to = C82CE (C800:02CE)
Points to C8000 ROM ? = Yes (FYI)

+--------------------------------------------------+
| Part 5 of 5 - INT 13h |
+--------------------------------------------------+
Hard disk controller - To reset itself = Successful (via function 00h)
Hard disk controller - To test its RAM = Successful (via function 12h)
Hard disk controller - To do a self-test = Successful (via function 14h)
Hard disk controller - Drive parameters = Successful (via function 09h)

Hard drive 0 - Reporting as 'ready' ? = Yes (via function 10h)
Hard drive 0 - Recalibrate = Successful (via function 11h)
Hard drive 0 - Seek to cylinder 5 = Successful (via function 0Ch)
Hard drive 0 - Read first sector on cyl 5 = Successful (via function 02h)
Hard drive 0 - Seek to cylinder 0 = Successful (via function 0Ch)
Hard drive 0 - Read first sector on cyl 0 = Successful (via function 02h)

Bill

 

[modem7]

But yes, the two drives I've tried have been low level formatted with the working WD controller both with G=C800:5 and with SpeedStor.

Just in case you are unaware: The low-level format (the pattern of ones and zeros) laid down on MFM drives by MFM controllers is not an international standard. And it should not be assumed that all WD made MFM controllers lay down the same low-level format. And even the fitted BIOS (i.e. software) may change the low-level format laid down (by getting the controller chip to do something different).

So it is possible that what you did is invalid. The drive should be low-level formatted on the connected controller.

I put the 1701 board back in, to run RAYXTMFM.
First run, 1701 error, RAYXTMFM it told me the ROM wasn't in its database, and quit. (attached log file RAY1.TXT)

RAYXTMFM is for MFM only, and the only way that it can determine if an MFM controller is present is by ID'ing a known BIOS ROM from an MFM controller.
What BIOS was it?

So I put in one of the other ROMs I had prepared, 1701 error, and got the same RAYXTMFM results, except that one (and the system BIOS) also told me the ROM checksum was bad.

Third run I swapped in the first BIOS I had ever tried, the WD Super BIOS.

Presumably, these different BIOS' that you are trying, are known to be compatible with the WD1002A-WX1

I turned my back while waiting for the POST memory to count up, and when I looked at it again it had booted off the hard disk.

Another odd thing here...
Neither this WD1002A-WX1 card, nor my WDXT-GEN2-PLUS (which works), will boot from the disk unless the XUB BIOS is present in the machine.

Everything seems to work on the WDXT-GEN2-PLUS, like the low level format, SpeedStor, FDISK, FORMAT, SYS, and reading and writing files from DOS, *except* it won't boot. Adding the XUB BIOS then it boots.

"Adding", so adding an XT-IDE/CT-CF card, or XUB-hosted-on-network-card, etc.

Yes, odd, because in both scenarios (MFM BIOS only, or MFM+XUB BIOS), the code doing the initial part of the booting process is expected to pass execution to the boot code in the MFM drive's MBR, per the diagram at [here]. Maybe someone very knowledgeable about XUB behaviour will comment.

Does your WD1002A-WX1 and WDXT-GEN2-PLUS now have the identical version of WD BIOS on them?

Note that the term 'WD Super BIOS' (a.k.a. F300 BIOS, F300 option) is a high level term. We know that there are variations of it. For example, per [here], 62-000094-032 and 62-000094-002 have a checksum of 0BA700, whereas 62-000128-000 has a checksum of 0BA800.