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Using Adaptec SCSI card, MSDOS 6.22 fails to partition (FDISK) and format SCSI drive

Okay. You're right. He did say 1542CF and not 1547CF. He also said he used a 50-pin 9GB hard drive. So, will MSDOS format a 9GB hard drive with partitions?
 
It depends on the MS-DOS version and maximum partition size should be up to 2 GB. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_DOS_operating_systems#Technical_specifications So in total 8 GB should be useable when DOS 4 or newer is used.

You can have up to four partitions. Also the extended partitition where in you create other partitions can not exceed this size.

But beside that I also see problems with floppy drive and other things which schould not happen at all with the 1542CF, except of drivers for MS-DOS, Windows and so on it is a direct replacement for 1522.
 
If you're using the FDC on the 1542 as the primary, it should work just fine, as the BIOS shouldn't be able to tell the difference between the planar FDC and the add-in. Unless your system doesn't allow you to assign IRQ 6, DMA 2 to an ISA slot...
 
Chuck(G) said:
If you're using the FDC on the 1542 as the primary, it should work just fine, as the BIOS shouldn't be able to tell the difference between the planar FDC and the add-in. Unless your system doesn't allow you to assign IRQ 6, DMA 2 to an ISA slot.
Click to expand...
First let me clear up something for the mistakes that I made today. I do have the AHA-1542CF and the entry of the 1547CF was a mistake, my bad. Right now I am still using the AHA-1522A SCSI controller as there appears to be conflict of the floppy through the 1542CF. I think Chuck(G) is right about the IRQ and DMA but, I have to check to verify using checkit. The AHA-1542CF has a switch as opposed to the jumpers on the AHA-1522A. The labeling on the switch say's open on the top and I am assuming that means off. According to Stason.org switch 1 sets the terminator, which I have set to 'on.' Switches 2-4 is the port address, which I have set to the default of 330-333h. I have the floppy enabled with the switch 5 set to 'off.' The BIOS address is set to default on switches 6-8, which are all off. Since, I kept getting an error with the floppy, I reverted back to the AHA-1522A. I am at a loss to know how to change the DMA and IRQ on the 1542CF anyway no jumpers seen.

This afternoon using the AHA-1522A, I was able to do a low level format using the scsifmt.exe on a drive that is a 68-pin 4.3 GB half height drive. I attained a 50-pin to 68-pin adapter from a cable whole seller from Ga. Warning to anyone buying the same adapter from eBay, it doesn't work. I tried fdisk and it sort of hangs on me. So, I plan to use afdisk as I did earlier even though I have the SCSI ID set to 2 right now I wanted to see if a 2-GB partition and format can be set as 1st1 suggested. I then would like to reset the SCSI ID 0 to use sys.com to see if I could get the drive to boot. I plan to stop the ASPI2DOS.sys and ASPIDISK.sys in order to get the drive to boot.

Please correct me if I am wrong on this procedure, thank you.
 
I had a bug with my 1522-B and 80pin SCA to 50 pin adapters. I would set the 80 to 50 pin adapter to lun1 and it would end up lun2. So maybe its off that way like my converter? Really under the weather but maybe after my nap I can get you pics.
 
Chuck(G) said:
If you change the IRQ and DMA for the FDC, it's extremely unlikely that the BIOS will support that.
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Yes, but as I remember 1542CF does not support changing this setting, it is always default DMA and IO. If one want to use the FDC on 1542CF one has to DISABLE all other FDC on default ressources on mainboard and other ISA/EISA/VLB/PCI cards. On 1542CF FDC can only be enabled or disabled. (1542A and 1542B can change DMA and IO adress for FDC, but this is mostly only usefull as secondary for special floppy tools to read/write exotic disk formats like CP/M - PC BIOS, MSDOS and most other OS won't support an FDC on alternative ressources.)

If no other floppy controller besides the one on the 1542CF is present/enabled (/set to default ressources) you need to consider that this 1542CF FDC is damaged. If you set the 1522 ressources to different DMA, IO, etc, then disable FDC on 1542CF, insert 1522 as well in your machine (you can disable also it's BIOS as not required for boot) and use it for slower external SCSI devices like CDROM, ZIP drive and so on, and to serve the floppy drives. But then you still need aspi2dos.sys, and for the 1542 it makes sense to still also load aspi4dos.sys, and aspidisk.sys still can serve for both to support all kinds of drives.

Usually it also not matters if you use AFDISK from Adaptec or FDISK from MS-DOS, the result should be the same.

Using checkit to detect used/free ressources is unreliable, it can only display standard things, you need to take a piece of paper and make manually a table (or use Excel on modern PC) and write down your findings from the cards jumper/dip settings to get a good overview.
 
1ST1 said:
Yes, but as I remember 1542CF does not support changing this setting, it is always default DMA and IO. If one want to use the FDC on 1542CF one has to DISABLE all other FDC on default ressources on mainboard and other ISA/EISA/VLB/PCI cards. On 1542CF FDC can only be enabled or disabled. (1542A and 1542B can change DMA and IO adress for FDC, but this is mostly only usefull as secondary for special floppy tools to read/write exotic disk formats like CP/M - PC BIOS, MSDOS and most other OS won't support an FDC on alternative ressources.)

If no other floppy controller besides the one on the 1542CF is present/enabled (/set to default ressources) you need to consider that this 1542CF FDC is damaged. If you set the 1522 ressources to different DMA, IO, etc, then disable FDC on 1542CF, insert 1522 as well in your machine (you can disable also it's BIOS as not required for boot) and use it for slower external SCSI devices like CDROM, ZIP drive and so on, and to serve the floppy drives. But then you still need aspi2dos.sys, and for the 1542 it makes sense to still also load aspi4dos.sys, and aspidisk.sys still can serve for both to support all kinds of drives.

Usually it also not matters if you use AFDISK from Adaptec or FDISK from MS-DOS, the result should be the same.

Using checkit to detect used/free ressources is unreliable, it can only display standard things, you need to take a piece of paper and make manually a table (or use Excel on modern PC) and write down your findings from the cards jumper/dip settings to get a good overview.
Click to expand...
You are right, 1st1, the only source for my FDD is the 1522. I believe my 1542CF FDD is damaged; eBay junk. The 4.3 GB drive was low level formatted using the SCSIFMT.

It's funny that in all these years that no one has ever made a snapshot program that looks at the address schema from address 0000h to ffffh or whatever to see what addresses are occupied. I have a number of testing software, however, as 1st1 said Checkit is unreliable as is Infoplus, MSD, PCPro, etc. I bet Intel, IBM and etc do have a memory map program. Thanks to all for the help. Configuring this machine has been both a challenge, headache, and learning experience. Now, I have to relearn batch programming to get a menu program to work for a different post.
 
This book has been my goto for batch programming since I was a kid. Still have to use it now and then as I forget all the ASCII codes. Its fairly cheap, and sure there is a copy on internet archive.

www.ebay.com

Supercharging MS-DOS : The Microsoft Guide to High Performance Computing for the Experienced PC User by Van Wolverton (1986, Trade Paperback) for sale online | eBay

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for Supercharging MS-DOS : The Microsoft Guide to High Performance Computing for the Experienced PC User by Van Wolverton (1986, Trade Paperback) at the best online prices at eBay! Free shipping for many products!
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twolazy said:
This book has been my goto for batch programming since I was a kid. Still have to use it now and then as I forget all the ASCII codes. Its fairly cheap, and sure there is a copy on internet archive.

www.ebay.com

Supercharging MS-DOS : The Microsoft Guide to High Performance Computing for the Experienced PC User by Van Wolverton (1986, Trade Paperback) for sale online | eBay

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for Supercharging MS-DOS : The Microsoft Guide to High Performance Computing for the Experienced PC User by Van Wolverton (1986, Trade Paperback) at the best online prices at eBay! Free shipping for many products!
www.ebay.com
Click to expand...
I just ordered it, thanks for the suggestion.
 
You aren't going to be disappointed in that book. Its the only MS-Dos book I still use! And best part is its good for MS-Dos 3.1 and up.
 
1ST1 said:
Yes, but as I remember 1542CF does not support changing this setting, it is always default DMA and IO. If one want to use the FDC on 1542CF one has to DISABLE all other FDC on default ressources on mainboard and other ISA/EISA/VLB/PCI cards. On 1542CF FDC can only be enabled or disabled. (1542A and 1542B can change DMA and IO adress for FDC, but this is mostly only usefull as secondary for special floppy tools to read/write exotic disk formats like CP/M - PC BIOS, MSDOS and most other OS won't support an FDC on alternative ressources.)

If no other floppy controller besides the one on the 1542CF is present/enabled (/set to default ressources) you need to consider that this 1542CF FDC is damaged. If you set the 1522 ressources to different DMA, IO, etc, then disable FDC on 1542CF, insert 1522 as well in your machine (you can disable also it's BIOS as not required for boot) and use it for slower external SCSI devices like CDROM, ZIP drive and so on, and to serve the floppy drives. But then you still need aspi2dos.sys, and for the 1542 it makes sense to still also load aspi4dos.sys, and aspidisk.sys still can serve for both to support all kinds of drives.

Usually it also not matters if you use AFDISK from Adaptec or FDISK from MS-DOS, the result should be the same.

Using checkit to detect used/free ressources is unreliable, it can only display standard things, you need to take a piece of paper and make manually a table (or use Excel on modern PC) and write down your findings from the cards jumper/dip settings to get a good overview.
Click to expand...
You were right. A 2-GB partition is made via AFDISK. So, for my 4.3 GB HD, I got two 2100+ MBytes for C and D drive and residual for E drive. Many thanks 1st1.
 
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