AT bridgeboard HD help
Kevin Michael Pogany
I have an AT bridgeboard, and have been trying all afternoon to get the thing
to recongnize the special HD file which the makeAB command made on my amiga HD.
Unfortunatly, I have had no success in getting the fdisk command to recognize
this suedo autoboot file on my amiga HD. I would appreciate any help which
might help me figure out this annoying problem...
Thanx,
-Kevin
Klaus Burkert
1) locate the dual-port-ram to $D000 via PCPrefs
2) enter no HD into the CMOS-setup
3) create the HD-file with MakeAB on the Amiga
4) create the file 'SYS:PC/System/ABoot.CTRL' and enter the location of the
HD-file into it, complete path-name, this file MUST contain only one
single line!
5) start PCDisk close AFTER Binddrivers in your Startup-Sequence
6) cold-boot the Amiga
7) boot the AT from floppy
8) partition the AT-HD via fdisk
9) reboot the AT
10) format c:/s on the AT
or replace step 7 to 11 by running the original MS-DOS-install-procedure
Ciao, Klaus.
-----------------------------------------------------------
Klaus Burkert email: burk...@kirk.fmi.uni-passau.de
Brandweg 11 voice: +49-851/83993
D-W-8390 Passau / Federal Republic of Germany
Howard Hull
that worked ok that was the first file I had in a 58 megabyte FFS partition.
I had determined via a sector editor that this file extended contiguously
all the way from just above the root track to within five blocks of the top
of the partition. In order to try some new stuff, I copied the same file
to another file with a different name in the same partition that ended up
in the lower half but with a couple of other files sandwiched in the middle
of it. I then [carefully] swapped the names of the files filea to filec,
fileb to filea, filec to fileb, like. I checked the two files with ARP cmp
before modifying the new file, and tested to see if the new file would boot.
Instead of booting properly, the Bridgeboard hung. So I swapped the names
back. The Bridgeboard then booted properly. So, having a known good backup
of the small files in the partition, I decided to fully reformat the partition
[without using the QUICK option, ok?], use makeAB to remake the original file
in its original place, put in a dummy file that wrapped around the top to
the bottom of the partition, use makeAB again to make yet another file in
the bottom part, restore both partitions from the IBM A: drive, re-enable
the autoboot by setting the name in the PC/System/ABOOT.CTRL on the Amiga
side, and voila -- the Bridgeboard would then boot with either file just by
changing the reference name in the PC/System/ABOOT.CTRL file where it didn't
formerly. The moral of the story is quite definitely use makeAB on a clean
freshly formatted partition, FORCE it to place the file in the partition as
one contiguous file, avoiding the root block / bit map block zone that's
located in the center of the partition if you really want it to work cleanly.
(I won't go so far as to say it can't straddle the root zone, just don't do
it that way if you can help it, that's all!)
Howard Hull
hu...@ncar.ucar.edu
Kriston J. Rehberg
Okay, you make the drive using MAKEAB. Then, read the readme file on
the bboard distribution disk and look for a blurb about the "aboot.ctrl"
file. The file goes in the sys:pc/system/ directory, I believe (the
readme will tell you) and should contain 1 line specifying the absolute
path name for the disk file you created with MAKEAB. For example, in my
ABoot.CTRL file, I have:
work:pc/pcdrive
When your bridgeboard starts up it looks inside this file and uses that
filename for the virtual drive, so make sure it matches perfectly. When
the MSDOS system starts up, that disk is addressed as "C:". Then, you
1) use FDISK to massage it to your preferences, 2) format the drive
using "format c:/s" and 3) install the MSDOS files on it and anything
else you might need.
Any more questions? Email me.
|> Thanx,
No problem.
|> -Kevin
---
Kriston J. Rehberg, Consultant, S.U.N.Y. Binghamton Computer Services
<con...@bingsuns.cc.binghamton.edu> || <CON...@BINGVAXA.BITnet>
#include <stddiscl.h> /* take it or leave it! */
#pragma employer_responsibility (off) /* "Hackito ergo sum!" */
David S. Masterson
>>>>> J. Rehberg) said:
Kriston> Okay, you make the drive using MAKEAB. Then, read the readme file on
Kriston> the bboard distribution disk and look for a blurb about the
Kriston> "aboot.ctrl" file. The file goes in the sys:pc/system/ directory, I
Kriston> believe (the readme will tell you) and should contain 1 line
Kriston> specifying the absolute path name for the disk file you created with
Kriston> MAKEAB. For example, in my ABoot.CTRL file, I have:
Kriston> work:pc/pcdrive
Kriston> When your bridgeboard starts up it looks inside this file and uses
Kriston> that filename for the virtual drive, so make sure it matches
Kriston> perfectly. When the MSDOS system starts up, that disk is addressed
Kriston> as "C:". Then, you 1) use FDISK to massage it to your preferences,
Kriston> 2) format the drive using "format c:/s" and 3) install the MSDOS
Kriston> files on it and anything else you might need.
Don't you also need to make sure that PCDisk is running by the time the
bridgeboard starts up?
--
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