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Diskette errors using DOS Services on SCO System V/386 rel3.2v4.2

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Ton Koot

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Apr 29, 1998, 3:00:00 AM4/29/98
to

Who can help us to solve the following problem ?

When using the DOS Diskette Services (like "copy") on SCO Unix System V/386
rel3.2v4.2
running on an IBM 300GL Pentium 200 MMX we encounter the following message
:

"Not ready reading drive A:
Abort, Retry, Fail ?"

We already changed the DOS Services floppy timing by means of "./patchflop"
ranging from a
value of 100 to 240 (in increments of 10), but all settings give the same
message.
Re-formatting the diskette on the same PC (or even on an other DOS based PC
with
"FORMAT A: /U") makes no difference too.

Note that an identical configuration works fine on an IBM 300GL Pentium 200
(without MMX), when
using "./patchflop 200".
Also, the UNIX "doscp" command, as well as other UNIX "dos..." commands, do
not give any problem.

We, and our field service engineers, really need the DOS Diskette Services
to back-up vital data of our
instruments.

Thanks for your help,

Ton Koot
Organon Teknika / Belgium


Bob Bailin

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Apr 30, 1998, 3:00:00 AM4/30/98
to

What do you mean by "DOS Diskette Services"? Are you referring to SCO Merge
3.1.2?

If you are in fact using SCO Merge, then the patchflop utility will take an
argument of up to ~65000 (64K-1). A value of 500-1000 will probably work
nicely.

Bob


--
Bob Bailin
72027...@compuserve.com

Robert Conrow

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May 8, 1998, 3:00:00 AM5/8/98
to

I too have the same problem as Ton Koot. The version of patchflop that
I am using will only take an argument up to 255. I am stuck with this
version and no access to the floppy drive during DOS services. I am
sure this happened when I upgraded from a 486/33 to a PentiumII/233.
Trying all different auguments for patchflop yeilded no sucess. If
anyone has a workaround for this problem I would sure like to hear it.
I need to use the floppy drive in 'DOS' mode to trade data with other
users. I realize the new version of patchflop in SCO Merge 3.1.2
allows a 16bit argument (up to 64K) but I can't ugrade to the new
version of SCO Merge and consquently the new patchflop. At the moment
the only solutions I have is go back to a slower machine- not an
option, or upgrade SCO Merge which would require upgrading SCO which
may cause my applications to stop working (require reprogramming or at
least recompiling)- not an option. Maybe someone can hack patchflop
and extend the timing loops out a bit?

Any ideas anyone?

Thanks,
Robert Conrow
On Thu, 30 Apr 1998 00:14:48 -0400, Bob Bailin

Roger Mawhinney

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May 8, 1998, 3:00:00 AM5/8/98
to

Try checking the following link :-
http://www.sco.com/cgi-bin/tasearch
for " floppy errors"

We too had a similar problem when we ugraded to a Pentium II system. This
occurred when we were trying to read DOS floppies using the doscp command.
I can't remember exactly which solution we used, but we did edit the
conf.d/fp files and it did not involve patchflop.

Good luck
Roger Mawhinney

Robert Conrow wrote in message <355280c3....@news.supernews.com>...

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