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Jumper settings for this MFM controller card?

neosunrise

Experienced Member
Joined
Jan 17, 2019
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139
Location
Chicago, IL
I recently acquired an MFM HDD and FDD controller card but I can't seem to find any information for it. I tried to hook it up to my working Seagate ST-225 but the computer was not able to see it. I believe the jumpers need to be reset. Anybody has ever seen or used this card before?

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I've never seen an MFM controller like that, kinda cool!

You cannot just "connect" an MFM Hard drive to an 8bit controller card and expect it to work.

the Hard Drive and the controller card are "married" during the low level format. you cannot take a drive and connect it to a different controller without using that controllers LLF procedure.

http://https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uWWNbpd56Xs&t=926s

This video may be a little dry, but ti really helps explain the concepts.
 
MSI was an early marketer of Optical (i.e. WORM) storage. This card is probably an interface to an early WORM drive. It doesn't seem to be for ESDI or ST506 interface (no differential drivers or receivers).
 
MSI was an early marketer of Optical (i.e. WORM) storage. This card is probably an interface to an early WORM drive. It doesn't seem to be for ESDI or ST506 interface (no differential drivers or receivers).

Do you mean it shouldn't have differential drivers. There are a pair of DS26LS32CN which are differential receivers
...
 
Be very careful attaching an unknown interface card that looks like an MFM/RLL controller to a hard disk - it could always be an ESDI controller which uses the same cables, but is electrically a whole different thing.
It will probably fry the controller and/or the drive. Find out what it is first.
 
Try looking for text strings in the ROM. That could reveal what the card actually is for...
 
I've never seen an MFM controller like that, kinda cool!

You cannot just "connect" an MFM Hard drive to an 8bit controller card and expect it to work.

the Hard Drive and the controller card are "married" during the low level format. you cannot take a drive and connect it to a different controller without using that controllers LLF procedure.

http://https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uWWNbpd56Xs&t=926s

This video may be a little dry, but ti really helps explain the concepts.

Yes I know that. I also watched the video before which was pretty helpful. I first tried the st225 on my other mfm controller and it could be recognized (card said 1 hard disk) but DOS could not see it. I did a low level format and it was successfully recognized.
 
Be very careful attaching an unknown interface card that looks like an MFM/RLL controller to a hard disk - it could always be an ESDI controller which uses the same cables, but is electrically a whole different thing.
It will probably fry the controller and/or the drive. Find out what it is first.
Gee... thanks for the reminder. I hope I did not fry my st225, which has become harder to find. I did, after I tried with this card, attach it to my other MFM card and it did pass the low level format, fdisk, and dos format and was able to boot. Should be good right?
 
Guess I have nothing to lose. I can try it with an ESDI drive. My question - I know most of the ESDI controllers are 16bit but this one is 8bit. Weird?
 
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I did, after I tried with this card, attach it to my other MFM card and it did pass the low level format, fdisk, and dos format and was able to boot. Should be good right?

Yes, then it's fine. I have had an ESDI drive, that got killed because somebody thought it was an MFM drive...
 
The fact that it's ESDI does not necessarily mean that it will work with an ESDI hard drive. ESDI doesn't mean 16-bit; it's still a serial protocol. My guess is that the firmware on the card is specifically written for a WORM drive. There's likely no BIOS support.
 
The fact that it's ESDI does not necessarily mean that it will work with an ESDI hard drive. ESDI doesn't mean 16-bit; it's still a serial protocol. My guess is that the firmware on the card is specifically written for a WORM drive. There's likely no BIOS support.
You are right. At least from what I observed, it didn’t work right off the bat with my ESDI drive.
 
So you probably have the card to the MSI ATX-3000 optical drive. To complete this setup, you need the drive itself--I don't know how common ESDI-interface WORM drives are, some media and, of course, the driver software. Simple... :)

I think the EPROM on the board likely belongs to the 8032 MCU (ROM-less versio of the 8052) and is not BIOS code.
 
So you probably have the card to the MSI ATX-3000 optical drive. To complete this setup, you need the drive itself--I don't know how common ESDI-interface WORM drives are, some media and, of course, the driver software. Simple... :)

I think the EPROM on the board likely belongs to the 8032 MCU (ROM-less versio of the 8052) and is not BIOS code.

Okay it's not likely to work with an ESDI hard drive, right? I don't what I want to do with this card. I am not likely to buy those drives and media :cool:
 
I don't know what you can do with it other than use it for decoration. Heaven only knows what vendor-specific code is in the EPROM--it's certainly not x86, either.
 
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