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clh333

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As noted on another thread I recently assembled one of the glitchworks' XTIDE kits. I had already purchased one pre-assembled from glitch.

Assembly was pretty straightforward and soon I came to the point of programming the EPROM. I found information on the Universal BIOS (http://www.xtideuniversalbios.org/), written by aitotat (among others?) who sometimes posts here and who deserves all kinds of accolades for such a stunning achievement.

I used the configuration utility to flash the EPROM, but not knowing any better (that's my story, anyway) I made a few mistakes: Although the intended target for the card is an XT (5160) I performed the flashing on a '586 machine because it happens to have a large collection of old software. I figured I would just copy the software over to the compact-flash Disk-On-Module card included with the XTIDE.

The flashing succeeded but because I flashed for an XT BIOS when the machine re-booted it hung loading DOS. Recognizing my mistake I tried to re-program the AT28C64B EPROM and was unsuccessful until I removed the EPROM and erased it in another (GQ-4X) programmer. I re-flashed a second time using the proper parameters and now the machine boots, albeit from the hard disk. (The controller is a Promise VLB EIDE2300).

The XTIDE BIOS recognizes the blank DOM as a master drive at 01FH, but since there is no MBR it continues on and boots from the HD. Once at the DOS C:\ prompt I tried to use FDISK to format the DOM. FDISK D: doesn't work (invalid parameter) and C: is the boot drive so I'm not going there. How can I get the system to recognize the DOM card? I have no other place to connect it to a system. The DOM card has the same pins as a standard IDE header, not like those of a CF card which I could insert into another machine and format.

Suggestions? Thanks.

-CH-
 
It would be unusual to have an XT-IDE at 0x01F, are you sure it's not picking up on the other controller? I've had several people report that the 2.x.x XUB configuration tool incorrectly assumed they wanted it to interact with another IDE controller. Default port base address for the XT-IDE rev 3 (if you followed the default switch settings) is 0x300. 0x1F0 is the default PC IDE controller port.
 
Thank you for your responses. I followed the suggestions without success, probably due to a BIOS conflict.

It appears that the configuration utility (XTIDECFG.EXE) makes some assumptions about how to proceed after an inspection of the host. Having glitch's board as a reference I was certain that the switch settings were the same, and I accepted all the default settings the configuration utility offered me. The flashing was successful but after flashing and reboot the machine conflated C: with D: (DIR listed C:'s contents whether executed from C or D) and FDISK took a long time to load and didn't get the contents of the DOM right. Although glitch had already formatted and installed the system on the DOM, I was not able to see it. Pulling all the cards except the video and the Promise HD controller and booting with a minimal system from the A: drive didn't fare any better.

So I erased the EPROM once again and installed the XTIDE in the XT machine. I re-flashed, this time as an XT BIOS. The configuration utility got everything right and upon reboot the XT offered me the choices of booting from the DOM, which it now identified correctly (i.e. displayed the volume label glitch had given it). If I booted from the hard disk the DOM module became D: and if I booted from the module the hard disk became D:, as you would expect. The contents of the module were available for me to see, and FDISK, which loaded promptly, identified two volumes, each correctly.

I will try again to see if I can configure an AT-BIOS version of the XTIDE card but at this point I am not proficient enough to identify the source of the problem.

A number of people have responded to my previous post, pointing out the role that others have had in the development of the XTIDE card and the Universal BIOS. I apologize if I have unknowingly omitted or misallocated attribution. It remains a remarkable achievement and I am grateful to all who were involved.

-CH-
 
What version of the XUB are you using in the AT and XT, Did you use the " Autoconfigure " option in XTIDECFG.
 
I used the version 1.1.5 downloaded from glitch's site: http://filedump.glitchwrks.com/xt_id.../xub_1.1.5.zip. AFAIK this is the same version as on the pre-assembled board supplied earlier. The configuration utility XTIDECFG that was in that ZIP file did not have an "autoconfigure" menu option. The options offered were identical to those listed on the xtideuniversalbios.org site, under the heading "Using XTIDECFG.COM (XTIDE Universal BIOS configuration and flashing program)".

Each time I loaded a BIN file and began flashing, accepting the defaults. The first pass on the AT machine I selected the XT BIN. On (3) subsequent passes on the AT machine I selected the AT BIN. On the XT machine I once again selected the XT BIN and that attempt was successful.

-CH-
 
The Autoconfigure option didn't appear till later in the development of the XUB, On your AT machine did you set Hard drives to "None" in the system Bios ?, If you didn't go into the system bios and set hard drives to None, This will give the XUB control and avoid any problems/conflicts.

IIRC the 1.1.5 version had no specific support for any type of VLB cards so that could be a problem also.
 
Malc said:
The Autoconfigure option didn't appear till later in the development of the XUB, On your AT machine did you set Hard drives to "None" in the system Bios ?, If you didn't go into the system bios and set hard drives to None, This will give the XUB control and avoid any problems/conflicts.
Click to expand...

I figured v.1.1 was "production" and v.2.x was "beta" so I had better select the better-tested version. One less variable to eliminate. I'll experiment with v.2 later.

Malc said:
IIRC the 1.1.5 version had no specific support for any type of VLB cards so that could be a problem also.
Click to expand...

I did not enter machine BIOS and disable HDs; thank you for the suggestion. I was planning to eliminate the VLB controller card by using a different machine. I have '286, '386 and '486 boards as well - none IBM OEM - and other controllers so I thought I would see if I could find a configuration that would work with an AT BIOS in the XTIDE.

It happens that I am using the '586 because the "tweener", an ASUS board from an HP of a certain age, is exhibiting signs of capacitor failure. The ASUS has a "baby AT" form factor, with four PCI and three ISA slots. It runs Win98 SE and was my "go to" machine for this sort of thing. Alas.

The impetus for all of this is to get XTIDE cards configured for use in the two 5160s and populated with software. I have gigabytes stored on newer machines but am struggling with transfer. Every approach seems to have a roadblock.

Thanks for your suggestions.

-CH-
 
clh333 said:
The impetus for all of this is to get XTIDE cards configured for use in the two 5160s and populated with software. I have gigabytes stored on newer machines but am struggling with transfer. Every approach seems to have a roadblock.
Click to expand...
You might do better with a PCI parallel/serial card. They're cheap enough and relatively uncomplicated.
 
clh333 said:
I figured v.1.1 was "production" and v.2.x was "beta" so I had better select the better-tested version. One less variable to eliminate. I'll experiment with v.2 later.
Click to expand...

Back then, I used version 1.1.5 for a long time and found it very stable but the XUB has come a long way since then so i'd just go for the latest available version which is r591 and available from the Pre-Built Binaries Download Centre , Still officially labeled as "Beta" but as far as i am aware the next release will display the revision number instead of the Beta designation.

I did not enter machine BIOS and disable HDs; thank you for the suggestion. I was planning to eliminate the VLB controller card by using a different machine. I have '286, '386 and '486 boards as well - none IBM OEM - and other controllers so I thought I would see if I could find a configuration that would work with an AT BIOS in the XTIDE.

It happens that I am using the '586 because the "tweener", an ASUS board from an HP of a certain age, is exhibiting signs of capacitor failure. The ASUS has a "baby AT" form factor, with four PCI and three ISA slots. It runs Win98 SE and was my "go to" machine for this sort of thing. Alas.

The impetus for all of this is to get XTIDE cards configured for use in the two 5160s and populated with software. I have gigabytes stored on newer machines but am struggling with transfer. Every approach seems to have a roadblock.
Click to expand...

I think i've got a couple of VLB cards but can't remember when i last used them, I don't own any DOM's, Every time i look ( On this side of the pond ) they are so much more expensive than CF so being the tight old git i am I've always used CF and never had any real problems, I use CF in my 5160 and It's so much easier to transfer stuff to the 5160 via CF.
 
Malc said:
... I don't own any DOM's, Every time i look ( On this side of the pond ) they are so much more expensive than CF so being the tight old git i am I've always used CF and never had any real problems, ...
Click to expand...
I've been using these DOMs for a few years without any problem and they're quite reasonable.
 
Stone said:
You might do better with a PCI parallel/serial card. They're cheap enough and relatively uncomplicated.
Click to expand...

I have plenty of PCI S/P I/O cards. A recent example: On MinusZeroDegrees I read about Laplink (here: http://www.minuszerodegrees.net/transfer/laplink3/laplink3.htm) so I obtained the cable and software from an eBay reseller. Popped the CD in the 64-bit Win7 Pro AMD Black 32 Gb machine with 2 Tb HDs and was informed "This software will not run on this version of the operating system."

Tried to get the XT to recognize and use a SCSI adapter. Recognized the adapter, couldn't make it communicate. XTIDE was Plan C; next will be ZIP disks through parallel ports.

I'll get there, its just like walking around a strange place in the dark; every once in a while you bark your shins.

-CH-
 
Malc said:
Back then, I used version 1.1.5 for a long time and found it very stable but the XUB has come a long way since then so i'd just go for the latest available version which is r591 and available from the Pre-Built Binaries Download Centre , Still officially labeled as "Beta" but as far as i am aware the next release will display the revision number instead of the Beta designation.
Click to expand...

I'll look for the newer version, thanks.

Malc said:
I think i've got a couple of VLB cards but can't remember when i last used them, I don't own any DOM's, Every time i look ( On this side of the pond ) they are so much more expensive than CF so being the tight old git i am I've always used CF and never had any real problems, I use CF in my 5160 and It's so much easier to transfer stuff to the 5160 via CF.
Click to expand...

A CF that can be plugged in from the outside of the chassis would make swapping cards more convenient, it is true, but the XTIDE has an IDE port, not a CF port, and it is inside the case where it could easily be connected to an IDE cable. So the DOM makes sense in this case.

VLB is sort of the red-headed stepchild of the PC world, but the '486 DX2 was the first machine I built instead of bought so I deal with its oddities. Used to run Win 3.11 on top of DR DOS on that machine, speaking of configuration issues...

Thanks for your input,

-CH-
 
clh333 said:
A CF that can be plugged in from the outside of the chassis would make swapping cards more convenient, it is true, but the XTIDE has an IDE port, not a CF port, and it is inside the case where it could easily be connected to an IDE cable. So the DOM makes sense in this case....
Click to expand...

In my 5160's i currently use these in slot 8, Later though i hope to move the CF to the front of the machine.
 
Stone said:
Not if you buy more than one of them. Check out the shipping prices for 2, 3, 4 or 5 DOMs.
Click to expand...

I did but import charges racked up according to the calculator anyway, still made it expensive.
 
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