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Date:	Mon, 02 Jun 2003 16:18:20 +0100
From:	"Info 4 SYNass" <Info@SYNass.NET >
Reply-To:
To:
Subject:	Re: SCOUG-Help: HDD choice & settings with OS/2 !?

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Hi Harry =

Thanks for your interesting answer !

My problems were about exactly the same as Wayne faced just now =

except that my system was IDE driven only and only the CD-ROM and =

a GigaMO are SCSI !

Beside of this little difference I found it very, very curious that the
system =

running already with a 7.5GB, a 20GB and also a 75GB HDD was not =

able to get running properly with replacing the WDC200AB with a
WDC400EB !!

I was struggling and tickering with my only one productive system and
toooooo =

many time I had to rollback to my old 20GB drive when I realized the
40GB not =

working properly !!!

I did check and contact the manufacturers website information and
instruction =

and also did contact the WDC support ;-) I also contacted 2 of my
experts with =

no positive results ;-(

WDC support took more than 10 days to reply to my incident and =

their response were nonsense ;-(( I did not reveal that I am using OS/2
in my =

first request ;-|

I just tried the LBA / CHS settings with my experimental system:
You are correct: the system doesn't boot anymore !

Now I have set all HDD's back to "AUTO" and they were displayed as =

"LBA" during the system boot !!

In the meantime I do not need to write down anymore the BIOS settings
=2E..
=2E.. with all these experiments I can do this by heart ;-) but this does
not =

mean that I know exactly all and each of these settings ;-))

Once again thanks a lot for your helpful comments: I feel, like you
also =

wrote (only half-way) better now ;-)))

Regards, svobi

PS: =

One more question regarding the caches:
How does a 2MB or a 8MB HDD cache affect OS/2 ???

hmotin@sbcglobal.net on 02.06.2003 15:10:50
Please respond to hmotin@sbcglobal.net
To: Info@SYNass.NET, scoug-help@scoug.com, steve53@earthlink.net
cc: =

Subject: Re: SCOUG-Help: HDD choice & settings with OS/2 !?

Svobi,

I too had many problems setting up IDE hard drives. I had to go to the
manufacturer =

website and CAREFULLY read all the literature and recommendations
before I felt =

HALF-WAY comfortable (only half-way).

In the end I don't think it matters about setting your hard drive to
LBA, or CHS, or Large, =

etc. In my mind only 2 things matter:

1. Can you see and use all of your hard drive, using a particular
setting?

2. Don't violate any NO-NO's from the manufacturer

I've used both CHS and LBA. I set my last 2 IDE drives to auto detect
in the BIOS. The =

BIOS auto detected and set them to LBA. On one of my motherboards I had
to first =

temporarily pull out the SCSI card before the BIOS would auto detect my
IDE drive (a =

trick I learned from the PC builder).

I would not change the BIOS settings from LBA to CHS. I was told that
you cannot do it =

successfully. At a minimum you will not be able to boot your system. At
a maximum you =

may get data corruption and lost

The MOST IMPORTANT think that I think you should do is write down or
copy/print =

your BIOS settings. I do this everytime I install new hardware and its
really saved me. =

I've been able to go back to a previous configuration without a problem
(on several =

occasions the new hardware just did not work out to my satisfaction).
Fortunately for me =

I can print my BIOS settings, using Print Screen. You may (or, may not)
be able to use =

Print Screen on your system for this. If you cannot, I would take the
time to write them all =

down.

I used the fastest DMA mode, when I used IDE hard drives. I did not use
PIO mode. =

However, if you write down the BIOS settings, you can easily experiment
with some of =

these settings and recover, if necessary.
HCM

On Mon, 2 Jun 2003 02:59:08 PDT7, Info 4 SYNass wrote:

>If you are responding to someone asking for help who
>may not be a member of this list, be sure to use the
>REPLY TO ALL feature of your email program.
>
>Hello everbody
>Since I had the same difficulties installing my new WDC =

>early this like Wayne ...
>.... I would like to your your advice and suggestions regarding =

>the settings in the BIOS:
>
>My present BIOS settings look like following
>
>BIOS - Standard CMOS Features:
>-> IDE Primary Slave: WSC400EB-00CPF0
>AUTO / LBA
>40018 MB
>CYL 4865
>HEAD 255
>PRECOMP 0
>LZ 19157
>SECTOR 63
>
>BIOS - Integrated Periphery:
>Slave Drive PIO Mode =3D AUTO
>
>What do I need to watch with these settings ?
>
>What are the must avoid ??
>What are the should / must do ??
>
>Can somebody of you exactly specify what and why =

>to the respective settings parameters ???
>
>
>With my other question regarding the choice of =

>HDD's with OS/2 I have gotten positive answers =

>only with so many brands and types of HDD that =

>I am sure that I DO make a mistake with some =

>of my settings here !!!
>
>
>TWO more question:
>
>1) Can I just change the BIOS settings from LBA to CHS =

>without risking the lost of my data !?
>
>BTW: On my experimantal system I just tried this !
>All HDD's were set from LBA to CHS with the result =

>that the system does not boot anymore ;-(
>
>Setting only the boot disk back to LBA and the other =

>2 HDD's still leaving on CHS, the system boots again =

>with NO problems ;-)
>
>
>2) Does the cache size of 2MB or 8MB any negative =

>affects to OS/2 ??? What must one watch reagarding =

>this ???
> =

>
>Your advice and suggestions are very appreciated =

>and welcome !
>
>Kind regards, svobi
>
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