ANYDRIVE a tool to fix the Drive-Parameters settings ---------------------------------------------------- Version 1.0 27.February 1993 Introduction: ------------- Have you ever tried to install a new Harddisk in your PC and found that the BIOS did not support it? I was faced with that situation lately. I got advice to buy a new BIOS or to buy a special controller. All of that costs $ and is a lot of hassle. The BIOS might not be compatible with your Motherboard etc. This piece of Software fixes the problem WITHOUT any additional Hardware and allows you to run your old stable BIOS. How it works: ------------- When the PC is booted, BIOS sets up Interrupt Vectors (0x41 and 0x46) which point to the parameters for the Harddisks 0 and 1. DOS picks up the Drive Information from the adresses given in these Vectors. A normal BIOS sets the Vectors up to point to a Drive-Table in ROM, but the newer BIOSses that allow customizable Cyl/Head/Sector settings store the Drive-Parameters in the BIOS Memory Area at Segment 0x40 and therefore they point to RAM. ANYDRIVE simpy does the same with the old BIOSes. Since ANYDRIVE is not resident in ROM some other place was needed for the Code to built the Drive-Parameters in the BIOS Area. This must be done before DOS is started because DOS builds up its own parameter blocks from the BIOS Drive-Parameters. The only place I could find was the Master Boot Block of the Harddrive. It contains the Partition-Table for the first Drive but is otherwise empty. ANYDRIVE inserts Code into the Master Boot Block to set up the Drive-Parameters in the BIOS Memory area and points the Interrupt-Vectors (0x41 and 0x46) to the new Parameters. DOS will look it up there and build its Disk Control-Blocks based on them and not on the settings in ROM. This means that ONLY after running the Master Control Block will the Drive-Parameters be correct. This is no problem when booting from the Harddisk since the Master Boot Block must be executed anyway. But if you insert a Floppy Disk and then boot the Machine the old BIOS-Parameters will be in effect! BE CAREFUL! You can avoid this by deactivating the DOS-Partition in Drive 0. Then the Master Boot Block will be executed but no active Partition will be found. ANYDRIVE will ask you to insert a Floppy and then allow you to boot with the correct Drive-Parameters. This feature is especially important for the first Boot as we will see later. Pressing LEFT-SHIFT while booting results in the same becuase it might be too inconvienient to deactivate the DOS-Partition. I remember that FDISK doesnt support that yet (Classical Microsoft behaviour). Hold LEFT-SHIFT while booting and ANYDRIVE will ask you to insert a Floppy for booting. Remember that there must be NO DISK in the Drive when you boot. Insert it when asked to. If you boot from Floppy and you did not have to press a Key to Boot YOU WILL HAVE THE INCORRECT BIOS-SETTINGS. Procedure for installing a primary Harddrive: --------------------------------------------- 1. Low Level Format if necessary (Use WDFMT, it allows you to specify all desired formats.) and perform Surface Scan if desired. 2. Configure some smaller Harddrive-Size in the BIOS Setup. 3. Run ANYDRIVE 0 ...... This will create the Master Boot Block and partition the Drive to contain ONE partition for all of it. The Partition is not activated! 4. Reboot without a Disk in the Drive. The Master Boot Block will be executed and since no Partition is active, ANYDISK will ask you for a Floppy Disk to boot. Insert the DOS Disk and press a Key to boot again. 5. Perform High-Level Format. Change the Partitions if you want. 6. Run FDISK and activate the Primary Partition 7. Reboot from Harddisk. ANYDRIVE will only ask you for a Disk if you press LEFT-SHIFT while booting. Procedure for installing for a Secondary Harddrive -------------------------------------------------- 1. Run ANYDRIVE 1 ...... 2. Reboot from Harddrive and run BIOS Setup. Change DriveType for Second Drive to something, so BIOS will know that there are two Drives. 3. Perform Lowlevel / Highlevel formatting as usual. You might choose to run LowLevel Formats before running ANYDRIVE if DOS or BIOS gives you trouble booting without format. Money Matters ------------- Please send me $5 if you find this ANYDRIVE useful. This is only possible for PRIVATE use. If you want to use it commercially or in a company please contact me first. (C) 1993 Christoph Lameter, All Right reserved except as explicitly granted here. You may use the Software for 30 days to test it. Then either delete it or send $5. The $5 is the fee for using this Program on one PC as long as you wish. ANYDRIVE does not become your own. Commercial inquiries welcome. As usual there is no guarantee that this Software will work. It might not run because of incompatibility with Software or Hardware. By using this Software you accept the consquences that it will not work as intended. Send Check to Christoph Lameter, 244 N. Oakland Ave#6, Pasadena, CA You can reach me on Fido: 1:102/961 InterNet: Christoph.Lameter@f961.n102.z1.fidonet.org If you have any question or if you need support remember that I was not paid for this program in any way. I am a student right now and cannot afford to spend long times helping people out without payment. I am deeply opposed to anyone taking profit from this software without my participation. Therefore distribution as ShareWare on Disk or CD is only allowed if the price of a CD is less than $10 and of a Disk less than $1. Should you find that anyone has sold you this software on any medium exceeding these prices contact me immediately. Join the protest against ShareWare ripoffs.