=== 32BIT PROBLEMS created at 15:11:23 on 94/12/02 GMT (by MOMSEN at RCHVMP3)
************************************************************************
SYSTEM = IDE SYSTEMS
ADAPTER = ALL
SOFTWARE/DRIVER/OS = WINDOWS 3.1 OR LATER
DRIVE = IBM IDE DRIVES
PROBLEM = WINDOWS 32 BIT DISK ACCESS
************************************************************************
Windows 32BitAccess and IBM IDE Drives
======================================
Problem.
--------
It has been reported by several users of IBM IDE drives that when
installing Windows 3.1 or later they are not given the option to
enable 32BitDiskAccess.
32-Bit Disk Access.
32-Bit Disk Access or FastDisk is a device driver built into the
386 enhance mode of windows ver. 3.1 and later, and is a full 32-bit
protected mode interface to standard disk controllers.
During Windows installation a check is made to see if the installed
IDE I/O controller and Hard disk controller supports the WD1003
standard.
If windows assesses that the WD1003 standard is supported it will
install the built-in device drivers WDCTRL and INT13 into the
system.ini file, this then gives the option to turn 32-Bit Disk Access
on. The Microsoft built checking routines cannot ascertain exactly
which disk controllers would work and which would not.
Solution for IBM IDE Drives.
----------------------------
To enable 32-Bit Disk Access for the IBM IDE hard disk it maybe
necessary to manually add the devices drivers to the windows
system.ini file.
To accomplish this use a text editor and open the system.ini file
in the windows sub-directory, and add the following to the [386enh]
section
device=*wdctrl
device=*int13
The 32-Bit Disk Access can be enabled by either starting windows and
checking the use 32-bit box under the Virtual Memory option
alternatively the following line can also be added to the system.ini
file [386enh] section.
32BitDiskAccess=on ==> this line switches on 32-Bit Disk Access.
On some platforms using enhanced IDE controllers enabling the 32-Bit
Disk Access may result in a phase 05.D0 failure etc. in these
instances it is possible to use an alternative FastDisk device driver
eg Disk Manager from Ontrack. In version 6 of Disk Manager there is a
Fastdisk driver for windows ( ONTRACKW.386 ), this driver can be
manually loaded to the system.ini file in the [386enh] section,
the built-in windows driver *wdctrl must be disabled or removed.
With the above drivers loaded 32-Bit Disk Access will be available when
using IBM IDE drives. An additional benefit of using the Ontrack driver
is that drives larger that 528MB are supported, the built-in wdctrl
driver only support drives up to 528MB.
Alternatively the driver can be automatically install by typing
DMCFIG /F on the disk manager diskette. This installation assumes that
windows is installed in the default \Windows sub-directory, if windows
is installed in another directory the path to windows must be specified
e.g. DMCFIG /F[=<drive>:\<path>]
For further information contact Lew Douglas European SIT Lab.
VM ID: LDOUGLAS at HVTVM
Internet : LDOUGLAS@vnet.ibm.com