I think you may be confusing the DOS FORMAT command with the controllers low level format (LLF).

The initialization utility included in the BIOS of the MFM controller (that is accessed via the debug command) allows you to perform a low level format of the drive, effectively "pairing" the drive with that specific controller. At this point it should ask you for the drive params as those are needed for the LLF. It may use the current values stored in the drive by default, but it should allow you to set new values for the drive geometry.

Once the LLF is done, you can run FDISK and then DOS FORMAT as usual.

Miniscribe is a bad news no matter what, just 100% unreliable. I went through this back in the day. Many and many liberally.

Most reliable tend to be voice coil MFM and RLL is little better.

Cheers,

Which SMS OMTI# controller is it ?

Some 8-bit ISA MFM controllers allow to specify the drive type/parameters in the LLF routine...
others use jumpers for that...

If G=C800:6 formats the drive without asking for parameters, it must be jumper-configured.

Find the jumper settings for your controller, in case of problems - post a photo.

Grzyb wrote on 2023-04-28, 00:58:

Some 8-bit ISA MFM controllers allow to specify the drive type/parameters in the LLF routine... others use jumpers for that... […]
Show full quote

Some 8-bit ISA MFM controllers allow to specify the drive type/parameters in the LLF routine...
others use jumpers for that...

If G=C800:6 formats the drive without asking for parameters, it must be jumper-configured.

Find the jumper settings for your controller, in case of problems - post a photo.

Thanks, I'll take the controller out and look for jumpers.

[EDIT]

The controller is an OMTI 5520B-10.

I found the jumper settings on stason.org and it seems it supports my Miniscribe 3425. I'll have a go at configuring the jumpers (https://stason.org/TULARC/pc/hard-disk-floppy … 412-drives.html) and report back.

Ok so thanks to you guys I was able to configure the controller for the Miniscribe 3425 and the drive is now corectly detected as 20MB. I've formatted and made it bootable with sys.com but the computer will still not boot off it. Just like before the computer will boot off the floppy and access the HDD just fine.

Are there any additional settings I need to do to the controller so the PC will boot off the HDD?

Socket3 wrote on 2023-04-28, 08:25:

Are there any additional settings I need to do to the controller so the PC will boot off the HDD?

FDISK /MBR perhaps?

Deunan wrote on 2023-04-28, 09:56:

Socket3 wrote on 2023-04-28, 08:25:

Are there any additional settings I need to do to the controller so the PC will boot off the HDD?

FDISK /MBR perhaps?

where do I find MBR? fdisk just shows if the partition is active, and it is, shows up as primary dos partition. What am I missing?

Socket3 wrote on 2023-04-28, 09:58:

Deunan wrote on 2023-04-28, 09:56:

Socket3 wrote on 2023-04-28, 08:25:

Are there any additional settings I need to do to the controller so the PC will boot off the HDD?

FDISK /MBR perhaps?

where do I find MBR? fdisk just shows if the partition is active, and it is, shows up as primary dos partition. What am I missing?

1) Do you perform low-level format with DEBUG G=C800:6 before FDISK, FORMAT and SYS?
2) You can try ADM (Advanced Disk Manager) to low-level format and install disk-overlay (it takes 1KB of RAM) but sometimes "recover" BOOT-ability 😀

/MBR is a command line parameter of FDISK. It can be added to the FDISK command (just don't forget the space between those two).

C:>FDISK /MBR

Using it will rewrite parts of the Master Boot Record and the DOS bootloader code.
I say "parts", because the command works a bit different in 16-Bit MS-DOS (6.22 and before) and 32-Bit MS-DOS (DOS 7+).

There's more information here:
https://thestarman.pcministry.com/asm/mbr/FDISK.htm

Edit: The DOS "FORMAT" is no substitute for a Low-Level Format, of course.
These are separate things.

thanks for the advice, I'll low level format the drive and report back

Socket3 wrote on 2023-04-28, 13:03:

thanks for the advice, I'll low level format the drive and report back

Ok, good luck. 🙂🤞

Jo22 wrote on 2023-04-28, 13:06:

Socket3 wrote on 2023-04-28, 13:03:

thanks for the advice, I'll low level format the drive and report back

Ok, good luck. 🙂🤞

No luck....

I low-level formatted the HDD using debug.exe from DOS 6.22.

A:\debug.exe
- G=C800:6

I used interleave 3 and added the two defects printed on the drive's label. This time around instead of 19.8 MB of usable space I got 20.23, and I got no bad blocks while formatting the drive with DOS format like I did last time around - but the PC still refuses to boot of the HDD.

It seeks the HDD on boot, then seeks the floppy, and if no bootable floppy is inserted it just hangs. Also, to add to my string of retro hardware bad luck, it seems my 14" CRT is going as well. The focus pot on the high voltage transformer is really loose - not the pot itself, just the knob, so even moving the monitor will cause it to go blurry...

Any other ideas? I tried FDISK.EXE /MBR but that just spat out "invalid parameter MBR".

Socket3 wrote on 2023-04-28, 16:29:

I low-level formatted the HDD using debug.exe from DOS 6.22.

A:\debug.exe
- G=C800:6

FYI, you only use debug to start the software that is located on the mfm controller card ROM.

Socket3 wrote on 2023-04-28, 16:29:

I used interleave 3 and added the two defects printed on the drive's label. This time around instead of 19.8 MB of usable space […]
Show full quote

I used interleave 3 and added the two defects printed on the drive's label. This time around instead of 19.8 MB of usable space I got 20.23, and I got no bad blocks while formatting the drive with DOS format like I did last time around - but the PC still refuses to boot of the HDD.

hdd.jpg

It seeks the HDD on boot, then seeks the floppy, and if no bootable floppy is inserted it just hangs. Also, to add to my string of retro hardware bad luck, it seems my 14" CRT is going as well. The focus pot on the high voltage transformer is really loose - not the pot itself, just the knob, so even moving the monitor will cause it to go blurry...

Any other ideas? I tried FDISK.EXE /MBR but that just spat out "invalid parameter MBR".

I assume you are using the fdisk from msdos 6.22 ?
Did you recreate the partition & installed the system files on the hard drive after the low level format ?
ie used FDISK to create the primary partition then restarted from floppy and then formatted the hard drive partition with the option to install the system files, ie FORMAT C: /S ?

weedeewee wrote on 2023-04-28, 18:14:

I assume you are using the fdisk from msdos 6.22 ?
Did you recreate the partition & installed the system files on the hard drive after the low level format ?
ie used FDISK to create the primary partition then restarted from floppy and then formatted the hard drive partition with the option to install the system files, ie FORMAT C: /S ?

I did. Like I said, got the drive up and running (that means formatting, I used FDISK from dos 6.22), even copied over my sound card utilities, Volkov Commander, CTM driver and a few games (a bit painful using 360k disks). I even tried installing MS-DOS 4.01 (EMERSON DOS 4) - it installed fine, but still won't boot. Spent the last couple of hours playing Shadow Nights, Dyna blaster, planet X3 and Prehistoric 😀

I think the problem might be with the PC itself, because I did find a post on AncientElectronics.com about another Hyundai Super 16, and the owner is complaining about the same problem. https://ancientelectronics.wordpress.com/2019 … super-16-turbo/

There must be a configuration disk for the Super 16 someware that will let me select boot devices. Other then that, maybe the controller is not setup correctly. I noticed it's setup to use address 320h- maybe that's a bit to close to the sound card's midi port? Or maybe I'm spouting nonsense...

Socket3 wrote on 2023-04-28, 16:29:

No luck.... […]
Show full quote

Jo22 wrote on 2023-04-28, 13:06:

Socket3 wrote on 2023-04-28, 13:03:

thanks for the advice, I'll low level format the drive and report back

Ok, good luck. 🙂🤞

No luck....

I low-level formatted the HDD using debug.exe from DOS 6.22.

A:\debug.exe
- G=C800:6

I used interleave 3 and added the two defects printed on the drive's label. This time around instead of 19.8 MB of usable space I got 20.23, and I got no bad blocks while formatting the drive with DOS format like I did last time around - but the PC still refuses to boot of the HDD.

hdd.jpg

It seeks the HDD on boot, then seeks the floppy, and if no bootable floppy is inserted it just hangs. Also, to add to my string of retro hardware bad luck, it seems my 14" CRT is going as well. The focus pot on the high voltage transformer is really loose - not the pot itself, just the knob, so even moving the monitor will cause it to go blurry...

Any other ideas? I tried FDISK.EXE /MBR but that just spat out "invalid parameter MBR".

Hmmm… Do you have jumpers layot for MFM controller?

Socket3 wrote on 2023-04-28, 18:39:

weedeewee wrote on 2023-04-28, 18:14:

I assume you are using the fdisk from msdos 6.22 ?
Did you recreate the partition & installed the system files on the hard drive after the low level format ?
ie used FDISK to create the primary partition then restarted from floppy and then formatted the hard drive partition with the option to install the system files, ie FORMAT C: /S ?

I did. Like I said, got the drive up and running (that means formatting, I used FDISK from dos 6.22), even copied over my sound card utilities, Volkov Commander, CTM driver and a few games (a bit painful using 360k disks). I even tried installing MS-DOS 4.01 (EMERSON DOS 4) - it installed fine, but still won't boot. Spent the last couple of hours playing Shadow Nights, Dyna blaster, planet X3 and Prehistoric 😀

It's odd then that fdisk /mbr gave you an error message about invalid parameter.

Socket3 wrote on 2023-04-28, 18:39:

I think the problem might be with the PC itself, because I did find a post on AncientElectronics.com about another Hyundai Super 16, and the owner is complaining about the same problem. https://ancientelectronics.wordpress.com/2019 … super-16-turbo/

There must be a configuration disk for the Super 16 someware that will let me select boot devices. Other then that, maybe the controller is not setup correctly. I noticed it's setup to use address 320h- maybe that's a bit to close to the sound card's midi port? Or maybe I'm spouting nonsense...

It's possible that your bios is being annoying.
Given the IO options, I'm going with the card only using 8 consecutive addresses so I doubt that being a problem.

The bios on you card is enabled, the drive gets detected by the system, yet somehow still fails to boot from it.
I 'm fairly certain that if you disable the bios on the card, the hard drive won't by found by dos. (just a thought)
You're using it on an XT which, for all I know, doesn't use any setup programs, they all used jumpers, yet none of them controls the boot device.
maybe your XT is different.
Good luck !

looking at this post Hyundai SUPER-16TE xt clone: restoration and info your xt isn't that different and no configuration program will exist since it doesn't have any RTC memory nor a battery.

You could try setting the machine in 4.77MHz mode, maybe, just maybe that will allow a boot, though it's just another guess.

Socket3 wrote on 2023-04-28, 16:29:

Any other ideas? I tried FDISK.EXE /MBR but that just spat out "invalid parameter MBR".

Then no idea, that's not the FDISK that I know. 🤷 My FDISK behaves like in the screenshot below.
And if no hard disk is found, it just tells me ("No hard disk found.").

Edit: I've experimented. I can get an "Parameter format not correct - MBR",
but only if I type FDISK MBR without the slash. Maybe there was a typo ?

Babasha wrote on 2023-04-28, 18:39:

Socket3 wrote on 2023-04-28, 16:29:

No luck.... […]
Show full quote

Jo22 wrote on 2023-04-28, 13:06:

Ok, good luck. 🙂🤞

No luck....

I low-level formatted the HDD using debug.exe from DOS 6.22.

A:\debug.exe
- G=C800:6

I used interleave 3 and added the two defects printed on the drive's label. This time around instead of 19.8 MB of usable space I got 20.23, and I got no bad blocks while formatting the drive with DOS format like I did last time around - but the PC still refuses to boot of the HDD.

hdd.jpg

It seeks the HDD on boot, then seeks the floppy, and if no bootable floppy is inserted it just hangs. Also, to add to my string of retro hardware bad luck, it seems my 14" CRT is going as well. The focus pot on the high voltage transformer is really loose - not the pot itself, just the knob, so even moving the monitor will cause it to go blurry...

Any other ideas? I tried FDISK.EXE /MBR but that just spat out "invalid parameter MBR".

Hmmm… Do you have jumpers layot for MFM controller?

Here it is: https://stason.org/TULARC/pc/hard-disk-floppy … 412-drives.html