Installing MS-DOS on a CF Card \ VOGONS

Installing MS-DOS on a CF Card

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First post, by Falcon_H

Posted on 2020-01-19, 20:04

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Hello!

An embarrassingly long time ago, I scored an IBM PC-XT. It had 640k of RAM, a SCSI drive, and monochrome graphics when I bought it. I later installed a Hercules clone. The hard drive had been wiped, so I decided that this clean slate was the perfect opportunity to install a CF card adapter. I bought a lo-tech CF card adapter (I had to unplug the SCSI drive, because it was interfering with the CF adapter BIOS) and began attempting to install DOS. I tried using virtual machines, bootable USB tools (I think rufus is the one I used) and even plugging the card into a laptop and using disk images on USB drives to install DOS on the card. I got a brief taste of victory when I got the PC-XT to say "starting MS-DOS" , but it hung up indefinitely. I eventually admitted defeat and seceded that I would try using floppies, but I then discovered that the floppy drove is broken.

The PC is able to boot to BASIC and the CF card's bios seems to work fine and recognizes my card, so I doubt the problem is hardware related. Does anyone have any guesses what I am doing wrong?

Thank you for the help!

Reply 1 of 15, by derSammler

Posted on 2020-01-19, 20:08

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Which version of DOS did you try to install? On my IBM PC (5150), I had to use DOS 5.0. Older versions would simply not boot from flash memory and also froze the system.

Reply 2 of 15, by Falcon_H

Posted on 2020-01-19, 20:12

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I was using 6.22, if I remember correctly.

Reply 3 of 15, by boxpressed

Posted on 2020-01-19, 20:38

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Did you use the fdisk /mbr command when initializing the CF card?

Reply 4 of 15, by Falcon_H

Posted on 2020-01-19, 20:42

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Thank you! That must be the problem! What commands do I need to do?

Reply 5 of 15, by boxpressed

Posted on 2020-01-19, 20:53

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Falcon_H wrote on 2020-01-19, 20:42:

Thank you! That must be the problem! What commands do I need to do?

I can't quite remember, but I believe you do it in this order:

fdisk /mbr
fdisk
format c: /s

Here's another similar thread:
Can't Boot from Compact Flash

Reply 6 of 15, by Falcon_H

Posted on 2020-01-19, 21:02

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Thank you!

Reply 7 of 15, by gdjacobs

Posted on 2020-01-20, 07:28

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boxpressed wrote on 2020-01-19, 20:53:
fdisk /mbr fdisk reboot format c: /s […]
Show full quote

fdisk /mbr
fdisk
reboot
format c: /s

FTFY

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Reply 8 of 15, by MAZter

Posted on 2020-01-20, 15:42

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Falcon_H wrote on 2020-01-19, 20:04:

"starting MS-DOS" , but it hung up indefinitely. I eventually admitted defeat and seceded that I would try using floppies, but I then discovered that the floppy drove is broken.

I had same problem with Compaq LTE5300 laptop (hangs and endless floppy use). EZ-Drive installation helps me.

Doom is what you want (c) MAZter

Reply 9 of 15, by SpectriaForce

Posted on 2020-01-21, 20:35

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boxpressed wrote on 2020-01-19, 20:53:
I can't quite remember, but I believe you do it in this order: […]
Show full quote

Falcon_H wrote on 2020-01-19, 20:42:

Thank you! That must be the problem! What commands do I need to do?

I can't quite remember, but I believe you do it in this order:

fdisk /mbr
fdisk
format c: /s

Here's another similar thread:
Can't Boot from Compact Flash

This should be made sticky on this forum 😀

Reply 10 of 15, by Falcon_H

Posted on 2020-01-23, 01:06

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Thank you for the help, everyone! Today I was able to make another attempt at getting the CF card working. I booted a modern laptop from the CF card and added the master boot record. When I put the card in the PC, it actually worked! I get a message that says " to install MS-DOS, insert setup Disk 1 into drive A and press CTRL+ALT+DEl."

I have the three setup files, but I am unsure how to proceed from here.

Reply 11 of 15, by Caluser2000

Posted on 2020-01-23, 02:48

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Did you follow the instruction and put in the first Dos setup disk? What three files are you talking about? Disk images?

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Reply 12 of 15, by Falcon_H

Posted on 2020-01-23, 19:25

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Caluser2000 wrote on 2020-01-23, 02:48:

Did you follow the instruction and put in the first Dos setup disk? What three files are you talking about? Disk images?

Unfortunately, I do not have a working floppy drive, so I am unable to follow the instructions. The files that I mentioned are the disk images (.IMA files) . I got them from this website: http://www.thelegacypcproject.com/software.html

Reply 13 of 15, by Falcon_H

Posted on 2020-01-25, 00:18

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bump

Reply 14 of 15, by schmatzler

Posted on 2020-01-25, 00:26

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The .IMA files are just archives. You can extract them with a modern PC and 7Zip, for example.

Maybe you can just put all the files into one directory on the CF card and run the setup from there?

"Windows 98's natural state is locked up"

Reply 15 of 15, by Falcon_H

Posted on 2020-01-25, 00:54

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Thank you!

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