Atapi boot (cd/dvd/zip) does by BIOS and not related with physical interface. Most 386 bioses is not capable boot from cd, and most 586 - capable.

ok i found the link

Supports up to Four EIDE/IDE Devices including IDE CD-ROMS and Tape Drives On-board LBA BIOS supports 4 High-capacity EIDE drive […]
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Supports up to Four EIDE/IDE Devices including IDE CD-ROMS and Tape Drives
On-board LBA BIOS supports 4 High-capacity EIDE drives without software drivers or updating motherboard BIOS
Boost ISA IDE Performance up to 80%
Two High-Speed Serial Ports for High-Speed Data/Fax Modems & DSVD Modems
Enhanced Parallel Port for latest enhanced Printers & High-speed parallel port devices

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00005112Y/ref=olp_ … coding=UTF8&me= (found here: https://www.computing.net/answers/hardware/ne … -286/74605.html)

the listing says the card has its own built in bios?

is it hard to find io controllers that support 2x2=4 IDE devices?
any helpful info is appreciated! thanks!

Yes, this may be that you need.
For more information, ask seller for cd boot capability.

it doesnt say anything about requiring a 486/586 so i assume it will work on an AM386DX40?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Promise-Technology-DC … vcAAOSw5n5ZijAk

would this card support CD boot?

http://www.ebay.ca/itm/BOCA-IDE-16-BIT-ISA-HA … PMAAOSwvflZOYpa

what about this one? would this support CD drive booting??

alternate solution: get a SCSI cdrom?
but will it boot off of an Adaptech 1502E ISA card??
found the specs on the 1502E:

The AVA-1502E gives users a high-performance alternative to the computer's slow parallel port. It allows users to take advantage […]
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The AVA-1502E gives users a high-performance alternative to the computer's slow parallel port. It allows users to take advantage of faster SCSI versions of non-booting peripherals such scanners and zip drives. With wait times reduced up to 80%, the AVA-1502E gives users an increase in system performance, and, since SCSI is the only connection that allows the attachment of multiple external peripherals, the AVA-1502E allows users to connect more devices to their systems. This ISA to SCSI Host Adapter allows for the connection of 7 SCSI devices (internal and/or external), including hard disks, tape drives, CD-ROM drives, and removable media drives.

Number of devices: Up to 7 hard disk drives under DOS
Bus System Interface Type: ISA - 16 Bit
External Connectors: 25-pin, DB25
Internal Connectors: 50-pin, flat cable
Data Transfer Rate: Up to 5 Mbytes/sec (synchronous, on the SCSI bus)
System Requirements: IBM Compatible PC with available ISA expansion slot
Microsoft® Windows 95, Windows 3.1, Windows for Workgroups, Windows NT, and MS-DOS SCSI peripheral

guess not.

chrisNova777 wrote:

it doesnt say anything about requiring a 486/586 so i assume it will work on an AM386DX40?

yes, if multicard have own BIOS, then it must work on mostly any machine. and must provide own boot options.
as say here: www.vcfed.org/forum/showthread.php?5100 ... available)
The Promise card also has a BIOS extension to permit booting off any ATAPI device. Plus the ability to be a third or fourth controller in a system. Might be handy for some 386 and 486 systems. Not too useful in the systems current in late 1996 when the card was released.
its unrelated with SCSI/IDE. its req BIOS ATAPI capability only.

chrisNova777 wrote:

http://www.ebay.ca/itm/BOCA-IDE-16-BIT-ISA-HA … PMAAOSwvflZOYpa […]
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http://www.ebay.ca/itm/BOCA-IDE-16-BIT-ISA-HA … PMAAOSwvflZOYpa

what about this one? would this support CD drive booting??

alternate solution: get a SCSI cdrom?
but will it boot off of an Adaptech 1502E ISA card??
found the specs on the 1502E:

The AVA-1502E gives users a high-performance alternative to the computer's slow parallel port. It allows users to take advantage […]
Show full quote

The AVA-1502E gives users a high-performance alternative to the computer's slow parallel port. It allows users to take advantage of faster SCSI versions of non-booting peripherals such scanners and zip drives. With wait times reduced up to 80%, the AVA-1502E gives users an increase in system performance, and, since SCSI is the only connection that allows the attachment of multiple external peripherals, the AVA-1502E allows users to connect more devices to their systems. This ISA to SCSI Host Adapter allows for the connection of 7 SCSI devices (internal and/or external), including hard disks, tape drives, CD-ROM drives, and removable media drives.

Number of devices: Up to 7 hard disk drives under DOS
Bus System Interface Type: ISA - 16 Bit
External Connectors: 25-pin, DB25
Internal Connectors: 50-pin, flat cable
Data Transfer Rate: Up to 5 Mbytes/sec (synchronous, on the SCSI bus)
System Requirements: IBM Compatible PC with available ISA expansion slot
Microsoft® Windows 95, Windows 3.1, Windows for Workgroups, Windows NT, and MS-DOS SCSI peripheral

guess not.

You need a SCSI adapter with a BIOS that can boot from the connected devices. Whether it can do that should be explained in the manual.

Promise EIDE MAX II - don't make the same mistake as me

ive just been viewing this thread on the EIDE MAX by promise
it seems this is exactly what im looking for, the card contains addon bios corrections
and the original poster of that thread says that the ports on teh eide max card are for ATAPI devices rather than hard drives.. and it doesnt act as a standalone controller but rather adds LBA compatibility to systems that dont have a LBA bios, and adds ATAPI booting capability!!!!
so ill grab one of these ASAP!

can anyone confirm if these eide cards allow booting frm CD ?

Optical drive on a 386, 486 and Pentium machines

Booting from CD-ROM will not be possible in most of the cases though. It must either be supported by your motherboard BIOS (never seen it in any 386 yet) or your controller should have its own BIOS that supports this feature (rare thing in ISA IDE / multi I/O cards).

is it a stupid goal to want to have my 386DX40 boot from CD? 😀
please stop me from struggling to achieve this if its impossible 😀

There is a bootloader that can boot from CD, though you first have to load the bootloader from a floppy or HDD. Smart Boot Manager is the beastie, IIRC. But, booting to a menu that says "Boot DOS; Boot OS/2; Boot from FDD; Boot from CD" is probably OK, for example.

While I'm pretty sure there are some ISA SCSI cards that can boot from CD, I've never seen one - mostly I've seen it on later PCI SCSI cards.

Correct. My idea was that XT-IDE supports this but it doenst. This seems to be a suitable choice
https://www.plop.at/en/bootmanagers.html
According to the DOC you can install it as option ROM, too. Maybe I will also try this.

SCSI with BIOS should also work, but never tried.