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First post, by Intel486dx33

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Hi, I need a DOS/Win3x driver for this VLB controller

Model # DTC2278D

Last edited by Intel486dx33 on 2020-01-28, 22:25. Edited 2 times in total.

Reply 1 of 14, by PC Hoarder Patrol

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Would that be the same card from this thread!

VLB IDE controller DTC2278D not working ?

then you need the DOSEIDE.SYS / WINEIDE.386 driver from the ZIP file linked by @ZipoBibrok

2278 DOS Device Driver Installation […]
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2278 DOS Device Driver Installation

1. Copy the DOSEIDE.SYS file to the root directory of the boot drive.
2. Add the following line in the config.sys:
- DEVICE=C:\DOSEIDE.SYS
3. To enable the secondary port on a dual port card modify the CONFIG.SYS line with a "/2".
- DEVICE=C:\DOSEIDE.SYS /2
4. Reboot the system.

NOTE: Driver can also be installed using install program, EZIDE.EXE

2278 Windows 3.1x Device Driver Installation

1. Copy The WINEIDE.386 file into the C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM directory.
2. Edit the SYSTEM.INI in the C:\WINDOWS directory.
3. Locate the 386 Enhanced section.
4. Make sure 32BitDiskAccess is enabled (=on).
5. Disable the WDCTRL driver by placing a semi-colon (;) in front of it.
6. Add the WINEIDE.386 driver as follows.
- DEVICE=WINEIDE.386
7. Restart Windows.

NOTE: Driver can also be installed using install program, EZIDE.EXE

Reply 3 of 14, by Intel486dx33

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Okay, I installed the DOS driver and it appears to be working fine but the Windows 3.11 driver is not working.
Any Ideas ?
I get this error message when I try to start Win 3.11

Here is the manual:

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Reply 4 of 14, by derSammler

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That's normal for many controllers. Before Windows enables 32-bit access, it does some checks to ensure that the controller and the BIOS report the same CHS values. It's quite often not the case and then you have to live with it. That is, no 32-bit access.

Reply 5 of 14, by Intel486dx33

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derSammler wrote on 2020-01-29, 12:22:

That's normal for many controllers. Before Windows enables 32-bit access, it does some checks to ensure that the controller and the BIOS report the same CHS values. It's quite often not the case and then you have to live with it. That is, no 32-bit access.

So what does that mean?
How can I fix this?

Reply 6 of 14, by derSammler

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Didn't the quote answer your questions already? The BIOS and the controller don't return the same CHS values when talking to the hard disk. You can't fix that. Well, you could probably by using a hard disk that reports less than 1024 cylinders, as that's why the values don't match.

Reply 7 of 14, by hyoenmadan

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According README in the driver package, your vlb board chipset doesn't seem to support LBA addressing mode, so it will not allow you to use the included performance drivers with drives which have more than 1024 cylinders. You have 2 options for this.

- If your motherboard supports LBA addressing mode, you can try to enable it at BIOS, "fdisk /s" and repartition/format your drive, reinstall windows and only then try to reinstall the drivers. DosEIDE.sys comes with a diagnostic verbose switch "/v" which will tell you the parameters of the drives it detects.

- If your motherboard bios doesn't support LBA, you only chance to use these drives is limiting your drive capacity in BIOS configuration changing C/H/S values to 1024/16/63 and then "fdisk /s", repartition and format and then reinstall the system. Drivers should work with no problem.

* If you come to find the retail version of Ontrack Disk manager v9.53 in the net (abandonware, can't be posted here), it comes with an overlay which works with many EIDE cards which don't have BIOS (them use Motherboard BIOS and resource management). You can try that one with your drive. It comes with compatible with overlay 32bit disk access drivers too (ontrackw.386).

PD: Driver install in old windows and dos generally isn't straightforward as with newer windows versions (next, next, next), you have to read the documentation which comes with drivers and do some configuration work. But when is well done, it will pay alone with extra performance.

Reply 8 of 14, by Intel486dx33

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Okay thanks, I get it.
My hard drive bios setting is for 1048 cylinders and the VLB controller is set to 1024.
So 1024 cylinders is the limit.
So I need a smaller harddrive but I don’t want to have to reinstall everything. So I will just leave it alone for now.
It runs fine and I don’t experience any lag from the harddrive running in 16bit mode.
I actually don’t want a super fast computer. I want a computer that I can down clock to lower speeds so I can play all sorts of old DOS games that are CPU speed critical. So far I have been able to down clock this computer to 286@20mhz.
I only used a 540mb hard drive because it was large capacity and a newer quieter drive.
I did not take into the consideration of the bios and controller limitations.

Reply 9 of 14, by PC Hoarder Patrol

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Does any of this impact your setup (from the DTC FAQs)

Question I have a DTC2278 or DTC2130 EIDE controller and I cannot get 32 Bit Disk Access to work in Windows 3.x. […]
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Question I have a DTC2278 or DTC2130 EIDE controller and I cannot get 32 Bit Disk Access to work in Windows 3.x.

Answer
DTC does have a Windows VXD driver and it has been tested and verified to work.
1. Make sure you have the latest version of the DTC DOS and Windows drivers.
2. Go into your system's CMOS settings and disable IDE Block Mode and 32-Bit transfer options if enabled. Enabling these options in CMOS conflicts with the DTC drivers which turn on these options.
3. Run the EZIDE Install program to install DOS & Windows drivers. If you still have issues, then view your SYSTEM.INI file. Under the section (386enh), you should see the line
DEVICE=WINEIDE.386. Also make sure that the line
DEVICE=*WDCTRL is remarked out.
4. The DTC Windows driver does NOT support an IBMSLC2 processor or On Track's Disk Manager and will not work with 32-bit disk access.

Question I have a DTC2278 dual port VESA EIDE controller. How can I get full capacity from my 1 gigabyte drive?

Answer
There are multiple solutions to this problem.
First, the primary port of the DTC2278 controller relies on the system BIOS for support of drives > 528MB. If the System BIOS does NOT have support for drives > 528MB (most VESA motherboards manufactured in 1994 or earlier would fall in this category) then you can attach the 1 gigabyte drive to the secondary port of the DTC2278. The secondary port on the DTC2278 is enabled via software drivers which support LBA and you will be able to get full capacity.
Second, if you want to attach the 1 gigabyte drive to they primary port and your system BIOS does not support drives > 528MB, then you can purchase a DTC EIDE BIOS Upgrade Kit. This kit will provide your system with Logical Block Addressing (LBA) support. It includes an easy to install 8-bit BIOS adapter card and drivers.

Question The Secondary Port of the DTC2278 or DTC2130 controller does not work.

Answer
1. Check to make sure cable is properly attached to the IDE header. Red line on cable to pin 1.
2. View your CONFIG.SYS file. Make sure the DTC DOS Driver line has a /2 in it. (i.e. - DEVICE=DOSEIDE.SYS /V /2)
3. The drive attached to the secondary port should be set up to be the MASTER drive.
4. Make sure IRQ 15 is available for the secondary IDE port.
5. Go into your system's CMOS settings and disable IDE Block Mode and 32-Bit transfer options if enabled. Enabling these options in CMOS conflicts with the DTC drivers which turn on these options.
6. If your hard drive is an older IDE drive, it may not support multi-sector transfers. Try disabling multi-sector transfers by adding /d0:m0 to the DTC driver line. (DEVICE=DOSEIDE.SYS /V /2 /D0:M0)

Reply 10 of 14, by Intel486dx33

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PC Hoarder Patrol wrote on 2020-01-29, 18:38:

Does any of this impact your setup (from the DTC FAQs)

Question I have a DTC2278 or DTC2130 EIDE controller and I cannot get 32 Bit Disk Access to work in Windows 3.x. […]
Show full quote

Question I have a DTC2278 or DTC2130 EIDE controller and I cannot get 32 Bit Disk Access to work in Windows 3.x.

Answer
DTC does have a Windows VXD driver and it has been tested and verified to work.
1. Make sure you have the latest version of the DTC DOS and Windows drivers.
2. Go into your system's CMOS settings and disable IDE Block Mode and 32-Bit transfer options if enabled. Enabling these options in CMOS conflicts with the DTC drivers which turn on these options.
3. Run the EZIDE Install program to install DOS & Windows drivers. If you still have issues, then view your SYSTEM.INI file. Under the section (386enh), you should see the line
DEVICE=WINEIDE.386. Also make sure that the line
DEVICE=*WDCTRL is remarked out.
4. The DTC Windows driver does NOT support an IBMSLC2 processor or On Track's Disk Manager and will not work with 32-bit disk access.

Question I have a DTC2278 dual port VESA EIDE controller. How can I get full capacity from my 1 gigabyte drive?

Answer
There are multiple solutions to this problem.
First, the primary port of the DTC2278 controller relies on the system BIOS for support of drives > 528MB. If the System BIOS does NOT have support for drives > 528MB (most VESA motherboards manufactured in 1994 or earlier would fall in this category) then you can attach the 1 gigabyte drive to the secondary port of the DTC2278. The secondary port on the DTC2278 is enabled via software drivers which support LBA and you will be able to get full capacity.
Second, if you want to attach the 1 gigabyte drive to they primary port and your system BIOS does not support drives > 528MB, then you can purchase a DTC EIDE BIOS Upgrade Kit. This kit will provide your system with Logical Block Addressing (LBA) support. It includes an easy to install 8-bit BIOS adapter card and drivers.

Question The Secondary Port of the DTC2278 or DTC2130 controller does not work.

Answer
1. Check to make sure cable is properly attached to the IDE header. Red line on cable to pin 1.
2. View your CONFIG.SYS file. Make sure the DTC DOS Driver line has a /2 in it. (i.e. - DEVICE=DOSEIDE.SYS /V /2)
3. The drive attached to the secondary port should be set up to be the MASTER drive.
4. Make sure IRQ 15 is available for the secondary IDE port.
5. Go into your system's CMOS settings and disable IDE Block Mode and 32-Bit transfer options if enabled. Enabling these options in CMOS conflicts with the DTC drivers which turn on these options.
6. If your hard drive is an older IDE drive, it may not support multi-sector transfers. Try disabling multi-sector transfers by adding /d0:m0 to the DTC driver line. (DEVICE=DOSEIDE.SYS /V /2 /D0:M0)

Currently, I am just using the Primary IDE connector. Not the secondary.
My Hard-drive uses 1048 cylinders which exceeds the limit of the controller driver.
So the controller operates with 16-bit data transfer and not 32-bit.
But that is fine fo now. I don’t experience any harddrive lag.
I works fine.
I don’t want a super fast computer anyways.
I think the 486dx2-66mhz is the sweet spot for playing games at all sorts of speeds.
It probably can be down clocked to a 286@10mhz or so.
So 16-bit data transfer speed is fine with me.
Even at 100mhz the computer runs fine and games play good.
No lag from the computer. Games play smoothly.

Currently, I don’t have the secondary port hooked up to anything.

Reply 11 of 14, by SirNickity

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Speed for old games is not really related to speed from the hard disk. The place where hard disk speed will matter is, like, installation or load times of more modern games. Generally places where you want all the performance you can get. IMO, there's no reason not to try and get the card to support >1024 cylinder drives natively on the secondary port -- especially if you can get the drivers to enable 32-bit access after doing so. It won't matter for maybe 90% of how you use the computer, but for the 10% where it does matter, it's nothing but a good thing.

Reply 13 of 14, by SirNickity

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I think it already is set that way. The problem being that the controller, and thus controller's drivers, are able to see the hard drive's real parameters, and they don't match what the BIOS (thinks it) knows. Back in the CHS days, that's dangerous. Any translation or layout difference means the formula for converting CHS address to sector # is likely to produce different results, and that's bad news.

Reply 14 of 14, by Robin4

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derSammler wrote on 2020-01-29, 12:22:

That's normal for many controllers. Before Windows enables 32-bit access, it does some checks to ensure that the controller and the BIOS report the same CHS values. It's quite often not the case and then you have to live with it. That is, no 32-bit access.

Whats the performance penalty if it cant use 32-bit access? How much slower would it be?

Would this also happen with windows 3.11. Or is this 32-bit disk access problem solved in 3.11.

~ At least it can do black and white~