Are you sure that your Promise support ATAPI protocol (its a CDROM, ZIP, etc with IDE with removable disks) or just ATA protocol (IDE HDD)?

Here the topic from 2001 in russian. https://forum.ixbt.com/topic.cgi?id=52:1799
They say CDROM's work only when there NO HDD connected to Promise.

Ha!
https://web.archive.org/web/20040717020517/ht … U100_TX2_DS.pdf

see *2 on page 2
ATAPI devices not supported in DOS or Windows 3.1x.

Babasha wrote on 2023-03-02, 15:03:

Ha! https://web.archive.org/web/20040717020517/ht … U100_TX2_DS.pdf […]
Show full quote

Ha!
https://web.archive.org/web/20040717020517/ht … U100_TX2_DS.pdf

see *2 on page 2
ATAPI devices not supported in DOS or Windows 3.1x.

Hi, thanks !

Interesting point, now I understand why my other setup (Epox MVP3G-M SS7 board, Promise Ultra1333 TX2 controller) didn't give me additional problems as the CD-ROM drive is attached to secondary IDE controller on the motherboard.

When you access Promise Technology download section (for legacy products), description for last BIOS (2.20.0.15) upgrade says : "Fixed cannot detect some ATAPI devices"
this, along with the fact the manual states (page 16) "NOTE: The Ultra100 TX2 BIOS supports both DOS and Windows 3.1x without software drivers." made me think it was possible to detect an ATAPI CD-ROM without further issues.

Anyway, somehow I was ready for such annoyances and thought I could attach the CD-ROM drive to any other port (I have two available : secondary IDE on the motherboard and Soundblaster 16 own IDE port) without problems ... but I haven't managed to get the CD-ROM drive working in either of them. It should, at least, work under DOS if attached to one of those, but normal MSDOS 6.22 boot process stops right after invoking the CD-ROM device driver line at config.sys (don't know why).

I know the card is 66 Mhz PCI but it is supposed to be backwards compatible with 33 Mhz PCI. It properly detects 2 hard drives attached to it and I'm able to boot MSDOS from the hard drive configured as master at IDE port #1 on the controller.

¿Shouldn't I be able to configure the CD-ROM driver without problems when using any of the available ports? ¿am I missing something?

Prior to the Ultra100 Tx2 installation, I configured the system to recognize the CD-ROM drive under MSDOS from the secondary IDE controller on the mobo, and set up a dual boot with DOS 6 / Win98 without issues.

Thanks all for your replies 😉

Because of this issue, I always connect the CD-ROM to the motherboard’s IDE port unless I do not have DOS installed. If you need to have the CD-ROM on the PCI card for use in DOS, then use Adaptec SCSI cards.

feipoa wrote on 2023-03-02, 23:28:

Because of this issue, I always connect the CD-ROM to the motherboard’s IDE port unless I do not have DOS installed. If you need to have the CD-ROM on the PCI card for use in DOS, then use Adaptec SCSI cards.

Thanks for the advice @feipoa but now I face another problem. I read your profile and maybe you can help me...

I used AFLASH3.exe utility to update the BIOS with (why I thought was) the beta Y2K update but... I chose the wrong BIOS or something... I messed it up, completely.
Now the computer beeps at startup but BIOS must be wrong and -obviously- it does not boot. It needs to be reprogrammed / flashed again, but it's the first time -in a lot of years- that I face this problem.
I was thinking of two different solutions :

1) buying a cheap BIOS programmer at Aliexpress which can flash 32 pin DIP bios chips
2) Another user from a Spanish retrocomputing forum told me about a procedure I find risky and I haven't done before :

a) Use a "healthy" motherboard with a similar BIOS chip
b) When this healthy system has completed the bootup process (MSDOS mode), extract BIOS chip (without turning it off, a hot-swap) and replace it with the faulty bios chip
c) Start the flash utility from floppy and flash the last BIOS file for my mobo (1.15C701)
d) When flash utility ends flashing the BIOS, turn off the PC and extract the BIOS chip
e) Put each BIOS chip in their respective motherboard sockets
Cross fingers...

Award BIOS versions for both my systems are similar but not the same :

Healthy System : Epox MVP3G-M, Super Socket 7, Award BIOS v. 4.51PG, 32 pin DIP chip (https://theretroweb.com/motherboards/s/epox-p … p3g-m-1mb-cache)
Faulty System : FIC 486-PIO2, socket 3 486, Award BIOS v. 4.50PG, 32 pin DIP chip (https://theretroweb.com/motherboards/s/fic-486-pio2)

Do you think this procedure may work? I've read AFLASH3.exe utility can cause some problems and Award FLASH v.5.2c should also work?

As always, any advice is very welcome!

Regards,

Manel (beltrixx)

I've met some guys at a Spanish retrocomputing forum and I'll finally end up with an EEPROM programming. I think it's the best option to recover the BIOS without damaging anything else.
I think the hot-swap procedure is too risky unless both systems are very similar, which (I think) it's not the case.
Thanks everybody for your help 😉

beltrixx wrote on 2023-03-05, 01:12:

I've met some guys at a Spanish retrocomputing forum and I'll finally end up with an EEPROM programming. I think it's the best option to recover the BIOS without damaging anything else.
I think the hot-swap procedure is too risky unless both systems are very similar, which (I think) it's not the case.
Thanks everybody for your help 😉

Agree ! I try to never Hot swap flash, have done it a few times but there are risks AND worst case you ruin the board you are using to hot flash or you ruin the rom chip...not worth it $ compared to a $50-$70 programmer, just MHO 😀
I suggest you always backup the rom you are going to flash if using software, you might discover that the old bios was the best for your board and may not be found anywhere else...rare but can happen.

Horun wrote on 2023-03-05, 02:10:

beltrixx wrote on 2023-03-05, 01:12:

I've met some guys at a Spanish retrocomputing forum and I'll finally end up with an EEPROM programming. I think it's the best option to recover the BIOS without damaging anything else.
I think the hot-swap procedure is too risky unless both systems are very similar, which (I think) it's not the case.
Thanks everybody for your help 😉

Agree ! I try to never Hot swap flash, have done it a few times but there are risks AND worst case you ruin the board you are using to hot flash or you ruin the rom chip...not worth it $ compared to a $50-$70 programmer, just MHO 😀
I suggest you always backup the rom you are going to flash if using software, you might discover that the old bios was the best for your board and may not be found anywhere else...rare but can happen.

Yes, I totally agree with you. In fact I did a BIOS backup through the command line (AFLASH3 newbios oldbios) when I flashed, but AFLASH3.EXE showed on screen the procedure had ended and I could reboot the PC... damn, when I rebooted it and found the computer made some strange BEEPS and there was no way to boot into DOS ...
I already had, long time ago, downloaded the complete series of BIOSes for the computer so I wasn't bothered in this sense, but these days I have discovered "the hard way" some things about these procedures :

1. Don't flash the BIOS unless you are already sure it is the last option for your needs
2. From what I've read here and other forums, it's not the first time Award Flash utilities may fail during the flashing process...
3. Always boot from a PLAIN MS-DOS boot floppy containing the flash utility and the BIOS files : this is, just a boot floppy stripped to the bare minimum (without loading any devices or caches like smartdrive, as it did the Win98 boot floppy I used)

I still have to check out a few things, though. I read that if the BIOS boot code is "healthy" it may be possible to "see something" on the screen, but it requires an ISA video card (which I have somewhere in storage) but, from what I can recall, the computer didn't seek for a floppy after those BEEPS so... I'm afraid reflashing is mandatory in my case.

Once the EEPROM is reflashed, I'll take it exactly from the point I was in : trying the CD-ROM drive to work along with my Ultra100 TX2 controller and Sound Blaster 16 :

• [1] Try to use SB16 IDE port (SBIDE.SYS) using tertiary / quaternary IO addresses
  [2] If I can't get (1) to work, try from the secondary motherboard IDE controller, something I had already setup quite easily before plugin in the Ultra100 TX2 card...

As always, thanks for your help and advices.

Manel (beltrixx)

Just an FYI for anyone running a Promise ATA controller on a 486: after updating to a more recent Promise BIOS, my Ultra66 adapter stopped recognizing the connected drives and no would no longer install its BIOS on POST.

I suspect newer BIOS versions (v2.0?) may contain i586 instructions that render it incompatible with 486 machines.

Fortunately, in my case I was able to move my drives back to the onboard controller and reflash with my backup file, and all is well once again.

On some boards, particularly the PC Chips M919, I've noticed that I must disable the onboard IDE ports for my Promise Ultra100 TX2 card's BIOS to lead. What motherboard were you using?