VOGONS


First post, by leon22

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First of all: I have a running MS-DOS 6.22 OS on that PC running but I'm not able to boot into Windows NT.

System Information:

Main Processor: AMD Am5x86, 133.6 MHz
Math Co-Processor: Internal
Bus Type: PCI (V2.10) + ISA
Mainboard Model: GIGABYTE GA-486AM/S https://theretroweb.com/motherboards/s/gigabyte-ga-486am
Mainboard Chipset: UMC UM8881F
First Level Cache: 16 KBytes
Second Level Cache: 256 KBytes of Asynchronous SRAM

System Memory Size: 640 KBytes
Extended Memory Size: 64,512 KBytes } Total: 64 MBytes
Shadow+Special RAM Size: 384 KBytes

Machine Type: IBM PC AT
Computer Name: Unknown
BIOS Manufacturer: Award Modular BIOS v4.50PG [11/07/95]

My steps I tried so far:

Setup with https://86box.net/:
Info: the Motherboard does not support booting from CD-ROM

  • Setup the machine as similar as possible to the real PC
    The attachment 86Box_HW.Config.png is no longer available
  • Create a raw image file (.img) with max. 2GB as your harddrive in 86Box => "Add New Hard Disk"
  • Install MS-DOS 6.22
  • Write the img file with Rufus or HDD Raw Copy Tool to the real physical HD
  • Insert the HD to the PC and boot into the newly installed system => working fine with MS-DOS
  • Insert the iso for Windows NT to 86Box (downloaded from https://winworldpc.com/product/windows-nt-40/40)
  • Copy the content of I386 to the HD (C:\I386)
  • Write the img again to the real HD
  • Boot into MS-DOS
  • C:\I386\WINNT.EXE /b /s:C:\I386
    => C:\$WIN_NT$.~BT and C:\$WIN_NT$.~LS are created (floppyless installation)
    The attachment 86Box_HD_Content.png is no longer available
  • Reboot
  • Should show this boot menu
    The attachment Win_NT_OS.Loader.png is no longer available
    but is not.; it shows just a blinking cursor or an error

I'm also using a SATA to IDE adapter: StarTech IDE/SATA Adapter (JMicron JM20330 Chipset)

So, MS-DOS is working fine with this method but not Windows NT 4.0. What could be wrong?

Thanks for any help,
Best regards Peter

https://funwithretrocomputers.blogspot.com/

Reply 2 of 8, by jakethompson1

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Hello,

To verify the same disk geometry of the 86Box instance versus the real hardware, could you run on both:

DEBUG
R AX
800
R DX
80
E 100
CD 13
P
Q

Like this

The attachment cd13.png is no longer available

By my calculation an exactly 2GB drive will be around 520/128/63. If the real drive is much over 4GB, it will end up being something/255/63 instead, and the number of heads will not line up.

I have a board very similar to yours, an MB-8433UUC, that I could test on if it does end up being a hardware issue somehow.

Reply 3 of 8, by leon22

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Thank you.

Here are the two outputs:

PC:

The attachment PC_HD_DEBUG.jpg is no longer available

86Box:

The attachment 86Box_HD_DEBUG.png is no longer available

They are not identical. Do I need an offset when writing the image to the HD with HDD Raw Copy Tool?

Thank you.

https://funwithretrocomputers.blogspot.com/

Reply 4 of 8, by jakethompson1

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Indeed, 86box is 1024 cylinders, 64 heads, 63 sectors. a 2016 MB drive.
Real hardware is 1024 cylinders, 255 heads, 63 sectors. an 8.4GB (or larger) drive.
Things will go awry after the first 2MB of the drive, which explains why DOS can boot--all the critical files are in the first 2MB.

Reply 5 of 8, by leon22

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jakethompson1 wrote on Yesterday, 19:10:

Indeed, 86box is 1024 cylinders, 64 heads, 63 sectors. a 2016 MB drive.
Real hardware is 1024 cylinders, 255 heads, 63 sectors. an 8.4GB (or larger) drive.
Things will go awry after the first 2MB of the drive, which explains why DOS can boot--all the critical files are in the first 2MB.

Ok. On the real Hardware I use Auto-Detect in Bios which ends in LBA. So what do you suggest?

https://funwithretrocomputers.blogspot.com/

Reply 6 of 8, by jakethompson1

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The simplest answer would be redo 86box with a drive as big as the physical drive

Reply 7 of 8, by leon22

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jakethompson1 wrote on Yesterday, 19:21:

The simplest answer would be redo 86box with a drive as big as the physical drive

This is a modern SSD with 100GB so this will not work. I don't have any drives that old from that era.

Or do you mean just the image that big and the partition is still 2GB?

https://funwithretrocomputers.blogspot.com/

Reply 8 of 8, by jakethompson1

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Yes, just use a bigger image. DOS 6.22 will still use only a 2GB partition.