Tempest wrote on 2024-07-24, 00:11:

The BIOS reports the hard drive as 528MB (I think) but FDISK only sees it as 504MB.

According to this table your ValuePoint 433SX/S was announced in either April or May 1993, when the largest HDD option was 245 MB. Both Andries Brouwer and Western Digital suggested that BIOS older than August 1994 might not be able to support or recognize HDD larger than 528 MB (512 bytes/sector * 63 sectors/track * 16 heads * 1024 cylinders = 528,482,304 bytes) / 504 MiB.

Tempest wrote on 2024-07-24, 00:11:

I was able to create several 2GB FAT16 partitions on it using Windows 10, but FDISK reported those as NON-DOS and I couldn't do anything but delete them (although they were there in FDISk, so that's a step in the right direction).

IIRC partitioning FAT with a modern OS is not recognizable with FDISK of any "pure" DOS.

Hmm... I think I had a 2gb hdd in there before. I'll have to check.

Edit: well I'll be, you're right. The old drive is 528Mb as well.

Bios is L6ET53AUS. Can this be updated?

You need overlay software like OnTrack or EZ-Drive

This is because the BIOS limits the hard drive size to 504MB, and to solve this problem, you have two options:
1. Load OnTrack Disk Manager or EZ-Drive software.
2. Install the Mini ISA ROM Card or NIC ROM to load the XTIDE Bios.

Either way, you will be able to use a 2G hard drive partition under DOS 6.22, and if you want to exceed 2GB, you will need to use a DOS 7.10 system.

Ok I'll have to look into that mini isa thing. Although for a 486 500MB is pretty luxurious. Most games didn't take up that much space.

Does anyone sell those cards? Is it just plug and play or do you have to configure it?

Wasn't there a way to use a network card and an eprom?

I'm also interested in one of these mini ISA ROM cards to put in an IBM Ps/1 that only sees 500Mb, follow the discussion. I saw that a user on eBay sells them, only that he asks for a lot of information for the preparation of the ROM which I couldn't answer.

Why?

This should be a no brainer with a PAL/GAL for address decoding, and some jumpers to define UMA address, and that's about it.

It shouldnt give two shits what the ROM is.

Unless the seller is specifically making XTIDE XUB cards... the XUB needs to be configured before flashing, and that DOES need dumb questions answered.

For that reason, I think a realtek nic is the more versatile solution, even if you dont want/need a nic. It supports in-card flashing.

(For reference, I am meaning a realtek rtl8019as based NE2000 compatible card. Realtek has drivers for vintage OS still up, AND the 'RPL boot rom' utility. These are 16bit ISA 10/100 cards with twisted pair abd BNC coax connectors, that have the desired/needed 64kb boot rom socket.)

https://www.realtek.com/Download/List?cate_id=597

So if I put this card in my 486 (https://texelec.com/product/lo-tech-isa-rom/) then flash the XTIDE BIOS to it then my system will use the XTIDE BIOS and I'll be able to use 2GB partitions? Is it hard to configure the BIOS for my system or are the instructions straight forward? I use an XTIDE in my 5150 and IIRC it was pretty much plug and play with no configurations required.

Actually I have a 3COM EtherLink III card (3C509B) that has an empty socket in it. Does someone sell pre-configured EPROMs? I don't have the ability to burn them myself.

The latter issue is why I suggested the rtl8019as.

The "RPL boot rom utility" is a generic flasher for use directly in-card. Pop in an eeprom (of appropriate size abd type), point the utility at your configured xub binary, and fire when ready.

The configuration part is pretty straight forward; it just wants to know what base IO addresses to probe, and what IRQs to expect, If you want to automatically boot or loiter in the menu, etc.

I found a good video for configuring my card with a reminder of how the rom address can interfere with the onboard video which I never would have thought of. Now I just need a programmed EPROM and I think I can do this.

I'm kind of surprised no one sells pre-programmed EPROMs for this purpose. Is it against the rules to sell the XT-IDE BIOS on an EPROM or something like that? Most people don't have access to an EPROM programmer.

Tempest wrote on 2024-07-25, 13:18:

I found a good video for configuring my card with a reminder of how the rom address can interfere with the onboard video which I never would have thought of. Now I just need a programmed EPROM and I think I can do this.

I'm kind of surprised no one sells pre-programmed EPROMs for this purpose. Is it against the rules to sell the XT-IDE BIOS on an EPROM or something like that? Most people don't have access to an EPROM programmer.

If you have an XtIDE card, it can flash an EEPROM .

douglar wrote on 2024-07-25, 15:49:

Tempest wrote on 2024-07-25, 13:18:

I found a good video for configuring my card with a reminder of how the rom address can interfere with the onboard video which I never would have thought of. Now I just need a programmed EPROM and I think I can do this.

I'm kind of surprised no one sells pre-programmed EPROMs for this purpose. Is it against the rules to sell the XT-IDE BIOS on an EPROM or something like that? Most people don't have access to an EPROM programmer.

If you have an XtIDE card, it can flash an EEPROM .

I do, but it's in my 5150.

They mean, you can take the card out, carefully remove the eeprom from its socket (and carefully place it aside), pop in the blank, reinstall the card, boot from a floppy, and then write your configured image.

THEN

Remove the burned eeprom, reinstall the original one, put it back in your 5150, and button it up.

Take the burned eeprom, pop it in your NIC/ROM Card/OTHER, put it in your PS1, and off you go.

wierd_w wrote on 2024-07-25, 17:18:

They mean, you can take the card out, carefully remove the eeprom from its socket (and carefully place it aside), pop in the bla […]
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They mean, you can take the card out, carefully remove the eeprom from its socket (and carefully place it aside), pop in the blank, reinstall the card, boot from a floppy, and then write your configured image.

THEN

Remove the burned eeprom, reinstall the original one, put it back in your 5150, and button it up.

Take the burned eeprom, pop it in your NIC/ROM Card/OTHER, put it in your PS1, and off you go.

Does it take the same sized EEPROM as I need for the 3COM board?

64kb, is usually what's used.

wierd_w wrote on 2024-07-25, 20:12:

64kb, is usually what's used.

According to this video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=ofZLDAOmZYU) the max size the 3COM card can take is 32K (go to about 9:14 to see the sizes in the config utility.

Assuming 16K or 32K work (I think the code is only 12K) what is the part number of the eeprom I'd need?

Eeprom (28c) or flash rom (29c) are probably supported. Then 16kB = 16*8=128kb and 2kB = 32*8=256kb so these numbers count up to:
28c128 / 28c256 / 29c128 / 29c256

You may also look at the chip that's currently installed. It's mostly written on top. Alternatively if there's a label: Loading the software for writing the ROM will also detect the installed ROM chip and return it's size, before you alter the ROM software.