when im using ontrack disk manager

whats the alternative that does work?

are you using the firmware it shipped with? thought about using flashfloppy firmware?
maybe try another usb stick, but it help to know if your current setup works on another build or config.

its an old factory origal with the chip STM32F105

I tried many different USB brands and it was impossible to make it work on an IBM PS/1. Its like it stays with the floppy that you selected under DOS when you changed from C: to A:
the only way to change the content to another slot is pressing control+C and then doing "A:" DIR again. That works, its a workaround, but the issue is when you want to install something that asks you to change the floppy disk, it just fails and fails and you can´t do anything other than quit..

After hours of playing with it, i just removed the gotek and connected the real floppy drive( that i think the original owner changed the original one with another brand one)
and guess what, it does the same with real floppy disks, i change the real floppy disk and i do DIR and it lists the other floppy disk contents.

So i have the feeling that the sintechi SD to ide with 8gb sd card is causing a problem, or the Ontrack disk manager is causing the problem (even with a real floppy drive and real floppy disks)

why? : because i then tried a CF to ide adaper and a 512mb CF card, and the real floppy drive started to work properly when i change the real floppy disks and doing DIR.

either the sintechi is causing problems or the ibm goes nuts when there is a hard drive with a bigger capacity even if the ontrack disk manager is installed.

i thought it was the gotek, but when i used the sintechi sd to ide adapter with an 8gb sd card prepared with fat16 and ontrack disk manager, i noticed that removing the gotek and using real floppy drive and real floppy disks, it also fails, and gives me the ghost content of another real floppy disk

so either this machine goes nuts with high capacity sd card, or goes nuts with ontrack, or goes nuts with the sintechi adapter.

My guess is ontrack is causing the issues, since it intercepts the BIOS calls that deal with storage - including the floppy drive. I imagine it's operating in a way that blocks the DSKCHG signal leading the system to never recognise that a new floppy is inserted, specifically for the PS/1 BIOS.

NeoG_ wrote on 2026-04-11, 06:14:

My guess is ontrack is causing the issues, since it intercepts the BIOS calls that deal with storage - including the floppy drive. I imagine it's operating in a way that blocks the DSKCHG signal leading the system to never recognise that a new floppy is inserted, specifically for the PS/1 BIOS.

that is my guess too, i bet its ontrack

i will have to try with ez-drive, but i might end up with the same problem or worse.

Besides those 2 i can´t remember if there was any other DDO software , was there any other big one?

if floppy does not work when i use a bigger storage capacity because i need to use DDO, then there is one more thing that could work, i think i saw a video about a TSR program that could load floppy images from the hard drive , but i can´t remember the name of it.

what about xtide unverisal bios, are you running a nic you can add a rom to? (it also can boot from floppy)
another possibility also try freedos which can use fat32

Pickle wrote on 2026-04-11, 15:32:

what about xtide unverisal bios, are you running a nic you can add a rom to? (it also can boot from floppy)
another possibility also try freedos which can use fat32

that is exactly what i was thinking about.
because some years ago i bought an XT-CF-lite 4, that i never soldered the components because the cf card connector soldering is a challenge

but, i have an external programer, and i can flash it with the latest xt-ide firmware and use that without the CF card connector, which might work on this machine connecting the ide cable to the motherboard and with the sintechi adapter.

the nice part about that is mbr will not be changed , and i will be able to see the fat16 partition on other machine.

about freedos , i dont think it might work, i want the original windows 3.1 content that came prepared with IBM programs on c:, to make it look and feel factory state. with xt ide i would loose that crappy bios but at least it might work better

After some testing i have to say for now that the machine bios goes nuts,and the gotek is not faulty , nor Ontrack is faulty, nor the floppy drive is faulty.

The machine is a ps/1 2168 and according to manuals it was sold with a 300mb to 400mb hard drive.

1) when using a CF to IDE adapter and a CF card of 512mb, (period correct capacity) , the bios detects that amount perfectly. I am able to use the real floppy drive and floppy discs without any problem and changing floppy disks and doing DIR updates the content.

2) When using a CF to IDE adapter and a CF card of 1GB, (not time perior correct), the bios does show 1gb amount, i am able to use the real floppy drive but that is when things go nuts, changing the floppy disk and doind DIR does NOT update the drive content.

3) Using a sintechi SD to ide adapter and a 1gb kingston original SD card, the bios detects it as a 5megabyte hard drive. i am able to boot dos 6.22 floppy, create partitions with fdisk, format c: /s , but the machine just refuses to boot from hard drive.

the only way to make the sintechi SD to IDE adapter with the 1gb sd card work, was to use HDD raw copy tool, make a backup of the 1GB CF card, and dump it on the 1GB SD card, only then the sintechi sd to ide adapter started working and loaded windows 3.11. but again, in DOS, if you change the floppy disk , it still shows the incorrect contents.

so the only real possible solution would be to:
1) install and use an XT-IDE
2) or live with the floppy drive not changing the content and pressing Control+C and doing dir again.
3) or using TurboImage 1.01a

so far a am happy with a 1gb SD card (having two partitions of 500mb ) and windows 3.1
so i think that if i want to install something multi-disk under DOS..... i will just use turboimage and keep the benefit of 1gb of space.