There is a row of eight dip switches on this board. I got it to work
in an old system I'm working on by changing what I think was the IRQ
setting. However it seems to be write protected and I can't figure it
out. Does anyone have any documentation on this board? Thanks. Lenny
Stein, Barlen Electronics.

" wrote:

There is a row of eight dip switches on this board. I got it to work
in an old system I'm working on by changing what I think was the IRQ
setting. However it seems to be write protected and I can't figure it
out. Does anyone have any documentation on this board? Thanks. Lenny
Stein, Barlen Electronics.


Is that the old XT compatible eight bit ISA hard drive on a card? If
it is, it will only work on an XT motherboard.


--
Service to my country? Been there, Done that, and I've got my DD214 to
prove it.
Member of DAV #85.

Michael A. Terrell
Central Florida

On 13 Apr 2007 17:00:05 -0700, "
put finger to keyboard and composed:

There is a row of eight dip switches on this board. I got it to work
in an old system I'm working on by changing what I think was the IRQ
setting. However it seems to be write protected and I can't figure it
out. Does anyone have any documentation on this board? Thanks. Lenny
Stein, Barlen Electronics.

I have been successful in determining the IRQ jumpers for old ISA
internal modems by following the jumper pins back to the ISA edge
connector. Maybe you could do the same?

http://groups.google.com/group/comp....6fbe5a3?hl=en&

Otherwise I suspect that one or more of your jumpers configure your
card for PnP mode, in which case the OS or BIOS should then
automatically detect and assign the resources.

You may also find that one or two jumpers select the IDE port, eg
primary, secondary, tertiary, quaternary.

I'd look for a datasheet for the card's IDE controller chip. In fact
if you can tell us which chip it is (Winbond? UMC?), I may be able to
find the jumper settings for a card that uses the same chip.

- Franc Zabkar
--
Please remove one 'i' from my address when replying by email.

On Sat, 14 Apr 2007 01:28:15 GMT, "Michael A. Terrell"
put finger to keyboard and composed:

" wrote:

There is a row of eight dip switches on this board. I got it to work
in an old system I'm working on by changing what I think was the IRQ
setting. However it seems to be write protected and I can't figure it
out. Does anyone have any documentation on this board? Thanks. Lenny
Stein, Barlen Electronics.


Is that the old XT compatible eight bit ISA hard drive on a card? If
it is, it will only work on an XT motherboard.

This MS tech note talks about installing the card on a 6MHz AT system:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/74203

- Franc Zabkar
--
Please remove one 'i' from my address when replying by email.

Franc Zabkar wrote:

On Sat, 14 Apr 2007 01:28:15 GMT, "Michael A. Terrell"
put finger to keyboard and composed:

" wrote:

There is a row of eight dip switches on this board. I got it to work
in an old system I'm working on by changing what I think was the IRQ
setting. However it seems to be write protected and I can't figure it
out. Does anyone have any documentation on this board? Thanks. Lenny
Stein, Barlen Electronics.


Is that the old XT compatible eight bit ISA hard drive on a card? If
it is, it will only work on an XT motherboard.

This MS tech note talks about installing the card on a 6MHz AT system:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/74203


The controllers and interfaces on Hardcards were too slow for most
computers. I couldn't use them reliably on 10 or 12 MHz XTs, unless
turbo was disabled and the computer had to run at the original 4.77 MHz
CPU clock rate.

Trying to use them on faster computers is a crap shoot. I just put
old drives in a slow machine and used interlink between the parallel
ports to copy the data to a faster drive. I've also seen early EIDE
drives that were too slow to get ready for the buss that I had to turn
on the extended memory test in the BIOS to slow the computer's boot
time. i saw this for a couple years, till the older, slower drives were
too small to bother with moving to a customer's new computer.


--
Service to my country? Been there, Done that, and I've got my DD214 to
prove it.
Member of DAV #85.

Michael A. Terrell
Central Florida

On Sat, 14 Apr 2007 04:33:32 GMT, "Michael A. Terrell"
put finger to keyboard and composed:

Franc Zabkar wrote:

On Sat, 14 Apr 2007 01:28:15 GMT, "Michael A. Terrell"
put finger to keyboard and composed:

" wrote:

There is a row of eight dip switches on this board. I got it to work
in an old system I'm working on by changing what I think was the IRQ
setting. However it seems to be write protected and I can't figure it
out. Does anyone have any documentation on this board? Thanks. Lenny
Stein, Barlen Electronics.


Is that the old XT compatible eight bit ISA hard drive on a card? If
it is, it will only work on an XT motherboard.

This MS tech note talks about installing the card on a 6MHz AT system:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/74203


The controllers and interfaces on Hardcards were too slow for most
computers. I couldn't use them reliably on 10 or 12 MHz XTs, unless
turbo was disabled and the computer had to run at the original 4.77 MHz
CPU clock rate.

Trying to use them on faster computers is a crap shoot. I just put
old drives in a slow machine and used interlink between the parallel
ports to copy the data to a faster drive. I've also seen early EIDE
drives that were too slow to get ready for the buss that I had to turn
on the extended memory test in the BIOS to slow the computer's boot
time. i saw this for a couple years, till the older, slower drives were
too small to bother with moving to a customer's new computer.

In my experience Quantum's 105AT Pro Drives were very popular and very
reliable (I may even have one in my cupboard). I don't know if this
model formed the basis for the Hardcards, but here is a news item from
1990:

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpag...C0A9669582 60

"These new Hardcards, called the Hardcard II-XL 50 and the Hardcard
II-XL 105, are designed for 80286- and 80386-based PC's."

"The new Hardcard II-XL drives ... have a speed rating of nine
milliseconds, ... which in the world of disk drives is breathlessly
fast. Plus calls them the fastest 3.5-inch hard disk drives in the
world."

"The Hardcards seem especially well suited for people who are
upgrading an older AT-class, 80286-based PC that has either no hard
disk or a 20-megabyte unit. As companies move to the newer 80386-based
and 386SX computers, 'a lot of 286's have found their way home,' said
Crawford Del Prete, an analyst with the International Data Corporation
of Framingham, Mass. 'When it comes time for upgrade, instead of just
bagging the old computer and getting a new one, put a Hardcard II-XL
in it.'"

- Franc Zabkar
--
Please remove one 'i' from my address when replying by email.

Franc Zabkar wrote:

On Sat, 14 Apr 2007 04:33:32 GMT, "Michael A. Terrell"
put finger to keyboard and composed:

Franc Zabkar wrote:

On Sat, 14 Apr 2007 01:28:15 GMT, "Michael A. Terrell"
put finger to keyboard and composed:

" wrote:

There is a row of eight dip switches on this board. I got it to work
in an old system I'm working on by changing what I think was the IRQ
setting. However it seems to be write protected and I can't figure it
out. Does anyone have any documentation on this board? Thanks. Lenny
Stein, Barlen Electronics.


Is that the old XT compatible eight bit ISA hard drive on a card? If
it is, it will only work on an XT motherboard.

This MS tech note talks about installing the card on a 6MHz AT system:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/74203


The controllers and interfaces on Hardcards were too slow for most
computers. I couldn't use them reliably on 10 or 12 MHz XTs, unless
turbo was disabled and the computer had to run at the original 4.77 MHz
CPU clock rate.

Trying to use them on faster computers is a crap shoot. I just put
old drives in a slow machine and used interlink between the parallel
ports to copy the data to a faster drive. I've also seen early EIDE
drives that were too slow to get ready for the buss that I had to turn
on the extended memory test in the BIOS to slow the computer's boot
time. i saw this for a couple years, till the older, slower drives were
too small to bother with moving to a customer's new computer.

In my experience Quantum's 105AT Pro Drives were very popular and very
reliable (I may even have one in my cupboard). I don't know if this
model formed the basis for the Hardcards, but here is a news item from
1990:

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpag...C0A9669582 60

"These new Hardcards, called the Hardcard II-XL 50 and the Hardcard
II-XL 105, are designed for 80286- and 80386-based PC's."

"The new Hardcard II-XL drives ... have a speed rating of nine
milliseconds, ... which in the world of disk drives is breathlessly
fast. Plus calls them the fastest 3.5-inch hard disk drives in the
world."

"The Hardcards seem especially well suited for people who are
upgrading an older AT-class, 80286-based PC that has either no hard
disk or a 20-megabyte unit. As companies move to the newer 80386-based
and 386SX computers, 'a lot of 286's have found their way home,' said
Crawford Del Prete, an analyst with the International Data Corporation
of Framingham, Mass. 'When it comes time for upgrade, instead of just
bagging the old computer and getting a new one, put a Hardcard II-XL
in it.'"

- Franc Zabkar
--
Please remove one 'i' from my address when replying by email.


What is the fastest motherboard you've used it in? I think that I
still have one or two hardcards in storage, but I'm too ill to go look
for them and test their buss speed.


BTW, I had a "386 computer on a card" that I pulled from an original
256 K IBM PC. It took control of the buss after the computer booted,
and ran newer software written for the 386, but it was so slow it was
nearly useless.


--
Service to my country? Been there, Done that, and I've got my DD214 to
prove it.
Member of DAV #85.

Michael A. Terrell
Central Florida

On Sat, 14 Apr 2007 14:17:53 GMT, "Michael A. Terrell"
put finger to keyboard and composed:

Franc Zabkar wrote:

In my experience Quantum's 105AT Pro Drives were very popular and very
reliable (I may even have one in my cupboard). I don't know if this
model formed the basis for the Hardcards, ...

What is the fastest motherboard you've used it in? I think that I
still have one or two hardcards in storage, but I'm too ill to go look
for them and test their buss speed.

I've never used Hardcards, I've just used the Quantum LP series drives
of that era. I still have a 127AT and a 210AT HD in my cupboard. IIRC
I used to install them in 486DX and SX machines. The interface was
either a 16-bit ISA or 32-bit VLB IDE controller card, or motherboard
chipset.

BTW, I have experienced the same problem that you referred to, namely
a long spin-up time for certain HDs, although I can't say which brands
or models. The workaround was the same, ie I slowed down the POST by
enabling a full memory test.

- Franc Zabkar
--
Please remove one 'i' from my address when replying by email.