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- Patching DOS 3.3 To Use DRIVPARM:
-
- Drivparm can be used with IBM 3.3 and other 3.3 DOS'S! The
- following text explains why someone would want to use this and all
- of the pains I went thru to get it to work:
-
- First of all I will explain why someone would want to do this. The
- only replacement for DRIVPARM is DRIVER.SYS which is external and
- has to be loaded. When DRIVER.SYS takes hold it assigns a device
- driver for whatever you are using for the next logical drive
- available. Example: A well loaded AT class machine with Drive A:
- being a 1.2 meg floppy, Drive B: is a 720k 3 & 1/2" drive, A hard
- disk which is split into 2 logical drives C: & D:, and Expanded
- memory of around a meg for a RAM disk (E:). DRIVER.SYS defined as
- DEVICE=DRIVER.SYS /D:1 /F:2 would place drive B: as drive E: or F:
- depending on the ram disk. ASSIGN.COM would take care of the drive
- calls but DRIVER.SYS and ASSIGN.COM eat memory!
-
- Thats why DRIVPARM is better. It sets up a device definition for
- the drive you are installing and does it with less memory used
- because it is a internal CONFIG.SYS command that is not loaded.
- This patch I will descibe to you will make 1 change to the syntax
- of DRIVPARM. Here is old verses new after the patch:
-
- OLD: DRIVPARM=/D:n /F:n etc...
- NEW: DRIVPARM=/DD:n /F:n etc...
- (Note the extra 'D')
-
- 3.3 DOS was setup not to use DRIVPARM because most Computer Co's
- were upgrading there BIOS's in AT class machines to set up new
- devices in there CMOS Setup Memory. Anything that the SETUP
- routine in CMOS could not handle DRIVER.SYS could be loaded and
- used instead. After careful examination of the system files of IBM
- 3.3 DOS I found that DRIVPARM was still embedded in the code of
- the IBMBIO.COM hidden file that DOS uses to boot. Stranger yet I
- discovered that DOS did read a DRIVPARM=/ in a CONFIG.SYS file but
- would not read further than the '/'. I found a way to hook it back
- up to read the DRIVPARM command line without the CONFIG.SYS ERROR
- being displayed at bootup.
-
- Well Lets Patch 3.3 IBMBIO.COM:
-
- First and MOST IMPORTANT make a work disk by formatting a floppy
- with the /s command and also copy DEBUG.COM to it. Make sure your
- prompt is A>. Use your favorite utility to change IBMBIO.COM's
- attributes so we can read-write to it. Type DEBUG IBMBIO.COM and
- press ENTER.
-
- At the - prompt type R and press ENTER
-
- A table will be displayed. Note what CX=nnnn and write this 4 Hex
- digit down somewhere.
-
- Now we look for the code to change. Type the following noting that
- nnnn is CX= you wrote down: S 100 L nnnn 3C 2F 74 03
- Press ENTER and you should get a single line location for the
- list. If you get more than 1 line of location double check what
- you typed after S 100 L. You should see something similar as this:
-
- ????:nnnn
-
- The nnnn is what we looked for. So now type the following using nnnn:
-
- U nnnn
-
- You should get a assembler type listing of code starting at nnnn.
- Now look where the hexidecimal code 74 falls near the top of this list.
- We need to change this from 74 to EB. My IBM DOS 3.3 had this 74
- located at 4E9C. Other 3.3 DOS's will be differ from this. Lets refer
- to the location of 74 as xxxx.
- Now to change it to EB type the following with xxxx being the location
- of YOUR code 74:
-
- E xxxx
-
- It should display 74 and a space and wait for your input. Type EB and
- press ENTER.
- Now press W at the - prompt and it will save our patch to disk. Then
- type Q to quit debug.
-
- Okay, you have made it this far. Now make a CONFIG.SYS file with a text
- editor of your choice or COPY CON CONFIG.SYS is just as fast. Use the
- syntax of DRIVPARM=/DD:d /F:n. DO NOT FORGET the EXTRA 'D' in the line
- you define. DRIVPARM follows the same syntax as DRIVER.SYS in your DOS
- manual with the exception that DEVICE= is not required in front of it
- and we now have to put 2 'D's in there with this patch.
-
- Now save your CONFIG.SYS and try it out. Make sure your WORK DISK is in
- drive A: and reset the computer. If there was a mistake made one of 2
- things will happen. It wont boot period or you will get a ERROR IN
- CONFIG.SYS FILE message. If no mistakes were made you should get a date
- and time prompt. Then test it with the floppy for a while and make sure
- that it works with your device defined in DRIVPARM. Then if it is okay
- you can format your hard disk from this disk and run from there.
-
- From K. MACY