DOS at 750 MHz......one minor problem

[Johnny Ray]

I posted here awhile back about needing to upgrade a Pentium 100 with full legacy support to control some scientific equipment with Win3.1. I went with a CUB-XE, PIII750, etc, and of course a lovely new G200 PCI (outstanding even in Win3.1...the RA that uses the system asked if we got a new monitor too!). It all works great, with one minor problem. When loading Win3.1, I get the error message:

"The Microsoft Windows 32-bit disk driver (WDCTLINT) validation failed at phase 80, 80. Push any key to continue and use 16-bit access." I'm using a Quantum ATA66 10 gb harddrive. Any suggestions how to get 32-bit access to work with this setup? Is it impossible to use Win3.1 32-bit access with UltraDMA2, etc? Am I the only one on this planet that would care?

By the way, those of you dying to know, Win3.1 is very snappy on a PIII750.

Thanks in advance for the help,

John

[Jorden]

Thought of using Win3.11 (Windows for Workgroups)? For then there are a couple of workarounds in the Windows Knowledge Base.
(Do know this is different from 32 bit File Access though)

Like this, this

Full search results on MSKB. Do a search on Win3.x with 32-bit disk access in the search

Jord.

Edits for too long a link for UBB

[This message has been edited by Jorden (edited 09 May 2001).]

[arbymo]

Just a thought, the name of the 32-bit disk access driver implies that it's a Westrn Digital driver (WDCTLINT) and you are using a Quantum.
Did u look for a 32-bit driver from quantum ? as a side note; it looks like the quantum files aren't there anymore, but i think that these old 32-bit drivers are floating around over the net.
i believe the file for quantum was supplied by Ontrack and was named ontrk386 or something close.

[rubank]

arbymo,

I think it´s Windows Disk Control ..., not Western Digital.

Johnny Ray,
do you have a CDROM drive in that machine? I recall there could be some issues regarding 32 Bit disk access related to CDROM drivers in Win 3.1.
If so, check for info in the readme-file that usually comes with the CDROM drivers.

rubank

[cjolley]

I don't suppose someone could come up with a
copy of the original PC Magazine WinBen for
Johnny Ray to bench mark it with?
chuck

[Jorden]

Not WinBen chuck, but I do have an old benchmarking program for DOS lying around on one of my umpteen floppies here. I'll have a look-see

Btw, the WDCTLINT is the Windows Disk Control, as stated
I was at first wondering if Win3.1 could do 32-bit disk access. I know 3.11 had an option to do something alike it - though that might've been 32 bit file access - but I wasn't too sure. I still am not too sure if Win3.1 does do UDMA2 !! (It's like trying to buy a T-Ford with seat-belts!!)

Jord.

[William Gates III]

You don,t need seatbelts with the
T-Ford. If you crash you´ll die promptly anyway.

Bill

[rubank]

This is what I was referring to, from aCDROM driver readme-file:

Device Driver name:
CR_ATAPI.SYS (Version 5.17p) for DOS
WDCTRL.386 (Version 1.10 ) for 32bitDiskAccess=ON in Windows3.1

!!! CAUTION !!!
You can not use WDCTRL.386, when you use 32bitFileAccess=ON in WFW3.11.
Please change 32bitFileAccess=ON to 32bitFileAccess=OFF.

I don´t know if this is any help, but someone might get enlightened

By the way, I´ve got Winstone 96 and Winbench 96 on CDROM, and they do run on Win 3.11, if there should be any interest. (This benchmark CDROM has the added benefit of providing you with toplist apps for Win 3.11, if you "crack" the installation/deinstallation procedure. I remember I did that - of course not ).
If so let me know.

rubank


[This message has been edited by rubank (edited 09 May 2001).]

[arbymo]

rubank : maybee ur right and i've overchecked it.
anyway, he should try another driver, check this link anyway :
http://www.maxtor.com/quantum/suppor...s/ontrk386.exe

[Johnny Ray]

Thanks all....of course these have been the most enlightened responses I've gotten in any Forum. My favorite response in another forum was you can't run Win3.1 on a PIII due to the 32-bit chip architecture.

Anyways....yes, you all caught my error; it is Win3.11, not 3.1. You recall correctly; 32-bit access for Win3.11, not for 3.1. Don't laugh, but I DID look on the CD (I know, RTFM!) that came with the MB and voila, a directory for DOS controller drivers. The instructions seemed pretty straight-forward, but during the boot I get all kind of "can't find controller, etc, no ATAPI CD connected, etc" with the same eventual outcome. After all this all works fine, just no 32-bit access.

I did "benchmark" the HD with Norton Diagnostics (glad I saved all my old software), and it gave an rpm of something like 267,000! Hah hah.

The G200 is absolutely gorgeous, even on a POS Dell monitor. More than one person walking by has commented on the great display (really, no lie). And you know what? Win3.11 at 750 MHz is pretty impressive. I'd love to figure out how to get the right controller drivers loaded.

John

[rubank]

Johnny,
just as a reminder:

you have put the appropriate path to the device driver in config.sys, haven´t you?

And of course you dind´t forget to load MSCDEX in autoexec.bat, did you?

I take it for granted that you checked the [386 Enh] section of your system.ini and found that you have an entry for the virtual 32bit access driver?

Well, I thought so, I just wanted to make sure.

rubank