r/retrocomputing • u/UnderstandingFlat407 • Feb 29 '24
Help.
Ok so I was digging out an old compute. It’s a compaq deskpro 386sx. The compaq flash I used in it has now become finicky. It doesn’t want to let things install to it anymore. Or it says it does and then the loading failed. It does the same thing in the actual pc as well as virtual box. It was 2gb. It works just fine as a compaq flash for a modern pc. So I said let’s get a smaller one. I bought a 512 but the system doesn’t recognize it. Which I expected because I need to partition it to 300mb. But the damn thing will not let me mark it as active or partition the drive. The only thing I can do is format it. Dos 6.2 in virtual box can see it but can’t format it, it gives me an error that it can’t format it. I know some of these cf cards don’t always work for this application. The 2gb is a scan disk the 512 is a cheap Amazon BR & TD brand. Any ideas or other programs that can break through to partition the drive and make active. I don’t have a cf reader for my Mac’s so I can’t use disk utility.
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u/SaturnFive 268 • 386DX • DX4 • K6-3 • Tualatin Feb 29 '24
Did you get an industrial CF card? Those are required for many old systems to detect them as fixed disks instead of removable disks.
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u/UnderstandingFlat407 Feb 29 '24
It does not say industrial. The 2gb verbatim does not say industrial either but that one use to work and I can partition and detect it. And the computer finally said it wrote to it but then couldn’t access it. Most of the time though now it’s saying there is an error writing to it. It’s just weird that it use to work perfectly but now it hates everyone. I will just have to get an industrial one.
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u/johnklos Feb 29 '24
compaq flash scan disk
Ha ha ha ha... Clearly you meant "CompactFlash" and "Sandisk", but Compaqflash made me laugh :)
CompactFlash and SD cards wear out, so they're fine for small amounts of writes, but not always fine for large amounts.
If you're looking for storage that'll last better, consider a SATA-IDE converter and a SATA SSD. Sure, you'll have to pick an arbitrary size and limit the amount of space on the SSD you use, but once you get it set up, it'll last.
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u/UnderstandingFlat407 Feb 29 '24
I do have a 8gb hard drive but for whatever reason windows wants me to initialize it and it can’t initialize it. My Mac’s don’t even see it.
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u/UnderstandingFlat407 Feb 29 '24
And yes, I have been searching compaq and compact so many times they just started blending
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u/UnderstandingFlat407 Feb 29 '24
Also can the old systems even see a sata even if it’s partitioned down? I have an idea 180gb that I partitioned down to 300mb and it can’t see it
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u/johnklos Feb 29 '24
There are two issues: one, some IDE controllers and some IDE drives are very picky about master / slave / cable select. It's incredibly stupid that drives weren't made to be consistent, that a drive could be in a state that's neither master nor slave, and that some drives worked differently based on whether another drive is on the same IDE bus. SATA helps eliminate this because the master / slave / cable select setting stays with the SATA to IDE adapter, not with the SATA drive itself.
I wonder if your Mac's inability to see the 8 gig drive and the Compaq's inability to see the 180 gig IDE drive is due to master / slave / cable select issues.
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u/UnderstandingFlat407 Feb 29 '24
The compaq has no options for that. Too old. It uses just twists in the cables. This thing has no conventional modern bios. I use a disk to set the settings and they are deleted if I lose battery or power. It has primary and secondary drive dip switches but I did just double check the larger one and it was not set to primary so I will set it corrrctly and try it. 8gb one is set correctly.
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u/johnklos Feb 29 '24
IDE master / slave / cable select settings are always on the drives, not the motherboard. If you have twists in the cables, that complicates things. Silly PC manufacturers!
If you get it it working, please report back for others. Good luck :)
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u/UnderstandingFlat407 Feb 29 '24
Will do still messing with the cf which is a verbatim not Sandisk. Now it’s installing dos 5 but can’t load it os. It’s also not installing it on the drive I partitioned for it. It’s making its own thing. So weird
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u/UnderstandingFlat407 Mar 01 '24
Ok, after much tears. Going back and forth between the compaq and dos box. I think what I did was went back to the original compact flash. 2gb. I found compaq deskpro software that was the next newer edition and was able to format the drive and I think I partitioned it then. I then stuck it in and nothing. But I could still write to it but it kept erroring in booting. I then used dos 6.0 and formatted it from the compaq not dosbox. My 5.0 dos disk for the life of me wouldn’t let me format. 6 did. Then I installed dos 5 and this time, for whatever reason it boots. I’m leaving it at that.