🚀 go-pugleaf

I posted an earlier article requesting information on the fixed disk type
of a Seagate ST9051A - many thanks to all who responded.

However, I still have a problem.  Various settings allowed me to read the
files on the disk with no problem, but none allow me to actually boot up 
from C (the CMOS settings for boot drive are Auto - I have tried C).  On
resetting the machine I simply get the message "Missing operating system"

I ran an IDE drive detect program which someone kindly emailed me, and it
told me that the drive was 654 cylinders, 4 heads, and 32 sectors.  As
the drive still did not boot up C I took the final resort (probably a bad
move :( ) and reformatted using the MS-DOS format command.  The thing will
still not boot from C.

When I boot up from floppy and run MSD, it reports the following:


Drive  Type                                  Free Space  Total Size
-----  ------------------------------------  ----------  ----------

  C:   Fixed Disk, CMOS Type 255                    34M         40M
         648 Cylinders, 4 Heads
         512 Bytes/Sector, 32 Sectors/Track
       CMOS Fixed Disk Parameters
         654 Cylinders, 4 Heads
         32 Sectors/Track

Is the descrepancy of 6 cylinders significant, and if so, what can I do
about it?  Also, is the "Fixed Disk Physical Format" option in the BIOS
setup a low-level format or not, as I understand that to low-level format
an IDE drive is a sure-fire way to trash it completely.

Thanks in advance,

-- 
Ashley Powell