🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <574554223wnr@mahame.demon.co.uk>
           John@mahame.demon.co.uk "John Hamilton" writes:

> 
> Can someone please help ?
> 
> I had happily been running a system with an EIDE controller with 2 
> drives setup as master & slave without any problems for around 6 months.
> 

<snip tale of woe>

The problem with DOS is that it stores the partition table and FAT
on the first cylinder of the disk. This is the area that gets the most
thrashing and thus is the first to wear out. I understand OS/2 uses a
different area of the disk to store its allocation tables, which
could be why you are OK with Warp.

Backup the disk if you haven't already, and run Fdisk.
Delete any existing partitions.

Create a small partition at the beginning of the disk, a couple of
cylinders long, then make the rest of the disk into an extended
partition. Make this large partition active (this will only work with
DOS 6 and above, IIRC.)

Reboot and reinstall DOS, then restore your data.

This has the effect of "masking off" the first couple of cylinders,
and while I can't guarantee it will solve your problem, it may
be worth trying. Let us know how you get on. The rationale behind this
is that if the area now used to store your boot sector is becoming duff,
preventing your PC being able to boot, you can avoid the problem by 
moving your boot sector further into the disk.

Compaq and IBM use this method to store the setup and diagnostics
software on the hard disk, so you don't have to go hunting for the
reference diskette every time you add memory or an expansion card.

cheers,

-- 
Mike Tomlinson