REFERENCE PARTITION
WARNING: This is neither a joke nor is it intended for Beginners or Wanna-Bees. All Tips given and all the described modifications are 'At Your Own Risk' The Maintainer will give no warranty of any kind !  Read the entire article first, before you begin !

I999 xxxx Errors
Restoring System Partition
Accessing System Partition under DOS
ADF Types

  • Problem: You have a system with a reference partition on the harddisk and have these problems.
  • Cannot do 'Backup Reference Partition' anymore
  • Wanted to see what's on it anyway

    • The Solution: Create a simple starter-disk to open the reference partition.

    I9990 Errors
       If you see any of the following, you should restore the system partition.   
           I999 001X, 002X, 003X, 004X, 006X, 007X, 009X  where X can be any number 
    For other I999 errors, look HERE


    Restoring System Partition

     On most systems you will need 2 or more Diskettes:
     - Reference Diskette
     - Diagnostic Diskette
     - probably Option Diskettes if you have not backed up your System Partition after adding files

    To restore System Partition:
     - Start the machine from the Reference Disk.
     - Pass the IBM startup logo and displayed error messages. Do not let it autoconfigure.
     - From the main menu select 'Backup / Restore System partition'
     - Select 'Restore System Partition'
     - Follow the instructions on the screen
     - Restart the system

       Normally the System Partition is hidden and can only be accessed with the reference disk ("Copy An Option Disk") or by pressing [CTRL]+[ALT]+[INS] after a reboot, when the cursor jumps to the top right corner of the screen.
       However: you cannot copy or delete anything directly from it anyway.

      If you often change adapters and often do 'Copy An Option Disk' it may one day happen, that 'Backup System Partition' ends up with a 'Disk Full'-error and is aborted before the entire partition is saved to disks.
        IBM recommends to restore the system partition from a set of original disks again - but if you do this all your additional ADFs and ADPs are lost and you will have to add them once again from the (hopefully existing) Option Disks.


    Accessing System Partition under DOS
     
    • Format a disk under DOS -any version above 4.00, MS-DOS or PC-DOS- with the parameter /S to make it bootable and have a system on it.
    • Start DEBUG

      • You will get the DEBUG 'minus'-prompt
      Type the following - all behind the ';' is comment:
    • L 0,0,0,1 ; open drive A: and read boot-sector

      • D 0       ; display content of sector from adress 0 on
      E 8       ; edit byte 08h
      - E XX 20 ; content of 08h is displayed, enter only the 20 !
                ; press [SPACE]
          XX 33 ; content of 09h is displayed, enter only the 33 !
                ; press [SPACE]
          XX 79 ; content of 0Ah is displayed, enter only the 79 !
                ; press [ENTER]
      D 0       ; display the content again: 3y must appear at 09h and 0Ah
      W 0,0,0,1 ; write the sector back to drive A:
      Q         ; quit DEBUG

      You're back at the DOS-prompt 

      Do Not perform a DIR-command or Explorer-View on this Disk from Win95 !
      Win95 overwrites the header and all modifications just made are changed again.
       
    • Copy editor, tools like CHKDSK on the disk as required
    • Insert the disk into your PS/2 and start it over
    • After the DOS-prompt reappears try a DIR C: /W

      • You are now on your System Partition.
    Attention: Watch out not to delete files the system will need later on !

     You may -of course- delete ADFs and corresponding ADPs from cards which are no longer installed in the system. Download my QBMCA software to find out which one are already installed.

    ADF Types

    @xxxx.ADF are the Adapter Desription Files (ADF) ASCII-files and can be viewed and edited.

    @xxxx.DGS are Diagnostic Files for the corresponding Adapter
    Cxxxx.ADF are the corresponding Adapter Description Programs (ADP)
    Ixxxx.ADF are ADPs too, mostly Initialize Files for Memory Expansion Cards.
    These 3 types cannot be edited or viewed (Well: can, but give only garbled crap)

    Dxxxx.ADF are Planar Description Files for the Systemboard
    Pxxxx.ADF are Planar Option Files for the Systemboard ASCII-files, viewable
    Sxxxx.ADF are Planar Setup Files for the Systemboard
    Jxxxx.ADF are Planar Setup Files for the Systemboard EXE-files, not viewable
    Exxxx.ADF are Description Files for 3550 Expansion Units (-001 N51, -002 TP 700/720) ASCII-files, viewable

       Basically: Leave all DGS-files untouched unless they can be definitely assigned to a card which is no longer in the system. Same recommendation to all Planar Files. Some may be deleted of course, because they belong to other machines, but it is hard to tell which ones. You may find out, which Planar your machine uses with QCONFIG from PC-DOS 6.3 or later. Run it with the Option /D /O and edit the File QCONFIG.OUT. The Planar ID is given somewhere in this text.

    IBM and MicroChannel are Trademarks of International Business Machines Corp. (USA)
    © 1997 by Peter H. Wendt / pw-software production