BASIC INSTALLATION PRODCEDURE for ESDI Drives
by Ryan Ramsey   --   July 3, 1992

All Micropolis ESDI need to be low-level formatted on the controller you
intend to use them with. Because of this, and with all ESDI drives, if you
ever switch the controller, you will also need to back-up your data, and
low level format the drive again. ESDI drives need a little more attention
to configuration than SCSI drives do. The major things that must be done
are setting up your system CMOS, drive addresses, sector size, and termination.

SETTING UP THE CMOS
-------------------

    In order for your computer to use an ESDI drive, it must first be 
    denoted in your system CMOS. The first thing you must do is go into
    your system CMOS and set your drive types accordingly. Most CMOS's
    allow you to select a type from 0 (not installed) to 47, where 47
    is a user-defined entry and 1-46 are preset types.

    For all Micropolis ESDI drives, you should set your type to drive
    type 1. On intelligent BIOS's, it will tell you you only have a 20MB
    drive, but when it comes time to low level format the drive, this 
    drive type will indicate to the controller card to pull the parameters
    off the physical drive and set itself up.

    If your are installing only one drive, then only your DRIVE 0, or 
    DRIVE C, parameter should be set to drive type 1. If you are setting
    up two drives, both DRIVE 0/C and DRIVE 1/D must be set to 1, once
    again, regardless of what the capacity comes out to.

    NOTE: These settings are for ESDI drive only! If for example you have
    one ESDI drive and one SCSI drive, you will only set DRIVE 0/C to
    drive type 1. SCSI drives will set themselves up.

    After this is accomplished, the setup should be saved and exited and
    the system will then reboot.

SETTING DRIVE ADDRESSES
-----------------------

    In order for your machine bus to be able to tell where it is getting its 
    information from, it is neccessary for each drive to have a particular
    drive address. This number, is set with jumpers on the circuit board side
    of the drive. The jumper block will be labeled as follows: 

                      DA1
                        |DA2
                        | | DA3
             ___________|_|_|_
            | . . . . . . . . |
            | . . . . . . . . |
             -----------------
              | | | | |
             W1 | | | |
               W2 | | |
                 W3 | |
                   W4 |
                     W5

     The first part of this jumper block (The 'W' series) sets your sector
     size and bytes per track. In most cases it should be set only to W2,
     which sets it for the factory standard, yielding the most capacity at
     512-Bytes per Sector. If you are using a very slow machine such as the
     IBM-XT, you will also want the W1 jumper installed (Write Fault Latch).
     
     If another configuration is needed, you find out the sector sizes and 
     bytes-per-track numbers from your drives specification sheet.

     The next part is to set your drive address, and this is done with the
     DA jumpers (they could be labeled DS in older models). These jumpers
     are not only related to your drive (whether it is primary or secondary),
     but also to your cable. If you have a twisted cable (there is a physical
     twist in the cable between the first and last nodes), the scheme will be
     a little bit different. To find out how you should have this section
     jumpered, follow this basic configuration.

     ONE DRIVE SYSTEM (Primary Drive)
         The primary drive should always be connected to the last (end) node 
         of your cable.

              TWISTED CABLE: Jumper on DA2 ONLY.
                 FLAT CABLE: Jumper on DA1 ONLY.

     TWO DRIVE SYSTEM (Primary and Secondary Drive)
         Once again, the primary drive should be connected to the last (end)
         node of your cable, and the secondary drive in the middle (first)
         node of the cable.

              TWISTED CABLE: Primary at DA2, Secondary at DA2
                 FLAT CABLE: Primary at DA1, Secondary at DA2

     NOTE: If your cable has the twist CLOSEST to the colored stripe, you 
           are using a FLOPPY cable, and this will not work!

DRIVE TERMINATION
-----------------

    Termination is something that causes a lot of undue grief for everyone, but
    the concept is really simple.
      
        "Only the last drive on the CABLE must be terminated, 
         all others should be un-terminated."
    
              and

        "The chain must be terminated on both ends."
 
    The controller must be terminated (which is the way it comes from 99.99% 
    of the manufacturers) AND the very last drive/component on the CABLE 
    (do not get "the last drive on the cable" confused with the "last drive, 
    which would be the highest DRIVE ADDRESS"). 

        Therefore, a graphic display would look as follows:
           ____
          /    \ 
         | HOST |=====DEVICE=====DEVICE
          \____/        |          |
            |    UN-TERMINATED     |
            |                      |
        TERMINATED             TERMINATED
        (Usually default)

        So once again:

             If you have only one drive, it is to be TERMINATED.
             If you have more than one drive, all drives must be UN-TERMINATED
                except for the last PHYSICAL drive on the CABLE which must 
                be TERMINATED.


CABLE INSTALLATION
------------------

        Once the two above items are checked and configured, all you need to
        do then is put the drive on the cable (matching the red stripe on the
        cable to pin one on the controller card) and then power on.
 
        NOTE: If you have a twisted cable, if the twist is closest to the
              COLORED stripe, you will NOT be able to use it because it 
              is a FLOPPY cable. You must get either a FLAT cable or a
              TWISTED cable where the twist is furthest away from the colored
              stripe.


TROUBLESHOOTING GUIDE
---------------------

     PROBLEM
         Cannot see the drive.
     REMEDY
         1.  Did you set your Drive 0 to type 1 in your CMOS?
         2.  Check your drive address, it may be in the wrong location.
         3.  Check your sector size. Most computers use 512-bytes per sector 
             and if your drive is set up otherwise, it may not be able to 
             see it. Set the drive to the factory default (W2).

     PROBLEM
         When booting up the system, the machine gets hung up at the bios
         banner of the controller card.
     REMEDY
         There are a few possibilities for this problem.
          1.  There are two drives with the same drive address.
              Verify that all drives have different SCSI ID's.
          3.  There could be a bios conflict.
              Change the bios address of the controller card to a different
              memory location.
          4.  There could be a conflict with add in boards. Check and make sure
              that there are no memory conflicts with any add in boards or 
              bios's, check DMA's, IRQ's, and port addresses.

      PROBLEM
          When you boot up, the computer gives you a message along the lines
          of "Drive C not found" or "Drive 0 not found".
      REMEDY
          Check your drive addressing jumpers, they are most likely set
          incorrectly. Also, check your cables, they may not be seated 
          properly.

      If you are experienceing a problem that is not approached in this 
      document or you continue to have problems, you may do one of the 
      following:

          1.  Call our Technical Support Line at (818) 709-3325. 
          2.  Call our BBS at (818) 709-3310 and leave an email to the Sysop.
          3.  FAX your request to us at (818) 718-5352.
          4.  Mail your request to:
                  Micropolis Corporation
                  Attn: Technical Support
                  21211 Nordhoff Street
                  Chatsworth, CA  91311
