README - WDTBLCHK

(C) Copyright 1994 - Western Digital Corporation



PROGRAM SUMMARY:

    This program reports the number of drives physically detected,
    the number of drives defined by the BIOS, and the characteristics
    of the drive parameter table for each drive detected.
    
    This program was written for OEMs and end users. OEMs can use
    this program to verify BIOS drive parameter table compatibility
    for supporting IDE drives greater than 528 MB. End users can use
    this program to report drive configuration information to Western
    Digital Technical Support personnel over the phone when discussing
    disk drive related issues.


TO RUN THE PROGRAM:

    To run the program, type WDTBLCHK at the DOS prompt. 


TO QUIT THE PROGRAM:

    To quit the program, hit ESC.

    To scroll through the different screens, any of the following keys
    can be used: PGUP, PGDN, HOME, END, ENTER, TAB, BACKSPACE.

    At the end of the program, the user is asked if a log file 
    should be created. The user can respond with Y for YES, or
    N or ESC for NO.


COMMAND LINE OPTIONS:

    -L   Causes a log file to be created. No information is 
         shown on the screen.

    
LOG FILE:

    When quitting the program, the user is given the option to store 
    the results to log file WDTBLCHK.LOG. This log file contains
    the same information displayed on the screen.


ERROR LEVELS

    Always 0.


DRIVES SUPPORTED:

    All AT-IDE interface drives.


ADDITIONAL PROGRAM INFORMATION:

    WDTBLCHK does not change any drive or system settings so this program 
    can safely be run on any system.

    WDTBLCHK only issues Identify (direct I/O) and Read Verify (INT 13)
    commands to the drives. 


SUMMARY OF INFORMATION REPORED BY THIS PROGRAM:

    DRIVES PHYSICALLY DETECTED - Number of drives found at primary
    and secondary baseports. A count in the range 0-4.


    DRIVES REPORTED BY INT 13 FUNCTION 8 - A count in the range 0-4.


    DRIVE INFO: Drive model, firmware, cyls, heads, spt reported
    by Identify cmd for each drive.


    INT 13 INFO: Drive cyls, heads, spt, and size (bytes) for each drive.


    INT 41/46 INFO: 

       Logical cyls, heads, and spt. 

       Drive cyls, heads, and spt (drive values only valid for 
          Enhanced Drive Parameter Tables).

       Signature byte (A in upper nibble indicates enhanced table).
  
       Checksum (only required for enhanced tables - reported as valid
          or invalid.

       Enhanced Table: NO or YES (YES if signature byte upper nibble = A).


    TRANSLATE MODE FOR EACH DRIVE:

       One of the following messages is reported for each drive:

       DRIVE NOT ACTIVE - drive not active according to INT 13.

       NO TRANSLATION - no drive parameter translation detected.

       LBA - BIOS is performing translation using LBA addressing.

       CHS TO CHS - BIOS is performing translation using C/H/S addressing.


REVISION HISTORY:

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
rev 1.00, 6/8/94, dms

Initial release.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
rev 1.10, 6/21/94, dms

Change translation descriptions:
        NOW:                    WAS:
        No Translation          Direct
        CHS To CHS              Other

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
rev 1.20, 8/10/94, dms

Added -L option to create log file without showing info on screen.

Fixed bug so INT13 drive count is shown as 4 instead of 0.

Added display of drive serial numbers.
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