Old MFM controller on a PCI bus machine

From: Chad Fernandez <fernande_at_internet1.net>
Date: Tue Jan 27 00:46:39 2004

In the last month, I removed an ISA MFM (or possibly RLL) card from my
PC. I wasn't using the HD capabilites of the card, However. I was only
using the floppy controller, since I accidently fried the floppy
controller on the MB. I am also not using the MB IDE interface. I am
using an Adaptec scsi card.

I toyed around with a driver at one point that would allow a person to
mix mfm with modern drives. I can't recall what it was called, Though.
  I think I found it on Simtel, but I'm not sure.

Chad Fernandez
Michigan, USA

Vintage Computer Festival wrote:
> I haven't played with MFM hard drives and controllers in a LONG time
> (about 10 years now) so I have some questions.
>
> I'll start off easy. Should there be any reason an old 16-bit ISA MFM
> controller won't work properly in a Pentium-class PC with ISA and PCI
> slots? I imagine I would just have to configure the BIOS to reserve the
> proper interrupt (I believe it's 14, correct?) for the MFM controller.
>
> I did all this but the MFM controller wreaked havoc on the system. It
> killed the on-board floppy disk and IDE controllers (not physically killed
> but basically disabled them and the system couldn't boot).
>
> I'm trying to determine if there is a natural conflict before I venture
> forth with this configuration. This may be a problem related to the PC
> I'm trying to plug the card into because there are other oddities with the
> IDE controller that is preventing the system from booting with 4 hard
> drives installed (2 per IDE interface). It halts after it auto-recognizes
> the drives on the primary controller. Weird.
>
> Anyway, any insight would be appreciated.
>
> I'm going to do more experimentation in the meantime. I'll get another PC
> with ISA and PCI slots to work with, and will also find an old 386 to test
> the MFM controller on to make sure it is working fine.
>
Received on Tue Jan 27 2004 - 00:46:39 GMT