Re: [Freedos-devel] Fwd: format error in FAT32 kernel

[Eric A. <e....@jp...>]

Hi Roy,

> Forwarded from sourceforge bug tracker:
> https://sourceforge.net/p/freedos/bugs/115/
> 
> Boot FAT32 kernel (ex. ke2041_86f32) from A: and "format b: /u", then an  
> error occurs.

Does this only happen with the FAT32 kernel?

Does this only happen with a FreeDOS kernel?

Are your A: and B: actually 2 distinct physical drives?

Does this only happen with /U or also with other modes?
Can you add the /D option to get more verbose messages?

>      A:>format b: /u
>      Insert new diskette for drive B:
>      Press ENTER when the right disk is in drive...
>      Using drive default: 1440k (Cyl=80 Head=2 Sec=18)
>      Please enter volume label (max. 11 chars):
>      No label, disk will have no creation timestamp.
>      Full Formatting (wiping all data)
>      100 percent completed.
>      Preparing FAT area...
>      Drive_IO(WRITE 1, count 1 ) [FAT12/16] [drive B*]
> 
>      Critical error during DOS disk access
>      DOS driver error (hex): 01
>      Description: unknown unit for driver
>      Program terminated.
>      [Error 129]
> 
> Format uses INT26, and this error occurs in kernel.
> When "dir b:" before format, then this error does not occur.

If you only have 1 drive, this might be a DJ mechanism
issue, where A: and B: are actually the same hardware
and DOS has to keep track whether you name it A: or B:
at the current moment. Can you try with other FORMAT
tools? If the problem is really with the DJ mechanism
then I think other FORMAT tools could be able to try
harder to switch - both from A: to B: and back again.

If you do DIR B: before format, what will happen? Is
the disk already formatted before you format it?

Lots of questions but also an interesting problem :-)

Regards, Eric