Question on x31 Enhanced Docking Station

[davodavo1]

Hi all. I've got an x31 with OK hardware but I need to replace the HDD.

Problem is, the CD/DVD drive that is in the ultrabay 2000 slot of my dock (http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... URSWX.html) isn't recognized when I boot to DOS. It works fine under XP, and it boots fine when using the windows installer disk.

But I have a disk that's a Ghost image, and it needs to boot under DOS. The DOS driver (ibmtpcd.sys) refuses to load. I've put the appropriate lines in config.sys and autoexec.bat (maybe there's some parameter missing??). I've tried it on two different x31s (both running BIOS 3.02) and with the original TEAC CD ROM as well as my current NEC DVD 6550A. I've tried several other DOS drivers that are supposed to be "universal" IDE CD drivers, but none of them will load.

Does anybody else have the x31/dock combination out there? If so, can you verify that you can boot in DOS and see the CD drive?

If I'm making some obvious mistake, please don't hesitate to berate me with "you dummy..." information. I've wasted too much time on this to be proud.

Thanks in advance.

[Harryc]

Have you tried installing the CDROM driver for DOS? Looks like you'll need a diskette drive
http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... ml#install

[sojourner]

Problem is, the CD/DVD drive that is in the ultrabay 2000 slot of my dock (http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... URSWX.html) isn't recognized when I boot to DOS. It works fine under XP, and it boots fine when using the windows installer disk.

But I have a disk that's a Ghost image, and it needs to boot under DOS. The DOS driver (ibmtpcd.sys) refuses to load. I've put the appropriate lines in config.sys and autoexec.bat (maybe there's some parameter missing??). I've tried it on two different x31s (both running BIOS 3.02) and with the original TEAC CD ROM as well as my current NEC DVD 6550A. I've tried several other DOS drivers that are supposed to be "universal" IDE CD drivers, but none of them will load.

Hmmm, just tried my X31 and the DVD is not seen in DOS either however I do not load a driver for it, so it shouldn't show up!

Few thoughts come to mind:
1. are your BIOS settings at defaults? If not I'd suggest they be set that way (for now).
2. will the ibmtpcd.sys file really support your ROM drive?
BTW, if you'll notice on the link Harryc provided, IBM shows our TPs and says PC-DOS 2000 is required and only limited support is available for their driver!
3. seeing you can boot from an installation CD, the drive is recognized at boot. Since you've tried universal CD drivers and had no luck, I'd suggest posting back exactly what drivers you've tried, also the exact syntax in your config.sys and autoexec.bat files

I believe either you have not found a correct driver or the syntax is wrong.

[davodavo1]

Thanks for your test!

You can download the DOS driver for the DVD here...http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... IGR-4Y2PZ7

And guess what: turns out I was using the wrong driver. Oy. So posterity's sake, here's what you need to do if you want to see the CD or DVD from DOS:

. get the driver
. in your DOS boot autoexec file, you'll need a line like
MSCDEX.EXE /D:TPCD1 /M:15 /L:R
. in your config.sys file, you'll need a line like
DEVICE=cmdatpcd.SYS /D:TPCD1
. the driver takes maybe 5 seconds to load in DOS, so be patient...
. once you get the success message from MSCDEX claiming it has the drive initialized...
. type R: to get to the CD/DVD reader

Of course, you won't be able to write anything under DOS, but you should be able to read either CD or DVD files

[sojourner]

Alright! glad you found a solution and posted it. I may try the driver but I already have one that works, it's OAKCDROM.SYS. It can be setup the same way as you described, although I change the CDROM drive letter thus add to config.sys:

LASTDRIVE=Z

In autoexec.bat I change the parameter /L:R to /L:Z
(this makes the CDROM drive Z instead of R)

BTW, just noticed you are relatively new to the forums; welcome aboard!

[davodavo1]

Some important additional info on this topic, particularly for oldish thinkpads.

The DOS driver is much less picky about the specific model of CDROM or DVD reader than it is about the way it's connected to your Thinkpad. USB-connected readers typically emulate a hard drive, and their support is in the BIOS (with anything IBM did since at least 2005).

But the CD/DVD readers that actually came with the Thinkpads are IDE devices, and it matters where the reader is physically installed. The Media Slice uses one chipset, and the Docking Station uses another. That means that the drivers for the same reader would be different, depending on where you plug it in.

The good news is that both drivers for DOS are available from the IBM website (although they seem to do a pretty good job of hiding at least one of them. Sooo, if you find that your CD/DVD won't load, try the other one. In the case of the x31, the driver names were ibmtpcd.sys for the media slice and cmdatpcd.sys for the docking station. (or is it the other way around? )

The good news here is that once the driver sees a reader through the IDE channel, it seems to be fairly forgiving about the specific reader. DVD readers are able to read either CD or DVD media, and they emulate a disk drive. Of course, you can't write to your optical media in DOS (unless you have a reeeeeeeaaaaaallllyyyy fancy setup of antique DOS applications), because CD writers didn't become economical on PCs until around 1996.

Enough of the history lesson. See you in cyberspace, if nowhere else.