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Date:      Mon, 8 Feb 1999 06:55:59 +0100
From:      Andre Albsmeier <andre.albsmeier@mchp.siemens.de>
To:        Rico Pajarola <pajarola@cybertime.ch>
Cc:        freebsd-stable@FreeBSD.ORG, Andre Albsmeier <andre.albsmeier@mchp.siemens.de>
Subject:   Re: Fully Dedicated HD may clobber some BIOS'
Message-ID:  <19990208065559.A16209@internal>
In-Reply-To: <3.0.32.19990207170425.0092c9e0@shrike.overmind.ch>; from Rico Pajarola on Sun, Feb 07, 1999 at 05:04:30PM %2B0100
References:  <3.0.32.19990207170425.0092c9e0@shrike.overmind.ch>

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On Sun, 07-Feb-1999 at 17:04:30 +0100, Rico Pajarola wrote:
> At 14:54 99.02.07 +0100, Andre Albsmeier wrote:
> >Just to add it for reference: Machines from our company (Siemens) also don't
> >work with dangerously dedicated disks :-( They have a thing called Phoenix
> >BIOS and I have got plenty of them...
> >
> >Interesting, all these "well known" names (Compaq, HP, Siemens) seem to have
> >problems with it...
> Most of these well known names have their own, 'improved' BIOS. They do
> more sanity checks on everything, which in some rare cases can make life
> easier and 'safer', but in most cases they are a nuisance. There are other
> ways to get problems with a Compaq BIOS than DD, eg a brand new
> unpartitioned disk :( there are ways around those problems, but it can be a
> real nuisance even if you're just installing win95 (as if win95 alone
> wasn't enough of a nuisance)
> So if it doesn't work, it's not because DD is a bad (or wrong) thing, but

No, DD isn't a bad thing. I prefer it over NDD because it's simpler.

> the BIOS checks for something it just should not check (ie it should only
> look at the signature on the master boot record, and if it is ok, it should
> load it without any further tests).
> Those 'well known' names should fix their broken BIOSes, as they've always
> caused problems with non-dos (=fat16) OSes (yes, even win95b with fat32 was
> a problem with some vendors BIOS).

I hope not because this is the reason I need for buying other machines :-).
You can trust me, it's hard to buy non-Siemens PCs if you are working at 
Siemens...

> You've been warned that DD may not work for you, and no one foces you to
> use it. You know which BIOSes are likely not to work with it, and there
> actually are cases where it can make one's life easier :)

_I_ know that it doesn't work with machines from above companies, and _I_
know what to do against it (_I_ don't use them). I just wanted to add
another name to the list in case someone needs it in future.

> 
> Sorry if this was a bit too loud, but I just don't want to see DD go away.

So do I.

	-Andre

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