eCS cannot find any installation partition on a new, blank HDD

Post by sctvguy1
Bought a brand new 2.5 Hitachi 40 gig drive

Next time perhaps first try shrinking the 80 GB Linux partition with
an utility like DFSee or GParted. Why didn't you even try to delete
that partition.

Post by sctvguy1
How the hell can I install this to a brand new
drive that is not even formatted?

Install it by creating a bootable, valid, recognized partition/volume?
Are you able to test-install another classic OS, e.g. Windows? Can
utilitiies like GParted or DFSee "see" and use the device, and so on?
If so, can you create a bootable HPFS partition/volume using such an
utility?

--

sctvguy1

2014-07-29 18:41:11 UTC

Post by sctvguy1
Bought a brand new 2.5 Hitachi 40 gig drive

Next time perhaps first try shrinking the 80 GB Linux partition with an
utility like DFSee or GParted. Why didn't you even try to delete that
partition.

Post by sctvguy1
How the hell can I install this to a brand new drive that is not even
formatted?

Install it by creating a bootable, valid, recognized partition/volume?
Are you able to test-install another classic OS, e.g. Windows? Can
utilitiies like GParted or DFSee "see" and use the device, and so on? If
so, can you create a bootable HPFS partition/volume using such an
utility?

I bought a brand new 40gig hdd. I installed W7 to the old 80gig hdd,
along with linux, and the eCS installer could not see a Windows or Linux
partition. The W7 was NTFS, the Linux was ext4.
This brings back bad memories of trying to install OS/2 Warp on a drive.
I went to the maint. desktop, tried to use the LVM utility, it would not
create any partition.
This should not be this way in 2014.

Peter Brown

2014-07-29 17:33:19 UTC

Post by sctvguy1
Bought a brand new 2.5 Hitachi 40 gig drive for my HP laptop to install
eCS. When it came to find a "volume" to install to, it could only find
the 39meg "Z" drive that included the three diskettes. It could not see
the entire drive, or any part of it, nothing. How the hell can I install
this to a brand new drive that is not even formatted?

I think your first step is to check that the correct drivers are
selected in the eCS Install CD Pre Boot Menu. To do that boot from the
CD and select to set own menu values.

If all those settings look correct do *not* try to install eCS; instead
use the CD to boot to the Maintenance Desktop. From there you can run
LVM and see what that reports. If LVM can "see" the drive then you
simply need to Create a Volume.

If that fails I guess you need to have a copy of DFSee handy on a usb
flash drive - www.dfsee.com

While still booted to the Maintenance Desktop attach the usb drive, open
a command window and run dfsee to see if that can "see" the drive. If it
can then use dfsee to create a drive Volume.

If either LVM or DFSee method works then restart the eCS Install from
the File option on the Maintenance Desktop menu bar.

Regards

Pete

sctvguy1

2014-07-29 18:49:03 UTC

Post by sctvguy1
Bought a brand new 2.5 Hitachi 40 gig drive for my HP laptop to install
eCS. When it came to find a "volume" to install to, it could only find
the 39meg "Z" drive that included the three diskettes. It could not
see the entire drive, or any part of it, nothing. How the hell can I
install this to a brand new drive that is not even formatted?

I think your first step is to check that the correct drivers are
selected in the eCS Install CD Pre Boot Menu. To do that boot from the
CD and select to set own menu values.

I did boot from the CD, got all the way to the partition screen, and it
did not show any installable volume. I tried to create a volume, but it
would not allow me to to anything. It showed about 9, 96meg "DRIVES"
that would not allow me to do anything with them.
I remember having all these problems with OS/2 Warp, and it was a real
pain in the ass. I would think that by now, 2014, that it would be very
easy to create a partition and format it. Linux makes it very easy, I
don't understand why eCS continues to make it a pain.

Post by Peter Brown
If all those settings look correct do *not* try to install eCS; instead
use the CD to boot to the Maintenance Desktop. From there you can run
LVM and see what that reports. If LVM can "see" the drive then you
simply need to Create a Volume.

I did to the Maintenance Desktop, even the command line, typed "lvm" and
tried to create a volume that way. Still no go. It only showed me the
CD partition of 691megs, and the 39meg diskette section. It showed me 9
partitions of 96megs each, but I could do nothing with them, not even
delete them, combine them into one large partition, anything. This
reminds me of the old 528meg limit on OS/2 Warp 3.

Post by Peter Brown
If that fails I guess you need to have a copy of DFSee handy on a usb
flash drive - www.dfsee.com
While still booted to the Maintenance Desktop attach the usb drive, open
a command window and run dfsee to see if that can "see" the drive. If it
can then use dfsee to create a drive Volume.
If either LVM or DFSee method works then restart the eCS Install from
the File option on the Maintenance Desktop menu bar.
Regards
Pete

Peter Brown

2014-07-29 23:47:11 UTC

Post by sctvguy1
Bought a brand new 2.5 Hitachi 40 gig drive for my HP laptop to install
eCS. When it came to find a "volume" to install to, it could only find
the 39meg "Z" drive that included the three diskettes. It could not
see the entire drive, or any part of it, nothing. How the hell can I
install this to a brand new drive that is not even formatted?

I think your first step is to check that the correct drivers are
selected in the eCS Install CD Pre Boot Menu. To do that boot from the
CD and select to set own menu values.

I did boot from the CD, got all the way to the partition screen, and it
did not show any installable volume.

Did you use the CD pre-boot menu to check and set your own values?

I tried to create a volume, but it

Post by sctvguy1
would not allow me to to anything. It showed about 9, 96meg "DRIVES"
that would not allow me to do anything with them.

Probably the 8 USB drives created as a result of the /REMOVABLES:8
USBMSD.ADD parameter value. You can ignore those.

Looks to me as though eCS is not "seeing" your hard drive. This is why
you need to use the pre-boot menu to check values set for ACPI and IDE
driver in use; worth checking other settings as well.

Post by sctvguy1
I remember having all these problems with OS/2 Warp, and it was a real
pain in the ass. I would think that by now, 2014, that it would be very
easy to create a partition and format it. Linux makes it very easy, I
don't understand why eCS continues to make it a pain.

sctvguy1

2014-07-30 00:08:00 UTC

Post by sctvguy1
Bought a brand new 2.5 Hitachi 40 gig drive for my HP laptop to
install eCS. When it came to find a "volume" to install to, it could
only find the 39meg "Z" drive that included the three diskettes. It
could not see the entire drive, or any part of it, nothing. How the
hell can I install this to a brand new drive that is not even
formatted?

I think your first step is to check that the correct drivers are
selected in the eCS Install CD Pre Boot Menu. To do that boot from the
CD and select to set own menu values.

I did boot from the CD, got all the way to the partition screen, and it
did not show any installable volume.

Did you use the CD pre-boot menu to check and set your own values?
I tried to create a volume, but it

Post by sctvguy1
would not allow me to to anything. It showed about 9, 96meg "DRIVES"
that would not allow me to do anything with them.

Probably the 8 USB drives created as a result of the /REMOVABLES:8
USBMSD.ADD parameter value. You can ignore those.
Looks to me as though eCS is not "seeing" your hard drive. This is why
you need to use the pre-boot menu to check values set for ACPI and IDE
driver in use; worth checking other settings as well.

What menu values do you suggest that I use? Should I check the ACPI and
IDE driver? I seem to remember the /REMOVABLES, but that was for USB
devices, of which I do not have any! And how can a modern OS NOT SEE a
hard drive? Why should I have to have a third party software utility
just so the operating system can see a hdd? I am just trying to install
2.1 to a brand new Hitachi 40gig hdd! I installed Scientific Linux 6.5
on it, and it saw the hdd immediately and installed within 3 minutes.
Then, when I put in the eCS CD, it still would not see the linux
partition and said that there were no installable volumes! This is
ridiculous!

A.D. Fundum

2014-07-30 12:23:38 UTC

Post by sctvguy1
What menu values do you suggest that I use?

Most likely the secret HP hardware in use is still a mystery, and so
are the hardware (BIOS/ACPI) and software settings used. So far you're
really trying hard to not solve the problem, including buying an
unneeded second HDD.

Post by sctvguy1
This is ridiculous!

Somebody saw that coming...

--

sctvguy1

2014-07-30 17:25:34 UTC

Post by sctvguy1
What menu values do you suggest that I use?

Most likely the secret HP hardware in use is still a mystery, and so are
the hardware (BIOS/ACPI) and software settings used. So far you're
really trying hard to not solve the problem, including buying an
unneeded second HDD.

Post by sctvguy1
This is ridiculous!

Somebody saw that coming...

No, I bought the new 2.5" drive because the other was failing, getting
bad sector readings under SMART and Scientific Linux utilities that said
that the drive was failing. It was over 10 years old, so I replaced it,
for only $41.
As to the "ridiculous", how did you see that coming? I am not a troll,
having read all the old OS/2 newsgroups in the 90's, and seen the
horrendous flame wars over stupid crap, like should eCS even be called
OS/2, and other such nonsense. I am also no "Steve Bartko", yes, I
remember that windows shill and moron.
I simply wanted to get back to a modern version of OS/2 that could be
useful, I ran it from 1993 to 2008, exclusively on IBM PS/2 machines or
IBM NetVista PIII machines.
I am trying to install eCS to an HP/Compaq 6515b, AMD Turion64, 3gigs of
ram, 40gig hdd, four USB ports, one firewire, built-in Broadcom wireless,
integrated NIC, 14.1" screen, integrated ATI video, CD-R/DVD-ROM drive,
no floppy, built-in card reader, and that is about it.

James J. Weinkam

2014-07-30 21:35:51 UTC

sctvguy1 wrote:

You sound like Tim Martin to me.

sctvguy1

2014-08-01 03:36:55 UTC

Post by James J. Weinkam
You sound like Tim Martin to me.

Apparently, I have been away from the old OS/2 groups for too long,
having now switched to Linux, but who is/was Tim Martin?
I can vaguely recall some tool named "Ed" who tried to say that eCS was
NOT OS/2, until he either died or went to some other groups or operating
systems.
I have kept my eCS subscription alive since 1.2, always wanting to use it
again, but never seeming to have the opportunity with the newer
hardware. Also, having Flash 7.14r just was not cutting it anymore. I
still run OS/2 Warp Connect on an old PS/2, just for nostalgia, getting
most of my help from the comp.sys.ibm.ps2.hardware guys, who are not into
trolling, just helping, even by giving/swapping parts for the old
machines.
I simply want to install eCS 2.1 on a semi-modern(2006) HP/Compaq laptop,
even though my main distro is Scientific Linux 6.5, an Enterprise RH
clone.

Allan

2014-08-01 11:33:22 UTC

Post by sctvguy1
I have kept my eCS subscription alive since 1.2, always wanting to use it
again, but never seeming to have the opportunity with the newer
hardware.

[..]

Post by sctvguy1
I simply want to install eCS 2.1 on a semi-modern(2006) HP/Compaq laptop,

No, you do not :-)

Since you have an active subscription, go to Mensys site, and download
eCS 2.2 beta II . That is a much better product, that works on a lot more
newer hardware, than eCS 2.1 does.

--
Allan.

It is better to close your mouth, and look like a fool,
than to open it, and remove all doubt.

Peter Brown

2014-08-01 12:34:14 UTC

Hi Allan

Post by sctvguy1
I have kept my eCS subscription alive since 1.2, always wanting to use it
again, but never seeming to have the opportunity with the newer
hardware.

[..]

Post by sctvguy1
I simply want to install eCS 2.1 on a semi-modern(2006) HP/Compaq laptop,

No, you do not :-)
Since you have an active subscription, go to Mensys site, and download
eCS 2.2 beta II . That is a much better product, that works on a lot more
newer hardware, than eCS 2.1 does.

I tend to agree with you about 2.2 beta II being generally better than
2.1 with 1 reservation: I could not get networking, wired or wireless,
to actually work on installs on 2 different laptops until I used NAPS to
remove existing protocols and nics and then used MPTS (eCS version) to
setup networking.

I suspect either NAPS or the eCS installer network section may need a
little more work ...

Regards

Pete

A.D. Fundum

2014-08-01 14:21:27 UTC

Post by Peter Brown
I suspect either NAPS or the eCS installer network section
may need a little more work ...

In general I'd suggest to report bugs and problems, especially ACPI
related. Let's not forget to blame manufacturers of cheaper hardware
too, including so-called A brands. Win8, for example, often requires
at least one cold reboot to recognize a Lenovo T60p WLAN adapter.

In a way it's impressive that eCS is often still trying to support
*.*, instead of requiring a limited collection of specific supported
hardware. It comes with the OS that you cannot buy a random computer
and expect that everything will work, and there's no reason to think
that this situation will ever change. It's a commercial industry's
race without a finish line.

--

James J. Weinkam

2014-08-01 20:14:56 UTC

Post by Peter Brown
Hi Allan

Post by sctvguy1
I have kept my eCS subscription alive since 1.2, always wanting to use it
again, but never seeming to have the opportunity with the newer
hardware.

[..]

Post by sctvguy1
I simply want to install eCS 2.1 on a semi-modern(2006) HP/Compaq laptop,

No, you do not :-)
Since you have an active subscription, go to Mensys site, and download
eCS 2.2 beta II . That is a much better product, that works on a lot more
newer hardware, than eCS 2.1 does.

I tend to agree with you about 2.2 beta II being generally better than 2.1 with 1 reservation: I could not get
networking, wired or wireless, to actually work on installs on 2 different laptops until I used NAPS to remove existing
protocols and nics and then used MPTS (eCS version) to setup networking.

If you are having trouble with network configuration from previous installs, then I imagine you are doing a migration
rather that a clean install. In my opinion, migration is bad news and it is better to do a completely clean install and
then backup before migrating things one or two at a time then taking another backup. Saves tons of grief in the long run.

Networking worked out of the box on every machine I have tried eCS2.2betaII on.

sctvguy1

2014-08-01 21:39:37 UTC

Post by Peter Brown
Hi Allan

Post by sctvguy1
I have kept my eCS subscription alive since 1.2, always wanting to
use it again, but never seeming to have the opportunity with the
newer hardware.

[..]

Post by sctvguy1
I simply want to install eCS 2.1 on a semi-modern(2006) HP/Compaq laptop,

No, you do not :-)
Since you have an active subscription, go to Mensys site, and download
eCS 2.2 beta II . That is a much better product, that works on a lot
more newer hardware, than eCS 2.1 does.

I tend to agree with you about 2.2 beta II being generally better than
2.1 with 1 reservation: I could not get networking, wired or wireless,
to actually work on installs on 2 different laptops until I used NAPS
to remove existing protocols and nics and then used MPTS (eCS version)
to setup networking.

If you are having trouble with network configuration from previous
installs, then I imagine you are doing a migration rather that a clean
install. In my opinion, migration is bad news and it is better to do a
completely clean install and then backup before migrating things one or
two at a time then taking another backup. Saves tons of grief in the
long run.
Networking worked out of the box on every machine I have tried
eCS2.2betaII on.

I have tried to install my copies of: eCS 1.2, 2.0 and 2.1, and no go on
any of these. I have set all the different parameters in the custom menu
setup, and nothing works. Each of these versions refuses to see my linux
partition, the only thing it sees is the small diskette partition set by
the install of the system itself. I have just given up, the only machine
that I have left is an old eMachine tower with W98 that I use for my old
game machine, and I really do not want to lose that. I really cannot
fathom why it should be so difficult, if not impossible, to install eCS
in this day and time. I guess that I will just stick with Scientific
Linux 6.5, as it is supported until 2020.

ivan

2014-08-02 12:37:11 UTC

Post by Peter Brown
Hi Allan

Post by sctvguy1
I have kept my eCS subscription alive since 1.2, always wanting to
use it again, but never seeming to have the opportunity with the
newer hardware.

[..]

Post by sctvguy1
I simply want to install eCS 2.1 on a semi-modern(2006) HP/Compaq laptop,

No, you do not :-)
Since you have an active subscription, go to Mensys site, and download
eCS 2.2 beta II . That is a much better product, that works on a lot
more newer hardware, than eCS 2.1 does.

I tend to agree with you about 2.2 beta II being generally better than
2.1 with 1 reservation: I could not get networking, wired or wireless,
to actually work on installs on 2 different laptops until I used NAPS
to remove existing protocols and nics and then used MPTS (eCS version)
to setup networking.

If you are having trouble with network configuration from previous
installs, then I imagine you are doing a migration rather that a clean
install. In my opinion, migration is bad news and it is better to do a
completely clean install and then backup before migrating things one or
two at a time then taking another backup. Saves tons of grief in the
long run.
Networking worked out of the box on every machine I have tried
eCS2.2betaII on.

Why should it see your linux partition? eCS, OS/2 does not have the
necessary file system drivers to do so.

There has to be something you are not doing that is preventing you
from accessing the HD in the disk setup section. I would recommend
that you use DFSee, if only to see if it can find your HD. If it can
then use the 'newmbr' function and allow it to write the LVM
information. After that install eCS. If it can't see your HD then
you have a problem with hoe your laptop is setup and you need to fix
that before you do anything else.

ivan
--

Lars Erdmann

2014-08-02 14:51:32 UTC

When will you ever understand that you have to use eCS 2.2 beta 2 ?
That contains an ACPI.PSD that actually works.
Plus, it contains a decent version of OS2AHCI.ADD that you need to
select on CD install if you are running your controller in AHCI mode.

Lars

Post by sctvguy1
I have tried to install my copies of: eCS 1.2, 2.0 and 2.1, and no go on
any of these. I have set all the different parameters in the custom menu
setup, and nothing works. Each of these versions refuses to see my linux
partition, the only thing it sees is the small diskette partition set by
the install of the system itself. I have just given up, the only machine
that I have left is an old eMachine tower with W98 that I use for my old
game machine, and I really do not want to lose that. I really cannot
fathom why it should be so difficult, if not impossible, to install eCS
in this day and time. I guess that I will just stick with Scientific
Linux 6.5, as it is supported until 2020.

Peter Brown

2014-08-02 17:09:10 UTC

Hi James

Post by Peter Brown
Hi Allan

Post by sctvguy1
I have kept my eCS subscription alive since 1.2, always wanting to use it
again, but never seeming to have the opportunity with the newer
hardware.

[..]

Post by sctvguy1
I simply want to install eCS 2.1 on a semi-modern(2006) HP/Compaq laptop,

No, you do not :-)
Since you have an active subscription, go to Mensys site, and download
eCS 2.2 beta II . That is a much better product, that works on a lot more
newer hardware, than eCS 2.1 does.

I tend to agree with you about 2.2 beta II being generally better than
2.1 with 1 reservation: I could not get
networking, wired or wireless, to actually work on installs on 2
different laptops until I used NAPS to remove existing
protocols and nics and then used MPTS (eCS version) to setup networking.

If you are having trouble with network configuration from previous
installs, then I imagine you are doing a migration rather that a clean
install. In my opinion, migration is bad news and it is better to do a
completely clean install and then backup before migrating things one or
two at a time then taking another backup. Saves tons of grief in the
long run.

No migration involved - 2 clean installs.

Post by James J. Weinkam
Networking worked out of the box on every machine I have tried
eCS2.2betaII on.

I have only tried it on 2 laptops and it failed both times.

Regards

Pete

James J. Weinkam

2014-08-03 01:06:57 UTC

Post by Peter Brown
Hi James

Post by Peter Brown
Hi Allan

Post by sctvguy1
I have kept my eCS subscription alive since 1.2, always wanting to use it
again, but never seeming to have the opportunity with the newer
hardware.

[..]

Post by sctvguy1
I simply want to install eCS 2.1 on a semi-modern(2006) HP/Compaq laptop,

No, you do not :-)
Since you have an active subscription, go to Mensys site, and download
eCS 2.2 beta II . That is a much better product, that works on a lot more
newer hardware, than eCS 2.1 does.

I tend to agree with you about 2.2 beta II being generally better than
2.1 with 1 reservation: I could not get
networking, wired or wireless, to actually work on installs on 2
different laptops until I used NAPS to remove existing
protocols and nics and then used MPTS (eCS version) to setup networking.

If you are having trouble with network configuration from previous
installs, then I imagine you are doing a migration rather that a clean
install. In my opinion, migration is bad news and it is better to do a
completely clean install and then backup before migrating things one or
two at a time then taking another backup. Saves tons of grief in the
long run.

No migration involved - 2 clean installs.

Post by James J. Weinkam
Networking worked out of the box on every machine I have tried eCS2.2betaII on.

I have only tried it on 2 laptops and it failed both times.

What exactly was the failure? Did the reboot after phase one work? After phase two?

Post by Peter Brown
Regards
Pete

Do they by any chance have a UEFI bios? If so you need to go into the CMOS setup and select legacy mode. Also make sure
that USB will be available throughout the boot process if you have a USB keyboard or mouse.

I have successfully installed on two machines with UEFI bioses.

Peter Brown

2014-08-03 01:55:39 UTC

Hi James

Post by Peter Brown
Hi James

Post by Peter Brown
Hi Allan

Post by sctvguy1
I have kept my eCS subscription alive since 1.2, always wanting to use it
again, but never seeming to have the opportunity with the newer
hardware.

[..]

Post by sctvguy1
I simply want to install eCS 2.1 on a semi-modern(2006) HP/Compaq laptop,

No, you do not :-)
Since you have an active subscription, go to Mensys site, and download
eCS 2.2 beta II . That is a much better product, that works on a lot more
newer hardware, than eCS 2.1 does.

I tend to agree with you about 2.2 beta II being generally better than
2.1 with 1 reservation: I could not get
networking, wired or wireless, to actually work on installs on 2
different laptops until I used NAPS to remove existing
protocols and nics and then used MPTS (eCS version) to setup networking.

If you are having trouble with network configuration from previous
installs, then I imagine you are doing a migration rather that a clean
install. In my opinion, migration is bad news and it is better to do a
completely clean install and then backup before migrating things one or
two at a time then taking another backup. Saves tons of grief in the
long run.

No migration involved - 2 clean installs.

Post by James J. Weinkam
Networking worked out of the box on every machine I have tried eCS2.2betaII on.

I have only tried it on 2 laptops and it failed both times.

What exactly was the failure? Did the reboot after phase one work? After phase two?

No problem installing eCS at all - I had to use the No network adapter
option as eCS does not have any modern Broadcom nic drivers.

Having successfully installed eCS I then swapped out the Broadcom
wireless nics in both laptops for Intel equivalents, located working
drivers for the Intel nics and used NAPS to change from no adapter to
the correct Intel adapter for the laptop, installed xwlan and dhcp client.

All looked good, no problems with booting, no error messages about
networking - just no connectivity.

After faffing around for several days trying to understand why neither
laptop had connectivity I finally used NAPS to uninstall Protocols and
nic on my Acer Travelmate 5320 and rebooted. I then used MPTS-eCS to
reinstall exactly the same nic and Protocols, rebooted and Volia!
Connectivity!

I then repeated the above on my Dell E5500 with exactly the same results.

Post by Peter Brown
Regards
Pete

Do they by any chance have a UEFI bios? If so you need to go into the
CMOS setup and select legacy mode. Also make sure that USB will be
available throughout the boot process if you have a USB keyboard or mouse.

No to UEFI

We are talking laptops without any USB devices attached.

Post by James J. Weinkam
I have successfully installed on two machines with UEFI bioses.

Presumably in "Compatibility" or "Legacy" mode.

Regards

Pete

Regards

Pete

James J. Weinkam

2014-08-03 06:57:49 UTC

No problem installing eCS at all - I had to use the No network adapter option as eCS does not have any modern Broadcom
nic drivers.

Aha, it's only netrworking you are having problems with. I somehow missed that.

Having successfully installed eCS I then swapped out the Broadcom wireless nics in both laptops for Intel equivalents,
located working drivers for the Intel nics and used NAPS to change from no adapter to the correct Intel adapter for the
laptop, installed xwlan and dhcp client.
All looked good, no problems with booting, no error messages about networking - just no connectivity.
After faffing around for several days trying to understand why neither laptop had connectivity I finally used NAPS to
uninstall Protocols and nic on my Acer Travelmate 5320 and rebooted. I then used MPTS-eCS to reinstall exactly the same
nic and Protocols, rebooted and Volia! Connectivity!

I presume that by using MPTS-eCS to install the nic, you are referring to minstall

What is NAPS?

Have you tried installing the new nic in the laptop before doing the clean install? That might get it right on the first
try.

James J. Weinkam

2014-08-03 09:12:49 UTC

No problem installing eCS at all - I had to use the No network adapter option as eCS does not have any modern Broadcom
nic drivers.

Aha, it's only netrworking you are having problems with. I somehow missed that.

I presume that by using MPTS-eCS to install the nic, you are referring to minstall

Sorry, I got confused here. Minstall is for multimedia drivers, not network drivers. I've not seen mpts.exe referred to
as MPTS-eCS before.

Post by James J. Weinkam
What is NAPS?
Have you tried installing the new nic in the laptop before doing the clean install? That might get it right on the first
try.

Peter Brown

2014-08-03 21:42:15 UTC

Hi James

Post by Peter Brown
No problem installing eCS at all - I had to use the No network adapter
option as eCS does not have any modern Broadcom
nic drivers.

Aha, it's only netrworking you are having problems with. I somehow missed that.

Post by Peter Brown
Having successfully installed eCS I then swapped out the Broadcom
wireless nics in both laptops for Intel equivalents,
located working drivers for the Intel nics and used NAPS to change
from no adapter to the correct Intel adapter for the
laptop, installed xwlan and dhcp client.
All looked good, no problems with booting, no error messages about
networking - just no connectivity.
After faffing around for several days trying to understand why neither
laptop had connectivity I finally used NAPS to
uninstall Protocols and nic on my Acer Travelmate 5320 and rebooted. I
then used MPTS-eCS to reinstall exactly the same
nic and Protocols, rebooted and Volia! Connectivity!

I presume that by using MPTS-eCS to install the nic, you are referring to minstall

No, I am referring to the eCS MPTS rather than the IBM MPTS aka Adapters
and Protocols configuration.

Post by James J. Weinkam
What is NAPS?

Current eCS 2.2 Beta 2 replacement for MPTS.

Post by James J. Weinkam
Have you tried installing the new nic in the laptop before doing the
clean install? That might get it right on the first try.

It may with the Acer Travelmate 5320 laptop as that now has an Intel
3945a/b/g which I think is "officially supported" by genmac but
definitely no chance with the Dell Latitude E5500 now using an Intel
5100a/b/g/n as this nic is not "officially supported" by genmac - yet.

Another point: I have yet to meet an eCS install that gets it right at
all. Simple example: Select to not install DOS/Win16 support during eCS
install and you will find that you need to manually remove DOS related
config.sys statements and the partially filled DOS directory.

Regards

Pete

Alex Taylor

2014-08-03 13:48:44 UTC

Post by Peter Brown
I tend to agree with you about 2.2 beta II being generally better than
2.1 with 1 reservation: I could not get networking, wired or wireless,
to actually work on installs on 2 different laptops until I used NAPS to
remove existing protocols and nics and then used MPTS (eCS version) to
setup networking.

This sounds more like problems that occurred with the first 2.2 beta, which
had a major problem in MPTS installation.

Post by Peter Brown
I suspect either NAPS or the eCS installer network section may need a
little more work ...

NAPS isn't used at all in the install, although it has received major
fixes and improvements since then. And the network installer is actually
MPTS - the problem with it was a broken version check in (IIRC) the GenMAC
WPI which got triggered by what should have been an unrelated cosmetic
change.

I speak mostly of the original eCS 2.2 beta, however. I don't recall seeing
any problem tickets about network install failures for the later betas...?

--
Alex Taylor
http://www.altsan.org

Please take off hat when replying.

Dave Yeo

2014-08-03 18:51:09 UTC

Post by Alex Taylor
I speak mostly of the original eCS 2.2 beta, however. I don't recall seeing
any problem tickets about network install failures for the later betas...?

I had to add a nameserver to resolv2 before dial-up would work with
injoy. Never bothered to open a ticket as development seems to have
stopped. Newest 2.2. beta
Dave

sctvguy1

2014-08-03 19:48:16 UTC

Post by Dave Yeo

Post by Alex Taylor
I speak mostly of the original eCS 2.2 beta, however. I don't recall
seeing any problem tickets about network install failures for the later
betas...?

I had to add a nameserver to resolv2 before dial-up would work with
injoy. Never bothered to open a ticket as development seems to have
stopped. Newest 2.2. beta Dave

In my continuing struggle to install eCS 2.1, I even tried it on my main
Linux machine, a Thinkpad T400. It got past all the install problems of
the HP, then choked at the size of the hdd, 160 gigs. It then offered to
resize the drive, I said OK, it failed to do that. I then looked at the
Disk menu, it offered to wipe the MBR information and start over. I
decided against that option, as I do not want to lose my Linux machine.
I have registered all over the place, with Mensys, eComStation, put in my
reg key, everything, and I still cannot find where to download the Beta
2.2 version. When I log in at eCS, Beta Zone, it tells me to go back to
Mensys, whereby I cannot find the 2.2 Beta! It has me in a loop! How
can I download the .iso? Wish that it was as easy as Distrowatch.com.

James J. Weinkam

2014-08-03 22:23:22 UTC

Post by Dave Yeo

Post by Alex Taylor
I speak mostly of the original eCS 2.2 beta, however. I don't recall
seeing any problem tickets about network install failures for the later
betas...?

I had to add a nameserver to resolv2 before dial-up would work with
injoy. Never bothered to open a ticket as development seems to have
stopped. Newest 2.2. beta Dave

If you have an up-to-date software subscription, you dont need to log onto the beta zone. In an earlier post, I
inadvertently said that eCS2.2betaII was on the beta zone because I had been to the beta zone to download something else
and by the time I wrote the message I forgot where I had gotten eCS2.2betaII. Actually its on your downloads page.

After logging onto Mensys, Click on Download on the line corresponding to your software subscription. It should be near
the bottom of your list of downloads.

Peter Brown

2014-08-04 00:31:31 UTC

Post by Dave Yeo

Post by Alex Taylor
I speak mostly of the original eCS 2.2 beta, however. I don't recall
seeing any problem tickets about network install failures for the later
betas...?

I had to add a nameserver to resolv2 before dial-up would work with
injoy. Never bothered to open a ticket as development seems to have
stopped. Newest 2.2. beta Dave

A.D. Fundum

2014-08-04 16:16:07 UTC

Post by Dave Yeo
I had to add a nameserver to resolv2 before dial-up would
work with injoy.

This is 99.9% off-topic. but let's abuse the opportunity. There's a
ThinkPad T23/T30 IBM MiniPCI WLAN driver. Excellent. Because this is a
popular notebook model, I'd like to point out that installing
a(nother) MiniPCI WLAN driver is surprisingly easy, as long as the
BIOS supports the adapter. You don't even need a screwdriver, from a
woman's point of view.

Unlike several internet instructions, it's not needed to remove any
bezel. One antenna can be hidden unded the LEDs, and one under the
mouse pad. Removing and reconnecting the keyboard is the hardest part
of the story.

An easier, destructive solution is to cut the corner of the MiniPCI
cover, and to use tape to attach the antenna to the bottom of the
notebook. A woman's solution, which requires a real desktop with a
hard surface. Test it before the cover is destroyed, making sure that
your notebook won't wobble and that you'll receive an acceptable
signal.

So you don't need this specific, supported adapter. You can use any
supported MiniPCI WLAN adapter. The solution with the tape isn't
restricted to T23s.

Back on-topic please, i.e. not the eComStation T23/T30 IMB MiniPCI
adapter-driver.

--

Peter Brown

2014-07-31 02:46:53 UTC

Post by sctvguy1
Bought a brand new 2.5 Hitachi 40 gig drive for my HP laptop to
install eCS. When it came to find a "volume" to install to, it could
only find the 39meg "Z" drive that included the three diskettes. It
could not see the entire drive, or any part of it, nothing. How the
hell can I install this to a brand new drive that is not even
formatted?

I think your first step is to check that the correct drivers are
selected in the eCS Install CD Pre Boot Menu. To do that boot from the
CD and select to set own menu values.

I did boot from the CD, got all the way to the partition screen, and it
did not show any installable volume.

Did you use the CD pre-boot menu to check and set your own values?
I tried to create a volume, but it

Post by sctvguy1
would not allow me to to anything. It showed about 9, 96meg "DRIVES"
that would not allow me to do anything with them.

Probably the 8 USB drives created as a result of the /REMOVABLES:8
USBMSD.ADD parameter value. You can ignore those.
Looks to me as though eCS is not "seeing" your hard drive. This is why
you need to use the pre-boot menu to check values set for ACPI and IDE
driver in use; worth checking other settings as well.

What menu values do you suggest that I use? Should I check the ACPI and
IDE driver?

What ACPI setting is in use?

Is the hard drive accessed using AHCI? If "Yes" then OS2AHCI.ADD needs
to be the first IDE driver; if "No" the you probably want to use
DANIS506.ADD as the first IDE driver.

I seem to remember the /REMOVABLES, but that was for USB

Post by sctvguy1
devices, of which I do not have any!

If your laptop has usb controllers then eCS install sets some basic
parameters on any usb drivers installed. You can always change the usb
options in the CD pre-boot menu.

And how can a modern OS NOT SEE a

Post by sctvguy1
hard drive?

Which "modern OS" are you talking about? - the last LVM update was
sometime around 2006...

Why should I have to have a third party software utility

Post by sctvguy1
just so the operating system can see a hdd?

Mainly because the "modern OS" is simply not modern enough at times :-)

I am just trying to install

Post by sctvguy1
2.1 to a brand new Hitachi 40gig hdd! I installed Scientific Linux 6.5
on it, and it saw the hdd immediately and installed within 3 minutes.
Then, when I put in the eCS CD, it still would not see the linux
partition and said that there were no installable volumes! This is
ridiculous!

I agree - but it would be nice to understand why LVM does not "see" the
drive at all.

If the problem is not ACPI or IDE driver related I guess it could be
something to do with the geometry used by the hard drive - which is when
a modern, up-to-date third party software utility that can "see" the
drive can come in very useful.

Regards

Pete

Alex Taylor

2014-08-03 13:43:43 UTC

Post by Peter Brown
Did you use the CD pre-boot menu to check and set your own values?

Post by sctvguy1
would not allow me to to anything. It showed about 9, 96meg "DRIVES"
that would not allow me to do anything with them.

Probably the 8 USB drives created as a result of the /REMOVABLES:8
USBMSD.ADD parameter value. You can ignore those.
Looks to me as though eCS is not "seeing" your hard drive. This is why
you need to use the pre-boot menu to check values set for ACPI and IDE
driver in use; worth checking other settings as well.

The QuickStart guide (PDF on the CD) should describe the best steps to
take, although I don't remember how much information the eCS 2.1 version
had (it was improved somewhat for eCS 2.2).

Basically, you have three* options for the disk controller driver:
- IDE/ATAPI legacy (IBM1S506.ADD)
- IDE/ATAPI enhanced (DANIS506.ADD)
- AHCI (OS2AHCI.ADD)
For the DANIS506.ADD driver, you also have the choice between 'compatibility'
and 'performance' mode.

* Yes, there are way more than three options in the list, but the others are
all for SCSI or highly obscure/specialized hardware, and can generally be
ignored.

The preboot menu allows you to choose up to three storage drivers, but the
order may affect the chance of success. Generally, you should only load one
driver, but it needs to be the RIGHT one (and it is not always possible to
automatically determine this). Focus on changing the first storage driver,
and make sure you try each of the three options I mentioned, in turn.

If that doesn't work you can also try adjusting the driver options, most
simply by switching between 'compatibility' and 'performance' modes.

Post by sctvguy1
Why should I have to have a third party software utility
just so the operating system can see a hdd?

You hopefully don't. People tend to reflexively recommend DFSee because it
is, far and away, the best option available for solving otherwise intransigent
disk problems. HOWEVER, I don't think it's actually relevant in your case,
because what seems to be happening is that the OS itself simply doesn't see
the hard disk. If that's the case, DFSee cannot help.

Post by sctvguy1
Then, when I put in the eCS CD, it still would not see the linux
partition and said that there were no installable volumes! This is
ridiculous!

From an objective point of view, I can't disagree. But what we seem to be
dealing with here is not a design flaw in the OS, but simply a device driver
that doesn't support your hardware. This can happen on any OS.

The basic options for trying to get around this are pretty straightforward:
- Try a different device driver (as described above).
- Try the same device driver but with different option switches (ditto).
- Try a newer version of the driver/OS (i.e. eCS 2.2 beta II)

--
Alex Taylor
http://www.altsan.org

Please take off hat when replying.

Alex Taylor

2014-08-03 13:29:15 UTC

On Tue, 29 Jul 2014 17:33:19 UTC, Peter Brown

Post by Peter Brown
I think your first step is to check that the correct drivers are
selected in the eCS Install CD Pre Boot Menu. To do that boot from the
CD and select to set own menu values.

Agreed.

Agreed, but use the graphical LVM utility (minilvm.exe), not the text mode
one.

Post by Peter Brown
If that fails I guess you need to have a copy of DFSee handy on a usb
flash drive - www.dfsee.com

If using eCS 2.2, then instead of this, I would suggest first running the
disk check utility that comes with the installer. It can detect and fix
many of the more common disk compatibility problems.

If that is not helpful, then the full DFSee might be worth trying.

--
Alex Taylor
http://www.altsan.org

Please take off hat when replying.

Peter Brown

2014-08-04 00:34:52 UTC

Hi alex

Post by Alex Taylor
On Tue, 29 Jul 2014 17:33:19 UTC, Peter Brown

Post by Peter Brown
I think your first step is to check that the correct drivers are
selected in the eCS Install CD Pre Boot Menu. To do that boot from the
CD and select to set own menu values.

Agreed.

Agreed, but use the graphical LVM utility (minilvm.exe), not the text mode
one.

Why?

I use the text mode LVM in preference to miniLVM but if there is a good
reason to change...

Regards

Pete

Post by Alex Taylor

Post by Peter Brown
If that fails I guess you need to have a copy of DFSee handy on a usb
flash drive - www.dfsee.com

If using eCS 2.2, then instead of this, I would suggest first running the
disk check utility that comes with the installer. It can detect and fix
many of the more common disk compatibility problems.
If that is not helpful, then the full DFSee might be worth trying.

Alex Taylor

2014-08-04 01:03:39 UTC

Post by Alex Taylor
Agreed, but use the graphical LVM utility (minilvm.exe), not the text mode
one.

Why?
I use the text mode LVM in preference to miniLVM but if there is a good
reason to change...

It's streamlined and considerably simpler to use. It also contains some
logic for facilitating installation (for example, it tries to detect and
warn if you create a situation where no installable partitions would be
found by the installation program).

If you genuinely prefer the text LVM then by all means use that, but I
personally try to avoid it.

--
Alex Taylor
http://www.altsan.org

Please take off hat when replying.

Peter Brown

2014-08-04 13:27:33 UTC

Hi Alex

Post by Alex Taylor

Post by Alex Taylor
Agreed, but use the graphical LVM utility (minilvm.exe), not the text mode
one.

Why?
I use the text mode LVM in preference to miniLVM but if there is a good
reason to change...

It's streamlined and considerably simpler to use.

That may be the problem - I seem to recall that I could not create
volumes starting from start of freespace (or was it end of freespace) on
a blank drive.

It also contains some

Post by Alex Taylor
logic for facilitating installation (for example, it tries to detect and
warn if you create a situation where no installable partitions would be
found by the installation program).

I seem to recall LVM also does that.

Post by Alex Taylor
If you genuinely prefer the text LVM then by all means use that, but I
personally try to avoid it.

The joy of options :-)

Regards

Pete

Alex Taylor

2014-08-21 13:31:48 UTC

Post by Alex Taylor

Post by Alex Taylor
Agreed, but use the graphical LVM utility (minilvm.exe), not the text mode
one.

Why?
I use the text mode LVM in preference to miniLVM but if there is a good
reason to change...

It's streamlined and considerably simpler to use.

That may be the problem - I seem to recall that I could not create
volumes starting from start of freespace (or was it end of freespace) on
a blank drive.

It should certainly be capable of doing so, at least since v2.1 and possibly
earlier.

Post by Peter Brown
It also contains some

I seem to recall LVM also does that.

Not in the same sense I referred to, since LVM.EXE doesn't know anything
about the eCS install program. For example, MINILVM takes Air-Boot into
account, which LVM.EXE doesn't. (Indeed, MINILVM can install or uninstall
Air-Boot itself.)

--
Alex Taylor
http://www.altsan.org

Please take off hat when replying.

Peter J. Seymour

2014-07-30 08:42:40 UTC

The underlying issue here is that, historically, ECS users have been
complacent about the intricacies of setting up a modern hard disk for
ECS installation (Yes thankfully it can be done, but not without jumping
through hoops). New users are amazed that there should even be an issue.

I have done it on 40G and larger drives with ECS 1.2R but not with 2.1,
so I can't help directly. May I suggest that the way forward will be
easier with calmer language and some straightforward questions and
answers. I am happy to chip in where I have something relevant to say.

sctvguy1

2014-07-30 17:00:17 UTC

Post by Peter J. Seymour

Post by sctvguy1
Bought a brand new 2.5 Hitachi 40 gig drive for my HP laptop to install
eCS. When it came to find a "volume" to install to, it could only find
the 39meg "Z" drive that included the three diskettes. It could not
see the entire drive, or any part of it, nothing. How the hell can I
install this to a brand new drive that is not even formatted?

The underlying issue here is that, historically, ECS users have been
complacent about the intricacies of setting up a modern hard disk for
ECS installation (Yes thankfully it can be done, but not without jumping
through hoops). New users are amazed that there should even be an issue.
I have done it on 40G and larger drives with ECS 1.2R but not with 2.1,
so I can't help directly. May I suggest that the way forward will be
easier with calmer language and some straightforward questions and
answers. I am happy to chip in where I have something relevant to say.

Peter,
I ran OS/2 Warp and Connect and 4 and eCS 1.2 from 1993 to 2008, when I
went to Linux. I know the hoops and obstacles that I had to go through
with the old OS/2 installer. I remember my frustration when I could not
install OS/2 Warp on a hdd larger than 528megs! I remember the brain
dead IBM installer, then went to Dani's installer on my old Warp Update
disks, which I have a big collection of!
I have a copy of eCS 1.2 and it installed fine to, if I remember, a 20gig
hdd in an IBM NetVista PIII.
It is just so damned frustrating in 2014 that I cannot put the disk in,
let it format the drive, then install!
I got to the command line "lvm" and went through the old blue/white
screen to make a partition, set it installable, label the disk, and
voila!, it let me do this to the only partition it saw, the 39meg "Z"
drive where the virtual install disks were located.
I tried for over an hour or more, even going back and reading my install
manual from OS/2 Warp Connect, and nothing.
It is very difficult to remain calm when the very same problems plague
the install of an OS system that plagued it over 20 years ago! Yes, I
would like your help in getting this thing installed on my laptop, if it
can even be done.

Lars Erdmann

2014-07-30 17:14:45 UTC

You have to find out if your HDDs are accessed in "AHCI" or "IDE
compatibility" mode. The BIOS should tell you.
If "AHCI" you need to select OS2AHCI.ADD as the first ADD driver.
If "IDE compatibility" you need DANIS506.ADD as the first ADD driver.
It might also be necessary to specify /!r on the OS2AHCI.ADD commandline
in case you need to use that.

Post by sctvguy1
Peter,
I ran OS/2 Warp and Connect and 4 and eCS 1.2 from 1993 to 2008, when I
went to Linux. I know the hoops and obstacles that I had to go through
with the old OS/2 installer. I remember my frustration when I could not
install OS/2 Warp on a hdd larger than 528megs! I remember the brain
dead IBM installer, then went to Dani's installer on my old Warp Update
disks, which I have a big collection of!
I have a copy of eCS 1.2 and it installed fine to, if I remember, a 20gig
hdd in an IBM NetVista PIII.
It is just so damned frustrating in 2014 that I cannot put the disk in,
let it format the drive, then install!
I got to the command line "lvm" and went through the old blue/white
screen to make a partition, set it installable, label the disk, and
voila!, it let me do this to the only partition it saw, the 39meg "Z"
drive where the virtual install disks were located.
I tried for over an hour or more, even going back and reading my install
manual from OS/2 Warp Connect, and nothing.
It is very difficult to remain calm when the very same problems plague
the install of an OS system that plagued it over 20 years ago! Yes, I
would like your help in getting this thing installed on my laptop, if it
can even be done.

Alex Taylor

2014-08-03 13:25:11 UTC