DX32 hard drive (DOM Flash thumb drive) replacement procedures. WIP

Re: DX32 hard drive (DOM Flash thumb drive) replacement procedures. (WIP)

Hello all!

Machine:
1996 BP Discovery 308
DX32
Upgraded to flat monitor and standard keyboard.

Background, all my backup files and software were lost during a flood AND then while making new backups my HD went…can you believe that? After many hours using all types of recovery software I did manage to recover BMDCPRM.SYS. I could not find a LEADCOMP.DAT Hopefully BMDCPRM.SYS works. I can read it as a text file, and it’s actually legible.

So, I am trying to get this process straight (WIP) and maybe in doing so, we create a procedure others can benefit from.

Step one: DO NOT FORMAT DISK!!! Ok, some of you may have those old 3.5in floppies handing around (I Did) as you’re backup. Depending on different factors W7, XP, etc. may give you an error when trying to read them. The MBR (master boot record) on these older disk is not recognized by “modern” windows OS. Note: I am no PC expert, so please forgive my errors and correct them. Anyway, there are a couple of good free software packages that can read these disks on W7, XP. (I hate Vista, so I don’t even speak the name, LOL.) Search the web for software recovery, file recovery, etc. Just search the errors you are getting. It took a long time but the recovery was easy. I successfully used PC Inspector File Recovery, free download and ran on W764. Read disk via a 3.5inch to USB device.

2: Find your BMDCPRM.SYS file, from what I have learned so far, that is the one you really need. That is the one that is unique to your machine. The same applies for LEADCOMP.DAT if you have one. I don’t. Ok, now save those files to at least TWO different storage devices in different locations. For example on your local drive and then a thumb or jump drive which you should store off site. Now with your files safely tucked away, let’s move on.

3: Find a suitable Flash type drive or DOM (Disk On Module). I used all these terms so others can find this post via search. For the purposes of this post, Flash, DOM, thumb drive, etc. they are all the same. There are basically two types of storage in the PC world, solid state and mechanical. We want solid state, or at least I do, no moving parts. Go to places like microcenter, newegg, and amazon to find your new drive. Search “IDE” because IDE is used so little these days most of what you find being sold at these large retailers are things like adapters, cable, IDE-flash (just what you want). I found several quality options in less than a minute. Unless you care about appearance don’t worry about style. Even if it looks like it won’t fit (physically) your MB (motherboard) don’t worry. You will just use the IDE cable that used to go to the original HD and if the new drive has a metal chassis ground it to the pc chassis with a proper ground strap. Cable tie the new drive into a neat spot and you will be set.

OK, so this is where I’m at.
I have my BMDCPRM.SYS file.
I have my new DOM, Flash, or SSD drive.
My machine already has an upgraded or standard keyboard. (You may need to temporally plug in a standard keyboard.)

I need:
What version of DOS? I am searching… don’t yell at me…LOL
DX32 software.
I have some files I recovered from my disks, but I am not sure what is what. Can someone please tell me what .exe or other files I should be looking for in order to install the DX32 software on my new drive?

I need help moving forward and I will be working on the next step. I believe the next step is formatting this new SSD with DOS. (Solid State Drive, yes your thumb drive and Scan Disk cards are SSD. However, the term SSD is usually reserved for drive intended to run a OS on a modern PC. Much faster read write times then a flash drive via USB, but you get the idea. Flash = Solid State, basically.) I am a younger guy, never used DOS. LOL

Just a thought… when are forums going to install a “intended content” box or option for key words in a post? Something enabling the author to input key words they feel are relevant to the post. (No offense, this site rocks!!) This post will probably rank high in search results if you search SSD, flash, and a few other words. But that is wrong. It should rank high for “hard drive replacement” that is the subject, at least for these older BP machines, discussed in this forum. Can you believe when I search “DOS” with in this forum (Bridgeport and Hardinge Mills ) I get “Sorry - no matches. Please try some different terms.” Can you believe that??? Try it! Update, I just noticed the tags option below post. Glad to see it there, now how do we get people to use it….
Thanks,
CD

Ok, so I’ve been searching. Found this, post by George…what a great contributor, Thanks.

“George-I recommend investment in a SSD/DOM (disk on a module). Fdisk it to 504MB (if necessary), make it a active DOS partition, load DOS, load machine software, let it create a parameter file, edit the parameter file.”

Here come the questions:
1) Does the format have to be done at the machine? Can I use another PC to format and set up the DOS?
2) Do I Need to make changes in the Bios so the system will recognize the new SSD?
3) Where do I get DOS. LOL what version?
4) File formats if any to choose?
5) Where do get machine software? I may have it, I have a lot of recovered files, but I don’t know what it’s called or what I should be looking for.
6) Can I use a second SSD to replace the 3.5 floppy on my machine? I want to eliminate the floppies from my process. Any guidance?

Thanks,
CD

I have dos 6.22 if you need that also I have the software for a torq-cut 22
if that will work for your machine.
Since you have your original bmdcprm.sys file it may ,George or someone will have to further answer that.
I installed a DOM in mine and did it all at the machine.
Let me know if anything I have will help you and I will send it to you
you may or maynot have a leadcomp.dat file ,depends on if your machine needed it or not when installed.
You are just going thru the normal steps all of us with these machines have been thru.
Great machines and not to hard to keep going.
Get it up and running and make copies of your system.
My machines seems to boot faster with the DOM than ever did with a harddrive.
You are correct George is great on these machines and a big help to all of us.
Nice to see some people take the time to help out on matters like this.
Without help from him and others on here I know my machine would not be running now!

Cncbpt, thanks for the input. I will take whatever you have….Please. I will PM you with my email, thanks!

On the controller, I’ll take the torq-cut, but I really need to find the original software for the DX32. My Mastercam post is for that controller, and I already learned how to use that controller, LOL

Ok, so I found the DOS 6.22 at bootdisk.com. Took about 10 seconds to find. LOL. If I can include files (other than pics) on this forum I will include everything I used to make this repair happen. I may upload them at the end after testing and debugging, along with this post cleaned up into a proper set of destructions. I mean directions. Hopefully we can make a post that the average guy can move through quickly and get back to work or play, which ever it is for you.

I have included some pictures for reference and to keep the “mental picture” together. I am not near my machine at this time, but I will have more model specific info, tomorrow.

I know to some of you these pics and description maybe a little elementary, but I like to include them for a point of reference.

CompactFlash.jpg this is a SanDisk brand name CF (Compact Flash). CompactFlash is a format, meaning other companies make the same type of mass storage device, Wiki it for more info. This is the storage device that will replace the original mechanical Hard Drive. It is where the files for your OS (Operating System) and Bridgeport controller will be stored.

IDEtoCF.jpg this device will fool the OS into viewing the new CF as a Standard IDE Hard Drive with cylinders, heads, and sectors. No special drivers needed, all the magic happens on the PCB (Printed Circuit Board) on the adapter. One side accepts the new CF and the other side accepts your existing IDE cable. Cool, Uh? Note: This set up is not hot swappable.

FloppyPower.jpg this device or adapter allows you to take power which previously supplied your Hard Drive and power the new IDEtoCF adapter named above. Note the shape of the plug ends.

So the three items mentioned above (CF, IDEtoCF, and FloppyPower) are all the physical items that should be need for this conversion, at least the physical items that will go back into your machine. You will need some other physical items to complete the task.

I have a few more items on hand that I intend on using at this point.

A 3.5in floppy to USB. (FloppyDrivetoUSB.jpg) I, like many others do everything at a modern workstation and then transfer it over to my BP via floppy. I never make changes at the controller to a program. I always go back to MasterCam or a text file on my workstation PC. Why? Well for me, it’s a form of process control. Just trying to reduce errors, and keep things in order. It works for me. Until I upgrade the floppy to a floppy emulator and usb drive, this is what I use.

IDEtoUSB.jpg this as the name implies allows me to work with IDE (and other formats) from any modern PC. In this case, I am going to try and format, load DOS, and machine software on to the new CF via my daily PC. Why? I like the challenge I guess. I have never done it before, we will see. These are sold in kits, (about $20) along with a power supply that will power several different devices with the supplied adapters. Note: this device allows you to make backups directly from the Hard Drive to USB. So, if you wanted to pull the Hard Drive out of your BP and copy or mirror it, in one shot, this would be handy.


So, I am out for now.
Need DX32 software, Please.

Thanks,
CD

Wow, was that a hug PITA, and I’m not done yet. OMG…LOL…yes I like texting…
I am now booting into DOS 6.22 located on the DOM/SSD (flash hard drive) in my test PC. Not my actual CNC-PC. Having never worked with DOS, fdisk, cylinders, and so forth, it was a challenge, at least for me.

A problem I always run into with so much of the advice, and help online is the small details are missing.

Take the following for example: A man driving a car in Brooklyn NY asked for directions to San Francisco CA and someone say’s “take Rt80 west”. Now that is true! 80 west will get you there; it’s pretty well posted and no matter what just make sure you’re always on RT80 west (assuming your coming from NY) and you will slam straight into San Francisco CA. Here is the problem…..he could drive around for weeks and not find RT80 if all he used were those directions. Now if he needs help driving a car…well maybe he should change his plans.

In the words of Sherlock Holmes, “It’s often the little details that are most important”

Since I had an old Win98 pc around I decided to work from that instead of my daily W764 PC. I did not want to deal with having to do this through a VM (virtual machine) and my daily driver was being used for youtube, wiki, google, and so forth. I also thought since this old pc has ISA slots it maybe a backup pc if the one in my CNC dies.

I'll leave out all the gory details..but this is basically what I had to do:

1) Find and cleanup older pc. I wanted something that had IDE on MB as the primary drive, just like the BP CNC. That was easy, I was lucky and had one around. You may have to do ebay or other, but of course you could do this straight from your BP PC. Check to make sure everything works as best as you can tell. I let mine boot in win98 and all was good.

2) Turn pc off. Unplug all the drives you won’t be using. You need A drive (3.5 floppy) and one IDE Primary drive, in this case it will be your new IDE to CF adapter. That’s it. Unplug the CD rom, other drives, like the old “Zip” drives, old hard drive (keep this handy, you may need it), etc. keep it simple. Why unplug all this stuff, well in short, it can cause conflicts. As simple as this is, it not that simple if you hit any snags. I even pulled the sound card, tele modem, nic card. All gone. If this is your BP PC, leave everything alone, simply install the IDE adapter in place of you old hard drive.

3) Ok, now with No IDE drive connected start the pc. You should see it look to the A drive first, you will hear GGRRRRGrind, snap, pow, don’t worry it’s just checking the A drive which should not have a disk in it at this point. Then it will look for a PD (Primary Drive) since you don’t have one at this point, you will get an error of some type. I get “Operating System Not found”. The point here is not see what the error is, just that you get all the way to an error. Past the bios, and that it “looked” at the A drive etc. All good.

4) Now, on to the BIOS (basic input/output system) on start up the BIOS screen will flash look for the “hotkey” to enter the BIOS. It’s usually esc, f1, f4, and so on. You have to see what you are dealing with. Don’t pull your hair to long. If you can’t find it in a few attempts, search the web with the BIOS info, like “Joe Blow BIOS hotkey”. BTW, if you have a Joe Blow BIOS, you may be screwed….

5) Ok, now you can get into the BIOS. Be VERY careful if this is your actual BP CNC PC. There may be settings that you don’t have a record of, that are different than the default ones. Do NOT restore defaults, unless you are very confident. Now, if you’re here because the battery died and the BIOS is in default, then what ever, move on. Note: I use a digital camera to capture pictures of the BIOS settings. I use the arrow keys and scroll around the BIOS clicking away. Then I have a solid record of the BIOS before I touch anything. Ok, so you’re in the BIOS, you made a record of data and settings…good, next step. Extra: this may not be a bad time to figure out how to make a back of the BIOS if the BIOS allows. Again, search web “backup bios settings”

6) Remember, the only drive plugged in at this time should be the A drive. So when you look at the drives, in the BIOS you should only have A. No primary drive. (this will serve a greater purpose soon) Now make sure the A drive is selected as first boot device, if it’s not, make it so. Ok, all is good in the BIOS. Turn pc off.

7) Time to break out that new IDE to CF adapter you picked up along with the CF card. Note, do some homework on the adapter and CF card before you buy them. You will find most adapter have a bunch of people claiming it only works with certain types of flash card brands and series. Take the preponderance of advice and get a combo that is reported to work. I got lucky, so far, but I will get to that. Be careful take your time and place the CF card on the adapter and also the Floppy power adapter. It’s all pretty straight forward.

8) Turn pc off. Now plug the IDE cable from the MB into the IDEtoCF adapter. Again, move slow, some IDE ribbon cables are slightly different than others. Pin blocks, etc. If your has a pin block, don’t rip the pin out of the adapter, LOL, make a hole in the IDE ribbon connector block with a small drill bit or hot pin. The unused pin will slide in and just sit there. This also helps to keep you adapter warranty in place. You can wiki the pins and learn a whole bunch if you would like to know more.

9) Ok, so you should have the adapter with CF mounted and all connections made to PC. A reminder, plug the IDE cable or the adapter directly into the IDE slot on the MB labeled “primary”. The power cable should be straight forward. All PS (power supply) ends or connectors that look the same out put the same power, at the same time. So pick one and plug it in.

10) Turn the pc on. It should pull the same error as it did before. “Operating System Not found”. Or it may go to a flashing cursor, whatever. Don’t sweat it. It may act different, because this time the BIOS has hopefully seen the new SSD or DOM drive. But nothing is loaded on the new CF or now we can call it SSD or DOM. So you will get an error, cool. Move on.

11) Restart pc, enter Bios as learned earlier. Find the drives, now you should see a drive listed in addition to the A drive. The name should make some kind of sense. If you used a SanDisk CF card, it may say “SAN_DSK---Jowblow_Prim”. You get the idea, well that is your new DOM or SSD. Cool.

I am shot, done for today. I will pick up later with how to set drive geometry or parameters for your new drive, fdisk, DOS, and so on.

Thanks,
CD