021005-1    Cyrix and Lacuna #1     CPU WARS    Episode 1    Rebuilding  9577-BTG 

Does really Cyrix  5x86 run slow on Warp 3 ?   M.A.D prompted me to test Warp on Cyrix.

Pulled out my 9577-BTG.  Fired it up with DOS floppy.  C drive seemed defective. So I decided to LLF the drive and restore reference partition.  Tried to LLF in advanced diag menu but LLF program stopped with error code.  Looked like Maxtor hard drive went south.

'Cause I didn't have suitable SCSI drive for this test, I picked up Quantam 2.1G IDE. Also picked up ATAPI CD-ROM and a IDE cable. 
Problems I found;
 1)  Planar connector for IDE cable does not have center key.
 2)  IDE cables in my junk box are all short in length for a hard drive and a CD-ROM in usual layout 
      in 9577 structure.

OK, OK,  I should give up to connect ATAPI CD.   Booted BTG with Quantum IDE drive only. Got configuration error.... fine, it should be..... did autoconfig and reboot.....again same error.....again and again....    Disabled BIOS ROM on IBM SCSI II, IBM  branded FD MCS700,  but same error occurred. Pulled SCSI /A and reconfigured 77.  Well this time it was fine EXCEPT  I could not make reference partition on the drive.  Program reported " There is no room to create system partition on the targeted drive".

"Well, well, well, Oh well....Me, Never Give Up."   Jumped into Advanced Diag and selected LLF menu.   It took some time but completed without error. Tried "Restore System Partition", and this
time Reference partition was created on the drive. F1 after Sure Pass BIOS logo led me to the reference menu.   In order to connect SCSI CD latter on, I installed IBM SCSI 2 /A again.

10 minutes latter, I noticed that I could install IDE CD if I change HD location to bottom bay, under CD-ROM.  Did that.  But it seemed that  BIOS could not detect  ATAPI CD set to slave on the channel.
Warp connect install CD also could not load files from the drive.  Hmmm.. does Warp  want some
special driver for ATAPI CD ??   No idea.  I changed a ATAPI CD to  a SCSI CD .

Pulled IBM SCSI CD ( XM3401BMA ) from M57 Ultimedia and hooked it to FD SCSI with ID=3.  Reboot and looked into SCSI configuration...Whazup !!  SCSI CD was reported as ID=6.   Can you believe that I had used the drive in 9577 Bermuda. How it could be ID=6 !.

No time to verify this problem.  I started to install Warp 3 Connect .  Set  install diskette and then  diskette # 1,  there it stopped and prompted me to insert Connect CD.  Set CD in a tray and pushed it into the drive ..... no go!   CD caddy didn't go down into the drive. 

What I was doing.
I just wanted to install Warp 3.   But what I have been doing was restoring  9577-BTG!

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