How to remove EZ-BIOS overlay

[Karl Hergenrother]

I have a BIOS which supports LBA. I have a hard drive which has an
unnecessary EZ-BIOS overlay. I posted this problem a few monthe ago and was
advised to remove the overlay using RESQDISK tools. They seemed to give me
the information I needed about the FAT and probably all the tools I need to
fix my problem, but it was not clear from the scant documation how to
rewrite the MBR to lose EZ-BIOS. Can someone help me? What is the
procedure using RESQDISK or is there another free tool?

Thanks,

KH

 

[Jim Roberts]

Try booting to DOS and execute fdisk /mbr to over
write the master boot record.

Jim

 

[KH]

This certainly is a simple solution. Will this cause me to lose the files
on the disk and its partition? Does rewriting the MBR also overwrite or
relocate the partition table and is the FAT effected?

KH

 

[Zvi Netiv]

This certainly is a simple solution. Will this cause me to lose the files
on the disk and its partition? Does rewriting the MBR also overwrite or
relocate the partition table and is the FAT effected?

Running FDISK /MBR will NOT change the partitions type and leave them as
EZ-drive types. What it WILL do is to kill the EZ-drive loader and you won't be
able to access your partitions anymore by booting with EZ-drive overlay.

Nothing else will be affected, but you won't be able to access your files, until
you rebuild the MBR from scratch (with RESQDISK).

Regards, Zvi

 

[Zvi Netiv]

Try booting to DOS and execute fdisk /mbr to over
write the master boot record.

Jim

The advice you gave will cause Karl to lose access to his partitions. Running
FDISK /MBR will fix nothing but will remove the EZ-drive boot loader.

May I suggest that you do not give advice on what you aren't sure will cause no
harm.

Regards

 

[KH]

RESQDISK /REBUILD, if you know what you are doing.

If you don't know, then run from the A: prompt RESQDISK /ASSESS while leaving
the floppy write enabled. Post here the report, A:RESQDISK.RPT and I'll show
you what to do.

Regards
--

Here is what I have. Two partitions. Should I simply run RESQDISK/REBUILD
and press [R] for rebuild at the appropriate place and then reboot?

KH

18 Aug. 2003 22:43
Evaluation Copy *************************************** CHS mode W9x
******************* * R e s Q d i s k 550 *
********************
* Hard Disk Rescue and Recovery *
Disk 1 * * Copyright (c) '90-03 NetZ Computing * SeeThru *
No xBIOS* * Virus Control, Disk & Data Recovery * ON F9 *
********* *************************************** *********
AltHelp *
*********
^2:FAT-16*
CHS address: Cyl 0 Head 0 Sector 1 *********
*********************** Setup Diagnostics ************************
* Disk Type: Conner Peripherals 1275MB - CFA1275A *
* BIOS/CHS IDE/LBA data *
* Number of Heads: 16 16 *
* Number of Cylinders: 1025 2479 *
* Sectors per Track: 63 63 *
* Disk Capacity in Mbytes: 504 1220 *
* IDE Access Time: 33 msec *
* Total sectors on drive: 2499030 *
******* Use Space to toggle between IDE and Ext.BIOS mode ********
Disk 1, Master Partition Sector, F6 for Layout

 

[Zvi Netiv]

RESQDISK /REBUILD, if you know what you are doing.

If you don't know, then run from the A: prompt RESQDISK /ASSESS while leaving
the floppy write enabled. Post here the report, A:RESQDISK.RPT and I'll show
you what to do.

Here is what I have. Two partitions. Should I simply run RESQDISK/REBUILD
and press [R] for rebuild at the appropriate place and then reboot?

KH

18 Aug. 2003 22:43
Evaluation Copy *************************************** CHS mode W9x
******************* * R e s Q d i s k 550 *
* Hard Disk Rescue and Recovery *
Disk 1 * * Copyright (c) '90-03 NetZ Computing * SeeThru *
No xBIOS* * Virus Control, Disk & Data Recovery * ON F9 *
********* *************************************** *********
^2:FAT-16*
CHS address: Cyl 0 Head 0 Sector 1 *********
*********************** Setup Diagnostics ************************
* Disk Type: Conner Peripherals 1275MB - CFA1275A *
* BIOS/CHS IDE/LBA data *
* Number of Heads: 16 16 *
* Number of Cylinders: 1025 2479 *
* Sectors per Track: 63 63 *
* Disk Capacity in Mbytes: 504 1220 *
* IDE Access Time: 33 msec *
* Total sectors on drive: 2499030 *
******* Use Space to toggle between IDE and Ext.BIOS mode ********

The report is incomplete, this is just the first page of it, there should be a
few more.

Two results that make one wonder: The "No XBIOS" label (no extended BIOS), and
the puny capacity (1.2 GB). What are the BIOS make, version, and date?

Repeat the RESQDISK /ASSESS test and post the entire report, not just the first
page.

Regards, Zvi

 

[Barry OGrady]

Try booting to DOS and execute fdisk /mbr to over
write the master boot record.

That worked for me.

Jim

-Barry
========
Web page: http://members.optusnet.com.au/~barry.og
Atheist, radio scanner, LIPD information.
Voicemail/fax number +14136227640

 

[Adam Leinss]

That worked for me.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought EZ-BIOS made the partitions in a
special way so that if EZ-BIOS wasn't running, the partitions would
come up as Non-DOS and there inaccessible?

Adam

 

[Rod Speed]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought EZ-BIOS made the partitions
in a special way so that if EZ-BIOS wasn't running, the partitions
would come up as Non-DOS and there inaccessible?

Yes, but the fdisk /mbr command operates at
the physical drive level, not the partition level.

 

[Folkert Rienstra]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought EZ-BIOS made the partitions in
a special way so that if EZ-BIOS wasn't running, the partitions would
come up as Non-DOS and there inaccessible?

Yes, but that worked for him ;-)

He also has a BIOS that shows a 20GB drive as 8.4 gigs yet all of the drive is accessible.

 

[Barry OGrady]

Yes, but that worked for him ;-)

It did. I have a bios that is limited to 32 gigs and I tried a 60 gig as a secondary
drive using the overlay. I needed to remove the overlay when I put the 20 gig
back in as secondary.

He also has a BIOS that shows a 20GB drive as 8.4 gigs yet all of the drive is accessible.

That's not the same bios, and I know it doesn't make sense.
Windows (98) shows the full size and I ran a full scandisk surface check.


-Barry
========
Web page: http://members.optusnet.com.au/~barry.og
Atheist, radio scanner, LIPD information.
Voicemail/fax number +14136227640