IBM PC/XT 3.5" floppy drivers - test-drb@ccmp.vtda.org

7 Sep 2003

...
 > I have an old IBM 3.5" 720KB floppy, meant to
be installed in an XT.  The
> kit came with a 5.25" floppy that contained drivers, and a program called
> "35INSTAL.COM". 
...
 If you upgrade to DOS 3.20 or newer, then you do NOT
need that disk.
If your XT has IBM's BIOS, then you need to add DRIVER.SYS to your
CONFIG.SYS file.
If you are using a non-IBM BIOS, then you can use DRIVPARM instead
(in MS-DOS, and present but not documented in PC-DOS)
NOTE: DRIVPARM is incompatible with IBM's BIOS.
If you want to use DOS <3.20, then you want that disk.
NOTE: SOME versions of MS-DOS 2.11 support 720K. 
Fred,

That did it!  And a big "duh" on my part ....

The PC in question is an original IBM PC/XT 5160, and it has a 1/2 height
360KB drive, and a hard drive (10MB full-height 5.25" w/ XEBEC Controller).
There was a hole above the 360KB drive dying to have a drive put in :-), so
I added the 720KB disk (an original IBM part).  The hard drive boots IBM DOS
3.30, so I gave DRIVER.SYS a try -- It worked first shot!  Of course, I
could have looked in my IBM DOS 3.30 manual, but that would have been to
easy :-)

Thanks again!

Rich B.