DAC960 DOS Driver Documentation :
July 08, 1996
The users are advised to go through this README document before
starting to use the DOS driver.
This file contains the following information:
I. Requirements and limits of the DAC960 BIOS
II. Requirements and limits of the DAC960 DOS driver
III. Requirements and limits of the DOS ASPI driver
IV. Description of the CDROM driver
V. Loading instructions for the above drivers
VI. List of Known Limitations
I. DAC960 BIOS :
The BIOS provides access for up to 32 system drives per DAC960, under
DOS ver 5.0 and above. The total DOS partition size is limited to
1024 cylinders (BIOS limit). The controller maps the drive with 8 MB per
cylinder and hence it does not make sense to have a system drive of
more than 8184 MB under DOS.
II. DOS Driver :
BIOS versions 1.x on the DAC960 is usable only under the real mode of the
operating system. In order to use the DAC960 under memory managers
like Windows, QEMM etc., a DOS driver needs to be used. This limitation
has been removed for BIOS versions 2.x (firmware versions 3.x) and the
DOS driver is only needed if non disk devices are to be used under DOS.
The DOS driver, DACDRVR.SYS supports only disk drives. The total DOS
partition size on the DAC960 is limited to 8184 MB, even when the
DOS driver is used.
III. ASPI Driver :
1. Virtual DMA support has been added to enhance the performance of
the DAC-960 controller under Windows and whenever Extended Memory is
loaded.
The ASPI Driver is used whenever non-disk devices are connected to the
DAC960. Use the ASPI driver ASPIDAC.SYS under DOS, to access these
devices. The ASPIDAC.SYS works in conjunction with the DOS driver,
DACDRVR.SYS.
IV. CDROM Driver :
A CDROM driver DAFCDA.SYS is included to allow CDROM access under
DOS, using a MSCDEX driver. The DAFCDA.SYS works in conjunction with the
ASPI driver, ASPIDAC.SYS.
V. Installation :
If DAC960 is the only disk controller in the system, use DOS
"fdisk" to create a DOS partition and use DOS "format c: /s "
to high level format the DOS partition. Boot from the DAC960
disk.
Copy the driver file, DACDRVR.SYS from the DAC960 DOS driver
diskette to the root directory of the boot disk. Optionally,
copy the driver file ASPIDAC.SYS (ASPI driver) and DAFCDA.SYS
(CDROM driver) to the root directory of the boot disk.
The DAC960 DOS, ASPI and CDROM drivers are installed with the help
of CONFIG.SYS.
The following lines are put in the CONFIG.SYS file to install the
DAC960 DOS, ASPI and CDROM driver.
DEVICE={DRIVE}:DACDRVR.SYS
DEVICE={DRIVE}:ASPIDAC.SYS
DEVICE={DRIVE}:DAFCDA.SYS
In order to use the CDROM as a logical drive under DOS, the autoexec.bat
file needs to load the MSCDEX driver as follows:
{DRIVE}:MSCDEX /V /M:10 /D:MSCD001
Note : MSCDEX is available in DOS 6.0 or supplied by CDROM
manufacturers.
All the above statements need to be put before any line loading the
memory manager, like himem.sys, qemm.sys, emm386.exe etc. This
sometimes creates a problem when running automatic memory optimization
programs such as Microsoft's "memmaker". This program will always load
the driver after loading memory managers. The system will not boot under
these conditions.
DACDRVR.SYS, ASPIDAC.SYS and DAFCDA.SYS should always be installed in
real memory and never in high, expanded or extended memory.
If using another disk controller with DAC960, make sure all the
drivers associated with the other disk controller are loaded before
the DAC960 DOS driver.
This completes the installation of the DAC960 DOS driver.
VI. Known Bugs/Limitations :
None of these drivers can be loaded in upper or high memory.
ASPIDAC.SYS will behave unpredictably, under an "installation
abort" condition or on a controller that has no drives connected to
it. Do not use ASPIDAC.SYS when an "installation aborted" error is reported by
BIOS.
Download Driver Pack
After your driver has been downloaded, follow these simple steps to install it.
Expand the archive file (if the download file is in zip or rar format).
If the expanded file has an .exe extension, double click it and follow the installation instructions.
Otherwise, open Device Manager by right-clicking the Start menu and selecting Device Manager.
Find the device and model you want to update in the device list.
Double-click on it to open the Properties dialog box.
From the Properties dialog box, select the Driver tab.
Click the Update Driver button, then follow the instructions.
Very important: You must reboot your system to ensure that any driver updates have taken effect.
For more help, visit our Driver Support section for step-by-step videos on how to install drivers for every file type.