[Freedos-user] Using Verbatim 256M USB Stick Flash Drive?

[Eric Twose]

Hi,

I've got a 300MHz laptop with a USB 1.1 port and a Verbatim 256M stick. I
want to use the stick as a drive, but *not* to boot into FreeDOS from the
drive.

Could someone please suggest the best driver and necessary entries in
config.sys and autoexec.bat?

I've tried usbaspi.sys, but this reports that no port has been assigned.
Duse 4.9 reports that no drives have been assigned. A third method would
perhaps be to use Iomega Guest (which I have) with aspiuhci.sys (for USB
1.1, aspiehci for 2), but I can't find a free source for the latter.

[The device works okay in Windows 98 and XP, btw].

Many thanks in advance.
Eric T.

[Blair Campbell]

Post by Eric Twose
I've tried usbaspi.sys, but this reports that no port has been assigned.
Duse 4.9 reports that no drives have been assigned. A third method would
perhaps be to use Iomega Guest (which I have) with aspiuhci.sys (for USB
1.1, aspiehci for 2), but I can't find a free source for the latter.

Try getting the version of usbaspi.sys official from panasonic (linked
to from several sites), as many versions found elsewhere are old and
obsolete.

[Eric Twose]

Post by Eric Twose
I've tried usbaspi.sys, but this reports that no port has been assigned.
Duse 4.9 reports that no drives have been assigned. A third method would
perhaps be to use Iomega Guest (which I have) with aspiuhci.sys (for USB
1.1, aspiehci for 2), but I can't find a free source for the latter.

Blair replied:

Try getting the version of usbaspi.sys official from panasonic (linked
to from several sites), as many versions found elsewhere are old and
obsolete.

Hi, thanks for that. Yes, I've downloaded the aspi manager usbaspi.sys from
Panasonic and tried it with the driver di1000dd.sys, having visited
http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=10215 .

config.sys included the lines:
device= ... himem.sys
device= ... emm386.sys
dos=high,umb
device= ... usbaspi.sys
device= ... di1000dd.sys

With switch /e (v2) or /o ("newer v1.x"), the controller was not found.

Without switches or with /u ("older v1.x"), the controller was found but it
reported: "ERROR: UHCI I/O port not assigned" (which is hopeful) and because
of this, the driver then reported "UHCI/OHCI/EHCI host controller not
found." and could not proceed.

The laptop has an Intel 430TX chipset and in Windows successfully uses an
"Intel82371AB/EB PCI to USB Universal Host Controller" uhcd.sys. There are
no USB options in BIOS. Though the stick is usb v2, the port is v1.x, most
likely "older 1.x".

As I said, I've also tried Duse 4.9 but no drive letter was assigned. And
though I have a copy of Iomega Guest, I haven't found a free source of
aspiuhci.sys (it's said to come with Ghost).

Anyhow, thanks again Blair. Any ideas, anyone?

Best Wishes,
Eric T.

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[Johnson Lam]

On Thu, 1 Sep 2005 15:24:52 +0100, you wrote:

Hi Eric,

Post by Eric Twose
Could someone please suggest the best driver and necessary entries in
config.sys and autoexec.bat?

I made an USB driver disk, already hosted on my homepage, maybe can
help you:

http://johnson.tmfc.net/freedos

Post by Eric Twose
I've tried usbaspi.sys, but this reports that no port has been assigned.
Duse 4.9 reports that no drives have been assigned. A third method would
perhaps be to use Iomega Guest (which I have) with aspiuhci.sys (for USB
1.1, aspiehci for 2), but I can't find a free source for the latter.

I've found that some strange chipset(?) refuse the latest USBASPI. SYS
(2.2), so try 2.06 or 1.x


Rgds,
Johnson.

[Eric Twose]

Johnson Lam wrote:

<<
I made an USB driver disk, already hosted on my homepage,
maybe can help you:
http://johnson.tmfc.net/freedos
Thanks to you and also to Eric for his ideas off list.

It looks like the BIOS isn't assigning an I/O port and your web page has
this crucial information (the laptop's bios editing facilities are woefully
sparse):

<<
4) In some PC, UHCI's I/O port is not assigned by BIOS.
In this case, specify I/O port by /P option.

/P=xxx0 : UHCI I/O address
I'm not sure how to use "/P=xxx0", Johnson. Do I enter "device=usbapsiX.sys
/p=0" as I only have one usb drive?

Best Wishes and thanks again!
Eric Twose.

[Eric Twose]

Hi Johnson,

Many thanks to you and to Eric Auer. The flash drive now works using the
oldest controller (usbaspi0.sys) from the usb driver disk on Johnson's site
http://johnson.tmfc.net/freedos .

I tried my luck and added /V /P=0A00 and the device fired up straight away.

Eric Auer's pcisleep
http://www.coli.uni-saarland.de/~eric/stuff/soft/
was useful in showing details of the pci usb controller from DOS, as were
throttle.exe /p :
http://www.oldskool.org/pc/throttle/
and also Craig's pci diagnostic software:
http://members.datafast.net.au/dft0802/downloads.htm

Thanks indeed for your help Eric, Johnson and Blair. It's greatly
appreciated, as I absolutely hate getting stuck when set a challenge.

Best Wishes,
Eric Twose.

[Eric Twose]

On Eric Auer's advice I changed the i/o address to device=usbaspi0.sys
/P=A000 so that it's "more out of the way from old ISA address space".
usbaspi seems quite happy with this.

Best Wishes,
Eric Twose.

[Johnson Lam]

On Fri, 2 Sep 2005 16:59:47 +0100, you wrote:

Hi Charlie and Eric,

I'm late, a bit busy.

Post by Eric Twose
I tried my luck and added /V /P=0A00 and the device fired up straight away.

Glad you can hit the right target, I've tried several different kind
of USB flash or card reader (multi), they got different /P depends on
mainboard or BIOS.

Post by Eric Twose
Thanks indeed for your help Eric, Johnson and Blair. It's greatly
appreciated, as I absolutely hate getting stuck when set a challenge.

Thanks for feedback, your experience will surely help others.


Rgds,
Johnson.

[Eric Twose]

Joihnson's Lam's web site states:

<<
4) In some PC, UHCI's I/O port is not assigned by BIOS.
In this case, specify I/O port by /P option.

/P=xxx0 : UHCI I/O address
Sorry, Johnson: just realized that what I need is to assign an i/o ADDRESS.
Windows uses I/O 10C0 - 10DF. So am I safe to use usbaspiX.sys /P=10C0 ? How
do I know that the start address is safe / won't conflict with other
devices?

Best Wishes,
Eric.

[Charlie Wilkes]

Post by Johnson Lam
I made an USB driver disk, already hosted on my
homepage, maybe can
http://johnson.tmfc.net/freedos

Johnson, I have the same problem Eric has, with my PNY
512mb thumb drive. I tried every possible driver
combination from your disk, and nothing worked.

USBASPI.SYS works fine with my 128 mb lexar drive on
the same platform. The PNY drive is supposed to be
backwards compatible to USB 1.l. I guess some of
these drives just don't work with the current DOS
drivers.

Charlie



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