<bkdurham@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:1139295207.802223.16420@g43g2000cwa.googlegro ups.com...
> Hello - I'm doing some support at work for a client who's running our
> application on SCO 5.x Open Server.
>
> What I'm trying to do is to do a 'dosformat /dev/fd0:' or a 'dosformat
> /dev/rdsk/f03ht:' so I can copy a file to a floppy diskette (via doscp,
> of course).
>
> What I get is a Write I/O error...
>
> I've tried the following devices:
> /dev/fd0
> /dev/rdsk/f03ht
>
> The client (they are in a different state - I don't have access to the
> hardware) tells me that a new floppy diskette is in the drive and that
> it's not write protected. I've tried my commands on a SCO box here in
> house and my commands work.
>
> What should I look at? I don't do much SCO stuff, so I don't really
> know what to look at. If this were Linux, I'd be looking at
> /var/log/boot.msg to make sure I had the right device and that it was
> detected by the OS correctly.
>
> I have tried to do just a straight 'format /dev/rdsk/f03ht:', but I get
> Write I/O errors on that command also.
>
> Thanks for any information or hints - I've done some Google searches,
> but haven't found any relevant information. I've primarily found man
> pages online.

The man page for doscmd(C) on the SCO box should give you all the
info you need.

First, rule out any simple hardware problems by trying to read a DOS
formatted floppy in the drive with: dosdir A:

If that works, try formatting a floppy with the Unix format command:
format /dev/rfd0135ds18

This assumes that you're using a 3.5" floppy drive with a 1.44MB
floppy disk (two holes, one in each corner; one must be closed to
write-enable the disk). If this fails, your floppy drive/cable has a hardware
problem, or the floppy drive is write-protected from within the
system's BIOS setup (although this shouldn't affect Unix since it
doesn't use BIOS routines to write to the floppy).

Bob