AIX PS/2 boot from hard disk

[shair at uxe.cso.uiuc.edu]

I can now confirm, officially, that after the installation of
OS/2 on a hard file, a low-level reformat of the first cylinder
is required before installing AIX PS/2.  Failure to do this
results in a machine that hangs at boot from hard disk.

I don't know enough about PC's to know why this is true.

The format can be done with the PS/2 Reference Disk shipped
with each machine.  Boot the reference disk and, from the main
menu, enter Control A (^A).  This will give you the option of
running diagnostics or formatting the hard disk.

Tell it you want to format the hard disk, ignore the fact that
the message on the screen says "Prepare for DOS" (got to talk
to those guys) and keep insisting (3 or 4 times) that yes you
really do want to format the disk and blow away all your data.

I stopped it after a few cylinders.  No need to run out to the
end of the disk.  After that any combination of operating systems
can be installed, in my case a demo machine with OS/2 and AIX
both on it, selectable at boot time.
 
 Bob Shair
 Scientific Computing Specialist
 IBM Champaign