Windows NT Support for PowerPC Computers

Windows NT is a powerful, 32-Bit, preemptive multitasking operating system. It was designed around the concepts of portability, scalability, and.reliability. Since it's original release, Windows NT has been available for 4 different processor types: Intel's x86 architecture, Digital's Alpha processor line, MIPS's RS series of processors, and IBM/Motorola's PowerPC line of computers. These pages are devoted to helping you get your IBM PowerPC computer running with Windows NT.

Understand the Situation

As of 10/19/96, Windows NT for the PowerPC was withdrawn on ALL IBM computers. The only IBM specific versions of NT for the PowerPC were discontinued and are no longer available. These pages cover both the PowerPC Edition software as well as Microsoft's Multiplatform release. IBM RS/6000 still offers some support for Windows NT on a few of their products. They offer voice and email support for qualifying customers. Call (800) CALL-AIX if you wish to pursue help from them. I will entertain questions, and do the best that I can. Please remember that this is NO LONGER my job, and there is no developers left to fix genuine bugs you/we may find. If it's worth anything, I was the World Wide Level 2 Support Leader for the PowerPC version of NT on IBM Computers. You can email me at cmccann@dur.mindspring.com.

Machines & Operating Systems Supported

Before You Install

1. Upgrade your Firmware

There are some things you MUST check before installing NT on PowerPC. If you are using a desktop or server computer, make sure that you are at the latest Firmware/SMS for these machines. You can download the latest firmware images for RS/6000 products at RS/6000 MicroCode Download Site and PC Company Products at PC Company Download Site.

2. Check out your Hardware

If you have an E20 or F30, it is possible that you need a hardware upgrade to be able to run NT. This upgrade is only necessary if you acquired a PRE-ANNOUNCE box. All production level machines shipped with the proper hardware revisions. If you are unsure of whether or not you need the upgrade, contact RS/6000 Support at (800) CALL-AIX for help.

SCSI termination is the leading cause of a failed installation of NT. AIX will resolve SCSI termination problems, NT is helpless and will fail. Make sure that you have properly terminated both your internal and external SCSI chains before you begin the installation process. Remember, double-termination is just as bad as no termination.

If you are using a Power Series 830 or 850 and do not have the PowerPC Edition of the code, you will need to remove your IDE hard drive and replace it with a SCSI one. There is a bug in the ATAPI.SYS on the 3.51 Merged CD-ROM that will cause it to trap with INACCESSIBLE_BOOT_DEVICE. There is no fix for this, except to remove the drive and use a SCSI drive, or an old 2X IDE CD-ROM.

Now that you have checked out your firmware, it's time to drain CMOS/NVRAM. I have found the best way to do this is to take the clear, plastic cover from a CD-ROM jewel case and place it between the contact and the NVRAM battery. Consult your User's Guide for the location of your CMOS/NV-RAM battery.

For more information on PowerSeries Machines, you can checkout the PowerSeries Hardware Conventions.

3. Remove ANY data you want to keep

NT and AIX do NOT like to play nicely with each other. The many different specifications for the PowerPC platform (Prep, CHRP, HRP, and PowerPC Reference Platform) never really defined any hard and fast NVRAM data structures. The result is that NT and AIX (And Solaris, if it ever got released for PowerPC) can inadvertently overwrite each other's boot information when you install another operating system. NT and AIX can exist, but we REALLY don't recommend it. It is far safer to backup all your AIX data before you install NT. At the VERY Least, remove your AIX installed hard drives before beginning the installation. Windows NT respects AIX's file systems (It will recognize them as "other or unknown") but AIX see NT partitions as free space!

Installing the Operating System

1. Download latest HAL diskette. Last ARC Diskette is ARC 1.51.
2. Create HAL Diskette for booting Windows NT. This requires another PowerPC NT machine, and NT Intel machine or a UNIX box.
3. Boot HAL Diskette by placing in the diskette drive and starting the machine. The screen should turn blue and you should get information about the hardware that NT has found on your system.
4. When the NT ARC Boot Loader Menu appears, choose "Installation and Setup."
5. Choose "Simple Setup." Advanced setup is for experienced users only and is covered later.
6. Choose "Full Install (Initialize First Drive & Install New Operating System)" ARC might warn you that you have something on the hard drives, so take this warring seriously. NT will FORMAT these drives before it can work on the system.
7. NT should then prompt for the ARC Disk so it can transfer it to the hard disk. Choose "PUT ARC Diskette in A:" to allow the setup to finish.
8. Choose Two Drives. One drive will force you to make the operating system partition FAT.
9. NT should then format a 5 MB System partition. (The system partition contains some rudimentary boot files to allow NT to boot RISC versions of Windows NT. It is only used during boot time and is NOT a security RISK, as it can be locked via Disk Administrator.)
10. Now Choose "Set Up Windows NT from CD" to begin the actual NT installation. If you are familiar with NT, this is the normal Windows NT blue screen setup screens that you are used to.

ARC Boot Loader

To understand ARC more fully, you can visit the ARC Bootloader Page, then take a guided tour through all the ARC menus.

Common Questions and Answers

What is Firmware?  Do I have the latest version?  Find out at the PowerSeries Firmware page.

You've got questions, we might have the answers.

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