# archivesatis.com — Satisloh V50 OS Recovery Package

> If your Satisloh V50 lens generator stops at “DISKETTE BOOT FAILURE – INSERT BOOT DISKETTE IN A:”, the controller can no longer boot from its CompactFlash card. The usual causes are a flat CMOS battery that erased the BIOS drive settings, or a corrupted or worn-out CF card. Replace the battery and re-detect the drive first; if the card itself is bad, write this sector-exact V50 disk image to a new 4 MB-or-larger industrial CF card, set the drive geometry to 122 cylinders / 2 heads / 32 sectors, and restore your own machine parameters before cutting lenses.

Price: $299 USD (one-time, paid with PayPal, instant digital download). Last updated: 2026-11-09.
Buy: https://archivesatis.com/#buy
Terms & Disclaimers (v2026-11-09): https://archivesatis.com/terms

## Languages
- English (en): https://archivesatis.com/ — download package and guides in this language
- 中文 (zh-Hans): https://archivesatis.com/zh/ — download package and guides in this language
- हिन्दी (hi): https://archivesatis.com/hi/ — download package and guides in this language

## Compatible machine
- Machine model: Satisloh V50 (Satis Loh V50) CNC ophthalmic lens generator
- Controller CPU: Intel i486DX4 @ 100 MHz
- BIOS: AMIBIOS System Configuration (American Megatrends Inc., © 1985–1994)
- Boot storage: 40-pin IDE bus with CompactFlash-to-IDE adapter (Altec Compact FlashDisk IDE Vers 1.0)
- Original media: SanDisk industrial CompactFlash Type I, 4 MB (SDCFB-4) or 8 MB (SDCFB-8)
- Display: VGA / EGA
- Typical failure: “DISKETTE BOOT FAILURE” / “INSERT BOOT DISKETTE IN A:” at power-on

## Recovery image
- Image type: Raw sector-by-sector disk image (.img) incl. MBR and boot sector
- File system: FAT12, one primary partition at sector 32
- Volume size: 3.8 MB volume (7,776 sectors); whole image 7,808 sectors × 512 bytes
- Drive geometry (CHS): 122 cylinders / 2 heads / 32 sectors per track
- Verification: FAT file system checked (171 files, 0 errors); boot-tested in a 486 PC emulator through MS-DOS to the LOH V50 control screen
- Minimum card size: 4 MB CompactFlash (any capacity up to 128 MB works with the USER geometry above)
- Operating system: MS-DOS 6.22 (German edition)

## Restore procedure
1. Back up your current card and parameters: Before touching anything, save what is unique to your machine. If the old card can still be read, make a full image of it and copy V50MAK.INI and V50WZG.INI to a safe place. If the machine still runs, photograph or note every machine-parameter page.
2. Get a suitable CompactFlash card and reader: Use an industrial CompactFlash Type I card of at least 4 MB that works in fixed-disk (True IDE) mode, plus a USB CF card reader.
3. Download, extract and verify the package: Extract satisloh_v50_os_backup.zip and check the SHA-256 checksum of satisloh_v50_cf.img against SHA256SUMS.txt.
4. Write the disk image to the CompactFlash card: Write satisloh_v50_cf.img to the CF card sector by sector with Win32 Disk Imager, Rufus in DD mode, or dd. Do not copy the files by hand: the boot sector must be written too.
5. Install the card in the machine: With the machine switched off and locked out, insert the new card into the Altec CompactFlash-to-IDE adapter on the controller.
6. Configure the AMIBIOS drive settings: Power on, press DEL to enter AMIBIOS setup, run IDE HDD Auto Detection or set drive C: to USER type with 122 cylinders, 2 heads and 32 sectors, set the boot order to C: first, then save with F10.
7. Restore your machine parameters and calibrate: After the first boot, put back your own V50MAK.INI and V50WZG.INI (or re-enter your parameters), then have a qualified technician reference and calibrate the axes, measuring system and tools before cutting a lens.

## Troubleshooting
### My Satisloh V50 shows “DISKETTE BOOT FAILURE – INSERT BOOT DISKETTE IN A:”. What does it mean?
The BIOS could not find a bootable drive C:, so it fell back to the floppy drive. The three usual causes are: (1) a flat CMOS battery that erased the hard-disk type in the BIOS, (2) a CompactFlash card or CF-IDE adapter that is no longer detected (dirty contacts, failed card), or (3) a corrupted boot sector on the card. Replace the battery on the 486 motherboard, re-run IDE HDD Auto Detection (or set USER 122/2/32), reseat the card, and if it still fails, write the recovery image to a new industrial CF card.

### The BIOS loses its settings every time the machine is switched off.
The CMOS battery is exhausted. Depending on the motherboard it is a CR2032 coin cell or a soldered 3.6 V barrel battery. Replace it, re-enter the drive settings and the date/time, and check the board for leakage damage around the old barrel battery.

### The card is detected, but I get “Missing operating system”, “Non-System disk” or the machine hangs after the memory test.
This is almost always a geometry mismatch: the BIOS auto-detected the new card with a different head/sector count than the image was built with. Set drive C: to type USER with 122 cylinders, 2 heads, 32 sectors and Normal mode. Also make sure the image was written with Win32 Disk Imager, Rufus (DD mode) or dd — files copied by hand do not contain a boot sector.

### The machine boots to the C:\> prompt but the Satisloh control software does not start.
The start-up files were altered or are missing. AUTOEXEC.BAT must end by changing to C:\TP\CNC90 and running TEST 1 (the V50 control program). Compare AUTOEXEC.BAT and CONFIG.SYS on your card with the copies in 03_FILES_REFERENCE. The safest fix is to write the full image again instead of editing the files on the card.

### After restoring, the machine reports “WRONG MACHINE VERSION”, measuring-system or drive-tolerance errors.
The image carries the machine parameters (V50MAK.INI) and tool table (V50WZG.INI) of the source machine. Your V50 may have a different machine version, encoders, spindle or options. Copy back your own INI files, or have a qualified technician correct the parameters (for example the customer number / machine version entry) and recalibrate the axes and measuring system.

### The card works in my PC but the V50 BIOS does not detect it.
Old IDE BIOSes need cards that operate in fixed-disk (True IDE) mode. Many modern consumer CF cards report themselves as removable media and are ignored. Use an industrial card such as SanDisk SDCFB-4/SDCFB-8, Transcend industrial or Swissbit, and clean the CF-IDE adapter contacts.

### Screen text is in the wrong language or some messages are missing.
The package contains message, menu and help files in English, Spanish, French, German, Dutch and Italian. Select the operator language in the control software’s configuration. If text is still missing or garbled, a file was damaged during writing: verify the checksum and write the image again.

### Can I use a larger CompactFlash card than 4 MB?
Yes. Any card from 4 MB up to about 128 MB works as long as you set the BIOS drive type to USER with 122 cylinders, 2 heads and 32 sectors. The extra space on the card simply stays unused.

### Is this an official Satisloh product?
No. archivesatis.com is an independent archive and is not affiliated with, endorsed by or supported by Satisloh. Satisloh is a trademark of its respective owner and is used only to identify the compatible machine.

## 中文摘要 (Chinese summary)
如果您的 Satisloh V50 镜片铣磨机开机后停在 “DISKETTE BOOT FAILURE – INSERT BOOT DISKETTE IN A:”，说明控制器已无法从 CF 卡启动。常见原因是 CMOS 电池耗尽导致 BIOS 硬盘设置丢失，或 CF 卡损坏、老化。请先更换电池并重新检测硬盘；如果卡本身已损坏，请将本 V50 扇区级磁盘镜像写入一张 4 MB 或更大的工业级 CF 卡，将硬盘参数设为 122 柱面 / 2 磁头 / 32 扇区，并在加工镜片前恢复您自己的机器参数。

## हिन्दी सारांश (Hindi summary)
अगर आपका Satisloh V50 लेंस जनरेटर “DISKETTE BOOT FAILURE – INSERT BOOT DISKETTE IN A:” पर रुक जाता है, तो controller अपने CompactFlash card से boot नहीं कर पा रहा है। आम कारण हैं: CMOS battery ख़त्म होने से BIOS की drive settings मिट जाना, या CF card ख़राब / पुराना हो जाना। पहले battery बदलें और drive को फिर से detect करें; अगर card ही ख़राब है, तो यह sector-exact V50 disk image 4 MB या बड़े industrial CF card पर लिखें, drive geometry 122 cylinders / 2 heads / 32 sectors सेट करें, और लेंस काटने से पहले अपने machine parameters restore करें।

## Important
- The image contains the parameters of the source machine; buyers must restore their own parameters or recalibrate.
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