If you have used the DPTFMT utility correctly and the board is properly seated in your machine, failure to display disk geometry may indicate a defective board.
To prevent system hangs caused by improper IDE emulation, the version number of the EISA configuration utility (ECU) that contains the !DPTA401.CFG file should not be before 6B3. If it is, obtain a newer version from your vendor and rerun the ECU.