10 replies to this topic

[andytuqing]

Hi Everyone, I have an issue with booting windows 7 installation from my usb drive. The issue is as following: when I boot it to install windows 7 bootmgr, the bootmgr shows a error screen complain about can not locate the /boot/bcd, how ever I made sure that bcd file is at /boot/bcd, and i replace the bcd with the one from cd for several times, I also made sure that partition is activated. I tried copy all these installtion files to 2 other usb flash drives, both booted up correctly with no problem at all. So it really drive me crazy.

My usb flash drive is formatted as
1: 24GB FAT32 , Where bootmgr, grldr and all those files are located, boot ubuntu, dos, pe and other live-cd just fine,
2: 4GB EXT3 , Set up as rw-casper for ubuntu 10
3: ~800MB of unallocated space

Usb that works fine are 16GB and 8GB, both formated in FAT32 and only one partiton on each.

Thanks for any help, I am really running out of idea here.

[steve6375]

Hi
So you have a 32GB USB flash drive that does not boot on a certain computer, but 16GB and 8GB flash drive do boot on the same computer?

1. Try booting the 32GB Flash drive under QEMU (e.g. download and install RMPrepUSB and use the Boot using QEMU button) - does get any further?
2. Try booting the 32GB Flash drive on a different system - does it boot?
3. What is the partition table on the 32GB drive - use RMPrepUSB - Drive Info and post bytes 1b0h to 1ffh?
4. What exactly is the system that you are trying to boot (mainboard model and age)?

Usually the problem is that the BIOS of the system you are trying to boot cannot boot from a drive larger than 8GB.

[andytuqing]

Hi Steve6375:
Thanks for reply, and yes My 32GB USB flash drive does not boot on all of my computers (3 laptops, 1 desktop), yet 16GB and 8GB ones do boot on the same computer.

1. Tried boot it on VMware Workstation with plpbt.iso, boot up okay, but still experience the same error at the stage of loading bcd.
2. Tried boot it on another system, it boots fine, but stuck at the stage of loading bcd as well.
3.
[Sector 0] 0MB
0000 EB 5E 81 01 20 39 FF FF - 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ?^?. 9 ........
0010 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 - 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ........ ........
0020 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 - 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ........ ........
0030 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 - 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ........ ........
0040 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 - 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ........ ........
0050 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 - 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ........ ........
0060 FA 31 DB 8E D3 BC 80 05 - E8 00 00 5B 81 EB 6B 00 ?1????€. ?..[??k.
0070 C1 EB 04 8C C8 01 C3 8E - DB 53 6A 7D CB 68 00 20 ??.??.?? ?Sj}?h.
0080 17 BC 00 90 FB 16 07 B9 - 12 00 B8 01 02 89 CB 4B ?.??.? .?..??K
0090 C1 E3 09 BA 80 00 51 53 - E8 A4 00 5B 59 72 04 E2 ??.?€.QS ??.[Yr.?
00A0 E9 F6 DC 0E 1F 9C 31 F6 - 31 FF B9 DF 00 FC F3 A5 ????1? 1??.???
00B0 BB FC 1F 66 B8 05 4D CB - 93 66 39 07 75 03 E8 39 ??f?.M? ?f9.u.?9
00C0 1C EA C6 00 00 20 16 1F - 66 39 07 74 28 66 60 BF ??..  f9.t(f`?
00D0 03 00 B8 11 02 99 BB 00 - 02 B9 02 00 E8 80 00 73 ..?.??. .?..?€.s
00E0 02 75 EF 66 61 66 39 07 - 75 4D C7 06 06 00 00 FF .u?faf9. uM?....
00F0 80 26 02 00 FE 9D 72 33 - 0E 1F AD 88 E6 AD 89 C1 €&..??r3 ??????
0100 24 3F 74 14 B0 01 BF 03 - 00 B4 02 68 00 0D 07 31 $?t?.?. .?.h...1
0110 DB E8 4B 00 73 03 75 F1 - F9 E8 5C 11 0F 87 F3 1B ??K.s.u? ????
0120 83 C6 0C 81 FE FE 01 72 - CF 77 0C BE B2 31 B0 04 ??.???.r ?w.??1?.
0130 B9 01 00 31 D2 EB CF BE - 91 01 E8 4D 00 EB FE 1E ?..1???? ?.?M.??
0140 06 52 56 57 55 F9 CD 13 - 5D 5F 5E 5A 07 1F C3 FA .RVWU?? ]_^Z.??
0150 B8 00 20 8E D0 BC DC 8F - FB 66 61 07 1F EB C1 60 ?. ????? ?fa.??`
0160 50 53 51 FE C8 00 C1 D0 - E0 00 C7 B0 01 E8 CF FF PSQ??.?? ?.??.??
0170 59 5B 58 72 04 FE C8 75 - E7 61 73 09 60 31 C0 E8 Y[Xr.??u ?as.`1??
0180 BD FF 61 4F F9 C3 B4 0E - CD 10 2E AC 3C 00 75 F6 ?aO??? ?.?<.u?
0190 C3 0D 0A 4D 69 73 73 69 - 6E 67 20 4D 42 52 2D 68 ?..Missi ng MBR-h
01A0 65 6C 70 65 72 2E 00 00 - 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 elper... ........
01B0 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 - 60 40 05 00 00 00 80 04 ........ `@....€.
01C0 05 00 0C FE FF FF 00 01 - 00 00 00 EB FF 02 00 DF ...?.. ...?..?
01D0 F8 FF 83 DF F8 FF 00 EC - FF 02 00 0D 80 00 00 00 ????.? ...€...
01E0 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 - 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ........ ........
01F0 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 - 00 00 00 00 00 00 55 AA ........ ......U?

[Sector 1] 0MB
0200 52 E8 28 01 74 08 56 BE - 33 81 E8 4C 01 5E BF F4 R?(.t.V? 3??L.^??
0210 81 66 8B 2D 83 7D 08 00 - 0F 84 E9 00 80 7C FF 00 ?f?-?}.. ??.€|.
0220 74 46 66 8B 1D 66 8B 4D - 04 66 31 C0 B0 7F 39 45 tFf?f?M .f1??9E
0230 08 7F 03 8B 45 08 29 45 - 08 66 01 05 66 83 55 04 ..?E.)E .f..f?U.
0240 00 C7 04 10 00 89 44 02 - 66 89 5C 08 66 89 4C 0C .?..?D. f?.f?L.
0250 C7 44 06 00 70 50 C7 44 - 04 00 00 B4 42 CD 13 0F ?D..pP?D ...?B?
0260 82 BB 00 BB 00 70 EB 68 - 66 8B 45 04 66 09 C0 0F ??.?.p?h f?E.f.?
0270 85 A3 00 66 8B 05 66 31 - D2 66 F7 34 88 54 0A 66 ??.f?.f1 ?f?4?T.f
0280 31 D2 66 F7 74 04 88 54 - 0B 89 44 0C 3B 44 08 0F 1?f?t.?T .?D.;D.
0290 8D 83 00 8B 04 2A 44 0A - 39 45 08 7F 03 8B 45 08 ??.?.*D. 9E..?E.
02A0 29 45 08 66 01 05 66 83 - 55 04 00 8A 54 0D C0 E2 )E.f..f? U..?T.??
02B0 06 8A 4C 0A FE C1 08 D1 - 8A 6C 0C 5A 52 8A 74 0B .?L.??.? ?l.ZR?t.
02C0 50 BB 00 70 8E C3 31 DB - B4 02 CD 13 72 50 8C C3 P?.p??1? ?.?rP??
02D0 8E 45 0A 58 C1 E0 05 01 - 45 0A 60 1E C1 E0 03 89 ?E.X??.. E.`??.?
02E0 C1 31 FF 31 F6 8E DB FC - F3 A5 1F E8 3E 00 74 06 ?11???? ???>.t.
02F0 BE 3B 81 E8 63 00 61 83 - 7D 08 00 0F 85 1D FF 83 ?;??c.a? }..??
0300 EF 0C E9 0F FF E8 24 00 - 74 06 BE 3D 81 E8 49 00 ?.??$. t.?=??I.
0310 5A EA 00 82 00 00 BE 40 - 81 E8 3D 00 EB 06 BE 45 Z?.?..?@ ??=.?.?E
0320 81 E8 35 00 BE 4A 81 E8 - 2F 00 EB FE BB 17 04 80 ??5.?J?? /.???.€
0330 27 03 C3 6C 6F 61 64 69 - 6E 67 00 2E 00 0D 0A 00 '.?loadi ng......
0340 47 65 6F 6D 00 52 65 61 - 64 00 20 45 72 72 6F 72 Geom.Rea d. Error
0350 00 BB 01 00 B4 0E CD 10 - 46 8A 04 3C 00 75 F2 C3 .?..?? F?.<.u??
0360 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 - 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ........ ........
0370 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 - 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ........ ........
0380 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 - 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ........ ........
0390 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 - 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ........ ........
03A0 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 - 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ........ ........
03B0 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 - 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ........ ........
03C0 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 - 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ........ ........
03D0 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 - 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ........ ........
03E0 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 - 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ........ ........
03F0 00 00 00 00 02 00 00 00 - 00 00 00 00 30 00 20 08 ........ ....0. .

========= END OF SECTOR DATA ================

Disk Signature bytes (1B8h-1BBh) = 60 40 05 00

Partition 1 SIZE=24573.375MiB Type: 0C FAT32LBA (2047GB max) *ACTIVE*
START POS = CYL:0 HD:4 SEC:5 END POS = CYL:1023 HD:254 SEC:63
START (LBA) = 256 (00000100) SIZE (LBA) = 50,326,272 (02FFEB00)

Partition 2 SIZE=4097.625MiB Type: 83
START POS = CYL:1023 HD:223 SEC:56 END POS = CYL:1023 HD:223 SEC:56
START (LBA) = 50,326,528 (02FFEC00) SIZE (LBA) = 8,391,936 (00800D00)

Partition 3 SIZE=0MiB Type: 00
START POS = CYL:0 HD:0 SEC:0 END POS = CYL:0 HD:0 SEC:0
START (LBA) = 0 (00000000) SIZE (LBA) = 0 (00000000)

Partition 4 SIZE=0MiB Type: 00
START POS = CYL:0 HD:0 SEC:0 END POS = CYL:0 HD:0 SEC:0
START (LBA) = 0 (00000000) SIZE (LBA) = 0 (00000000)

P1 Start=256 (131,072 bytes) End=50,326,527 (25,767,181,824 bytes)
P2 Start=50,326,528 (25,767,182,336 bytes) End=58,718,463 (30,063,853,056 bytes)


4. The motherboard of my PC is GA-Z68X-UD3H-B3, and I believe it was released last year 2011.

Thanks again.

[steve6375]

Is this 32GB Flash drive OK? Have you tested it with RMPrepUSB Quick Test or H2TESTW (freshly formatted)?
It may be a 'fake' one?

[andytuqing]

Is this 32GB Flash drive OK? Have you tested it with RMPrepUSB Quick Test or H2TESTW (freshly formatted)?
It may be a 'fake' one?

I bought it from newegg.com so I believe it is a legit one, and it is Patriot AXLE 32GB. and I format it under ubuntu, install grub4dos under ubuntu using bootlace.com. It is formatted and partitioned using fdisk under ubuntu as well. the drive was aligned and set the first sector starting from sector 256 though. Thanks.

[steve6375]

Is this 32GB Flash drive OK? Have you tested it with RMPrepUSB Quick Test or H2TESTW (freshly formatted)?
Can you try RMPrepUSB Quick Test just to be sure?
How about format under Windows using RMPrepUSB?

[andytuqing]

Ok, after hrs of testing, RMPrepUSB reported "Device quick test was OK *** PASSED***

[steve6375]

hrs of testing?? That does not sound correct? It should have taken 20 mins at most??

OK, let's try this
Using one of the lower capacity USB drives that work OK (the smallest one would be the quickest), use RMPrepUSB Drive->File button to capture an image, then write the image to the 32GB USB drive using File->Drive button - now this **should** boot just fine as the image is exactly the same. If it errors, then the problem is the 32GB flash drive.

[andytuqing]

the image created off the 8gb flash drive works fine on the 32GB USB, it boots fine in VMware Workstation. So I figure the 32GB itself is fine, Next I am going to create a larger partition and see if it works /

[steve6375]

OK
Or use RMPrepUSB to format it under Windows - set options 1-5 and use Prepare button?? Maybe linux format is the problem?

[andytuqing]

I just test the usb again on VMware station and one of the laptops, it works fine now, now more complain about bcd, RMPrepUSB really rocks, and I dont know what went wrong under ubuntu using bootlace.com or the fdisk utility. Thanks steve6375 for your kind responses and efforts. appreciate your help.