33 replies to this topic

[steve6375]

If I use this menu.lst for grub4dos, the first menu item works (i.e. it boots to Plop and I can then boot from an IDE-mode CD).

If am trying to do a similar thing but have a ramdisk floppy image in memory before I use Plop to boot to the CD, but the 2nd menu item crashes when plop is run - I am guessing there is a memory clash somewhere between the kernel command and the --mem commands??? Any idea how I can fix this?

I am trying to get an F6 mass storage driver to work using a vanilla SP3 XP CD and a bootable USB stick. The idea is that you boot from the USB stick, make a ramdrive for the F6 floppy and then boot from the XP CD. I want this to work for SATA CD/DVD drives as the hard disk and the optical drive will both be on the SATA controller. Grub4dos does not seem to support SATA optical drives (even if in IDE mode in BIOS), so I wondered if Plop would work...

Only problem is that Plop does not support SATA optical drives when the BIOS is in AHCI mode (it does work in IDE mode though). So even if I can get the menu below to work, I still think it is not going to help as I need the Cd to be in IDE mode but the HDD to be in AHCI mode...

title Run Plop

root (hd0,0)

kernel /plpbt.bin



title Boot from CD and enable F6 function for XP install

find --set-root /AHCI.IMA

map --mem (md)+2880 (fd0)

map --mem /AHCI.IMA (fd1)

map --hook

dd if=(fd1)+1 of=(fd0)+1

kernel /plpbt.bin

[Wonko the Sane]

.... as I need the Cd to be in IDE mode but the HDD to be in AHCI mode...

May I ask you WHY?

I mean, you could make an *exception* and install the XP in IDE mode and post-install the AHCI drivers...



Wonko

[steve6375]

Some PCs/nbooks do not have the luxury of an IDE/Compatible mode in the BIOS. I want to be able to use a vanilla XP CD to install an AHCI mode notebook (preferably using USB CDrom + USB flash drive).

[Wonko the Sane]

Some PCs/nbooks do not have the luxury of an IDE/Compatible mode in the BIOS. I want to be able to use a vanilla XP CD to install an AHCI mode notebook (preferably using USB CDrom + USB flash drive).

And is it a problem to copy the .iso to the USB flash drive?
I mean, all the recent work by cdob, wimb, and ilko (thanks to karyonix's firadisk and Sha0's winVblock )is going in that direction.
Haven't you tried the latest approaches?
Or what problem do you find in them?


Wonko

[steve6375]

If I use firadisk, I can load the XP iso file from memory, but when I get to the XP Disk 'Install to destination' screen only the USB flash drive I booted from is seen by XP setup, not the SATA AHCI HDD.

If I combine the firadisk txtsetup.oem with the AHCI txtsetup.oem, then I can choose either firadisk (and get no SATA HDD listed as above) or the correct AHCI driver and get 0x0000007B BSOD.

[tinybit]

I suppose there might be a bug in plpbt.bin.

Consider this: use kernel to load many other Linux kernels with success, but problems occur with plpbt.bin.

[Wonko the Sane]

If I combine the firadisk txtsetup.oem with the AHCI txtsetup.oem, then I can choose either firadisk (and get no SATA HDD listed as above) or the correct AHCI driver and get 0x0000007B BSOD.

If I recall correctly a "combined" txtsetup.oem on "F6" floppy disk should allow you to install several drivers by pressing S

http://www.tim.id.au...6-driver-guide/

Have you tried the "multiple Defaults" approach?
http://www.msfn.org/...faults-section/
http://support.micro...kb/885756/en-us


Wonko

[steve6375]

I have got to first part of the install by using the Menu.lst as follows:

title XP Setup from ISO file using firadiskSS

find --set-root --ignore-floppies --ignore-cd /xprmcd.iso

map --mem /firadiskss.ima (fd0)

map --mem /xprmcd.iso (0xff)

map --hook

root (0xff)

chainloader (0xff)

pause Once Setup begins - press F6 - then S - the select both FiraDisk driver and your AHCI driver

pause Press [Enter] twice to start boot from CD . . .

firadiskss.ima has a modified oemsetup.txt with both AHCI drivers and firadisk. So I have to press F6 - then use S to select the firadisk driver and then use S again to select the AHCI driver (now two are listed by Setup). Then proceed to the next stage (F8 to accept EULA and then format HDD and install Windows).

So XP installs and I have a \Windows folder on the hard disk when it reboots. So far so good.

Now for the 2nd phase. If I boot from the hard disk I get a message like 'Windows could not start because of a computer disk hardware configuration problem'.

Any ideas for the 2nd stage? I guess I need to boot from USB again and use firadisk again to get the AHCI drivers loaded ???

[Wonko the Sane]

Now for the 2nd phase. If I boot from the hard disk I get a message like 'Windows could not start because of a computer disk hardware configuration problem'.

Any ideas for the 2nd stage? I guess I need to boot from USB again and use firadisk again to get the AHCI drivers loaded ???

This needs to be troubleshooted (or troubleshot? ).

Maybe posting :

• the EXACT error you get (STOP ERROR #)
• the actual TXTSETUP.OEM you used
• status (verified offline) of the various firadisk entries in the Registry
• status (verified offline) of the various specific AHCI driver entries in the Registry

Might help (as well a comparison of the SAME data with a "working" install).


Wonko

[steve6375]

I don't get a BSOD or error number. It is white text on a black background. After the first sentence (already given) it says: 'Could not read from the selected boot disk. Check boot path and disk hardware'.

[TheK]

I think you need to swap HDs for the first step...

title XP Setup from ISO file using firadiskSS

find --set-root --ignore-floppies --ignore-cd /xprmcd.iso

map --mem /firadiskss.ima (fd0)

map --mem /xprmcd.iso (0xff)

map (hd0) (hd1)

map (hd1) (hd0)

map --hook

root (0xff)

chainloader (0xff)

pause Once Setup begins - press F6 - then S - the select both FiraDisk driver and your AHCI driver

pause Press [Enter] twice to start boot from CD . . .

[steve6375]

OK - the problem was that boot.ini was pointing at rdisk(1) and not rdisk(0). I edited this and now it boots to second GUI phase of XP but then says it cannot find the asms file on the CD (rings a bell - see this in previous posts).

I suspect I am treading a well trodden path here...

[Wonko the Sane]

it says: 'Could not read from the selected boot disk. Check boot path and disk hardware'.

That seems a lot like a wrong arcpath in BOOT.INI, which could be solved by post processing it or probably, as TheK pointed out, by re-setting hard disk # properly (as if you hadn't booted from the USB).

The "old" way with the "z-1" approach is somehow documented here:
http://www.msfn.org/...l-from-usb-key/
binifix.cmd
http://www.msfn.org/...y/page__st__250
If I recall correctly this is last "official" version of it:
http://www.msfn.org/...y/page__st__280

Sorry, we are/were cross-posting.
The "cannot find ASMS" is in the GUI setup.
What happens if you hit Shift+F10 and check which devices you have available (most probably you have not the CD available) .


Wonko

[steve6375]

I think you need to swap HDs for the first step...
[/code]

Thanks, exactly what I am trying now.

And for the part 2 I am loading the iso to (ff) before booting from the HDD and that seems to work too....
- just testing both stages now.

If it works it means you can take a standard XP ISO and with a bit of manual selection) install XP from a USB Flash drive to an AHCI only hard disk.

[Wonko the Sane]

If it works it means you can take a standard XP ISO and with a bit of manual selection) install XP from a USB Flash drive to an AHCI only hard disk.

Yes, but isn't it exactly what these also do? :
http://www.msfn.org/...aded-iso-image/
http://www.msfn.org/...rom-a-iso-file/

I thought you were trying to use an actual "standard CD" and not a .iso.

Or, you were right here:

I suspect I am treading a well trodden path here...

Wonko

[steve6375]

Yes, but isn't it exactly what these also do? :
http://www.msfn.org/...aded-iso-image/
http://www.msfn.org/...rom-a-iso-file/

I thought you were trying to use an actual "standard CD" and not a .iso.

Wonko

Yes, I still would rather use a standard physical CD. However, 2nd best choice is to use an ISO of a standard CD. I think it is now working. I will post the menu.lst here soon when I have tidied it up a bit. Looks to be the same is in your 2nd link - just need to add instructions for AHCI driver selection and using firadisk.

[Wonko the Sane]

Looks to be the same is in your 2nd link - just need to add instructions for AHCI driver selection and using firadisk.

Yes and no, I suspect that that method is a bit faster, since it doesn't load the .iso in memory and of course is more suited to "low ram" PC's.
Cannot say for sure if now also firadisk has "direct mapping" compatibility with .iso images, but I think so.


Wonko

[steve6375]

Yes and no, I suspect that that method is a bit faster, since it doesn't load the .iso in memory and of course is more suited to "low ram" PC's.
Cannot say for sure if now also firadisk has "direct mapping" compatibility with .iso images, but I think so.


Wonko

OK - mapped XP ISO directly to (ff) and got BSOD error 7B. Then use --mem to map it to ff and it worked fine again. Maybe I need to experiment with winvblock now

[steve6375]

I have written up what I did here. Probably not very original, but is does allow you to install XP to an AHCI mode system without having to inject drivers into the ISO image.

P.S. I had trouble with BSOD if I did not load the ISO into memory with both WinVBlock and FiraDisk drivers. There was really nothing much to choose between them. I did not do any comparative timings though.

[karyonix]

I have written up what I did here.

Why is you WinVBlock TXTSETUP.OEM sample have only FiraDisk and no WinVBlock driver ?

P.S. I had trouble with BSOD if I did not load the ISO into memory with both WinVBlock and FiraDisk drivers.

Did you add USB drivers to floppy image and TXTSETUP.OEM ?

[steve6375]

Why is you WinVBlock TXTSETUP.OEM sample have only FiraDisk and no WinVBlock driver ?
Did you add USB drivers to floppy image and TXTSETUP.OEM ?

The ima.gz download actually has both firadisk and WinVblock, but the txtsetup.oem only contains WinvBlock. This was so I could change between the two easily. The ima.gz has winvblock inf and sys files.

re. USB drivers, I did exactly the same in both cases. Loading both WinVBlock driver and ICH7RDH driver. Only difference was that I used --mem to load the XP ISO (which worked every time) or no --mem which crashed every time.

[Wonko the Sane]

re. USB drivers, I did exactly the same in both cases. Loading both WinVBlock driver and ICH7RDH driver. Only difference was that I used --mem to load the XP ISO (which worked every time) or no --mem which crashed every time.

I am not sure if I get it right.
The whole (or most of the) point of the given cdob's method is about the possibility of using winvblock as direct mapping (as opposed to --mem or ramdisk mapping).
Are you saying that that approach (which works normally, as verified by wimb, with the floppy --mem mapped and the .iso direct mapped) creates a conflict of some kind (leading to the 0x0000007b STOP) when, besides winvblock, an AHCI driver is loaded via F6?

Which winvblock version you tested?


Wonko

[steve6375]

Yes! I tried on an Atom based netbook and on a DQ67 desktop - both set to AHCI mode in the BIOS. I tried both WinVBlock and Firadisk. Both crash with a 7B error just after 'Setup is starting Windows' appears if the XP ISO is mapped without using --mem. If IDE mode is set in the BIOS, then I get a STOP error A - IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL error.

If I map the XP ISO with --mem in grub4dos then no problem!

I believe the WinVBlock is 0.0.1.8 - the sys file is dated 1-6-2010. FiraDisk.sys is 19/12/2009. Both show same symptoms.

Remember I am using vanilla XP CD (not nLited or modified in any way).

[Icecube]

Yes! I tried on an Atom based netbook and on a DQ67 desktop - both set to AHCI mode in the BIOS. I tried both WinVBlock and Firadisk. Both crash with a 7B error just after 'Setup is starting Windows' appears if the XP ISO is mapped without using --mem. If IDE mode is set in the BIOS, then I get a STOP error A - IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL error.

If I map the XP ISO with --mem in grub4dos then no problem!

I believe the WinVBlock is 0.0.1.8 - the sys file is dated 1-6-2010. FiraDisk.sys is 19/12/2009. Both show same symptoms.

Remember I am using vanilla XP CD (not nLited or modified in any way).

Testing ancient releases is not smart when you encounter problems.
Get the last development version of WinVBlock from:
https://github.com/Sha0/winvblock

[karyonix]

@steve6375
I was not talking about your disk. Please read your article here. Search for ---- . You will see.

---- WinVBlock TXTSETUP.OEM file ----

[Disks]
disk1="FiraDisk Installation Disk",\firadisk.inf,\
...

You should correct it if you don't want your readers to get confused.

You want to boot direct from ISO in USB flash drive.
You may try adding usbehci, usbohci, usbuhci, usbhub, usbstor to your floppy disk image and create their sections in TXTSETUP.OEM and also add their compatibleIDs to [HardwareIds.scsi.ID] sections in TXTSETUP.OEM.
Press F6 and select all of them.