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Install XP from USB: conquering ASUS M4A78 Pro

Tulert

By Tulert
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ilko_t

ilko_t

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The USB stick must be seen by grub4dos and Windows setup as a hard disk.

So you need to play with such options in BIOS, which will present it as hard disk.

Next you need to format it in a proper way, so it boots when that BIOS option is selected.

For now it seems to boot as floppy, so grub4dos cannot find its configuration file menu.lst and goes to command prompt. Well, grub4dos actually can load config file from a FD, but Windows setupwill not start from floppy disk.

How to format it and boot with that option in BIOS will be matter of experimenting, I hope Jaclaz is reading this and will give his priceless ideas as usual ;)

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Tulert

Tulert

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Sorry, this is off-topic but after grubinst -v (hd4,0) I can't format my Patriot any more with the pic below and Error 7 reported after the pic. Any hints? I seemed to make max progress with it & now I can't go back.

post-248315-1245864499_thumb.jpg

Edited by Tulert
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jaclaz

jaclaz

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How to format it and boot with that option in BIOS will be matter of experimenting, I hope Jaclaz is reading this and will give his priceless ideas as usual ;)

Oh, Oh, BAD news. :sneaky:

My ideas now come at a price. :ph34r:

Of course not in money, but Tulert seems to have (besides trying to do too many different attempts together on different hardware/software :whistle: ) the "right" attitude and the "right (read "wrong" ;)) hardware.

Maybe, if he agrees to play "lab rat" for us a little bit :yes:, we can see if all together we can finalize this thing about BIOSes that recognize sticks improperly as FD.

@Tulert,

please choose one, and one only of your devices, say the MemoRive 2GB.

Have you handy (or can borrow, procure or steal :w00t:) another PC (another motherboard) running 2K or XP? Not that Vista is bad (actually it's worse than that IMHO) but I am not familiar with it and it may add a layer of problems in the steps I will suggest you. (and using anither motherboard would rule the (possibly faulty) specific BIOS out of the equation.

Or can you run XP or a PE of some kind in a Virtual Machine?

Or are you familiar with DOS/Command Line?

About the "second partition" that RMPREPUSB adds, it is because in a few BIOSes it is reported that this helps in letting the BIOS see the stick as HDD. (which evidently is not working in your case).

First thing I would try if I were you would be FBINST:

http://www.boot-land.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=7932

jaclaz

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Tulert

Tulert

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My ideas now come at a price. :ph34r: Maybe, if he agrees to play "lab rat" for us a little bit :yes:, we can see if all together we can finalize this thing about BIOSes that recognize sticks improperly as FD.

I agree to be a lab rat. The only problem is my household is getting annoyed and says I should quit BS and just do it from a CD. So I am not sure how much longer I can handle this. I don't mind to continue after I install Windows too if you give instructions but I might be forced to actually install it somehow...

@Tulert,

please choose one, and one only of your devices, say the MemoRive 2GB

Could we go with Micro Center? I have a lot of those Sticks and it's easy to take another one of same type if experimenting makes it dead.

Have you handy (or can borrow, procure or steal :w00t:) another PC (another motherboard) running 2K or XP?

Yes, my Laptop has Microsoft Windows XP Professional Ver 2000, SP3

Or are you familiar with DOS/Command Line?

Somewhat. Seen it in class like 15 years ago. Used to zero sectors like you suggested. I also use UNIX but as a dummy I would say.

About the "second partition" that RMPREPUSB adds, it is because in a few BIOSes it is reported that this helps in letting the BIOS see the stick as HDD. (which evidently is not working in your case).

Hmmm... My BIOS can see the stick as HDD. Setting are, for example,

USB Config -> Emulation type: Auto

Boot Menu -> USB then is listed as "Hard Disk Drives" with HDDs

Versus if Emulation type: FDD, it's listed as "Removable Drives" (with Floppy). And if Emulation type:CDROM, it's listed as "CDROM Drives" (with CDROM).

Remember, it was my choice to force FDD as there was no progress with the other options (5 total). I don't remember all details of Emulation type: HDD, the bottom line is it stops at Motherboard logo too.

But when it is among HDDs I am not getting past Motherboard logo during the reboot. So not getting to "grub>", menu or anything else.

First thing I would try if I were you would be FBINST:

http://www.boot-land.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=7932

Ok, I'll take a look. I am not that hi-tech as you can tell and some things take me long time to understand/interpret.

Thanks for the help, suggestions & patience!

Edited by Tulert
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jaclaz

jaclaz

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Could we go with Micro Center? I have a lot of those Sticks and it's easy to take another one of same type if experimenting makes it dead.

Sure :).

Yes, my Laptop has Microsoft Windows XP Professional Ver 2000, SP3

Then (if FBINST didn't work) run from the laptop on the chosen stick fuwi's tool:

http://www.911cd.net/forums//index.php?showtopic=21702

and see if it boots on the laptop.

If it does, try the stick on the Asus, if it does not work we get more evidence that the problem is in the ASUS BIOS.

If it does not boot on the laptop, use HDhacker (on the laptop):

http://dimio.altervista.org/eng/

and save:

MBR of the stick (first sector of physicaldrive)

bootsector of the stick (first sector of logicaldrive for FAT 16/32 or first 16 sectors for NTFS)

Compress the two resulting files in a .zip and attach it to your next post.

jaclaz

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Tulert

Tulert

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Yes, my Laptop has Microsoft Windows XP Professional Ver 2000, SP3

Then (if FBINST didn't work) run from the laptop on the chosen stick fuwi's tool:

http://www.911cd.net/forums//index.php?showtopic=21702

and see if it boots on the laptop.

2 things:

1) I've studied Fuwi's tool somewhat earlier and I don't quite get what should be unzipped and to what destinations there except for the main archive. I think I did get a notice that BartPE tool is not found and I am not sure whether I am supposed to have that installed earlier or it is a part of the package. The instructions said to modify 'SourcePath' in the file 'Config_SourcePath.cmd' to point at BartPE

change in accordance with your needs
but I don't know to which file and in which package and I don't know if BartPE is a crusial piece that I should have or I can get along without it [i.e. I am confused about my needs].

2) How do I check if the stick boots on a laptop? No kidding, I really have no clue. Do I need to go into BIOS or is it simpler?

I guess I need to do some work now, then will go to FBINST & etc. For FBINSt would you recommend any specific format options & should I combine with FDD or Auto(HDD) in BIOS? Or should I try everything?

Thanks!

Edited by Tulert
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Tulert

Tulert

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For now it seems to boot as floppy, so grub4dos cannot find its configuration file menu.lst and goes to command prompt. Well, grub4dos actually can load config file from a FD, but Windows setupwill not start from floppy disk.

As a side thought --

1) could grub4dos load config file from a CDROM?

2) will Windows setup start from a CDROM?

I had success with FDD and CDROM (in getting to grub>) => hence the question. I.e. wondering if there would be a workaround by Emulating as CDROM.

Will try suggestions combined with HDD first.

Edited by Tulert
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Tulert

Tulert

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First thing I would try if I were you would be FBINST:

http://www.boot-land.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=7932

I did

fbinst --list

fbinst (hd1) format --force

Didn't do anything about loading grldr or using updated grub4dos as I don't understand how that would interact with using WinSetupFromUSB.

BIOS: Auto => Motherboard logo

BIOS: CDROM => blinking cursor, later "Reboot and Select proper Boot device or Insert Boot Media in selected Boot device and press a key"

BIOS: FDD => "Missing MBR-helper" (I know I was told not to use FDD, just wanted to see what happens)

Repeated the procedure as

fbinst --list

fbinst (hd1) format --force

fbinst (hd1) load c:/grldr

=> "fbinst: error: invalid archive file"

Edited by Tulert
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jaclaz

jaclaz

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2) How do I check if the stick boots on a laptop? No kidding, I really have no clue. Do I need to go into BIOS or is it simpler?

Rats ;) are used in Labs because they are usually very fast in learning new things.

Of course the experimenter needs to be very accurate, too.

Some BIOS have an option, usually F12, to change boot order on-the-fly when booting, otherwise these should be more or less the steps involved:

  • You switch the laptop off.
  • Then you turn it on and press the appropriate key to access the BIOS.
  • Look for anything like "Boot Device Priority" or "Boot from first" or something like that.
  • Change it in such a way that an entry containing the word USB is chosen.
  • Save BIOS settings and reboot.

Then:

  • Switch off.
  • Insert bootable USB stick (previously made with "plain" HP utility running from the 2k or XP in the laptop, choosing FAT16 or NTFS, NOT FAT32 ).
  • Switch on.
  • Report what happens.

Have you actually tried to simply unzip the fuwi's file as they are and run them? :unsure:

Of course answering NO when it asks for BartPE....;)

jaclaz

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Tulert

Tulert

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Rats ;) are used in Labs because they are usually very fast in learning new things.

Rat already did some progresss figuring the issue but didn't try it yet. Your response is helpful though as wasn't 100% sure what would be formally a boot from a USB with no OS there.

Have you actually tried to simply unzip the fuwi's file as they are and run them? :unsure:

Yes, on MicroCenter (I think) and Asus (no check of bootability, seen your advice to others but had issue #2). I did see blue screen and menu and Windows setup as last item (had FDD in BIOS too). Then it took me to grub> on a grey screen (recollection, hopefully it's accurate). We didn't discuss this.

Actually I think I tried to change BIOS settings for USB at that stage as the situation looked promising, it didn't help so I moved to the formatting with RMPrepUSB according to

http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showto...87993&st=17

Of course answering NO when it asks for BartPE....;)

I answered yes, got a notice that nothing will be done and then what I said above.

I think after that I decided to return to the original state of things. Formatted MicroCenter and wasn't able to get to grub>. So then I asked about zeroing sectors. Which actually worked even though I've got a strange message. (When I did it on a different stick I got a positive message, so I know that one was weird)

Another detail -- I know on Asus I can pick lba mode and all the time it was Auto. I've read somewhere in all the discussions that "some BIOSes support lba mode and some don't and it affects booting from a USB". I didn't do anything to that mode so far but I can show you screenshots if you find this interesting and want to try changing it.

Edited by Tulert
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Tulert

Tulert

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run from the laptop on the chosen stick fuwi's tool:

http://www.911cd.net/forums//index.php?showtopic=21702

and see if it boots on the laptop.

Report:

For fuwi's tool

Sorry: I didn't change the file system away from FAT32. Below record is for FAT32 in fuwi.

  • create folder C:\PEBuilder
    This substitutes
    Copy USB-Boot_Utilities.zip in your PEBuilder root-folder (where PEBuilder.exe is).
    in Installation instructions
  • create folder C:\PEBuilder\USB-Boot_Utilities
  • unzipped USB-Boot_Utilities.zip into C:\PEBuilder\USB-Boot_Utilities
  • Run 'Bootable_USB-Drive.cmd'
  • c; s; 'g'; y; n

For booting on a laptop

  • BIOS: Startup -> Boot -> Boot priority -> +USB HDD 1-st; USB FDD excluded; USB CD excluded
  • BIOS: Config -> USB -> USB BIOS Support [Enabled]
  • Blue screen with menu, I figure this qualifies as "boots", pic.

If it does, try the stick on the Asus, if it does not work we get more evidence that the problem is in the ASUS BIOS.

For Asus

  • (1) BIOS: Auto => Motherboard logo
  • (2) BIOS: CDROM => blinking cursor => Reboot ans Select proper Boot device or Insert Boot Media in selected Boot device and press a key
  • (3) BIOS: FDD => menu, pic => grub> prompt

Update 1:

Just repeated everything for FAT16. All pics & output the same

Repeated for NTFS. All pics & output the same

==================================

Repeated with Fuwi: c; h; [g]; => This is not a USB-HD Partition!

... tried a couple reformats & then back to Fuwi: c; h; [g]. Results in "This is not a USB-HD Partition!" in Fuwi.

Thought this might be tested as h is an option to format as HDD rather than Stick.

================================

Irrelevant Info

Update 2:

Tested what happens with a bootable CD. So

1) if a USB stick is physically present no matter what BIOS settings (Emulation:Auto, different booting settings including totally ignoring USB as an option) booting from CDROM doesn't happen. Stuck at Motherboard logo.

2) if USB is physically not plugged and CDROM chosen as a boot device #1 everything goes as expected. I interrupted Setup for the purity of the experiment.

Side Info

One issue I know for sure about my Asus is that it has isues with IDE connector. People were not able to start their system with HDDs on IDE and was Ok when they switched to SATA. I wasn't able to do DVDROM+CDROM or DVDROM alone as Master, CS, etc. Had to go with a CDROM and left my figuring DVDROM later.

post-248315-1245966716_thumb.jpg

post-248315-1245968310_thumb.jpg

Edited by Tulert
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