Reactos uninstallable with non-CD-booting BIOS...?

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steveh
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Joined: Sat Dec 18, 2004 10:02 pm

Reactos uninstallable with non-CD-booting BIOS...?

Post by steveh »

Hi,

I still have big problems to install reactos 0.2.5 on an old machine not capable of booting from a CD.

First I tried what was proposed in a thread in this forum with "smart boot manager", supposed it could do what the old BIOS cannot do itself, but it systematically brought "error xAA" when accessing the CD... :cry:

Second try was now using freeldr on a diskette to start the reactos installation from the CD.
"custom install" + indicating "cd0"
It starts reactos but somehow in a "wrong way". Reactos makes no setup, tries to start, writes some status msgs and then displays the reactos boot logo, but then shutdowns with "it's now safe to switch off your computer" followed by one of the varying funny complementary messages. :shock:
Maybe it's because freeldr tries to start "freeldr.sys" instead of "setupldr.sys" which it SHOULD do the first time...? :(

Other proposals please... :)

For instance i have extracted "image1.bin" from the ISO CD with the Bart's bootimage extractor. Can i do anything useful with this BIN and with the BIN's in "loader" to make the installation with the freeldr diskette and a copy of the installation CD on HDD, instead of using the normal install method directly from CD...?

Can i find somewhere the complete syntax rules for "freeldr.ini"? I have not found the freeldr's homepage / project page?
Meklort
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Post by Meklort »

One thing you could do (i'm not sure if it will work) is take the install directory when you run make install (i can get it to you if you need it) and just compy that onto a formatted fat filesystem. Next you could try that floppy with freeloader on it. Im going to try this wiht my really old laptop that doesn't have a cdrom drive.
sonny73044
Posts: 6
Joined: Tue Nov 30, 2004 5:22 pm

Bootable CD Loader

Post by sonny73044 »

@steveh, you should be able to use this floppy to redirect the boot process to the cd. I have used this to install windows on old machines which don't support cd boot.
http://www.wolfgang-brinkmann.de/bcdw/index_e.htm file: bcdl150z.zip
One thing you could do (i'm not sure if it will work) is take the install directory when you run make install
This will work (I use this method to "upgrade" versions) but I'm not sure how you would then write the boot code, using grub etc should work

Look here for instructions on installing the binaries under
"Installing ReactOS on a DOS Partition"
http://www.reactos.com/en/content/view/full/260
steveh
Posts: 271
Joined: Sat Dec 18, 2004 10:02 pm

Post by steveh »

@sonny73044

Hi, I have tried the solution with "Bootable CD loader v1.50Z" bcdl150z.zip, but it didn't work for me.

I copied various CDROM drivers to the floppy.
But none worked. I hoped that especially "vide-cdd" or "oakcdrom" would work, but not!
(I did rename "oakcdrom" because it's name was not defined in "bcdl150z.ima")
With these drivers, the CDROM drive was identified, but the media was not accessed.
"oakcdrom" complained that is no CDROM at adress "0170".

The drive is a HP7200I CDR/CDRW burner, but it should normally work with standard MSDOS CDROM drivers for reading only.

I wil try to do a BIOS update as soon as possible. Maybe there is a problem of drive incompatibility with the BIOS, in case of "low-level" access thru the BIOS itself or thru a boot-routine on a floppy, to the drive.
I found a BIOS update with indication "more CDROM drives recognized", but probably still not able to boot a CDROM itself.

Supplemental question:
in several posts about boot-problems with CD's are mentioned "slow CDROM's". Is response time an important factor? Can CDROM drives have time-out problems with booting or when accessed via freeldr or via "bootable CD loader"?

About the other proposed solution
>"Installing ReactOS on a DOS Partition"

i think this no longer exists for Reactos 0.2.5, version 0.2.4 was the last to be available in a "bin" package. :(
And the 0.2.5 on the ISO CD image does not have everything needed included to install it thru DOS...
Sarocet
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Location: España (Spain)

Post by Sarocet »

steveh wrote: in several posts about boot-problems with CD's are mentioned "slow CDROM's". Is response time an important factor? Can CDROM drives have time-out problems with booting or when accessed via freeldr or via "bootable CD loader"?
Yes, it is. It's a problem for ANY cd booted system. If the time the BIOS checking if it is bootable is less than the time the CD drive takes into reading it, it will pass it, going to Hard Disk.
The solution is to press Pause/Break, until the light the CD Drive stops lighting, that is, it has 'loaded' the CD and is able to work with it. Then, you press Enter and the PC continues running. Then it will boot from CD (at least, it will work with most).
steveh
Posts: 271
Joined: Sat Dec 18, 2004 10:02 pm

slow cdrom...

Post by steveh »

@Sarocet

>Yes, it is. It's a problem for ANY cd booted system. If the time the BIOS checking if it is bootable is less than the time the CD drive takes into reading it, it will pass it, going to Hard Disk.

I understand. I supose this is simply a "priority problem" if BIOS boots directly from CD or HDD. A slow CD access is ignored.

But this should not disturb booting with freeldr or bcdl150z, and can be the explanation why these methods don't work for me... :?:
uniQ
Posts: 246
Joined: Sat Dec 04, 2004 8:58 am

Re: Reactos uninstallable with non-CD-booting BIOS...?

Post by uniQ »

steveh wrote:I have not found the freeldr's homepage / project page?
Neither have I. Anyone know ANYTHING about FreeLoafers origins?

-uniQ
Coming on, coming up, let me help ROS and I'll be able to look @ a life well used.
GvG
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Location: The Netherlands

Post by GvG »

FreeLdr was initially written by Brian Palmer, one of the early developers of ReactOS.
uniQ
Posts: 246
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Post by uniQ »

And he's gone and that's his legacy?

-uniQ
Coming on, coming up, let me help ROS and I'll be able to look @ a life well used.
GvG
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Post by GvG »

"He's gone" sounds so definitive... Brian was (along with David Welch, Rex Jolif and probably a few others who I don't know 'cause I wasn't around at that time) one of the "founding fathers" of our project who more or less burnt out along the way. We owe them a great deal of respect.
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Jaix
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Some history should be written.

Post by Jaix »

GvG wrote:"He's gone" sounds so definitive... Brian was (along with David Welch, Rex Jolif and probably a few others who I don't know 'cause I wasn't around at that time) one of the "founding fathers" of our project who more or less burnt out along the way. We owe them a great deal of respect.
Wow, this kind of history would be very interesting to hear about (read), could someone with insight about the early years write down the history with the names and the deeds of all the guys who has contribured from the start. I think they should be recognized and encouraged to let them feel we respect them for what they did (and still does in some cases).
Meklort
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Re: Some history should be written.

Post by Meklort »

Jaix wrote: Wow, this kind of history would be very interesting to hear about (read), could someone with insight about the early years write down the history with the names and the deeds of all the guys who has contribured from the start. I think they should be recognized and encouraged to let them feel we respect them for what they did (and still does in some cases).
While we are at it, why not add this info to the wiki.
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Jaix
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Re: Some history should be written.

Post by Jaix »

meklort wrote: While we are at it, why not add this info to the wiki.

I think it'sa good idea, but I also this info should be locked for edit after it is ready. Perhaps this discussion should be at the forum for "Feedback & Suggestions" where there is an ongoing discussion about similar subject
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