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Can't Boot Into Ghost 2003 Using Boot Floppy (Read 19021 times)
LedAstray
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Can't Boot Into Ghost 2003 Using Boot Floppy
Feb 25th, 2006 at 2:08pm
 
With my Desktop Dell PC, theres no problem booting into Ghost with a floppy disk. However, with my Laptop, a Dell Inspiron 4000 with a connectable Floppy Disk Drive Module, it just hangs:
Starting PC DOS
Microsoft Mouse Driver Version 8.20
Mouse Driver Installed
Loading...
It just hangs at the "loading", won't boot into Ghost. Any help you could give me on this? I really need to backup my Laptop.
I am using Windows 2000 SP4.
Thanks.
 
 
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Re: Can't Boot Into Ghost 2003 Using Boot Floppy
Reply #1 - Feb 25th, 2006 at 4:27pm
 
LedAstray

Are you able to boot to DOS using other boot disks with the floppy drive?

See here for other DOS boot disks:

Boot Disks



 

No question is stupid...but, possibly the answers are  Wink !
(This is an old *NightOwl* user account--not in current use.  Current account is NightOwl without a dash at the end.)
 
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LedAstray
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Re: Can't Boot Into Ghost 2003 Using Boot Floppy
Reply #2 - Feb 25th, 2006 at 6:10pm
 
Thanks for helping me with this, I really appreciate it.
I tried to boot using a NTFS4DOS 1.8 bootdisk by datapol.de and it was unable to boot all the way into DOS.
It had this to say:
UMB's unavailable
freecom:
xmsswap.In
xmscopy error
cannot terminate permanent freecom instance
system halted
reboot or power off
Then, I tried to boot using a bootable Ghost CD I created on my desktop PC just to see what would happen and got the same result as in the beginning:
Starting PC DOS
Microsoft Mouse Driver Version 8.20
Mouse Driver Installed
Loading...
And nothiong else happens. This really is a mystery!
I was however, able to successfully use the Windows 2000 set-up disks 1 - 4 to go into Windows setup but this doesn't do me any good. Any other suggestions? Thanks
 
 
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Re: Can't Boot Into Ghost 2003 Using Boot Floppy
Reply #3 - Feb 25th, 2006 at 7:10pm
 
LedAstray

But, you have not tried what I suggested yet--download, say the Win98se boot disk, to your desktop computer, run the downloaded *.exe* to create a floppy boot disk.  Use that floppy boot disk in the floppy drive hooked to the laptop--does it boot successfully?

Is the floppy drive hooked up as a USB device?

Is the mouse a USB device?
 

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Re: Can't Boot Into Ghost 2003 Using Boot Floppy
Reply #4 - Feb 25th, 2006 at 8:20pm
 
Hi NightOwl,

I used boot98SE.exe on my desktop to create a floppy boot disk and it booted my Laptop to A:\.
Floppy drive hooked up to the laptop with a 53975 Dell data cable.
Mouse is a PS/2 device.

Thanks
 
 
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Re: Can't Boot Into Ghost 2003 Using Boot Floppy
Reply #5 - Feb 26th, 2006 at 10:53am
 
LedAstray

Okay--so if I understand correctly--the Win98se boot disk boots successfully--this would suggest that the hardware side is working properly--and there must be something amiss on the software side of those other boot disks.

So, looking at the boot files on your boot disk for Ghost that is failing vs the Win98se boot disk--what are the main differences?  Post the list of files on the boot disk, and the content of the *autoexec.bat* and *config.sys* files.

Here's a possible test:

1.  Put the DOS *ghost.exe* on a separate floppy disk.

2.  Boot using the Win98se boot floppy that gets you successfully to the A:\ prompt.

3.  Pop out the boot disk and put in the floppy with *ghost.exe* on it.  Type *ghost.exe* at the A:\ prompt.

Results?
 

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Re: Can't Boot Into Ghost 2003 Using Boot Floppy
Reply #6 - Feb 26th, 2006 at 12:18pm
 
Greetings NightOwl,

List Of Files On Notrton Ghost 2003 Boot Disk That Is Failing
FOLDER: GHOST [CONTAINS GHOST.EXE]
AUTOEXEC.BAT
COMMAND.COM
CONFIG.SYS
IBMBIO.COM
IBMDOS.COM
MOUSE.COM
MOUSE.INI

Content Of autoexec.bat
@echo off
SET TZ=GHO+05:00
MOUSE.COM
echo Loading...
CD GHOST
GHOST.EXE

Content Of config.sys
LASTDRIVE = Z

I tried out your suggestion to put the DOS ghost.exe on a separate floppy disk and boot using the Win98se boot floppy that gets you successfully to the A:\ prompt and then pop out the boot disk and put in the floppy with ghost.exe on it and typed ghost.exe at the A:\ prompt. 

The results were successful! I finally got into ghost although the screen looks very small,  about 1/3 the size of the laptop screen. It's does not expand completely to the screen size of the laptop for some strange reason. What do you think of this issue? Also, the mouse does not work in ghost; I has to move around using the ALT key. I suspect it has something to do with the fact that it has a USB to PS/2 connector. I'll probably need to create a ghost boot disk with USB support.

Thank you kindly for your help. Any other suggestions on how to get all this running normally?
 
 
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Dan Goodell
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Re: Can't Boot Into Ghost 2003 Using Boot Floppy
Reply #7 - Feb 26th, 2006 at 7:32pm
 
"the screen looks very small,  about 1/3 the size of the laptop screen."


Try pressing [Fn-F7] to toggle between native and full-screen resolution.  This occurs because a DOS screen (video mode 7) is 640x400 pixels, but your LCD screen (which is probably XGA) is likely 1024x768 pixels.  Thus, a DOS screen only fills the middle 640x400 dots of your LCD's 1024x768 array.  The [Fn-F7] key combo (the blue "Font" function printed on your F7 key) toggles between the native dot size vs. spreading DOS's 640 dots across the full 1024 screen pixels.  Since there's a lot of interpolation that goes on when you spread the dots, you'll notice the side-effect that the text and images get a bit fuzzy.

(Note: This [Fn-F7] feature is specific to the I-4000 and related other models of Dell laptops.)

"the mouse does not work in ghost; I has to move around using the ALT key.  I suspect it has something to do with the fact that it has a USB to PS/2 connector."


Two different issues.  True, you can't use a USB device in DOS unless you load a USB driver--at least on this model.  (Recent Dell's include USB support natively in the bios.)

Nevertheless, the mouse does not work because you didn't load a DOS mouse driver.  Try copying the mouse.com file from your non-working boot floppy to the Ghost floppy.  Now reboot from the Win98 DOS floppy, swap the floppies, and run "mouse" to load the mouse driver.  Now when you launch ghost.exe, you should be able to move around with your touchpad.

"I'll probably need to create a ghost boot disk with USB support."


Yes, if you want to use a USB mouse.  Considering the few times you'll need it, and the fact that you can get by with the touchpad, you'll have to weigh whether trying to get a DOS USB driver to work is worth the effort.

You haven't said where you're planning to save your Ghost image, but if you're thinking USB drive, then you'll need to get a USB driver working anyway.  NightOwl is the man for that.

FYI to NightOwl: on the I-4000, the floppy drive is designed to install in the laptop's drive bay, but the Dell 53975 cable LedAstray mentioned allows the drive to connect via the parallel port instead (so you can keep a CD drive in the bay).  It can't be used on just any parallel port, it turns the Dell-proprietary parallel port into a floppy port.
 
 
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Re: Can't Boot Into Ghost 2003 Using Boot Floppy
Reply #8 - Feb 26th, 2006 at 9:45pm
 
Greetings Dan Goodell,

Pressing [Fn-F-7] solved the small screen problem! I never heard of that. Thank you! I can't believe something so simple did the trick. And I searched all over Google and even Dell's support site about  solving this problem with no results.

Copying the mouse.com file from the non-working boot floppy to the Ghost floppy then reboot from the Win98 DOS floppy, and swap the floppies, and run "mouse" to load the mouse driver worked also! I am now able to move around with the touchpad in Ghost.

I'm probably going to just stay with using the touchpad in Ghost. It's no big deal and probably not worth the headaches of getting and configuringh DOS USB mouse driver to work with Ghost. Or maybe just go out and buy a old fashioned PS/2 mouse and use that.

Using the Win98SE boot disk and then swapping disks to get Ghost and my touchpad to work as a workaround is tedious, but it in the end, it gets the image created successfully so that is what I'm going to do.

I just saved my first Laptop Ghost image to a partition I created on the Laptop's HD (it acts like it's a seperate drive). However, I'm going to work on creating the images on my USB external HD, which I already normally use for my desktop PC Ghost images. I'm getting a headache thinking about how I'm going to do that already and most definitely will need NightOw's help on that.

Thanks again Dan Goodell, you're one of the great ones!






 
 
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Re: Can't Boot Into Ghost 2003 Using Boot Floppy
Reply #9 - Feb 27th, 2006 at 1:30am
 
LedAstray

Quote:
Using the Win98SE boot disk and then swapping disks to get Ghost and my touchpad to work as a workaround is tedious, but it in the end, it gets the image created successfully so that is what I'm going to do.


You could try this:

Delete all the files on the Win98se boot disk except the following:

COMMAND.COM
IO.SYS
MSDOS.SYS

Then, transfer the following files (in yellow) from you non-working Ghost boot disk to the Win98se boot floppy:

List Of Files On Notrton Ghost 2003 Boot Disk That Is Failing  
FOLDER: GHOST [CONTAINS GHOST.EXE]
AUTOEXEC.BAT

COMMAND.COM
CONFIG.SYS

IBMBIO.COM
IBMDOS.COM

MOUSE.COM
MOUSE.INI


Does that altered Win98se boot floppy work now?
 

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(This is an old *NightOwl* user account--not in current use.  Current account is NightOwl without a dash at the end.)
 
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LedAstray
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Re: Can't Boot Into Ghost 2003 Using Boot Floppy
Reply #10 - Feb 27th, 2006 at 11:03am
 
Greetings NightOwl,

Your custom boot disk worked great! I can now boot into Ghost with no problems and get around using the laptop's touch pad to create or restore a Ghost image. Thanks for all your help, you're one of the great ones!

These Radified forums work better than any Symantec customer suport I ever used.

My next project will be to try to create and restore a Laptop Ghost image to my external Seagate USB HD. If I have any problems, I'll start a new post.

Thanks again!
 
 
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