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OS/2 - Technical => Setup & Installation => Topic started by: BigFig on 2008.11.15, 23:25:09

Title: Only Boot Is Thru RC5 CD To HD
Post by: BigFig on 2008.11.15, 23:25:09
I was running eCS RC5 on two hd's, drives c and f.  I reinstalled on C with a format and now  I can only boot thru the Install CD.  W/O the CD, I get a "missing NTLDR" msg.  There is no and hasn't been any Win installs on these two HD's.
I've removed the BootManager, rebooted no boot, and installed the bootmanager again and no boot.

What now?
Title: Re: Only Boot Is Thru RC5 CD To HD
Post by: rdonnelly on 2008.11.15, 23:41:17
Is bootmanager set as startable and ecs as bootable?
Title: Re: Only Boot Is Thru RC5 CD To HD
Post by: BigFig on 2008.11.16, 00:35:16
Is bootmanager set as startable and ecs as bootable?

Yes.
Title: Re: Only Boot Is Thru RC5 CD To HD
Post by: RobertM on 2008.11.16, 01:32:11
Is bootmanager set as startable and ecs as bootable?

Yes.

Hi BigFig,

You need to reinstall Boot Manager. You can do that by booting off the eCS CD. Then, set the Boot Manager options (to add the XP and eCS partitions to it's boot list) and all should be well.

It sounds to me like the XP installed trashed BootManager (it tends to do that). Fixing it should hopefully resolve the issue (assuming during the install process it put it's files - such as NTLDR, etc - in the correct location).
Title: Re: Only Boot Is Thru RC5 CD To HD
Post by: Saijin_Naib on 2008.11.16, 02:07:16
He said there are not and have never been any Windows installs on those drives, so how can it be XPs fault?
Title: Re: Only Boot Is Thru RC5 CD To HD
Post by: BigFig on 2008.11.16, 05:50:18
That's right, NO Win of any kind.  I've removed the BootMgr several times now, put it on the ofher physical disk, etc. all to no avail.
Title: Re: Only Boot Is Thru RC5 CD To HD
Post by: rdonnelly on 2008.11.16, 06:00:17
Did you try from Installation Volume Manager: System > Rewrite MBR?
Title: Re: Only Boot Is Thru RC5 CD To HD
Post by: DavidG on 2008.11.16, 06:01:51
What drive was the bootmanager installed to and what is its location?  Is it installed at the beginning or end of the drive? If on the end, what is the size of the drive?
Title: Re: Only Boot Is Thru RC5 CD To HD
Post by: BigFig on 2008.11.16, 07:07:08
"What drive was the bootmanager installed to and what is its location?  Is it installed at the beginning or end of the drive? If on the end, what is the size of the drive?"

I've installed it on  drive 1 and the strange thing is there was no free space on the drive, the size of BM is zero MB's, yet the BM would work (thru the CD) and I've installed it at the end of (middle actually, there is 100GB free at the end) drive 2 and it's size was 7MB's. 

I have been using these two drives for OS2 for about 7 or 8 years and they have seen warp 4 and all the flavors of eCS.  All was fine until I decided to put RC5 on the C drive (it was working with RC4 until this point).  I did format the drive but there was a hangup when it rebooted for phase 2 (or maybe 3) it hung during the playing of the start up wave file and required use of the reset button.  I have since reformatted twice more and gotten clean installs except nothing is bootable except thru the Install CD.   Both drives in the  BM are labeled "startable" and the BM is labeled 'bootable".
Title: Re: Only Boot Is Thru RC5 CD To HD
Post by: DavidG on 2008.11.16, 07:36:11
From your information, bootmanager is not installed to drive 1.  There is no room.   As you have stated, bootmanager now requires 7 MB of space.  On drive 1, if the room were available, bootmanager could be installed anywhere on the drive.  I must confess that I have never installed bootmanager at the end of the partition on drive 2.  Whenever, I have installed bootmanager to drive 2, it has always been at the beginning of the partition.

This may be the problem. No room on drive 1.  On drive 2, it needs to be installed at the beginning of the partition.  However, I am just guessing.  Possibly, someone more knowledgeable than me can tell me if I am wrong.
Title: Re: Only Boot Is Thru RC5 CD To HD
Post by: BigFig on 2008.11.16, 15:56:35
All I can say David, is that it was working fine until I installed  RC5 on Drive C.  I  agree that is seems impossible for the boot mgr to work in zero space, but when I  press enter on the CD menu (boot to hard drive) it get a bootmgr of  two drives even tho lvm indicates zero bits used.
Title: Re: Only Boot Is Thru RC5 CD To HD
Post by: kimhav on 2008.11.16, 16:05:55
Since BootManager is failing on you; give it a try with AirBoot instead.
Title: Re: Only Boot Is Thru RC5 CD To HD
Post by: RobertM on 2008.11.16, 21:54:58
He said there are not and have never been any Windows installs on those drives, so how can it be XPs fault?

Sorry, my mistype. NT didnt have to be installed on it, but it is possible (probable) that the drive was preformatted with NTFS and something is left over.
Title: Re: Only Boot Is Thru RC5 CD To HD
Post by: RobertM on 2008.11.16, 21:57:00
All I can say David, is that it was working fine until I installed  RC5 on Drive C.  I  agree that is seems impossible for the boot mgr to work in zero space, but when I  press enter on the CD menu (boot to hard drive) it get a bootmgr of  two drives even tho lvm indicates zero bits used.

Resizing to allow more room for bootmanager may be an option then. BM seems to take over 7MB on most drives nowadays. Well, it really doesnt, but it has to do with drive size and geometry. That's the smallest segment that gets allocated.

Title: Re: Only Boot Is Thru RC5 CD To HD
Post by: rdonnelly on 2008.11.16, 22:02:36
He said there are not and have never been any Windows installs on those drives, so how can it be XPs fault?

Sorry, my mistype. NT didnt have to be installed on it, but it is possible (probable) that the drive was preformatted with NTFS and something is left over.


Your right, NTLDR does stand for NT Loader. I actually got that error one time booting XP, during my partitioning debacle, now that I think of it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NTLDR

Try using the CD to change active drive in Installation Volume Manager. Set the C:\ Ecs as startable, and see if it is able to boot without bootmanger?
Title: Re: Only Boot Is Thru RC5 CD To HD
Post by: BigFig on 2008.11.17, 13:53:46
Problem solved and I feel like and absolute idiot.  I had left the floppy with the registration file in.  The floppy was set as the 3rd boot device, after CD and Hard Drive but for some reason the bios was looking at it. 

Thanks to all for the attention to my problem.

Gary