• Welcome to OS2World OLD-STATIC-BACKUP Forum.
 

News:

This is an old OS2World backup forum for reference only. IT IS READ ONLY!!!

If you need help with OS/2 - eComStation visit http://www.os2world.com/forum

Main Menu

Weird stuff happening...

Started by Rrm, 2008.04.16, 13:58:56

Previous topic - Next topic

Rrm

Umm i've noticed that, whenever i boot my pc, i get a new screen i never saw before. I have a HP computer, so it says "HP" at the first screen. Then it should stay black for a few seconds. Then windows should start. A few days ago, os/2 warp was in there, instead of the black screen. Trough googling, i at least know what it is, but i still have no idea HOW it got on my pc, as i never installed it. I can run windows perfectly fine, but i want to get rid of os/2, as it slows my booting down by at least 10 seconds... Could anyone help me in how to do it? And if someone know how this could have gotten onto my pc withotu me knowing it, that'd be usefull :P. Just one thing; i'm the only user of the computer, noone knows the password, noone is allowed to use it except me. Besides, my family couldn't install a os :P

warpcafe

Hi Rrm,

first: Congrats to you daring to ask OS/2 people how to get rid of OS/2... ;)
Just kidding - I hope we're able to help you:

By your description, the first thing I'ld ask for would be "is there a floppy or CD left in a drive?".
Second would be to check your Windows boot.ini (hidden) file to see if someone played a joke on you.

The reason for my suggestion is that usually, if OS/2 starts, it either starts or fails and stops. Because of what you describe, there must be somthing that tells it to boot through to Windows. It could also be that something has left a boot manager kind of thing...
Can you tell us what exactly is displayed? Is there a small white square in the upper left of the screen along with a text "OS/2" ? Is there some kind of boot logo? You said
QuoteA few days ago, os/2 warp was in there, instead of the black screen.
...what exactly is displayed? A full-screen low-resolution logo, a text message...?

And... out of curiosity... how did you got to this forum? Google? Have you tried to get advice somewhere else before? Note - this is not for blaming or argue - just wanted to know...

HTH
Thomas
"It is not worth an intelligent man's time to be in the majority.
By definition, there are already enough people to do that"
- G.H. Hardy

Pete

Hi Rrm

After having a giggle at the concept of a Windows system displaying what sounds like it could be the OS/2 Warp boot splash screen I had a think and came to the following conclusions in order of "most likely":-

1] An entertaining hoax post designed to give people like me a giggle  ;-)

2] As suggested by Warpcafe: someone has had a fiddle with a bootup file and introduced the OS/2 Warp splash screen - got any OS/2 using friends?

3] A new Windows virus that promotes OS/2 by introducing the splash screen - hopefully it does not do anything else...

4] Your computer has realised there are better operating systems than Windows and is demanding that you install OS/2 - or the latest incarnation of OS/2 which is called eComStation and works well with modern hardware, see www.ecomstation.com


A final thought does occur: If this is a 2nd user system then maybe it has had (still has?) OS/2 installed. Not sure why the splash screen should suddenly start appearing though...


Let us now the result of your investigations.

Pete

saborion2

Ha, Ha, Ha, Ha........

Quote
Umm i've noticed that, whenever i boot my pc, i get a new screen i never saw before. I have a HP computer, so it says "HP" at the first screen. Then it should stay black for a few seconds. Then windows should start. A few days ago, os/2 warp was in there, instead of the black screen. Trough googling, i at least know what it is, but i still have no idea HOW it got on my pc, as i never installed it. I can run windows perfectly fine, but i want to get rid of os/2

Can someone please tell me that this is not the 1st April or not the day after Tax Day... in the US of A. ;D ;D ;D

On the other hand as was asked previously... "Rrm" did not say whether this is a new (previously unused machine) to remove the assumption of the presence of "Boot Manager" installed in the system?

Rrm

#4
Well, the logo displayed is exactly like this: http://www.guidebookgallery.org/pics/gui/startupshutdown/splash/os2warp4.png

Luckily it said IBM, otherwise i'd still be searching as to what it is ^^.

I had a boot manager, and installed linux in dualboot, but something went wrong so i had to use my norton ghost to recover my pc to a few days before i installed linux and the boot manager. As i said before, it worked fine for a few days and then started showing the splash screen when my pc boots. And saborion; it's not new, i've had it over a year(even tough some reinstalling occured inbetween;)). And pete; it's not hoax, i wish it were  :o.

Quote from: warpcafe on 2008.04.16, 17:08:23
...
By your description, the first thing I'ld ask for would be "is there a floppy or CD left in a drive?".
Second would be to check your Windows boot.ini (hidden) file to see if someone played a joke on you.
...

No floppies, no cd's, no SD cards... There is an external hard disk tough, but all it has is a couple of backup-ghosts and unused installers.

saborion2

Really cool:
Quote
Well, the logo displayed is exactly like this:

http://www.guidebookgallery.org/pics/gui/startupshutdown/splash/os2warp4.png


Hey "Rrm"; Let me ask you this question: Why do you not think that you are on your way to the next best thing in discovering OS/2. So, why do you wish to have it (what is on your computer) "deleted"... why not "Go Boldly Where None Has Gone Before"! Perhaps, some "great mind" was working on something that was meant for one (you) to discover. How about putting your computer up ("as is") for sale on eBay? ;D

RobertM

#6
Hi Rrm,

A couple other thoughts to add to the one below.


  • Is it possible you installed the wrong Ghost image?
  • Is it possible you have a floppy archive of OS/2 on the external drive (Warp 3 did not come with a bootable CD - and numerous copies were entirely floppy install, while the rest came with boot floppies and CDs)? Though this scenario isn't likely, it is possible that your computer will boot from an external hard drive and use such a boot image - fail during the boot, then try a secondary boot device (internal hard drive) and boot Windows. Simply removing the external drive should rectify this for testing purposes... then simply disabling "USB HDD boot" (or however the option is named in your BIOS) (OR) changing the boot order so that it tried the internal drives first; will disable this from happening even if the external HDD is plugged in during boot.
  • Is it possible you have the computer in question set to "Network Boot"? AND (next requirement) do you have a Warp Server system on the same network? AND (next requirement) do you have something like WorkSpace on Demand or other OS/2 Thin Client support set up on that OS/2 Server? If so (if ALL of those requirements are met), your machine might be trying a network boot to OS/2 from that server.

Here are the facts related to this scenario that I can tell you...

  • The versions of OS/2 that used that boot image do NOT have a bootable CD for installation (they came with 2 or 3 floppies)
  • OS/2 will NOT auto-install itself on any system. Period. There are ways of doing an automatic installation (which I have done) but it would require user intervention before the install process - such as one or more of the following: (a) creating a network install disk (system boots off a floppy, loads network card drivers, talks to an OS/2 Warp Server and runs the installation from pre-prepared scripts on the server - this method would require the OS/2 server, someone having created a remote install environment on it, and the floppy) - or (b) see last item in list above.

Even with those possibilities, I'd lean more towards someone playing a trick on you (or this being a joke on us). The reasons being, even on dual OS setups, OS/2 will never display it's boot logo and then boot into Windows. It may (depending on how set up) display it's BOOT MANAGER (blue and white text based screen, no logo) and allow you to select, or do a timeout boot to whatever OS is the default selection - but you will NOT see any logos or such for the unselected OS during the boot process. It may also share partitions with other OS's (assuming they are FAT) in which case, you will not see a bootmanager menu - it will either boot to one OS or the other depending on what you selected during shutdown of the last ran OS.

So, basically, what you are describing IS MOST LIKELY NOT OS/2 booting before (or with) Windows. The only way that would be possible is OS/2 TRYING to boot before Windows because it's install floppies are on the external hard drive in it's root directory and your BIOS is set to try the external drive first (and it fails that boot and then tries the internal HDD and boots Windows).

One other possible variant would be that the external hard drive was at one time an internal drive (Warp 3 will NOT install on an external USB drive), and used to have (and mostly still does) OS/2 on it, and then you started using it as external storage, and your BIOS is set to try booting from the external drive first - if so, follow the same steps below to disable external drive boot - or simply unplug the drive.

The most likely scenario (unless one of the unlikely ones above fits) is the one that was suggested by warpcafe and then again by Pete:

2] As suggested by Warpcafe: someone has had a fiddle with a bootup file and introduced the OS/2 Warp splash screen - got any OS/2 using friends?


And the final scenario I can think of is that the drive (or image backup) you are using previously held OS/2 (Warp 3 - which is ancient) and something during your partition restores recovered some part of OS/2 Warp 3.

This though is also highly unlikely simply because OS/2 will NOT start booting and then load Windows once it's kernel is loaded.

You have a web cam or cell phone cam? Can you "videotape" the machine's startup and post it here?

Thanks,
Robert


|
|
Kirk's 5 Year Mission Continues at:
Star Trek New Voyages
|
|


warpcafe

Hi RobertM, Rrm,

this
QuoteOne other possible variant would be that the external hard drive was at one time an internal drive (Warp 3 will NOT install on an external USB drive), and used to have (and mostly still does) OS/2 on it, and then you started using it as external storage, and your BIOS is set to try booting from the external drive first - if so, follow the same steps below to disable external drive boot - or simply unplug the drive.
actually is a damn good analysis, idea and conclusion! Wow. Respect, RobertM! I didn't think of that solution...
But in order to save my reputation I must admit that Rrm didn't tell about the EXTERNAL drive in the initial post... ;)

Yeah, I agree: Boot the PC without the external drive attached (or powered on). Let's see what happens.
As you said that there's all kinds of installers and Ghosts on it, chances are very likely that some "ghosting" software also has ghosted the bootmanager partition which -by any bad luck- defaulted to OS/2 only boot. But: If that drive was used for backup / storage purposes only and was used on a machine which didn't support booting from attached external drives, then the OS/2 boot was actually active but never "triggered" and thus never showed up.
Today (or since that happens), either your machines boot sequence was changed to try booting from (USB-) external devices first (which unveiled the OS/2 boot finally) or the external drive was either never before attached to your HP or not powered on at boot time.

Again, RobertM - very good analytic skills and "logically-bound imagination". You're a professional, aren't you? ;)

Regards
Thomas
"It is not worth an intelligent man's time to be in the majority.
By definition, there are already enough people to do that"
- G.H. Hardy

RobertM

Quote from: warpcafe on 2008.04.16, 23:04:31
Hi RobertM, Rrm,

Again, RobertM - very good analytic skills and "logically-bound imagination". You're a professional, aren't you? ;)

Regards
Thomas

Thanks! But, nah (though I have pretended to be a professional for the last 20 years)... just lots of coffee, and getting to this topic late (and thus seeing the last bit of relevant info about the external drive)... reminded me of a trick I used to use to boot certain OS's from a USB drive even when the OS didnt support it (some few BIOSs would allow using an external USB drive as if it was an internal IDE drive)...

R


|
|
Kirk's 5 Year Mission Continues at:
Star Trek New Voyages
|
|


saborion2

#9
Quote
Hi Rrm,

first: Congrats to you daring to ask OS/2 people how to get rid of OS/2...  ;)
Just kidding - I hope we're able to help you:


On a serious note "Rrm"; Have you ever had a look at OS/2's GUIs; if not, take a look here:

http://toastytech.com/guis/os24.html

They is a saying that "Beauty Is In The Eyes Of The Beholder"  ;D ;D ;D

Unlike you, and, if these OS/2 GUIs are sooooo...... cool (cannot quite understand why someone would wish to have any other than these on theircomputer screens...  ;D ;D ;D) ; and, maybe you do not know what the many, many other OS/2 GUIs look like making you not that eager to "explore" any further.... the feeling/mood here is one of just cannot wait for "the best of OS/2 is yet to come".  ;)

8) 8) 8) 8) 8) 8) 8) .....

Good luck to you anyway.


warpcafe

Saborion,

an operating system is the holy grail only for us zealots here.
Most of the common people (users) are not even aware that there is something like an operating system on their machine. For them, it's windows. And: They don't use an operating system, they use Word or Excel not to mention IE, MediaPlayer or PowerPoint.

Keep in mind that some people look at a PC and see a "tool" for doing something while if we look at a PC we see a candidate for installing eCS|OS/2. ;) And if Rrm wants to get rid of OS/2 traces because it spoils his experience or he feels annoyed by something he does not want to be there - we should respect this, not crucify people for NOT being convinced of our "holy mission". 8)

Cheers
Thomas
"It is not worth an intelligent man's time to be in the majority.
By definition, there are already enough people to do that"
- G.H. Hardy

saborion2

#11
Quote
Keep in mind that some people look at a PC and see a "tool" for doing something while if we look at a PC we see a candidate for installing eCS|OS/2.  ;) And if Rrm wants to get rid of OS/2 traces because it spoils his experience or he feels annoyed by something he does not want to be there - we should respect this, not crucify people for NOT being convinced of our "holy mission".  8)

Hi "warpcafe"; To me the situation is more or less like one in which someone wonders into a "church" other than the one which was intended; and, it is believed that there is something that was written/said and goes like this: "whom soever shall enter in no way shall be casted out" :) ; and, it is in that "evangelical spirit" that "Rrm" is wooed and not being "crucified" as such. ;); on the other hand - who knows if "Rrm's" destiny (like millions, and millions of others) was intended to be a member of the OS/2 flock but somehow might have gone/been led astray? Such are the tasks of the "OS/2 evangelists" ;D

Rrm

I know the booting with windows shouldn't be possible... and there is NO way i could have installed from floppies as my pc doesn't even have a floppy drive, and i don't want to spend 30$ on an external one :D.

I'll try to film my pc booting and displaying the splash screen- i KNOW it shouldn't be possible, but it appears that it is :s. After i've filmed it, i'll try unplugging the disk. If it does stop displaying the os/2 screen, i'llfiddle around in the bios t un-boot the drive :P

oh and robert; noone i know uses os/2... I wasn't even entirely sure i could find soem expert anymore, isnce it dates from 2001, according to wikipedia :P.

Rrm

here it is: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1YkGx2P3MQg

Sorry for the crappy quality, it IS youtube :P
I also left out the HP screen i get when i boot, it coems right before the os/2 screen, but my camera wouldn't take more then 40 seconds, and this is basically the best shot i got (what more can you expect from a camera designed to take pictures ^^)

Saijin_Naib

Looks like the XP noguiboot flag has been enabled in the boot.ini file, and furthermore, Id guess that the OS/2 splash is the BIOS Graphical POST image somehow. That's all I can figure right now.