Cannot get BartPE to boot from USB Options

[mdebono]

Hi all,

For some odd reason I cannot get BartPE to load from a USB flashdrive. It loads in RAM OK (even though it is taking around 10 minutes to load the 200Mb ISO on my HP TC1100), then it shows a blue screen with a white mouse pinter in the middle. The mouse works, but I cannot get any furtehr than this. Anyone can shed some light on this? Thank you for your help!

[BvF7734]

Welcome to the site. It is a great adventure you are trying to undertake.

May I take this moment to point out the search feature that is an integral part of this forum? Also a basic parusal of the main section would have shown you a thread based on this topic. For the sake of letting you find it your self, here is the link to it.

http://www.ubcd4win.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=2405

It is a long thread and has some answers for you.

[mdebono]

Thanks for the welcome! I have studied that thread over last weekend, and actually got to the point of creating the boot USB successfully. What I would like to try is to have a VERY small iso, so at least I reduce the RAM parameter. What is the bare minimum of plug-ins I need? Thanks once again.

[BvF7734]

No worries. Now as your latest question falls outside the scope of my last answer, it literally all depends on what you want to do with it. At a minimum you have to have the autobuild and critical plugins enabled or disabled according to what they are. After that, what do you not need to do what you want? To get my builds small but useful, I drop all malware from my build along with FF and Filezilla and a few other apps. As i boot mine off of USB drive, I have those particular apps as portable apps from portableapps.com. I have no need for those. Others are all about your tastes.

Basically, it is small as you make it. Leave the main build stuff and pick your apps you will need.

Good luck!! It can be a pain as you may build your for your systems and then try on a friends just to find out that the RAM disk may not work on it. It is a crap shoot when it comes to the USB booting thusfar.

[mdebono]

Thanks Bv!

Actually at this point what I want to do is not very important, however let's say that the primary scope is to perform and maintain good system backups (so I have the Ghost plugin), of course, at USB 2.0 speed. Other than this, I don't need anything at this point. So, I started off with enablind (or disabling) all the Critical plugins, along with all the Autobuilds and the Ghost plugin. Other than those I selected nothing, just to keep the iso down to a minimum. Still the iso is a chunky 277Mb (the bulk being the windows files in the i386 folder), so really it's not as small as I make it...

Anyway, the result of the above is still the blank blue screen with the happy little mouse pointer floating around (IMG:http://www.ubcd4win.com/forum/style_emoticons/default/unsure.gif) And thinking of the Ramdisk, what can make (or not make) it work? Do you think it's actually a Ramdisk issue?

In other words... I feel lost... by the way, my version of the PE builer is 3.1.10a, the version of the RAMdisk driver (in the srsp1 folder) is 5.2.3790.1830. Could you please check your version? My file sizes of ramdisk.sys and setupldr.bin are 22,528 bytes and 298,096 bytes respectively. I have 512Mb RAM on board.

[BvF7734]

If you followed the directions for the RAM disk creation and grabbed the files from 2003, then I am not sure... Might possibly be an issue of the services not getting started fast enough for it to continue on. This is as well addressed in the main USB boot thread.

I was going to post the info from the other thread but I have a question... You are in fact using 3.04 correct? The fix that is listed in the main USB thread has been implemented since 3.0 came out I believe. What it was was a modification of a inf or 2 and added a few files including sleep.exe to pause the system for a few seconds while the services and such fired up and then continued the boot. If you are still using 3.04 and it is giving the issue, then let me know and I will post the mods needed.

You may also think about using a vanilla BartPE with the BTS and LB driver 1.9 to make your disk. That may slim it down for you...

[mdebono]

I agree that it might possibly be an issue of the services not getting started fast enough (it takes a good 10 minutes loading the iso into RAM). To which main USB thread are you referring? Is it the one you originally posted in your first reply?

I am using version PE Builder 3.1.10a not 3.04, but still I do not recall seeing sleep.exe.

I have no info on vanilla BartPE with the BTS and LB driver 1.9. Can you please elaborate, or guide me with some links? On the ramdisk.sys issue, are there different file versions which I can try?

On a totally different note, do you know if Bart is contactable in any way?

Thanks once again!

[cdob]

I am using version PE Builder 3.1.10a not 3.04

There are hardware / BIOS limitations at USB booting. 10 minutes loading the iso into RAM indicated USB 1.1 speed.
A HP TC1100 might be strange.

There is new BartPE USB section over there at 911.
http://www.911cd.net/forums//index.php?showforum=38
Maybe a user did booted from a HP TC1100.

[BvF7734]

I agree that it might possibly be an issue of the services not getting started fast enough (it takes a good 10 minutes loading the iso into RAM). To which main USB thread are you referring? Is it the one you originally posted in your first reply?

Yes

I am using version PE Builder 3.1.10a not 3.04, but still I do not recall seeing sleep.exe.

BartPE 3.1.10a is included in UBCD4Win 3.04. Are you using the vanilla plain non modified BartPE or are you using UBCD4Win that you download from this site?

I have no info on vanilla BartPE with the BTS and LB driver 1.9. Can you please elaborate, or guide me with some links? On the ramdisk.sys issue, are there different file versions which I can try?

I was suggesting take the 3.04 from this site, get the BTS drivers, delete the drivers from the drivers folder or just move them to another location, grab the 1.9 driver pack from Litlbuggers site and build that way. Or download the plain BartPE from his site and use the driver method I just mentioned. That is what I would consider a plain jane vanilla base to test with.

As for additional files, did you follow the guides for grabbing the files from 2003? You have to grab several files from 2003 server in order for the ramdisk option to work. This includes but is not limited to ramdisk.sys.

On a totally different note, do you know if Bart is contactable in any way?

Don't know...


@cdob,

I will have to keep an eye on that thread and maybe post in it... Who knows... Thanx for that link!!

[mdebono]

Thanks cdob and Bv. Your help is greatly appreciated.

OK, I have the UBCD4Win from this site, not the original BartPE. Where do I find the BTS and Litlbuggers drivers? Do you have links? Is it just a plain delete and replace which you are proposing?

From the 2003 SP1 pack I only took the ramdisk.sys and setupldr.bin as per Bart's own instructions, and placed them in the folder srsp1 in the PEBuilder folder. I took and replaced/added no other files.

At this point I think I should re-define what I am aiming for. All I need is the ability to backup (and re-write if required) my entire hard drive in a PE environment, at USB 2.0 speed. I have checked with HP and came to know that my TC1100 tablet runs USB at 1.1 speed in DOS, so I believe I have no other option apart from loading the USB 2.0 drivers (in a Windows environment). I have tried several times to use the usbaspi.sys method (Panasonic USB 2.0 drivers for DOS) mentioned elsewhere on the net, but I had zero success, as it is impossible to load USB drivers from a USB device. So I am concluding that the best - and only - way is to load a basic windows setup and work from there, using a Windows based backup software such as Acronis True Image.

[rdsok]

The link to the BTS drivers is plainly posted in the Current version and Lastest News forum area.. Its the first sticky post so I don't understand how you missed that one.

UBCD4Win v3.04 already include the v1.9 drivers... there is no need to download them again.

[BvF7734]

I was under the presumption that the 2.0 drivers were in 3.04... Thank you for the clarification there rdsok.

@mdebono

Why don't you use the CD instead? If you can't load the USB2 drivers and so only runs at 1.1 speeds, why not skip the USB all together and just use the CD? It boots fairly fast and you can plug your External HD to do backups or even do over your network at home. Just an option...

[mdebono]

I agree that the CD might be the best option, but I have portability in mind. Remember this is a Tablet PC, so really no CD, no floppy... An external CD will have to be plugged through USB anyway, and will need external power... Despite all this, I will probably have to go down this route and see how it goes.

Actually right now I think I have made some progress. I have managed to install (and boot) Win98SE from a Dane-Elec 1GB memory stick. The desktop loads in about 2 minutes and performance-wise it feels OK. Now all I need is to install the Windows USB 2.0 drivers and find a Windows-based imaging software. I have tried to install the same Win98 on my Transcend JetFlash 8GB, but so far I have not succeeded (willnot boot). Any ideas here? Main problems is the format, since it's 8GB and cannot be FAT like the Dane-Elec.

Will keep you posted with developments. If in the meantime you get any bright ideas please let me know (IMG:http://www.ubcd4win.com/forum/style_emoticons/default/rolleyes.gif)

[BvF7734]

Hearing about the system spec of not having a built in CD-ROM drive, you will more than likely have the same issue even with a CD... Dies at the same point basically. Maybe doing a install of XP onto your flash drive may work. Hard to say. It does require a higher level of knowledge of installs than with this project. Someone here (I apologize as I have a terrible memory) gave me a link to a couple of sites of which I think are mentioned in that long thread of USB booting. For quicker access, here is the link to the install and run XP from a USB stick. I can not say that it WILL work for you but is also worth a shot as it is a full install of XP and not the BartPE version.

http://www.ngine.de/index.jsp?pageid=4176

I have not followed it to do what it allows you to do but took parts of it to try to get it to work with BartPE to no avail. Good luck!!

[chuckr_jcr]

For quicker access, here is the link to the install and run XP from a USB stick. I can not say that it WILL work for you but is also worth a shot as it is a full install of XP and not the BartPE version.

http://www.ngine.de/index.jsp?pageid=4176

I have not followed it to do what it allows you to do but took parts of it to try to get it to work with BartPE to no avail. Good luck!!

====================================
I've been trying to get a FULL, REAL install of XP Pro to a -bootable- USB HDD for some time now...

The above link provided all the necessary info to actually do it,
but i used some mods to the procedure in order to get my USB HDD going.
Did not use an iso, rather copied Install DVD to folder and slipstreamed SP2 for 'newer' files in folder.
Formatted USB HDD NTFS, one partition, with the HP utility, then used the 5 or 6 file (1 new) mods mentioned.
Used CDImage in .bat file to create the iso, then burned to DVD-R. This is my new Install DVD, w/USB Boot mods.
Booted this DVD, and voila: XP Pro installation came up...
Had to copy: ntldr and ntdetect.com to USB HDD somewhere in here,
because XP installation set it to boot from c:\boot.ini only.
The USB HDD has no boot.ini and comes up as D: when booted...

BTW, it -is- a 'full install', activated it over the net, D/L'd -all- 98 or so updates for it
and installed Ghost, Partition Magic, MS Works, etc with no problems at all...
(So, it is a 'full-bore' installation and bootable from USB HDD, and I assume that
the same can be done using a large USB stick.)

@BvF7734
"... try to get it to work with BartPE" ---
Sounds interesting, but I thought you already boot UBCD4Win from a USB stick, using PeToUSB ?
http://www.ubcd4win.com/forum/index.php?s=&...ost&p=43813
====================================
@mdebono
You might want to try the above (original msge) link's procedure on your 8 GB 'stick', formatted NTFS.

For your 1 GB stick, you might want to try this:

1. Make a MINIMUM UBCD4Win build, no malware, etc. and 'disable' most plugins. This will keep the
BartPE folder as small as possible. (Be sure to KEEP your 'Ghost' or 'Acronis' plugin...)

2. Try the 'BartPE stick' procedure that works -for me- :
http://www.ubcd4win.com/forum/index.php?s=&...ost&p=43811
(Don't Google for PeToUSB - go here for download:)
Thanks to Rich Burnham at:
http://gocoding.com/page.php?al=petousb

BTW, the PeToUSB procedure does -not- depend on an iso or ramdisk - he copies files directly from
\BartPE to the USB stick. SO MAYBE YOU SHOULD RENAME: \srsp1 to \srsp1_temp BEFORE THE BUILD, in step 1.

3. Good luck, and keep us informed. (IMG:http://www.ubcd4win.com/forum/style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

chuck