Compact Flash Boot Problem

[Todd H]

Hello,

I have a System with XP Pro (C and XPe on a SATA drive. I also have a
Compact Flash with XPe on it. My boot.ini file for XP Pro has 3 boot options:
- XP Pro (Primary Partition on SATA drive) - NTFS
- XP Embedded (Secondary Partition on SATA drive) - NTFS
- XP Embedded (Compact Flash) - NTFS

They all work. When I disconnect my SATA drive I need to boot from my
Compact Flash but all I get is a blinking cursor after POST - almost like the
CF is not bootable. I think the partition is active. I move the CF to first
in my BIOS boot order. I think I have all the correct files in hte root
directory of my Compact Flash. I can boot from my CF when I am directed to do
so by the boot.ini on my SATA drive. I formatted my CF on the same platform
under XP Pro (on my C drive.

Why can I not boot off my Compact Flash directly?

Thanks,
Todd

 

[KM]

Todd,

Sounds like you might be struggling with MBR issue(s) on your CF.

I'd recommend you to format the CF on the target PC under *DOS* (not Windows). This will make sure to use BIOS disk geometry
parameters.

Often, MbrFix tool can be helpful to fix such issues: http://km-dev.blogspot.com/2007/04/xpe-tip-22-disk-read-error.html

 

[Todd H]

Thank you. That worked!!

You and Sean have been a big help.