Help: Invalid BOOT.INI file.

  • Thread starter Thread starter Slobodan Brcin
  • Start date Start date
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Slobodan Brcin

I'm trying to migrate to UBS Flash Drive.
I have read all problems regarding booting from flash devices but this one
is weird.

I see message:

Invalid BOOT.INI file
Booting from C:\windows\
NTDETECT failed


I have market flash as non removable.
Have one partition formatted as NTFS, tried 512 and 4096 bytes/block, same
results.

In boot.ini I have set timeout to 30 seconds just to see if I would get any
chance of selecting OS. I didn't.

So problem is not related to build or to bad ARC, etc.

This is something low level that I have never seen before.


Anyone seen this before?
I must be something elementary, but I don't know what do try next.


Thanks,
Slobodan
 
Thanks Andy,
Please attach the boot.ini file to the thread so we can take a peek at it.
Also, check out this KB article for some clues:
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=330184
Click to expand...

I see nothing wrong in boot.ini.

On test device I have
HDD - Primary Master.
CD Recorder - Primary Slave
USB Flash Disk - Non removable, NTFS

BIOS supports boot from USB devices.

Any other suggestions,

Slobodan Brcin

PS:
My first reply newer got trough.
 
Not sure if this will help, but you can give it a try:
In boot.ini I have set timeout to 30 seconds just to see if I would get any
chance of selecting OS. I didn't.
Click to expand...

Maybe you are having the LBA/CHS problem that many had
before. Try preparing your media on your USB card, and
see if that helps.

Good luck.
 
Sorry, did not notice this is usb flash. I've heard of problems booting to
usb flash with usb 2.0, but some anecdotal evidence that it's worked on usb
1.2. I'd be interested in hearing from you if you can get it to work.

--
Andy

This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no
rights.
=====================================================
 
Maybe you are having the LBA/CHS problem that many had
before. Try preparing your media on your USB card, and
see if that helps.
Click to expand...

Just now I made it work on my development machine. Other manufacturer, other
BIOS, but same chipset Intel 875.
So problem is BIOS specific. I'll try to update BIOS. But my BIOS date is
from this year, so I'm not optimistic.

I'll post results when I make it work.


Nevertheless thanks,
Slobodan
 
Before you do that, go into the BIOS and check what the
drives are set up as. If they're set to Auto, you may find
that they don't treat the drives the same way. If your
device has been formatted in a machine which identifies it
as a CHS drive, then XPe won't work if it's put into a
machine which identifies it as an LBA drive, and vice
versa. Auto settings should be avoided as you never know
what it's actually identifying as.
 
Thanks, Heidi
Before you do that, go into the BIOS and check what the
drives are set up as.
Click to expand...

I have already updated BIOS, but I have same behavior, as I suspected.
If they're set to Auto, you may find
that they don't treat the drives the same way.
Click to expand...

Wish I could change anything. In good old days (until recently) in BIOS you
could change some settings, but now BIOS is more like a diagnostic utility
than a setup.
Only things you can change are boot order, time, remote boot, USB boot,
memory speed (for), and you can disable some features :(
Very limiting, no choice at all.

This is Intel's desktop motherboard D875PB2, and Intel probably thinks that
PNP is better that having many options, which is probably true for most
users.


Soon I will post complete behavior, I have encountered since now. This is
for record I doubt that there will be answer to this problem, because it is
hardware dependent.


Best regards,
Slobodan
 
There's nowhere to set the drive geometry?! That's just...
yeesh, what do they think it is, a *mac*?
 
Hello Andy,
Sorry, did not notice this is usb flash. I've heard of problems booting to
usb flash with usb 2.0, but some anecdotal evidence that it's worked on usb
1.2. I'd be interested in hearing from you if you can get it to work.
Click to expand...

I'm not using USB 2.0 flash, but my USB controler is 2.0. But this is not a
problem, because if I disable it problem remains the same.

Test platforms use: HTT P4-2400 processor and 875 chipset.

1. MB Intel D875PB2, we bought 10 of these for testing purposes, but I have
problem booting from USB. (I'm not familiar with this BIOS)
2. MB Chaintech Zenith CT-9CJS (Phoenix AWARD BIOS), I can boot from USB on
this platform.


Thing I find interesting is:

If I prepare flash on Intel MB, when I try to boot from flash on this MB I
have two problems depending on selected ntldr.

1. EWF ntldr I have messages I wrote before:
Invalid BOOT.INI file
Booting from C:\windows\
NTDETECT failed

2. Ordinary ntldr, keep rebooting device, without any message.

3. On Chaintech MB In both cases I have message:
Invalid Partition Table

If I prepare flash on Chaintech MB, when I try to boot from flash on this MB
it boots with both versions of ntldr.
If I try this on Intel MB then I have case I already described.

I don't know why this is happening, but eventually I'll find some
workaround.

I'm lucky that I have tried this early and seen this problem, so I'll have
time to solve it without time pressure.


We'll try to bye few different types of USB 2.0 Flash devices, one type
should work.

When and if I make it work I'll post solution in this thread.

Thanks for your time,
Slobodan
 
Slobodan,

So you were able to get XPe to boot from USB Flash key? Is you flash key
idenitfied as a fixed device or removable?

Regards,
Sean
 
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