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Booting from Compact Flash?

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KA Kueh

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Nov 23, 2008, 10:06:01 PM11/23/08
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Dear all,

I have build a prototype system and copied the files to a CF card that was
formated with NTFS. The CF card is connected on the target PC via a IDE to
CF adaptor. What I get is a black screen with a blinking cursor on the top
left hand corner after post boot. What did I do wrong?. My question is :

1) How do I prepare the CF to be bootable with NTFS file system?.
2) Is there any specific brand of CF that I must buy to get the system to
boot
via the IDE to CF adaptor?

Thanks.

Regards,
Kueh.


Sean Liming (MVP)

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Nov 24, 2008, 12:21:41 AM11/24/08
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CF cards are IDed as removable so if you format under Windows XP Pro via a
USB to CF adapter, you should use UFDPREP.EXE. UFDPREP comes with FP2007.
The utility can be used to format with NTFS.
If you are using Windows Vista, than the file ntldr needs to be renamed
bootmgr in the XPe image.

As far as CF cards, there are some recomendations here:
http://www.seanliming.com/flashhelp.html

Regards,

Sean Liming
www.sjjmicro.com / www.seanliming.com
Book Author - XP Embedded Advanced, XP Embedded Supplemental Toolkit


"KA Kueh" <KAK...@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
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Andy Pont

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Nov 24, 2008, 4:04:51 AM11/24/08
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To add to what Sean has already stated...

The only CF cards I have ever used are from Pretec and SanDisk - they cost
a little more but are significantly better in terms of reliability.

Check that the IDE-CF adapter you are using supports the UDMA transfer
modes supported by v3.0 (from memory) of the CD specification and ensure
that your cards do too. It will do wonders for your transfer rates.

Rgds,

Andy.

KA Kueh

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Nov 24, 2008, 4:08:01 AM11/24/08
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Hi,

I need some clarification. I was always under the impression that preparing
the media for CF booting via IDE to CF adaptor has a different approach vs
booting via USB. Also isn't UDFPREP used for preparing USB thumb drive and
not for CF. Need to clear this up. Thanks.

Regards,
Kueh.

Ralph A. Schmid, dk5ras

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Nov 24, 2008, 5:58:28 AM11/24/08
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KA Kueh <KAK...@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:

>I need some clarification. I was always under the impression that preparing
>the media for CF booting via IDE to CF adaptor has a different approach vs
>booting via USB.

When booting from CF via IDE you need a CF that is configured as a
fixed disk, not as a removable device as usual.


-ras

--

Ralph A. Schmid

http://www.dk5ras.de/ http://www.db0fue.de/
http://www.bclog.de/

Julian Mesa

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Nov 24, 2008, 1:42:00 PM11/24/08
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If you are not going to use ntfs enhancements I recomend you fat32 (less
intensive use of writes), but after fortmat go to sector 0 and change
offset 0x40 with value 0x80 then you have converted your removable cf to
fixed in ntldr not in windows, now you can boot witouth problems.

Sorry my english, I'm spanish.

Ralph A. Schmid, dk5ras escribió:

Mark K Vallevand

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Nov 24, 2008, 2:43:18 PM11/24/08
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How did you format the CF? Did you make sure its a non-removable CF? Did
you mark it as bootable?

I have an IDE-CF adapter in my build machine. I use non-removable CFs or
use removables CFs that have a filter driver marking them as non-removable.
I partition the CF and mark the first partition as bootable. Then I copy
the files from my post-FBA hard disk to the first partition. Now I have a
golden XPe CF which is imaged and passed to the next team for application
installation and fbreseal.

--
Regards.
Mark K Vallevand Mark.Va...@Unisys.com

Beer is living proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy.
- Benjamin Franklin


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"KA Kueh" <KAK...@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message

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Andy Pont

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Nov 24, 2008, 3:21:54 PM11/24/08
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My methodology was as follows:

Use a PC with IDE-CF adapter that booted DOS to quickly run the utility
from SanDisk or Pretec to mark their cards as fixed media.

Put a CF card into the target system and boot WinPE from the XPe CD1 to
format the CF card and copy the files from my development workstation over
the network.

Disconnect the CD-ROM drive, run FBA, do post FBA stuff, reseal and hand
the golden master over to production.

This may not have been the most efficient way of doing it but it always
worked for me!

Andy.


> -----Original Message-----
> From: KA Kueh [mailto:KAK...@discussions.microsoft.com]
> Posted At: 24 November 2008 09:08
> Posted To: microsoft.public.windowsxp.embedded
> Conversation: Booting from Compact Flash?
> Subject: Re: Booting from Compact Flash?
>

KA Kueh

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Nov 24, 2008, 8:12:01 PM11/24/08
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Dear all,

Thanks for the many suggestions. I am looking a the best and easiest way to
prepare a CF card. What I am looking for is to be able to do the whole
process via Windows XP. I know I am asking for might be too much but please
do point me to a step by step method. Thank you.

Regards,
Kueh.

ayumi...@poczta.fm

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Nov 25, 2008, 4:57:45 AM11/25/08
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Hello,

Im doing the whole process via windows XP.

I've got USB CF card adapter visible as a drive K:

Thats my how to:

1. If you do not already have the Microsoft UFDPrep tool on your
computer then download it to: c:\Program Files\Windows Embedded
\Utilities.
2. Download the FormatCF.bat file to c:\windows\system32
3. Connect the Compact Flash Reader to your computer's USB port
using a Mini USB cable.
4. Open "My Computer" on your desktop or start menu and wait for
the window to load.
5. Insert the Compact Flash Card and make note of the drive letter
that appears with the compact flash card in it. (for this example, my
drive letter is "e:", yours may be different so be extra careful you
make sure you know which drive letter it is).
6. After making a note of the drive letter, close the "My Computer"
window and open a Command Prompt.
7. At the command prompt you should then run the following sequence
of commands:

example: formatcf k:

k: its your letter of cf card drive


You can download formatcf.bat from here: http://zzk.org.pl/ag/xpe/forum/uploads/formatcf.bat


Im not using IDE CF card adapter becasue you have to shutdown your pc
to put new card. Im using IDE CF card adapter on my target devices.

Never had problems with that formating, always work fine :)

Sean Liming (MVP)

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Nov 26, 2008, 12:31:15 AM11/26/08
to

If you use a USB to CF adapter, you can use UFDPREP.EXE to prepare a CF
card. UFDPREP.EXE only see the USB devices as a flash and doesn't know it is
a CF card in the end. Just a little trick using this tool. Save time having
to boot to DOS and use FDISK, FORMAT, and BOOTPREP.

--
Regards,

Sean Liming
www.sjjmicro.com / www.seanliming.com
Book Author - XP Embedded Advanced, XP Embedded Supplemental Toolkit
"KA Kueh" <KAK...@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message

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Ralph A. Schmid, dk5ras

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Nov 26, 2008, 11:46:23 AM11/26/08
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Julian Mesa <rod...@gmail.com> wrote:

>If you are not going to use ntfs enhancements I recomend you fat32 (less
>intensive use of writes), but after fortmat go to sector 0 and change
>offset 0x40 with value 0x80 then you have converted your removable cf to
>fixed in ntldr not in windows, now you can boot witouth problems.

You mean, to enter 0x80 into offste 0x40? Sounds interesting, I will
do tests!

>Sorry my english, I'm spanish.

No problem :-) I am german...

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