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

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/x...ead-error.html

--
=========
Regards,
KM


> 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

Thank you. That worked!!

You and Sean have been a big help.

"KM" wrote:

> 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/x...ead-error.html
>
> --
> =========
> Regards,
> KM
>
>
> > 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
>
>
>