How to make a bootable USB memory stick

[Timmy]

Hi,

My computer is not unable to boot up. At startup it stalls
at "Verifying DMI Pool Data". I currently do not have a
emergence disk and can only boot up the machine using the
XP installation CD, after that I press R to go to console
login and issue some command like fixmbr, fixboot etc, but
it seems that those command cannot help. I wonder if I can
create a bootable mem stick (I don't have floppy disk either)
and boot up the machine with DOS loaded and run partition
magic to save my disk.

Any advice on how to tackle this problem is highly appreciated!

Timmy

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

Hi,

My computer is not unable to boot up. At startup it stalls
at "Verifying DMI Pool Data". I currently do not have a
emergence disk and can only boot up the machine using the
XP installation CD, after that I press R to go to console
login and issue some command like fixmbr, fixboot etc, but
it seems that those command cannot help. I wonder if I can
create a bootable mem stick (I don't have floppy disk either)
and boot up the machine with DOS loaded and run partition
magic to save my disk.

Any advice on how to tackle this problem is highly appreciated!

Timmy

To recognise a USB device, you need Win2000 - DOS does
not "know" about USB. You therefore cannot boot off a USB
flash disk.

You may be able to boot into Win2000 with a floppy boot
disk. Here is how to make one:
- Format a floppy disk on some other Win2000 PC.
Don't do it on a Win9x PC - it won't work.
- Copy these files from the \i386 folder of your Win2000 CD
to A:\
ntldr
ntdetect.com
- Create a file a:\boot.ini with these lines
[Boot Loader]
Timeout=3
Default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINNT
[Operating Systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINNT="Microsoft Windows 2000
Professional" /fastdetect
- Boot the machine with this floppy

When Win2000 is up and running again, you might want to
consider your options:
- PQMagic gives you the option of making a disaster recovery
disk. Where is yours?
- The iron rule of computing says that you must back up all your
important files every week to an independent medium. Many
people wait until they suffer a major disaster before they
follow this rule.

 

[Andrew Morton]

To boot from a USB device, you need a BIOS which supports doing that.
Google for "DMI Pool Data" and you will find many problems which could
lead to what you see, e.g.
http://www.computerhope.com/issues/ch000474.htm

Andrew

 

[Bob I]

You will need an Operating system and hardware that supports booting
from USB. Altho if the drive is dead how will PM save the "disk" ?

 

[Robert Roland]

To recognise a USB device, you need Win2000 - DOS does
not "know" about USB. You therefore cannot boot off a USB
flash disk.

Not correct. The BIOS can take care of the drive emulation, so that
DOS thinks it is booting off a BIOS supported disk. I have actually
done it myself, so I know it's real You do, of course, need a BIOS
that is capable of booting from USB, and you also need a tool to make
your USB drive bootable.

- The iron rule of computing says that you must back up all your
important files every week to an independent medium. Many
people wait until they suffer a major disaster before they
follow this rule.

A customer with a hint of panic in his voice calls tech support:

Customer: Hello, there's smoke coming out of my computer, and ...

Support: You must immediately turn off the power and then take the
computer in for rep...

Customer: No. no, I know that. I need to know the fastest possible way
to make a backup.

On a more serious note: The development in hard drive capacity the
last few years has caught the backup industry totally off guard. A
200GB disk costs next to nothing these days, but if you want a tape
backup to handle that amount of data, you'll pay more than you paid
for the entire computer, and each tape costs nearly as much as the
hard drive. The only viable option seems to be to get another hard
drive to use for backup.

 

[Colon Terminus]

You'll need a USB stick that can be made bootable. Transcend is a good one.
You'll need a BIOS that supports booting from a USB stick.
You'll need access to a Windows 98 machine to format the USB stick and make
it bootable.

 

[mdk]

Hi,

I have a bootable floppy disk now and the Pqmagic does not seem to
help.
The partition table is said to be broken but after I run XP setup
program the
partition info can be presented on screen. What else I can do and what
tool
I should use?

Thanks

Timmy

 

[f/f george]

Hi,

I have a bootable floppy disk now and the Pqmagic does not seem to
help.
The partition table is said to be broken but after I run XP setup
program the
partition info can be presented on screen. What else I can do and what
tool
I should use?

Thanks

Timmy

USB is loaded thru drivers, meaning it CANNOT be bootable! You have to
boot to something to enable USB, so the USB is not even seen until
AFTER the boot process has started.
In the future there are possbilities, but for now, cannot be done.

 

[Bruce Chambers]

USB is loaded thru drivers,

True, as far as Windows goes.

meaning it CANNOT be bootable!

Not necessarily. Some newer motherboards to provide a bootable USB
capability. Of course, this does little good for Win2K, which does not
support booting from external devices, USB or otherwise.



--

Bruce Chambers

Help us help you:



You can have peace. Or you can have freedom. Don't ever count on having
both at once. - RAH

 

[f/f george]

True, as far as Windows goes.

This is a Windows newsgroup, but thanks I did not know it was possible
in Linux, don't use it.

meaning it CANNOT be bootable!


Not necessarily. Some newer motherboards to provide a bootable USB
capability. Of course, this does little good for Win2K, which does not
support booting from external devices, USB or otherwise.

This is also a Win2000 newsgroup so other OS's would be OT. But I did
not know that either, so thanks.

 

[lforbes]

Hi,

My computer is not unable to boot up. At startup it stalls at
"Verifying DMI Pool Data". I currently do not have a emergence disk
and can only boot up the machine using the XP installation CD, after
that I press R to go to console login and issue some command like
fixmbr, fixboot etc, but it seems that those command cannot help.

Have you tried Safe Mode yet? Safe Mode lets you get a command prompt.
Remember that if you have XP, you more than likely have NTFS. DOS
doesn’t see NTFS drives. Also it is easier to make a bootable DOS CD
than it is to create a bootable USB memory stick.

To get to safemode type F8 at bootup before the Windows XP screen
comes up. You can try regular safemode or command prompt.

It may be that your Drive is damaged. However, you can always download
drive utilities from the drive manufacturer and check to see if that
is the problem. If it is just Windows then you can just reinstall XP
from the CD. It will just install over the current install. You may
have to reinstall your programs at worst. However, all your files will
still be there.

Cheers,

Lara

 

[mdk]

Hi,

Using the XP installation CD and the R option I can log in and see all
my partitions and files. The problem is that it cannot be bootted. I
now use another HD to install XP and
connect that crippled HD as slave.

Thanks all. but still open to suggestion as I do want to fix its
partition table.

Timmy