Need Help Creating Ramdisk from DOS

[teimu]

Hello,
My new motherboard, a MSI 865PE-PLS came with an outdated
BIOS that will not recognize SATA HDDs, which i have. I
have an update for the problem, but this requires me to
flash the bios. It is highly recommended not to run the
flash utility from an optical drive, so I must look to my
RAM. I could just get an ATA HDD, but i simply do not
have the resources.

What i need to do is create a RAM drive. I have read much
about creating RAM drives, but most of them are programs
to run within Windows, all i have is a DOS prompt via XP
HOME bootdisk. I did come across one guide that told how
to make a RAM drive thru DOS, but it required either a
Win98, Win98SE, WinME bootdisk, all of which i do not
have.

There is a place, bootdisk.com that offers those OS's
bootdisks, but i would rather an OFFICIAL disk made by
Windows itself. Or perhaps just a recommendation from
anyone reading this to tell me the validity of those
images.

Maybe just for fun though, there is a way to make a RAM
drive in XP's version of DOS (watever that is)?

The drive must also be able to be deleted, not in the
sense that data within it will be deleted(as it is every
time you boot), but i would like it if windows would be
able to reallocate that memory back in to its regular
functional state. i dont think this should be a problem,
i think perhaps whole drive, and any trace of it, will be
deleted with a shutdown, but i am not sure.

The drive also has to be able to be assigned a letter
(ex. "X:\").

just thinking out loud here, but what filesystem would it
use?

I think thats about all i can tell about my
problem...Thanks for reading and ANY HELP would be
greatly apprieciated!!!

 

[Nathan McNulty]

Actually, if you use the Windows 98 Bootdisk from www.bootdisk.com, it
will create this Ramdisk for you. What you want to do is use that
Windows 98 Bootdisk, put your Flash utility on the disk as well as the
new BIOS. Then boot to do and use the flash utility to write the new BIOS.

Here is the latest BIOS:
http://216.158.218.35/edoc/bios_uploads/6728v37.zip

Here is a guide for flashing your motherboard (try the second one):
http://www.msicomputer.com/support/BIOS_AMI.asp
http://www.msicomputer.com/support/BIOS_NON_FAT.asp

Note: The BIOS Flashing Utility comes with the above linked BIOS as well
as instructions in the zip file.

 

[R. C. White]

Hi, Teimu.

First, of course, there is NO version of MS-DOS in WinXP - EXCEPT that it
will create an MS-DOS boot floppy for you. Right-click on Drive A: (with a
blank or expendable diskette in the drive), click Format... and choose to
Create an MS-DOS startup disk. This will put io.sys, msdos.sys and
Command.com on the floppy, but you'll have to add anything else that might
be needed, such as config.sys and a RAMdisk driver. I didn't know about the
solution Nathan suggested, but that sounds like the way to go in your case.
(There are two MS-DOS emulators built into WinXP, letting us run most legacy
programs and commands from the "DOS" window, but I've not seen anyone
suggest that the "DOS" window should be used to flash a BIOS.)

Second, I'm no expert on flashing a BIOS, although I've done it perhaps a
dozen times. The new EPoX mobo (8KDA3+) that I installed last week has a
new utility on its accompanying CD-ROM for the nVidia chipset. This
program, called Magic BIOS, checked the EPoX website, found an updated BIOS
for my board, downloaded it to my Drive C:, installed it, and rebooted my
computer using the new BIOS! All automatically, except for offering prompts
to let me abort at any point, if I chose.

All my early experience with flashing the BIOS required an MS-DOS boot
floppy. My prior EPoX mobo (2002 vintage) could run the AWDFlash.exe
utility either from a DOS floppy or from the boot-up screen (DEL to enter
CMOS Setup, F2 to run AWDFlash), and the new .BIN file could be either on a
floppy or in C:\. This Magic BIOS is the easiest way I've seen yet (in
spite of some glaring misspellings and other typos in the screens). I hope
other mobo makers will adopt this - especially since many computers these
days are sold without floppy drives.

RC

 

[NobodyMan]

Actually, if you use the Windows 98 Bootdisk from www.bootdisk.com, it
will create this Ramdisk for you. What you want to do is use that
Windows 98 Bootdisk, put your Flash utility on the disk as well as the
new BIOS. Then boot to do and use the flash utility to write the new BIOS.

Here is the latest BIOS:
http://216.158.218.35/edoc/bios_uploads/6728v37.zip

Here is a guide for flashing your motherboard (try the second one):
http://www.msicomputer.com/support/BIOS_AMI.asp
http://www.msicomputer.com/support/BIOS_NON_FAT.asp

Note: The BIOS Flashing Utility comes with the above linked BIOS as well
as instructions in the zip file.

I recommend, any time you are playing with BIOS flashing, that your
computer be running off a UPS. You don't want the power clicking
off/on right in the middle of the flash as that would give you a very
large doorstop.