Sandisk CF boot problem.

[Gustaf]

Hi,

I have a problem with Sandisk CF 512 SDCFB (Says SDCFJ in BIOS).
The disk appears as fixed and has been partitioned and also formated
with ntfs on my target device.

After partitioning and format is done I get "Missing ntldr" as normal
since the disk is empty. If I put my image on the disk or even just the
ntldr and boot.ini my target decive reboots continuously. I have tried
with a timeout in boot.ini with no luck, same reboot intervals.

I have managed to partition, format and boot my disk with MS-DOS, FAT16
and it works.

Previously I have used Sandisk Industrial Grade with no problems at
all.
Anyone have a clue or should I just throw my CF cards in the garbage?

I have 2 identical 512 CF cards with the same problem, both appear
fixed in BIOS.

Help!

Regards,
Gustaf Sandmark
(e-mail address removed)

 

[Slobodan Brcin \(eMVP\)]

Hi,

For some reason you have problem with disk geometry.
use convert.exe to make ntfs from working fat that you have.

Regards,
Slobodan

 

[Guest]

The fact that you are saying that the CF boots properly to DOS and "reboots
continuously" indicates that the problem is with your image, rather than the
CF. If the image is okay, i.e. it runs on a HDD, then I would suspect the
hardware itself. Maybe bad memory or CPU overheating, or something similar.

The CF appearing as a "fixed" drive is actually a good thing and something
you have to pay extra for , so this is not the problem at all.

Joe

 

[Gustaf]

Ok, I will try that.. Do I need to run bootprep after convert.exe?

 

[Gustaf]

The image is working fine with my 512 Sandisk Industrial Grade flashes.

Note that I also only put ntldr and boot.ini (with timeout) on my flash
with the same problem.

I know that the flashes are supposed to be fixed, just to let you know
so nobody asks about that

Gustaf

 

[Gustaf]

1. Convert.exe was done on a working bootable dos CF.
2. With no ntldr and boot.ini I get the missing ntldr error msg.
3.When I put ntldr and boot.ini on to the flash I get the same error as
before.
A blinking cursor in the upper left cornet for about 0.5 sec then my
target device just reboots.

Can I analyse my CF cards in some way? Any tips are appreciated!

Many Thanks,
Gustaf Sandmark

 

[Guest]

I would throw the new sandisk parts in the trash. Even if you get them to
work, they are not a good solution. Find a manufacturer that still uses
'bianary flash' (like the old sandisk industrial parts did). You will pay
more, but it is worth it in speed and reliability. I use parts from
WinSystems; they are extended temp and not in-expensive by any means, but
work really well.

 

[Gustaf]

I finally got my flashes to work.

I had to use a 3rd party boot manager with a tool called SPFdisk
(http://www.iceteks.com/articles.php/spfdiskreview/1)
to create a bootmenu with only one boot option and 0 timeout, so its
not noticeable. I put the bootmanger on the MBR.

But why is it working with 3rd part boot manger? Can anyone tell me?

Would be nice if I could skip this bootmanger part in my setup.

Best Regards,
Gustaf Sandmark

 

[Gustaf]

I finally got my flashes to work.

I had to use a 3rd party boot manager with a tool called SPFdisk
(http://www.iceteks.com/articles.php/spfdiskreview/1)
to create a bootmenu with only one boot option and 0 timeout, so its
not noticeable. I put the bootmanger on the MBR.

But why is it working with 3rd part boot manger? Can anyone tell me?

Would be nice if I could skip this bootmanger part in my setup.

Best Regards,
Gustaf Sandmark

 

[florian.harmuth]

Sry for this strange questions but did you include ntfs support into
your runtime?

regards,
floh

 

[Slobodan Brcin \(eMVP\)]

He basicaly did a initial test that do not require XPe/ XPP image.

Test involve having only a ntldr. and boot.ini file configured with delay and multi os choice. If this test do not work then there
is no need for you to look further in creating image but you must look back at BIOS, MBR, BPB geometry records.


[boot loader]
timeout=-1
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /fastdetect
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /fastdetect

Regards,
Slobodan

 

[Gustaf]

Hi! Thank you all for all responses!

I will drop the Sandisk 512 Standard grade CF cards.

Can anyone recommend any stable CF that could replace our current CF's
(Sandisk Industrial Grade 512MB) since they have gone EOL.

Many thanks,
Gustaf Sandmark