Boot Problems - Stuck On Windows XP Boot Screen

[Guest]

Hi All,

I have a machine which is currently running Windows XP with no trouble at
all and I would like to build an image of XPE to run on this machine.
However, I seem to be having trouble getting the resulting image to boot
properly. I have done (just about everything I can think of, but most
recently) the following:

- Installed Windows XP
- Installed a second drive and configured it properly.
- Run TAP.EXE to generate the devices file.
- Used Component Designer to generate a component for the devices on this
machine (as per the tutorial)
- Used Target Designer to build an image for the machine based on the
devices component and some others as identified in the tutorial.
(All of the above complete with no errors.)

I have gone through this process on two other machines with success.
However, on this third machine the resulting image simply sits on the Windows
XP boot screen and never launches the FBA. The same results happen no matter
how I build the image - i.e. targeted at C:\ withe ARC path
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS or as my second drive D:\ with
ARC path multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(1)\WINDOWS.

Does anyone have any ideas as to what I might be missing/doing wrong? Is
there any way to log what is happening during the boot sequence to see what
is happening (or not happening)?

I am about to go insane, so any help or suggestions would be GREATLY
appreciated!

Thanks,
Mark.

 

[Brad Combs]

Mark,

Take a look at \Windows\fba\fbalog.txt to see whats happening, or at least
you can see the last thing that was successful. If you think it will be
helpful attach the log to this thread and maybe we can help.

HTH,
Brad

 

[Guest]

Thanks for your reply Brad.

Unfortunately I cant even get to the point where the FBA runs - hence there
is no log. On the machines that I have been successful with the FBA runs
almost immediately upon boot. However, with the machine that does not work,
the Windows XP boot screen gets displayed - but nothing more. FBA never
starts.

Have you ever seen this before, or have any ideas?

Thanks,
Mark

 

[Brad Combs]

Hi Mark,

Do you have a serial port on the device that you can hook up debugger on?

Brad

 

[Guest]

Hey Brad,

Yes there is a serial port, but I am not familiar with debugging this way.
Are there any docs which may provide some more information on setting up this
environment?

Thanks,
Mark.

 

[Brad Combs]

Hi Mark,

Sure, a good place to start is:
http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/DevTools/Debugging/default.mspx

You can download and install the debugging tools, then once installed go to
File > Symbol File Path. In the dialog for the location of the symbols put
in "SRV*c:\symbols*http://msdl.microsoft.com/download/symbols" (no quotes).

Your boot.ini should look like:
[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Embedded"
/fastdetect /noguiboot
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Embedded
(Debug)" /debug /baudrate=115200 /debugport=com1

Once you get the debugger to connect hopefully you will get stop error
information that will help you with the debugging process.

Feel free to post back here if you get stuck.

HTH,
Brad

 

[Guest]

Thanks again Brad - I will give this a try and let you know how it goes.

Hi Mark,

Sure, a good place to start is:
http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/DevTools/Debugging/default.mspx

You can download and install the debugging tools, then once installed go to
File > Symbol File Path. In the dialog for the location of the symbols put
in "SRV*c:\symbols*http://msdl.microsoft.com/download/symbols" (no quotes).

Your boot.ini should look like:
[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Embedded"
/fastdetect /noguiboot
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Embedded
(Debug)" /debug /baudrate=115200 /debugport=com1

Once you get the debugger to connect hopefully you will get stop error
information that will help you with the debugging process.

Feel free to post back here if you get stuck.

HTH,
Brad

Hey Brad,

Yes there is a serial port, but I am not familiar with debugging this way.
Are there any docs which may provide some more information on setting up
this
environment?

Thanks,
Mark.

 

[KM]

Mark,

How about adding /SOS switch to your ARC path in boot.ini. At least you may see where it hangs.
Also, adding /BootLog switch can help more.

 

[Guest]

Hey KM,

Thanks for the tips - I was not aware of those switches, but will definitely
write them down for future reference.

Just to followup - I was able to hookup the debugger as Brad suggested and
was able to see which device driver it was stuck on - i8042prt.sys. From
there I was able to narrow my search to mouse/keyboard related issues.
Finally, after disabling some settings in the BIOS I was able to get the FBA
to run successfully.

Funny thing is that after installation, I was able to re-enable these
settings in the BIOS- everything works fine - and have not seen the same
issue since. After about 2 weeks of consistent problems. Weird!!

Thank-you Brad and KM for your help and suggestions.
Mark.