ARC-Path Quiz, boot.ini paths study External links Options

[MedEvil]

Welcome to the Arc-Path Quiz, where you can win points for guessing the right ARC-Path!

We search for the ARC-Path (as in boot.ini) to a Folder, let's call it simply 'Windows', which is located on a CD-ROM-Drive, which is connected to the secondary IDE port as Master.

Already filed in solutions (which were wrong! ):

- multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(2)partition(0)\WINDOWS="Secondary Master"
- multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(2)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Secondary Master"
- C:\WINDOWS="Secondary Master"
- \WINDOWS="Secondary Master"
- cdrom(0)\WINDOWS="Secondary Master"
- no boot.ini


Happy quizing!

[AeroXP]

CODE

multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)        = "Primary Channel, C:"
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(0)        = "Primary Channel, System Partition"
multi(0)disk(0)cdrom(%u)                   = "CD-ROM, Variable"
ramdisk(0)                                 = "RamDisk"
net(0)                                     = "Network"
multi(0)disk(0)fdisk(0)                    = "Diskette A:"
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(0)        = "Secondary Channel, Partition 0"
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(%d)       = "Secondary Channel, Variable Partition"
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(1)        = "Secondary Channel, Partition 0"
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(%d)       = "Primary Channel, Variable Partition"
multi(0)disk(0)fdisk(1)partition(0)        = "Diskette B:, Partition 0"
multi(0)disk(0)fdisk(0)partition(0)        = "Diskette A:, Partition 0"
multi(0)video(0)monitor(0)                 = "ConsoleOut, Monitor"
multi(0)key(0)keyboard(0)                  = "ConsoleIn, Keyboard"
multi(0)disk(0)fdisk(1)                    = "Diskette B:"
eisa(0)disk(0)fdisk(0)                     = "EISA Diskette A:"
eisa(0)disk(0)fdisk(1)partition(0)         = "EISA Diskette B:, Partition 0"
eisa(0)disk(0)fdisk(0)partition(0)         = "EISA Diskette A:, Partition 0"

Offtopic:

CODE

Windows NT has found only %dK of low memory. 512k of low memory
is required to run Windows NT. You may need to upgrade your
computer or run a configuration program provided by the manufacturer.

Windows NT has not found enough extended memory. 7Mb of extended
memory is required to run Windows NT. You may need to upgrade your
computer or run a configuration program provided by the manufacturer.

[MedEvil]

Run a few... well a lot of tests and we still have no winner.

Care for a few crazy ntldr oddities?
- When i put ntldr, ntdetect and boot.ini on a CD, i can't even boot a windows at multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS from it!
- When i run ntldr from HDD and try to boot multi(0)disk(0)cdrom(0)\WINDOWS, the floppy is accessed several times before i get told, that no hal.dll can be found.
All other values for cdrom() bring the error that the media can't be found.

[AeroXP]

Weird. SetupLDR does it.

Try

Multi(0)Disk(0)Cdrom(950)

[MedEvil]

I know!
Came finally up with the idea to rip the arc-path from a bootet pe.
It reads multi(0)disk(0)cdrom(239)
No idea were the 239 comes from, but will post back when i've tried it.
So stay tuned!

[MedEvil]

Also a no go. hal.dll can't be found, but at least no access to the floppy!
I just don't get it, this one should have worked. The arc-path was taken, after all, fom a successfully bootet PE, so it can't be wrong!
Can it be, that ntldr does not know the parameter cdrom?

[AeroXP]

Disassemblies of OSLoader and SetupLDR v5.1.2600.2180

Remove them if they are illegal.

[attachment=4094:osloader.txt]
[attachment=4093:setupldr.txt]

[MedEvil]

Ok, so ntldr should be able to handle arc paths to cdrom, any idea why the §#$% it doesn't?

Ok, what do 'we' learned so far?
- ntldr can start from a CD
- ntldr can read the boot.ini from a CD
- ntldr can not even start a system from multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS, if ntldr,boot.in and ntdetect are on a CD
- system just resets whenever an entry is choosen from boot menu, if ntldr, boot.ini and ntdetect are on a CD
- cdrom() parameter uses wierd numbers like 239 or 950 - reason unknown

[AeroXP]

NTLDR supports 3 digit numbers.

Example

Multi(123)Disk(456)Cdrom(789)

[was_jaclaz]

Another couple semi-random ideas.

Try using -iso-level 3 instead of -iso-level 4 when making the CD.

Be sure to add the /minint switch, maybe another switch is needed?

The "right" one should be multi(0)disk(0)cdrom(0):
http://board.iexbeta.com/lofiversion/index.php/t56901.html

jaclaz