[SOLVED] Problem: nLite'd XP bootCD is not booting on Acer Aspire

[Bishop]

http://myeeeguides.wordpress.com/2008/11/1...sb-flash-drive/

You where right, it was not complex at all.

However,.. I doublechecked that I had NOT removed "Manual Install and Upgrade" under Operating System Options as I had built this image using nLite.

This resulted in seeing the menu where I was able to choose the first or second part of the XP install. When I had let the timer run out, or chose the first (text based) part, it resulted in the same black screen I experienced when booting from the CD. After the "Press any key to boot from CD..." I received a similar black screen doing nothing.

It just didn't kick into the Windows XP text bases setup part.

I am currently building an image while removing "Manual Install and Upgrade", but I doubt it makes a difference.

*edit: That did not work either...

I've kind of hit a dead end again.

I'm not quite sure what's causing this to happen. For some reason the Aspire seems to not be able to load into the setup part.

And I don't get why it does accept the way a Vista DVD boots...

Edited May 3, 2009 by Bishop

[johnhc]

Bishop, I know this is a long shot but take a look here. I have not spent much time, but I think this may have some potential. I plan on spending more time when I have some. Please let us know what you learn. Enjoy, John.

[Bishop]

Johnhc, funnily enough I had just downloaded that program.

I am looking through it.. but I am not sure as to what I need to set.

As Vista is currently running on my Aspire One I am able to change things from there. But it's a temporary solution as the license will run out.

I am going to read this part now, let's say I want Vista dualbooted with XP. (In the end, I'll just remove the Vista install and I will end up with a XP only boot.)

Edited May 3, 2009 by Bishop

[johnhc]

Bishop, great minds - huh? The one real concern is you want to boot from a CD not HDD. I'm hoping that can be made to work. Enjoy, John.

[Bishop]

Idea;

Might it possibly have something to do with the XP CD not being able to see my HDD? I might be able to preload my SATA drivers.

Although.. it does not explain the black screen after each Windows XP CD says: "Press any key to boot from CD..."

[Kelsenellenelvian]

JUST how long do you wait on the black screen?

I have had a couple of pc's that didn't show the preload stuff at all and took like 5 minutes to startup and get to the blue txtsetup section.

[Bishop]

JUST how long do you wait on the black screen?

Not as long as you did then. I will have a long wait.

Mind you, there's no disk activity at that time.

I have waited for 10 minutes now and still not screen with anything. There is no disk activity from either the Aspire One or the external optical drive.

*Edit: The result.

Edited May 3, 2009 by Bishop

[jaclaz]

http://myeeeguides.wordpress.com/2008/11/1...sb-flash-drive/

You where right, it was not complex at all.

Look, don't want to seem grumpy, I am usually not , but you cannot jump from one method based on a USB stick to one based on a Cd and back.

Several thousands or maybe tens of thousands of people have succeeded in using WinsetupfromUSB.

It requires KEEPING the "Manual Install and Upgrade for removal".

The few tens of people that had problems with WinsetupfromUSB have read it's thread:

http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=120444

and if there were not able to solve the problem by themselves, posted in there, and ilko_t or myself found what the problem was and solved it.

It is very probable that your same problem happened and was already solved.

Try browsing the thread, you will see what the normal troubleshooting steps are and if you cannot still find what the problem is do post there with the usual things:

• description of the hardware
  
• list of exact steps taken
  
• detailed description of what happens
  
• LOG from WinsetupfromUSB
  

jaclaz

Edited May 3, 2009 by jaclaz

[Bishop]

...you cannot jump from one method based on a USB stick to one based on a Cd and back.

I understand all to well that it is not to smart to jump from one method to the other.

I am however quite desparate to get this working.

I do not understand why it's not simply working. I've also already tried a simple XP Home Edition with just SP3 integrated without luck.

It is hard for me to think in solutions on this one as I simply don't have enough knowlegde on the subject.

[Bishop]

I have updated my first post with what I've tried so far.

I've tried to boot with a different biosversion, an earlier version 3308. No luck, so I'm currently using the 3309 bios again. Which is the latest.

My latest 'guess' was that perhaps there was something bother the XP installer, like the SATA drivers missing.

So I've tried to find some documentation how to insert the sata drivers into the installer. Using the Readme.txt (Darn usefull sometimes ) from the chipset drivers provided by Acer I followed these instructions:

************************************************************

* 8B. INSTALLING THE WINDOWS* XP INF FILES PRIOR TO

* OS INSTALLATION

************************************************************

NOTE: The Windows* XP OEM Preload Kit distribution CD contains

a setup directory with all the base operating system

setup files and installation programs (WINNT.EXE and

WINNT32.EXE).

The name of the directory may vary depending on the

distribution CD (e.g., \I386\).

1. Create the following directory structure under the

<WINXP Setup Directory>:

\$OEM$\$$\INF

2. Copy the Windows* XP INF files from

<INF Extract Directory>\XXXX\All to the directory

created in Step 1 above:

<WINXP Setup Directory>\$OEM$\$$\INF

NOTE: XXXX is the directory name for the chipset of

interest. Refer to Section 8 for more details.

3. Create the following directory structure under the

<WINXP Setup Directory>:

\$OEM$\$1\drivers\IntelINF

4. Copy the Windows* XP INF files AND the catalog files

(.CAT) from <INF Extract Directory>\XXXX\All to the

directory created in Step 4 above:

<WINXP Setup Directory>\$OEM$\$1\drivers\IntelINF

NOTE: XXXX is the directory name for the chipset of

interest. Refer to Section 8 for more details.

5. Either modify the default Windows* XP installation

answer file, UNATTEND.TXT, located in <WINXP Setup

Directory>, or create a customized answer file. The

answer file must include the following information:

[unattended]

OemPreinstall = Yes

OemPnPDriversPath="drivers\IntelINF"

A sample answer file for preloading the Intel® Chipset

Device Software files is available:

<INF Extract Directory>\XXXX\All\INFAnswr.TXT

If you are a computer manufacturer, refer to the Microsoft*

Windows* XP Guide to Unattended Setup for more information

about Windows* XP answer files and unattended installations.

For more information about the \$OEM$ folder, refer to the

Microsoft Windows* XP OEM Preinstallation Kit (OPK)

User Guide. If you are not a manufacturer, refer to the Microsoft

Windows* XP Deployment Guide.

6. Run "WINNT.EXE /u:<answer file name> /s:<WINXP Setup

Directory>" to install Windows* XP.

If I am correct, nLlite uses WINNT.SIF as the so called awnser file in this setup. I checked this and it seemed that the WINNT.SIF nLite created/modified contained all my inserted options. I have just added a line "OemPnPDriversPath="drivers\IntelINF"" under the unattended section, and created the folder described above and filled them with the files provided with the driver.

This however was not succesful, it didn't make the boot go any further then it went previous times. Still a blackscreen where the optical drive slowly spins down to a halt and the Aspire One shows no diskactivity.

I am sorry that it might seem that I am trying all sorts of stuff that's perhaps not related to the problem at all, I'm desperate.

[johnhc]

Bishop, it is great that you are willing to try different things, but unfortunately what you tried appears to be a different method of accomplishing what nLite does when you place the text mode drivers in the Hot Fix section. This makes drivers available to Windows Setup to communicate with your HDDs. Since you cannot get Setup to load (boot) from the CD, this did not change the outcome. What I see as your problem and our opportunity is that the Vista CD will boot and the XP will not. This says to me that Vista has a different boot sector or boot loader than XP (or both) which allows it to boot. What got me on to EasyBCD link was the idea that it would get you past this. I am still looking and will let you know if I find anything. What I fear (may have said before), is that MS and component manufacturers have set out to prevent us from loading XP on newer machines - forcing Vista on us. Have you tried contacting your CD drive maker and asking about booting an XP CD. It is worth a try - would recommend calling to get past the first several canned tech responses. Please let us know. Good luck, John.

[Bishop]

Have you tried contacting your CD drive maker and asking about booting an XP CD.

In my searches over the internet I find multiple succesful nLite'd XP CD's booting on the Aspire One A150. So it 'should' be possible on my device too.

When the external optical drive was not yet available to me I went back to my old work which, I worked at an IT helpdesk, where they also had a repair/technical department. I borrowed an external DVD-Rewriter from there to install XP with a CD I created at home. This was a DVD-Rewriter from Samsung. I have bought one from LiteOn.

The Samsung gave the exact same black screen, and as the Vista DVD would run I used that installer there to create different partitions and then tried running the CD again. Again with the same results, the black screen after "Press any key to boot from CD..."

This leads me to think that it has nothing to do with the type of external drive, as I've tried two different brands.

MS and component manufacturers have set out to prevent us from loading XP on newer machines - forcing Vista on us.

This netbook came with XP Home Edition on it. But it was loaded with all sorts of software I didn't want / used and then used nLite to make a smaller and faster XP install.

[Bishop]

JUST how long do you wait on the black screen?

Ok, I've got some minor progress in all this.

I don't know why but I decided to wait again while booting the Windows XP Home Edition OEM CD that I used as a base for my nLite'd CD.

And indeed, after about 4 minutes it booted into the windows installer and asked me to press enter to continue.

I am happy to see that my Aspire One is infact able to load the XP installer.

However, I've grabbed this copy of the OEM CD from the net as I don't have a physical disc myself.

During the initial copying of the installation files, right after I selected the designated partition, it failed to copy a few files and I let the XP installer skip those. When it booted for the second time it entered the GUI part of the XP installer. There it failed because it could acces some files. Since the initial copying didn't go as it should I expected an outcome like this. Still, I was happy to see it was succesful at loading the XP installer.

Note: I suspect this CD was not a XP Home Edition with a SP3 slipstreamed into it like MS would do it. as in it was done by software we have acces to. Perhaps even nLite.

Then I tried something dirty, I booted again from the CD but before pressing enter to continue installing XP I replaced the OEM CD with my nLite'd CD. There where, ofcourse, complications aswell. It missed multiple files it couldn't copy. Which is logical as I had slimmed the XP image. This setup didn't go as far as the other one as it couldn't acces a certain inf in the end, and there the setup hung.

Any idea's where to go from here? It leads my to think I need to click or unclick something in nLite in order to make it as bootable as the other CD.

[johnhc]

Bishop, again, I am glad that you are experimenting. But if you DLed an XP copy from the Internet it is most likely warez (see forum rules) and worse, there is no telling what kind of junk is in the DL, including bad stuff. I guess it's OK to experiment with, but certainly not to use. But you may have made some real progress. An nLited CD should work no differently that a 'real' Windows disk. What is the source of Windows in your nLited copy? Is it a legal copy of Windows with a valid key? Why do you not have a CD? Getting missing files in the DL is probably not a surprise, but you should get no errors whatsoever in a real CD or an nLited CD. Removing stuff via nLite should not give missing file messages. When you let us know what is the origin of your nLited Windows, please attach you latest Last Session. Have you made sure to run nLite only once against the same source and integrated only one SP? Good luck, John.

[Bishop]

But if you DLed an XP copy from the Internet it is most likely warez (see forum rules) and worse, there is no telling what kind of junk is in the DL, including bad stuff. I guess it's OK to experiment with, but certainly not to use.

I understand all to well, and I've only done this because I have a legal key (License) for a Windows XP Home Edition. As it came with the Aspire One as stated in the OP.

What is the source of Windows in your nLited copy? Is it a legal copy of Windows with a valid key? Why do you not have a CD?

The source is the image I've downloaded from the net. According to the guy that uploaded it it's a copy of his OEM XP Home CD with SP3 integrated. It has no warez type stuff in it as it still requires a key to make it valid.

Why do you not have a CD?

Acer did not provide a Recovery CD with the netbook. They provided a d2d eRecovery system as they call it. It's basically a installer that's sitting on a 'hidden' partition of the harddrive. Via ALT-F10 you can then recover the netbook to it's original state. But as you most likely know, with this install, all kinds of rubbish get's installed too. This is not good for the workingspeed of the laptop and it takes a lot of time after the recovery to remove the software you don't want/need and install your own. That is the reason I wanted to make a nLite'd Windows XP Home Edition CD using my own Acer Aspire One XP Home Edition key.

Have you made sure to run nLite only once against the same source and integrated only one SP?

I do not know how or using what software the SP3 was integrated into the OEM image. All I know is that nLite accepted it as valid. Otherwise it would give an error stating that it is pointed to an already changed source directory. I know this doesn't work.

You are quite right that we can never know what is exactly in such an image. I will see if I can get an original Windows XP Home Edition CD.

Thanks again Johnhc for thinking with me. Some stuff might be really obvious, but with multiple people thinking out loud more awnsers can be found.

I've attached my LAST SESSION.INI

LAST_SESSION.INI