need to make an MS-DOS boot disk for BIOS flashing

[itachis.eyes]

let me start off by saying i'm posting this in the vista section because the computer i'm using to make this disk is running vista. the computer that i'm flashing has no OS loaded into it at the moment.

i need to have it on a CD or a DVD...i know all about the floppy method, and emulating a floppy drive in a USB stick. but the computers that i'm working with don't have floppy drives, and the computer that i'm flashing does not support booting from USB and also it doesn't have a floppy drive so it wouldn't recognize the floppy emulation....

[John305]

Hi just go to bootdisk.com and download a dos version of a boot disk.

Hammey

[itachis.eyes]

Hi just go to bootdisk.com and download a dos version of a boot disk.

Hammey

are you sure? i thought that those where floppy images, i'll try it

[bj-kaiser]

cd or dvd boot:

ISOLINUX from the SYSLINUX package and MEMDISK.

you use the isolinux bootloader to load memdisk which then loads a floppy image to a virtual floppy drive in RAM and boots it.

quite easy, isnt it?

[itachis.eyes]

cd or dvd boot:

ISOLINUX from the SYSLINUX package and MEMDISK.

you use the isolinux bootloader to load memdisk which then loads a floppy image to a virtual floppy drive in RAM and boots it.

quite easy, isnt it?

cool, i already have that from mounting DSL to a jump drive....

but would i package my DOS folder inside the syslinux directory and then compress to an .iso or have them in sperate directorys and then put both into one .iso?

[just_some_IT_guy]

well if at all possible it would be best to harvest an old floppy from somewhere and install it temporarily.

Bootdisk.com is just floppy images made with winimage, these will still need to be written to a floppy disk to be usable I believe. Perhaps there is software out there that can mount the images to a virtual floppy drive for temporary use just like how an ISO can mounter as a virtual drive.

Personally I use Nero to create bootable CDs for just this purpose but it still requires a floppy drive so that it can grab the system files from the floppy disk. I believe you can specify an alternate path for the system files but I always used the boot floppy method.

If you have access to a USB floppy drive for this purpose creating a bootable CD with the BIOS files is trivial with Nero (just selct new CD and then boot CD as the type). Without an actual floppy disk it will be more difficult but not impossible. FYI - I still use nero 6 because it is stable and does everything I need without the bloatware newer version come with.

best o' luck.

[bj-kaiser]

cd or dvd boot:

ISOLINUX from the SYSLINUX package and MEMDISK.

you use the isolinux bootloader to load memdisk which then loads a floppy image to a virtual floppy drive in RAM and boots it.

quite easy, isnt it?

cool, i already have that from mounting DSL to a jump drive....

but would i package my DOS folder inside the syslinux directory and then compress to an .iso or have them in sperate directorys and then put both into one .iso?

nope. youd need a floppy image with DOS (i prefer FreeDOS) and either a FAT(32) partition with your BIOS image and flash tool or you'd have to add the flashing tool and image to the floppy image.

this could be helpful:

http://www.ltr-data.se/opencode.html#ImDisk

http://www.ibiblio.org/pub/micro/pc-stuff/...tributions/1.0/

(get fdboot.img from there and empty fdconfig.sys and just delete autoexec.bat)

[itachis.eyes]

cd or dvd boot:

ISOLINUX from the SYSLINUX package and MEMDISK.

you use the isolinux bootloader to load memdisk which then loads a floppy image to a virtual floppy drive in RAM and boots it.

quite easy, isnt it?

cool, i already have that from mounting DSL to a jump drive....

but would i package my DOS folder inside the syslinux directory and then compress to an .iso or have them in sperate directorys and then put both into one .iso?

nope. youd need a floppy image with DOS (i prefer FreeDOS) and either a FAT(32) partition with your BIOS image and flash tool or you'd have to add the flashing tool and image to the floppy image.

this could be helpful:

http://www.ltr-data.se/opencode.html#ImDisk

http://www.ibiblio.org/pub/micro/pc-stuff/...tributions/1.0/

(get fdboot.img from there and empty fdconfig.sys and just delete autoexec.bat)

thanks, i should be good now (^_^) wow, who would have thought getting rid of floppies was such a horrible idea! XD

[bj-kaiser]

here's a cookie:

label flash
kernel memdisk
initrd your_floppy_image

you obviously have to get the memdisk module from the syslinux package. oh, and get the matching version to the bootloader. otherwise it will fail.

[itachis.eyes]

here's a cookie:

label flash
kernel memdisk
initrd your_floppy_image

you obviously have to get the memdisk module from the syslinux package. oh, and get the matching version to the bootloader. otherwise it will fail.

thanks again

[jaclaz]

If I may, you are doing it more difficult than needed.

See if this thread helps:

http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=127593

Basically:

1. Get dos image
   
2. Mount it under 2k/Xp/vista
   
3. Add the BIOS flashing files
   
4. burn a CD with El_torito floppy emulation
   

jaclaz