From: tp@jet.uk (Tarang K Patel)
Newsgroups: comp.os.minix
Subject: Re: iplAID to bootup PC from any partitions/drives 1/1
Keywords: bootup PC, masterIPL, OSs, MS-DOS-program
Date: 16 Oct 92 09:14:40 GMT
Organization: Joint European Torus

In <1352@uitecgw.uitec.ac.jp> nemossan@uitec.ac.jp (Sakurao NEMOTO) writes:


>    The followings are "iplAID" by  takamiti@mix,  which aids Initial
>Program Loader (IPL) to select partitions/boot-drive in IBM-PC.


>    (2) It supports  booting  from  any  (non-active) parti-
>	tions, regardless its boot-flags.
>    (5) If you do not want to modify the boot-sector of your
>	hard-drive,  you can  simulate its operation using a
>	floppy-disk.

.........
   some more docs stuff
.........
 
>(4.1)	startup assistIPL from floppy
>    This program was called "FDassist" in the Minix-version.  This is
>the one originally for debugging, and it will not overwrite the boot-
>sector of the Hard-drive.
>    Insert a formatted blank diskette into A: and type as

>	A:>iplaid fdtest

>Then you will be prompted for confirmation, so answer by <Enter> key.
>If you see  "OK"-message,  codes of  "FDassist"  have been written on
>the boot-sector of the diskette at A: drive.

>    Let's try this "FDassist".
>    Keep the FD on A:  and  press <Ctrl>+<Alt>+<Del> to booting, then
>the code of "FDassist" will be read.  Do you feel any change from the
>conventional booting from the Hard-drive?  "Nothing is changed". Yes,
>OK,  it is true.  After  the access-lamp of the floppy-drive (A:)  is
>OFF, the Operating System where the boot-flag is ON in the hard-drive
>will be booted by this process.
>    Try again  <Ctrl>+<Alt>+<Del>,  but this time,  press <Shift>-key
>while the access-lamp of the FD is ON.

>	This timing  may be  difficult.  Try  several times.
>	The keypoint  is  the time  when the BIOS  is  init-
>	ialized  and  CPU tries to bootup from the A: drive.
>	Look the FD-lamp carefully,  so you will see that it
>	ONs twice:
>	    1st-time:	At initializing BIOS, it ONs
>			to recalibrate FDD
>	    2nd-time:	to read BOOT-sector.
>	Thus the 2nd is the target.

>    You  will  see  on  the Left-Top  of the screen  "system-ID"  and
>"Which?" prompt.  Numbers following the "Which?" is the one of parti-
>tion  where the boot-flag  is set.  If you have other bootable parti-
>tion(s),  specify its number from "1" to "4", then press <Enter>-key.
>Booting from the partition depends on the loader of the partition.
>    If the loader of the partition only refers to the contents of the
>partition-table on MEMORY  (its number shown by FDassist),  it can be
>booted.  But some loaders  of  some OSs  will  neglect  the partition
>information from the master-IPL, and try to read the partition-tables
>by themselves.  (Ex. old version of "Toshi??"-s MS-DOS.)
>    FDassist  ONLY  modifies the boot-flag of the partition-table  on
>MEMORY, thus such a loader cannot be booted by it.   The  loaders  of
>PC-DOS,  Minix,  Linux   and  386bsd  rely upon  the  information  of
>partition-table  given by the master-IPL,  thus  booting will be done
>successfully  in  those  OSs.   You can use  "assistIPL"  in case  of
>"To???ba"-s old-version of MS-DOS (see below), but cannot "FDassist".

I have MS-DOS 5.0, so why is it when I get the option something like

 Boot from partition
       1    - my DOS partition and also marked with BOOT-FLAG
       2    - my Linux partition
       3    - my Linux swap disk partition
       4
  Which ? 

 When I ask for 2 - Nothing happens except an error tone is sounded and
                    I am prompted again.

 When I ask for 1 - It happily boots ups MS-DOS

 When I ask for 3 - It attempts to BOOT up from the LINUX swap disk, but
                    ofcourse fails.

 Is this a bug with Linux, although the DOCS say it works with LINUX.


>[7]	Warranties
>    We, the author and the re-distributer of the iplAID and assistIPL
>do NOT  express any warranties of them,  it may  cause  any accidents
>from the usage of iplAID, assistIPL, FDassits,  thus

>		TRY BY YOUR OWN RISKS.

>							 takamiti@mix

        Tarang.
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Newsgroups: comp.os.minix