Here is a hard one for you all : How to boot from a floppy image w/o drives

**coolwaves** · 12-22-2003, 07:01 AM

Well, tried Flopper with no luck, it needs to gather some information via an special boot floppy before working properly, and since this machine doesn't even have an FDD header, it's kinda impossible to do so. I tried to have it gather this info in my desktop, then moving the data to the Panel PC, but it didn't work. So, the question is open again: is there any kind of software emulator that would make the system boot from a floppy image stored on HD? You know, something like that Caldera-DOS trick that Partition Magic does when you want to change the system partition under WinXP....

PS: SjLucky: no, I'm not going to buy a new mobo just because this gives me some minor problems (This BIOS actualization would make my life quite easier, but I can live without it). Of course, this is unless you know of a good mobo, that can directly drive a 4 Channel LVDS Toshiba 10C306L LCD panel and that is pretty cheap. Also, I think that if each time you have a problem you just replace your hardware it will have two effects: 1. You will soon run out of money 2. You'll never learn how to solve that problem. That's all.

**SjLucky** · 12-22-2003, 01:14 PM

well slap the drive in as a primary in another pc
install your jazz and slap it back in

**frodobaggins** · 12-22-2003, 01:27 PM

All you have to do is copy the files over to a spare hard drive and make it bootable. Then stick in your spare.

**coolwaves** · 12-28-2003, 04:43 PM

Mmmmm... As it's a BIOS upgrade what I want to do with all this mess, it wouldn't help to put the hard drive in ohter computer and then booting from the BIOS upgrade disk. Trying to install the BIOS uprade program into a spare hard disk could be a solution, but as this disk is not a DOS boot disk (it's DOS formatted, but it does not boot to DOS but to some kind of bootable BIOS flash program) I don't know how to put the proper files in the first sector of the HD in order to make it all work... Any advice?

**Axis_Inc636** · 03-11-2004, 04:43 PM

Install the drive as a seconday on a working PC, go to dos command prompt
enter "format {Drive letter} /s" this will format that drive and make it bootable. then take your floppy that has the upgrade software and put it in that computer then type "copy a:\*.* {drive letter}" that should copy the program, start up files and everything you need to do the BIOS upgrade. place it back in the pc that you are trying to do the upgrade in and boot it. if everything works like it should when it boots from the HD it will load your software.