Help Neede @ My Life End With Cf & Xp

scooby8272 · 11-11-2005, 05:02 AM

Yeah i am a n00b and i have searched but i need help.

I am 4 CF cards and a few CF-IDE connectors down and alot of money down the drain lighter.

I cant install XP and get it running on CF.
SP13000.
Kingston high speed 4BG CF.
Tranquil pc IDE-CF Adapter.

1:-I have tried to install stright to CF but i cant get the paging file active so i cant update windows or install net-framework,autoroute etc etc

2:-I have installed onto a normal harddrive and then tried to ghost it over, cant get it to work. closest i get it is stuck on the window screen.

HOW THE HELL DO I DO IT !!!! after 15 installs of window 98, ME, XP , XP PRO, XP HOME, XP TALBLET, XP CORP etc etc ...

Please help noob newbie to achive his goal. MAYBE AN IDIOTS GUIDE.

Thanks in advance from the UK

Enforcer · 11-11-2005, 05:15 AM

Bloody hell, weve had double posting before and even three, but four in the same forum??????

Edit make that 5

Fox_Mulder · 11-11-2005, 05:17 AM

Posting the same thing 5 times is not a good way to attract attention around here!

scooby8272 · 11-11-2005, 05:26 AM

Sorry my PC froze and as usual i hit send a number of times...

SORRY GUYS Please help...was not done on purpose

Fox_Mulder · 11-11-2005, 05:30 AM

As long as it wasn't intentional!
I dont know too much about installing windows on a cf card but here goes:
It seems windows has a problem with the page file being on the cf card, this may be because the cf card has a limited number of read/write cycles. But then windows should just treat it as any normal drive and just use it untill it eventually dies from to many reads/writes.

It's a mystery to me!

Enforcer · 11-11-2005, 05:31 AM

Quote: Originally Posted by Fox_Mulder

It's a mystery to me!

Fox_Mulder · 11-11-2005, 05:39 AM

Quote: Originally Posted by Enforcer

truth being out there
a conspiarcy

I was waiting till I had some proof of aliens (and of course the government) preventing him from loading XP on the CF Card

jcdillin · 11-11-2005, 06:05 AM

You can install windows onto the drive, but you must get a utility from the card maker to switch it to fixed disk mode so that windows will not freak out on it. The other thing your going to need to do is install EWF (Enhanced Write Filter) or your cards are going to be dead within a few days.

If you can find it your much better of going with Windows XP embedded, i've got it running on a 1gb flash card with no problems at all.

SFiorito · 11-11-2005, 07:33 AM

http://osf1.gmu.edu/~sfiorito/eXPinstall.htm

scooby8272 · 11-11-2005, 08:41 AM

Is the embedded way a big hasstle.
I just want the pc running with miniml apps.
can somebody point me to the link which is entiled " how to install windows xp to cf in easy steps"

Worth a try

cheers

jcdillin · 11-11-2005, 09:24 AM

Quote: Originally Posted by SFiorito

http://osf1.gmu.edu/~sfiorito/eXPinstall.htm

thanks!

Bugbyte · 11-11-2005, 12:10 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by scooby8272

Sorry my PC froze and as usual i hit send a number of times...

SORRY GUYS Please help...was not done on purpose

Dupes deleted. Good luck.

scooby8272 · 11-11-2005, 02:29 PM

Do you have to use the embedded route.
I take it i install windows 1st onto a clean drive then do the above ?

How do you prep the card for the copy over ?

IntellaWorks · 11-11-2005, 03:09 PM

Read SF's documentation. But to simplify the process here you go :

1.) Install a Stable Nlited version of XP on a regular IDE harddrive

2.) Optimize the XP installation by deleting uneeded stuff, disabling pagefil.sys install ALL drivers and make sure every device you plan to use in the car is working properly with XP on the IDE drive. I can't stress enough how important this is.

3.) Go ahead and Get EWF and Minlogon enabled into your XP. Make sure ALL the devices you plan on using are CONNECTED

4.) Reboot the machine to ensure EWF + MINLOGON is working properly and all your devices (including your USB ones) are still working properly.

5.) Now REMOVE ALL DEVICES, except the 3.5" floppy drive. This include the IDE harddive

6.) Connect the CF - IDE adapter with CF card and run bootprep from a FLOPPY. Note: BOOTPREP must be run from a floppy, don't try it from a bootable cd or dvd or usb flash device because it won't work.

7.) Format your CF card with Format c: /s and reboot your machine

8.) If you see a command prompt you're almost home free. Now type the command format c:

9.) Connect your CF card and IDE drive to another computer and boot to windows.

10.) In explorer select all from the IDE harddrive and copy it to the root of the CF card. In the end both drives should look identical. You may want to enable the viewing of hidden files if your windows machine doesn't have it enabled already.

11.) Plug the CF card back into your carpc and boot it up!

12.) Check to see if EWF is working properly, if its not you may have to re-do the EWF procedure to get it working.

oh yah, your CF card doesn't have to be considered a fixed disk in order for XP to work. However if your planning a setup that will hibernate or go into standby then you do. XP freezes when a shutdown/hibernate/standby message is given to the system its a known issue and there's no workaround...

scooby8272 · 11-11-2005, 03:21 PM

Thats awesome man helps alot,
where do i get bootprep from