Geekzone: technology news, blogs, forums
Guest
Welcome Guest.
You haven't logged in yet. If you don't have an account you can register now.


grafyx

18 posts

Geek


#13826 31-May-2007 00:25
Send private message

I needed to create a bootable floppy. Ah, simple, I thought. Apparently not.Frown

So how do I do that in Windows 2000 Pro? For something that's a basic essential, I'm finding it pretty difficult to do. Details aren't included in the Windows Help files.

I looked around on the web for relevant advice but nothing worked quite the way it sounded it should.

I tried creating an Emergency Repair Disk via Accessories / System Tools / Backup / Emergency Repair Disk, but when I tried to boot from that I got a DOS message "Ntldr is missing". More internet searching led me to believe that this file should be copied from the C drive root, along with Ntdetect.com and maybe Boot.ini as well. But with those files added, the disk boots up Windows 2000, whereas I only want it to start the machine in DOS so I can update the BIOS.

Hopefully, a Windows 98 bootable floppy, which I will try tonight, will be sufficient to start the machine in DOS, but what if I didn't have one of those ?

How should I do it on a Win 2000 machine ?

Interestingly, ntldr, ntdetect.com and boot.ini are all invisible files on my PC despite my having set the folder options to show hidden files. but until I found a way of tracking them down, I thought they were just missing. So I looked on the web and found that one reason for them to be missing might be out-of-date BIOS ! I nearly threw the PC out the window at that point, since I only needed to create a bootable floppy to enable a BIOS update ! Luckily, reason took precedence over tantrums and I decided my PC wouldn't boot at all if boot.ini was missing or corrupt, so I then figured out that boot.ini at least must be readable using Notepad, so I simply asked Notepad to open c:/ boot.ini (even though I couldn't see it and Search couldn't find it), and there it was.

Create new topic
rwales
122 posts

Master Geek


  #72927 31-May-2007 05:15
Send private message

1) Place diskette in the computer.
2) Open My Computer, right click the A: drive and click Format.
3) In the Format window, check Create an MS-DOS startup disk.
4)  Click Start.

Is this not what you're looking for?



Saptha
35 posts

Geek
Inactive user


  #72930 31-May-2007 06:16
Send private message

here try this its much easy.

http://bootdisk.com/bootdisk.htm

they all working fine for sure.

grafyx

18 posts

Geek


  #72948 31-May-2007 09:39
Send private message

Thanks, guys. I now have my bootable floppy !

Got another (bigger) problem now, though.

I followed the BIOS update instructions to the letter but the new BIOS wouldn't load properly. Now I dare not turn my machine off or it's dead....

Gonna try an earlier version of the BIOS update (the original isn't available on ASRock's site for some reason), but if this doesn't work then I think I'm looking at the prospect of a new motherboard Cry 



freitasm
BDFL - Memuneh
79250 posts

Uber Geek

Administrator
ID Verified
Trusted
Geekzone
Lifetime subscriber

#72954 31-May-2007 09:48
Send private message

A failed update could be fixed in a repair shop - if they have access to the right tools or a comparable motherboard.





Please support Geekzone by subscribing, or using one of our referral links: Samsung | AliExpress | Wise | Sharesies | Hatch | GoodSyncBackblaze backup


Saptha
35 posts

Geek
Inactive user


  #72962 31-May-2007 10:15
Send private message

even Corrupted BIOS can be fixed by BIOS flash with right or stable firmware version. get most stable version from ASROCK website and flash & try,

grafyx

18 posts

Geek


  #72994 31-May-2007 11:47
Send private message

I did get the BIOS and Flash ROM program from the ASRock website.

Weirdly, the machine still boots and shows it now has the latest BIOS version, despite having claimed it was unable to update the ROM, so I'm assuming the CMOS (only) has been successfully updated. I had to Load BIOS defaults to avoid having to 'Press F1 to load defaults' due to the checksum error at bootup, though.

Annoyingly, the whole reason I wanted to update the BIOS - getting the system to recognise a disk bigger than about 130Gb - has not been achieved. It still thinks the new 250Gb drive is 127Gb. There are already two 115Gb drives in there which work OK, and I remember setting the machine up originally for large drives at the original installation.

Create new topic





News and reviews »

Air New Zealand Starts AI adoption with OpenAI
Posted 24-Jul-2025 16:00


eero Pro 7 Review
Posted 23-Jul-2025 12:07


BeeStation Plus Review
Posted 21-Jul-2025 14:21


eero Unveils New Wi-Fi 7 Products in New Zealand
Posted 21-Jul-2025 00:01


WiZ Introduces HDMI Sync Box and other Light Devices
Posted 20-Jul-2025 17:32


RedShield Enhances DDoS and Bot Attack Protection
Posted 20-Jul-2025 17:26


Seagate Ships 30TB Drives
Posted 17-Jul-2025 11:24


Oclean AirPump A10 Water Flosser Review
Posted 13-Jul-2025 11:05


Samsung Galaxy Z Fold7: Raising the Bar for Smartphones
Posted 10-Jul-2025 02:01


Samsung Galaxy Z Flip7 Brings New Edge-To-Edge FlexWindow
Posted 10-Jul-2025 02:01


Epson Launches New AM-C550Z WorkForce Enterprise printer
Posted 9-Jul-2025 18:22


Samsung Releases Smart Monitor M9
Posted 9-Jul-2025 17:46


Nearly Half of Older Kiwis Still Write their Passwords on Paper
Posted 9-Jul-2025 08:42


D-Link 4G+ Cat6 Wi-Fi 6 DWR-933M Mobile Hotspot Review
Posted 1-Jul-2025 11:34


Oppo A5 Series Launches With New Levels of Durability
Posted 30-Jun-2025 10:15









Geekzone Live »

Try automatic live updates from Geekzone directly in your browser, without refreshing the page, with Geekzone Live now.



Are you subscribed to our RSS feed? You can download the latest headlines and summaries from our stories directly to your computer or smartphone by using a feed reader.