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Change optical device for recovery boot

G

Guerreiro.v

Flightless Bird
Hello

I have a 7 year old Acer Aspire 1700 notebook. Its DVD/CD-ROM doesn't function, it is detected, correctly installed but it just can't read CD's properly anymore. The thing is I need recover the computer. So I used a external drive by USB. When I launch the recovery CD by the external drive, after boot and before starting the recovery it asks to put in CD1(system CD) in master CD-ROM (the internal broken one).
Is any way to I change files in the recovery CD in order to bypass the need for master CD-ROM or other to recover my PC?

Many thanks
 
L

Lars

Flightless Bird
On a bootable CD it is specified in startup files which device to load
as CD. When I burn my own recovery CD's I normally specify to load two
CD's to avoid problems like yours.

On a factory made recovery cd you can not change these settings, since
they happen early on in the start process, (while processing
config.sys and autoexec.bat).

I think your best option is to physically remove the internal CD so it
is never detected. That way your external CD ought to load as the only
one.

Previously, on Usenet undisclosed wrote:

>I have a 7 year old Acer Aspire 1700 notebook. Its DVD/CD-ROM doesn't
>function, it is detected, correctly installed but it just can't read
>CD's properly anymore. The thing is I need recover the computer. So I
>used a external drive by USB. When I launch the recovery CD by the
>external drive, after boot and before starting the recovery it asks to
>put in CD1(system CD) in master CD-ROM (the internal broken one).
>Is any way to I change files in the recovery CD in order to bypass the
>need for master CD-ROM or other to recover my PC?


Lars
Stockholm
 
B

Bob Villa

Flightless Bird
On Aug 3, 8:52 pm, undisclosed wrote:
> Hello
>
> I have a 7 year old Acer Aspire 1700 notebook. Its DVD/CD-ROM doesn't
> function, it is detected, correctly installed but it just can't read
> CD's properly anymore. The thing is I need recover the computer. So I
> used a external drive by USB. When I launch the recovery CD by the
> external drive, after boot and before starting the recovery it asks to
> put in CD1(system CD) in master CD-ROM (the internal broken one).
> Is any way to I change files in the recovery CD in order to bypass the
> need for master CD-ROM or other to recover my PC?
>
> Many thanks
>
> --
> Guerreiro.v


I think you need to be bootable from a USB device (check BIOS). And
considering the age...it may not be possible. See if there is a BIOS
flash available to allow USB booting.
 
G

Guerreiro.v

Flightless Bird
To Bob Villa: Yes it boots from USB. When it asks for the recovery CD in the master CD-ROM it has already booted and about to start the recovery process from the USB external CD drive.

To Lars: I already tried that and instead of asking for the recovery CD in the master CD-ROM, it reports "unknown status" for master CD-ROM like it searched for it and couldn't find and stuck!
I dismounted the recovery CD with Isobuster and the boot image with Winimage and got this autoexec.bat:

@echo off
rem system CD boot disk ver. 1.0
SET CDDRIVE=X
SET RAMDRIVE=A:
SET RAMFLAG=A:
rem SET COMSPEC=A:/COMMAND.COM

call GETRAMDR
IF NOT '%RAMDRIVE2%'=='' GOTO ramok
CALL DISPMSG There was a problem determining your system configuration.
CALL DISPMSG2 Press any key to continue.

PAUSE
GOTO end

:ramok
cls
LH MSCDEX /D:IDECD001 /L:%CDDRIVE%

IF ERRORLEVEL 1 SET CDDRIVE=
IF NOT '%CDDRIVE%'=='' SET CDDRIVE=%CDDRIVE%:
PATH=A:/;%CDDRIVE%\acer\tools;%RAMDRIVE2%\
COPY A:/COMMAND.COM %RAMDRIVE2% >nul
SET COMSPEC=%RAMDRIVE2%\COMMAND.COM
SET ARG=ENABLEREBUILD VERIFY

smartdrv.exe
a:/ckrom.exe

x:

LH %CDDRIVE%\acer\tools\MOUSE.EXE >nul
rem setmouse.exe /s110
%CDDRIVE%\acer\tools\dbios.EXE >%RAMDRIVE2%\BIOS.DMI

rem copy /y %CDDRIVE%\acer\tools\MOUSE.EXE C:/SYSINFO\ASTATUS.INI

rem a:/CHKFPY.EXE >nul
lh %CDDRIVE%\recovery.exe

:end

And this config.sys:

DEVICE=A:/HIMEM.SYS /TESTMEM:-OFF
DEVICE=A:/EMM386.EXE NOEMS i=b000-b7ff
DOS=HIGH,UMB
LASTDRIVE=Z
devicehigh=a:/OAKCDROM.SYS /D:IDECD001
DEVICE=A:/RAMDRIVE.SYS 1500 /E
DEVICEHIGH=A:/ANSI.SYS

I'm willing to change these (like you said that were the startup files that specifies the device to load) and mount it all back again in a modified recovery CD.
Also the CD has STCDInfo.ini and DumpPrj.txt files that enounces most paths of files within CD to drive M
(SWZEN02329=M:/OTHERS\OEMINFO\WINPER\ALL\MODULE)
and very few to drive I.

Can you suggest me where to start changing in these files in order to make the recovery CD work in the external drive please?
Please help me, the notebook is good (for the age) and I really want to make it work!

Thanks
 
B

BillW50

Flightless Bird
On 8/4/2010 7:13 AM, undisclosed wrote:
> To Bob Villa: Yes it boots from USB. When it asks for the recovery CD in
> the master CD-ROM it has already booted and about to start the recovery
> process from the USB external CD drive.
>
> To Lars: I already tried that and instead of asking for the recovery CD
> in the master CD-ROM, it reports "unknown status" for master CD-ROM like
> it searched for it and couldn't find and stuck!
> I dismounted the recovery CD with Isobuster and the boot image with
> Winimage and got this autoexec.bat:
>
> @echo off
> rem system CD boot disk ver. 1.0
> SET CDDRIVE=X
> SET RAMDRIVE=A:
> SET RAMFLAG=A:
> rem SET COMSPEC=A:/COMMAND.COM
>
> call GETRAMDR
> IF NOT '%RAMDRIVE2%'=='' GOTO ramok
> CALL DISPMSG There was a problem determining your system
> configuration.
> CALL DISPMSG2 Press any key to continue.
>
> PAUSE
> GOTO end
>
> :ramok
> cls
> LH MSCDEX /D:IDECD001 /L:%CDDRIVE%
>
> IF ERRORLEVEL 1 SET CDDRIVE=
> IF NOT '%CDDRIVE%'=='' SET CDDRIVE=%CDDRIVE%:
> PATH=A:/;%CDDRIVE%\acer\tools;%RAMDRIVE2%\
> COPY A:/COMMAND.COM %RAMDRIVE2%>nul
> SET COMSPEC=%RAMDRIVE2%\COMMAND.COM
> SET ARG=ENABLEREBUILD VERIFY
>
> smartdrv.exe
> a:/ckrom.exe
>
> x:
>
> LH %CDDRIVE%\acer\tools\MOUSE.EXE>nul
> rem setmouse.exe /s110
> %CDDRIVE%\acer\tools\dbios.EXE>%RAMDRIVE2%\BIOS.DMI
>
> rem copy /y %CDDRIVE%\acer\tools\MOUSE.EXE
> C:/SYSINFO\ASTATUS.INI
>
> rem a:/CHKFPY.EXE>nul
> lh %CDDRIVE%\recovery.exe
>
> :end
>
> And this config.sys:
>
> DEVICE=A:/HIMEM.SYS /TESTMEM:-OFF
> DEVICE=A:/EMM386.EXE NOEMS i=b000-b7ff
> DOS=HIGH,UMB
> LASTDRIVE=Z
> devicehigh=a:/OAKCDROM.SYS /D:IDECD001
> DEVICE=A:/RAMDRIVE.SYS 1500 /E
> DEVICEHIGH=A:/ANSI.SYS
>
> I'm willing to change these (like you said that were the startup files
> that specifies the device to load) and mount it all back again in a
> modified recovery CD.
> Also the CD has STCDInfo.ini and DumpPrj.txt files that enounces most
> paths of files within CD to drive M
> (SWZEN02329=M:/OTHERS\OEMINFO\WINPER\ALL\MODULE)
> and very few to drive I.
>
> Can you suggest me where to start changing in these files in order to
> make the recovery CD work in the external drive please?
> Please help me, the notebook is good (for the age) and I really want to
> make it work!
>
> Thanks


In the BIOS, you might be able to change the setting for the CD-ROM to
NONE. If you can, this is your best bet that it might work without any
other changes.

If that fails, another option is to physically remove the internal CD
drive. This is usually held in place by one single screw on the bottom
of the laptop. Could be under a trap door as well. Once you find this
screw and remove it, the whole CD drive should just pull right out. And
now everything should run off of the USB CD drive.

If both the above fails, then I would go for modifying the autoexec.bat
and the config.sys files. And I might think about changing them to run
from the hard drive instead by creating a small partition to hold the CD
contents. That is if the hard drive has enough space to do so.

--
Bill
Gateway MX6124 ('06 era) 1 of 3 - Windows XP SP2
 
G

Guerreiro.v

Flightless Bird
Nop, all ways of disconnecting the internal drive have already been tried. Still believe the best way is modifying files to bypass the master CD-ROM check.

Bill, couldn't understand on booting from the hard drive and how can it help in the recover CD not going for the internal drive. Help please
 
L

Lars

Flightless Bird
Guerreiro, it is not very easy to follow through your startup files
and understand what and where you should modify.

Are you saying the machine does boot from the recovery CD?
Then what, can it not read the CD at all after boot?
What type of screen or prompt do you get after boot?
Is there a menu or just a simple Dos-prompt, like A:/
If you are at a Dos-prompt, what happens if you type D:
and make [Enter]?
If it responds with a D:/ -prompt then what happens if you type dir
and make [Enter]?

Do you have, or can you make a bootable USB-stick?

Previously, on Usenet undisclosed wrote:

>To Bob Villa: Yes it boots from USB. When it asks for the recovery CD in
>the master CD-ROM it has already booted and about to start the recovery
>process from the USB external CD drive.
>
>To Lars: I already tried that and instead of asking for the recovery CD
>in the master CD-ROM, it reports "unknown status" for master CD-ROM like
>it searched for it and couldn't find and stuck!
>I dismounted the recovery CD with Isobuster and the boot image with
>Winimage and got this autoexec.bat:
>
>@echo off
>rem system CD boot disk ver. 1.0
>SET CDDRIVE=X
>SET RAMDRIVE=A:
>SET RAMFLAG=A:
>rem SET COMSPEC=A:/COMMAND.COM
>
>call GETRAMDR
>IF NOT '%RAMDRIVE2%'=='' GOTO ramok
>CALL DISPMSG There was a problem determining your system
>configuration.
>CALL DISPMSG2 Press any key to continue.
>
>PAUSE
>GOTO end
>
>:ramok
>cls
>LH MSCDEX /D:IDECD001 /L:%CDDRIVE%
>
>IF ERRORLEVEL 1 SET CDDRIVE=
>IF NOT '%CDDRIVE%'=='' SET CDDRIVE=%CDDRIVE%:
>PATH=A:/;%CDDRIVE%\acer\tools;%RAMDRIVE2%\
>COPY A:/COMMAND.COM %RAMDRIVE2% >nul
>SET COMSPEC=%RAMDRIVE2%\COMMAND.COM
>SET ARG=ENABLEREBUILD VERIFY
>
>smartdrv.exe
>a:/ckrom.exe
>
>x:
>
>LH %CDDRIVE%\acer\tools\MOUSE.EXE >nul
>rem setmouse.exe /s110
>%CDDRIVE%\acer\tools\dbios.EXE >%RAMDRIVE2%\BIOS.DMI
>
>rem copy /y %CDDRIVE%\acer\tools\MOUSE.EXE
>C:/SYSINFO\ASTATUS.INI
>
>rem a:/CHKFPY.EXE >nul
>lh %CDDRIVE%\recovery.exe
>
>:end
>
>And this config.sys:
>
>DEVICE=A:/HIMEM.SYS /TESTMEM:-OFF
>DEVICE=A:/EMM386.EXE NOEMS i=b000-b7ff
>DOS=HIGH,UMB
>LASTDRIVE=Z
>devicehigh=a:/OAKCDROM.SYS /D:IDECD001
>DEVICE=A:/RAMDRIVE.SYS 1500 /E
>DEVICEHIGH=A:/ANSI.SYS
>
>I'm willing to change these (like you said that were the startup files
>that specifies the device to load) and mount it all back again in a
>modified recovery CD.
>Also the CD has STCDInfo.ini and DumpPrj.txt files that enounces most
>paths of files within CD to drive M
>(SWZEN02329=M:/OTHERS\OEMINFO\WINPER\ALL\MODULE)
>and very few to drive I.
>
>Can you suggest me where to start changing in these files in order to
>make the recovery CD work in the external drive please?
>Please help me, the notebook is good (for the age) and I really want to
>make it work!
>
>Thanks

Lars
Stockholm
 
G

Guerreiro.v

Flightless Bird
The machine boots with the recovery CD in the non internal drive. It installs the basic DOS controllers including all optical drives and a third party partion for the recovery. Then automatically goes for the last autoexec command: lh %CDDRIVE%\recovery.exe where it initiates the recovery process. For all the process it never gives a DOS prompt. Right away it stuck in a DOS based appearance with red screen and yellow letters asking to put in CD1(system CD) in master CD-ROM. It acknowledges that the CD isn’t in the correct drive although all is working.
 
G

Guerreiro.v

Flightless Bird
Yupii made it!

At first I thought it was because the line a:/ckrom.exe in autoexec.bat and the program it runs that checks the drive in use, so I erased it. Then I realised that although the recovery cd boots from the USB drive it doesn't install USB/CD drivers and it never recognizes the drive.

Problem solved using USB_CD.SYS instead of OAKCDROM.SYS and changing it in the config.sys. It installs the USB CD drive instead of the internal. Still I keeped a:/ckrom.exe erased plus physically disconnected the internal drive.

Also came to find post in another forum with the same problem 8 years ago: h**p://www.computing.net/answers/windows-95/make-a-usb-cdrom-drive-bootable/119623.html

Many thanks
 
M

mike

Flightless Bird
undisclosed wrote:
> Hello
>
> I have a 7 year old Acer Aspire 1700 notebook. Its DVD/CD-ROM doesn't
> function, it is detected, correctly installed but it just can't read
> CD's properly anymore. The thing is I need recover the computer. So I
> used a external drive by USB. When I launch the recovery CD by the
> external drive, after boot and before starting the recovery it asks to
> put in CD1(system CD) in master CD-ROM (the internal broken one).
> Is any way to I change files in the recovery CD in order to bypass the
> need for master CD-ROM or other to recover my PC?
>
> Many thanks
>
>

There's a program called the PLOP boot manager
http://www.plop.at/en/bootmanager.html

I've used it to start from a floppy, then boot from
a device selected in plop.
 
B

Bob Villa

Flightless Bird
On Aug 5, 5:10 am, mike <spam...@go.com> wrote:
> undisclosed wrote:
> > Hello

>
> > I have a 7 year old Acer Aspire 1700 notebook. Its DVD/CD-ROM doesn't
> > function, it is detected, correctly installed but it just can't read
> > CD's properly anymore. The thing is I need recover the computer. So I
> > used a external drive by USB. When I launch the recovery CD by the
> > external drive, after boot and before starting the recovery it asks to
> > put in CD1(system CD) in master CD-ROM (the internal broken one).
> > Is any way to I change files in the recovery CD in order to bypass the
> > need for master CD-ROM or other to recover my PC?

>
> > Many thanks

>
> There's a program called the PLOP boot managerhttp://www.plop.at/en/bootmanager.html
>
> I've used it to start from a floppy, then boot from
> a device selected in plop.


Looks interesting! Thanks Mike!
 
B

BillW50

Flightless Bird
On 8/4/2010 3:56 PM, undisclosed wrote:
> Nop, all ways of disconnecting the internal drive have already been
> tried. Still believe the best way is modifying files to bypass the
> master CD-ROM check.
>
> Bill, couldn't understand on booting from the hard drive and how can it
> help in the recover CD not going for the internal drive. Help please


Yeah the purpose of transferring the CD recovery to the hard drive and
modifying the files to boot from the hard drive instead, because it
bypasses the need for those DOS CD drivers. Thus you won't need that
OAKCDROM.SYS which won't likely work for the USB CD drive anyway.

You could use a flash drive too and do the very same thing. But making
the flash drive DOS bootable is the hardest trick. I don't know if FDISK
/MBR will work on a flash drive or not. But there is an HP utility out
there that makes a DOS bootable flash. I believe you also need a DOS
floppy boot disk which this utility uses to create it. "HP Drive Key
Boot Utility" is the name for this tool by the way.

--
Bill
Gateway MX6124 ('06 era) 1 of 3 - Windows XP SP2
 
B

BillW50

Flightless Bird
On 8/5/2010 4:47 AM, undisclosed wrote:
> Yupii made it!
>
> At first I thought it was because the line a:/ckrom.exe in autoexec.bat
> and the program it runs that checks the drive in use, so I erased it.
> Then I realised that although the recovery cd boots from the USB drive
> it doesn't install USB/CD drivers and it never recognizes the drive.
>
> Problem solved using USB_CD.SYS instead of OAKCDROM.SYS and changing it
> in the config.sys. It installs the USB CD drive instead of the internal.
> Still I keeped a:/ckrom.exe erased plus physically disconnected the
> internal drive.
>
> Also came to find post in another forum with the same problem 8 years
> ago:
> h**p://www.computing.net/answers/windows-95/make-a-usb-cdrom-drive-bootable/119623.html
>
> Many thanks


Oh good deal! I didn't know about the existence of an USB_CD.SYS DOS
driver. And I was leaning on running it from the hard drive or flash
drive instead. Thus avoiding the need for any DOS CD drivers at all.

--
Bill
Gateway MX6124 ('06 era) 1 of 3 - Windows XP SP2
 
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