Questions tagged [boot]
Bootstrapping (booting) process, utilities and customisation.
18
questions
33
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6
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Windows 98 with 2GB of RAM
I have assembled a retro-gaming PC out of an old Shuttle SN45G with a Windows 98/Windows XP dual boot.
The motherboard can handle 2GB of RAM, but apparently Windows 98 can only handle 1 GiB.
Windows ...
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28
votes
2
answers
4k
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How did an IBM 5150 with 16KB RAM work?
I keep reading that when it was first released, there was a variant of the IBM PC model 5150 that had only 16KB of RAM installed. From a hardware perspective, this would clearly work - the 5150 ...
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25
votes
2
answers
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Why do old computers perform a long memory test on every boot?
Basically any computers from the mid 90s and earlier perform a slow memory check on every single boot. The more memory there is present, the slower that process becomes, for example: https://www....
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8
votes
4
answers
863
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Booting from SD card on a Compaq LTE 4/75 – DOS 6 works, Windows 95 doesn't
I'm in the process of restoring an old Compaq LTE Elite 4/75 laptop, which was missing its hard drive, so I thought I'd try booting using an SD-to-IDE adapter.
On my main workstation I created an ...
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64
votes
1
answer
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Why didn't Windows 98 need the "Starting Windows 98..." screen?
In Windows 95, when you start up your computer, you see this message:
Starting Windows 95...
But in Windows 98, this is replaced entirely by the boot logo.
Was this just for a better appearance, or ...
- 1,123
49
votes
9
answers
12k
views
Why weren't bootable game disks ever common on the IBM PC?
While for other platforms of that era (primarily, Amiga), putting a game on a bootable disk was quite a normal practice, this approach never taken off on IBM PC. Why not?
I do remember people having ...
- 2,102
26
votes
3
answers
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Why does DOS ask for the current date and time upon booting?
In most versions of DOS, when they are started from a medium that lacks an AUTOEXEC.BAT file, the very first thing COMMAND.COM does is ask the user to confirm the current date and time:
Starting PC ...
- 21.6k
2
votes
3
answers
864
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386 laptop: reads MBR, cannot boot DOS 6.22
I am trying to boot 386 laptop from a CF card. I've prepared image by installing DOS 6.22 in VirtualBox, and then burning image to a CF card.
Image boots just fine in VirtualBox.
CF card with the ...
- 187
33
votes
3
answers
13k
views
Why do PCs boot in 720x400 resolution?
Using my 21" Trinitron OSD, I can see that the resolution at boot is 720x400.
From memory, this weird resolution is extremely uncommon if ever to be seen as a choice on software that supports ...
- 6,358
26
votes
5
answers
8k
views
What makes a floppy disk bootable?
A lot of web sites describe how to create a bootable floppy disk using an existing image (via dd). But what about the image makes it bootable?
I'm interested in making my own bootable floppy images ...
- 2,584
17
votes
4
answers
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Booting an Amiga 1000 directly to the hard drive without Kickstart floppy
The Amiga computers such as the Amiga 1000 required a Kickstart floppy to be able to boot directly into a hard drive. I have a Amiga 1000 as well but missing the Kickstart floppy. I would like to ...
- 2,464
9
votes
1
answer
739
views
How can I tell if an Apple II disk image is bootable?
I have around 500 floppy disk images from an Apple II and IIgs BBS/usergroup that closed down recently. Some of the disks are bootable, but many aren't. Is there an easy way to tell if a disk boots ...
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9
votes
2
answers
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Why did the BIOS load the MBR at 0x7c00?
The IVT is at 0x0000-0x03ff while the BDA is at 0x0400-0x04ff but boot sectors are loaded at 0x7c00. What was at 0x0500-0x7bff that caused this convention? I'm also curious why some MBRs relocate ...
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7
votes
1
answer
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How to install System 7.5.5 on a Macintosh SE/30 using floppies?
I have a Macintosh SE/30 with a formatted Disk. I'd like to install the latest System 7 on it that will run. According to Wikipedia that should be 7.5.5. According to several sources Apple has made it ...
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5
votes
4
answers
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How does the Spectrum +3 know whether a disk is bootable or not?
I've been looking through documentation on The Sinclair/Amstrad Spectrum +3 which was the only Spectrum that came with a built-in floppy disk drive. The disk format was based on The Amstrad CPC and ...
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4
votes
2
answers
3k
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How to get into Apple BASIC prompt on an Apple IIc?
I just picked up a used Apple IIc. For some reason all I get when I boot is Check Disk Drive on the screen, even with a bootable disk in the internal drive:
I cannot even get the system to read the ...
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4
votes
1
answer
715
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What is the process for TRS-80 Model I & III to boot from disk?
I can find enough mentions of bootable disks for TRS-80 Model I and Model III to be confident that they could boot from disk, but so far I'm failing to find much info on how that worked.
In ...
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-1
votes
1
answer
593
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386 PC: reads MBR, cannot boot DOS 6.22 [duplicate]
I am trying to boot 386 laptop from a CF card.
I've prepared image by installing DOS 6.22 in VirtualBox, and then burning image to a CF card.
Image boots just fine in VirtualBox
CF card with the ...
- 187