Questions tagged [boot]
Bootstrapping (booting) process, utilities and customisation.
68
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Can Linux boot beyond 1023 cylinders on old BIOS?
I have a 386 with 4GB drive (7769/16/63). It's a Compaq from 1992 so it does not have any translation options in BIOS. DOS is installed on the first 1023 cylinders (essentially the maximum size it can ...
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13
votes
4
answers
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What actions, besides a hard power-off, did a blank screen with a blinking cursor allow?
I remember that, in the old days, a serious boot error could manifest in a screen like the above.
(I have no idea if this may still happen. I haven't seen it for years, so I assume it is legacy as of ...
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votes
2
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Where to obtain 3c509b empty boot ROM chip?
I'm planning to write iPXE to boot ROM of my 3c509b to enable HTTP booting on my old computer.
What is the type of the ROM chip and where would you obtain it? It's 28 pin connector, please see picture ...
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9
votes
2
answers
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How to change what program Apple ProDOS 'starts' when booting
I finally have my Apple //e booting from my SCSI2SD but I'm missing something regarding how ProDOS knows what program to start when it boots.
As I understand it, ProDOS will look for the first .SYSTEM ...
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11
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9
answers
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What is the best way to set up multiple operating systems on a retro PC?
I have an old Pentium II computer, and I would like to set it up as a retro gaming machine, but I would also like to play around with old distributions of Linux, OS/2 and other operating systems.
What ...
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7
votes
2
answers
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Reviving a Mac Mini (PowerPc) - Not booting correctly: video is out of sync, blinking, usb boot not enabled
I come from superuser.com where I asked this, but was told to post here for further help
https://superuser.com/questions/1772907/mac-mini-g4-powerpc-wont-boot-how-can-i-reset-it-to-factory-defaults?...
3
votes
2
answers
671
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How do I diagnose a "system board error" on IBM Thinkpad 600E?
I have an IBM Thinkpad 600E that won't boot up. I used ctrl + alt + ins to boot into a screen with some diagnostic tools.
Memory test passes
HD test passes
SystemBoard test FAILS with Dev = 1 ERR = ...
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1
vote
2
answers
373
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Old IBM ThinkPad laptop gets stuck booting Windows on a weird screen. How to proceed?
I’m trying to breathe life into an old IBM ThinkPad Pentium II. I think it runs Windows NT or Windows 98 or whatever came after that
It turns on fine and asks me to enter the year and date which I do. ...
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7
votes
2
answers
309
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Need help restoring the OS of an "AST Premium Exec 386SX/20" laptop
I have an AST Premium Exec 386SX/20 Model 63V laptop minus a floppy drive and hard disk. Otherwise the 1991 vintage machine is fully functional (and in excellent condition, so it's definitely worth ...
- 171
5
votes
1
answer
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Boot and run OS/2 1.x from floppy to run a few command-line tools
How (by doing which steps) can I boot and run OS/2 1.x from a boot floppy, without installing it to a hard drive? As a way to do this, is it possible to go to the command prompt from within the ...
- 1,425
3
votes
0
answers
629
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FreeDOS and USB support
I have an old Fujitsu LifeBook that I want to install Windows 98 on.
I burned a Windows 98 CD and verified it works, but the LifeBook's CD drive cant seem to read it. I do know the CD drive works, as ...
- 503
27
votes
2
answers
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Why did the Nintendo GameBoy Color make the name of any game to have a specific checksum?
Inside of the GBCs Cartridge header there is the metadata for the game and the Nintendo logo.
The program that runs on boot (the BIOS or Boot ROM) checks the checksum of the Nintendo logo, and always ...
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11
votes
1
answer
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Why do Windows 98 and ME boot disks use EBD.CAB and the RAMDrive?
Starting from Windows 98, Microsoft RAMDrive was introduced into Emergency Boot Disks (EBDs). A:\README.TXT contains the following explanation:
Without creating the RAMdrive, we would not have
enough ...
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17
votes
2
answers
2k
views
Why would installing a 486DX2 make the system freeze for minutes on boot?
In the mid-1990s, a friend of mine had one of those Compaq Presario desktop PCs that had an integrated CRT SVGA display built in the same cabinet as the CPU, in a similar fashion as the early iMacs. ...
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3
votes
1
answer
570
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Windows NT drive recovery without ERD or backups
I have decided to take on this project to help another company that has been using a Windows NT system to run some of their critical field equipment.
Unfortunately there is now an error which appears ...
21
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3
answers
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Can a stock/original Atari ST boot from a hard drive?
It has been my belief that one of the nice features of the original Atari ST is that it has support "out-of-the-box" for a hard disk drive connected via its built-in ACSI port- similar to ...
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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 ...
- 755
9
votes
2
answers
2k
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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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3
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Why did PCs for the longest time have a default "memory test" on boot which caused them to take a long time to start? [duplicate]
Not just "really back in the day", but even as late as "only a few years ago" (meaning 15-20 years), every time I started my PC, it would slowly "count through" the ...
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0
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378
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Booting from CF [closed]
I have an older computer and want to install Linux on it.
I want to do this on a CF card. I have tried many things, but get a WRITE ERROR.
I get the write error when I try to install Linux ubuntu-16....
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64
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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 ...
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19
votes
1
answer
2k
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What's the deal with Commodore's RESTORE key?
Most early microcomputers provided either a dedicated key (e.g. Apple ][), keyboard combination (e.g. PC clones), or dedicated hardware button (countless examples) to "Reset" the computer. ...
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10
votes
3
answers
2k
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Algorithm for Apple IIe and Apple IIgs boot/start beep
What is algorithms use for boot/start sound (when turn on computer) in Apple IIe and Apple IIgs? I can't find information about Apple boot sound algorithms or where in computer ROM store either ...
- 505
26
votes
3
answers
7k
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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
10
votes
1
answer
942
views
Is it possible to boot C64/C128 from floppy
When powered on 1541 reads the disk for a brief moment. Is it used to boot system from floppy? Is it possible to create a bootable commodore 64 floppy?
- 4,164
5
votes
1
answer
344
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At which RAM address is the Microbee disk boot sector loaded and executed?
The Microbee was an early '80s Z80 microcomputer from Australia that was successful mostly in education.
Looking at some disk image files I've downloaded I can see the disk layout seems to be very ...
- 6,333
3
votes
1
answer
1k
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Atari ST series - bombs on boot
I have a faulty Atari 520STFM additional 4MB ram installed. It shows bombs on boot. I understand bombs are sort of code indicator of what is malfunctioning in the system, similar to what Guru ...
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4
votes
0
answers
171
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What does a "DK" signature mean at the start of track 0 sector 3 of a Dragon 32/64 floppy disk?
I'm looking at disk image files for the Dragon 32 / Dragon 64 computers.
The Dragon computers are very similar to the Tandy TRS-80 Color Computer "CoCo" but are not clones and are not the ...
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1
vote
1
answer
181
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How many different standard boot sectors are there for Apple II DOS 3.3?
When formatting a blank 5¼ disk on an 8-bit Apple II using the INIT command, was there only ever one variation of the boot sector code that was written, or was it updated from time to time over the ...
- 6,333
4
votes
1
answer
345
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Determining which sectors in an Apple II floppy disk/image are used when the boot sector declares more than 1 sectors
The Apple II disk bootstrap process looks at the first byte of track zero sector zero to see how many sectors long the bootstrap code will be. It then loads these sectors at location 0x0800 and jumps ...
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8
votes
1
answer
863
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How to make bootable CD with multiple games for CDTV
How to make a disc with multiple titles on it, available to select from a menu?
Did anyone have any luck creating a bootable CDTV disc using software mentioned on English Amiga Board
and is is ...
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7
votes
2
answers
2k
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Could Tandy TRS-80 Color Computers boot from disk at all?
I'm trying to find out if any of the Tandy CoCos could boot from disk. I'm thinking the answer is no but I'm having trouble confirming it.
I believe that non-disk machines booted from the standard ...
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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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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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33
votes
3
answers
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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 ...
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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
744
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How do I navigate the boot menu in later model Spectrum emulators?
35 years ago I had an original 48K Sinclair ZX Spectrum. I never had any of the Plus or 128K models and practically never even touched one as I moved onto the Amiga quite early.
I'm now playing with ...
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12
votes
1
answer
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How Amiga A590 autoboot ROM and bootable floppy disk works?
Commodore A590 was a peripheral hard drive and memory expansion unit for Amiga 500/500+ computers. It provides SCSI and XT-harddrive controller and 2MB Fast Ram. Here is the Big Book of Amiga Hardware ...
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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 ...
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1
answer
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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
6
votes
3
answers
1k
views
64GB compact flash not booting up in DOS
I have purchased a 64GB compact flash UDMA card and am unable to boot up in DOS.
The machine I'm running has a Pentium 1.6Ghz process in it just to give you an idea about how "modern" it is compared ...
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5
votes
1
answer
530
views
Can't boot FAT32 larger than 2GB, unlike FAT16
Why can my PC not boot FAT larger than 2GB (FAT32) in legacy mode, but FAT16 and NTFS work fine?
It just gives me a non-system disk error, while booting the same (DOS boot disk) files under FAT16 ...
- 545
3
votes
3
answers
1k
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What was the distinctive rapid clicking sound in late 1990s desktops?
I am fairly sure that this clicking wasn't just because my computer had issues, although that would be interesting to find out. I distinctly remember that the first computers I owned would make a ...
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votes
9
answers
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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 ...
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3
votes
2
answers
722
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SGI Octane and Octane 2 fail to boot
(Following up from Monitor for an SGI Octane?)
I booted both my Octane and Octane 2 machines for the first time. I have a monitor connected via a 13W3-to-VGA adapter, but no PS2 keyboard or mouse yet....
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14
votes
2
answers
776
views
What is the minimum set of Kickstart kernel modules to allow an Amiga to boot?
Amiga OS resident modules (libraries, devices, etc...) are location-agnostic, in that it is technically possible to compile them as location-independent code to be loaded at runtime from disk, or to ...
- 3,716
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votes
1
answer
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Accessing a USB drive from DOS
I am setting up a new development computer with FreeDOS and can boot off the SATA or USB drive. This is my first new computer with sophisticated UEFI (I have CSM enabled).
If I boot from the USB I ...
- 4,469
20
votes
3
answers
4k
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What init system was used in early Linux distributions?
Nowadays there is quite some debate and controversy over whether Linux distributions should use systemd, GNU Shepherd etc. But all these systems are relatively new - for these examples dating back to ...
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34
votes
8
answers
7k
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How to put a delay in AUTOEXEC.BAT
I have this MS-DOS 6.22 machine which maps a network drive to a SAMBA share on a Raspberry PI. The PI is powered by a USB lead from the DOS machine, so the two power up together.
The mapping starts ...
- 503
14
votes
2
answers
1k
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Can I trigger the Amiga ROM debugger from the boot prompt?
Suppose I have an Amiga computer without any working boot disks. Is it possible to trigger the built-in ROM monitor (RomWack or SAD, see https://theamigamuseum.com/amiga-kickstart-workbench-os/guru-...
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