Dual boot issues

[type11969]

I've been attempting to get up to speed on labview, labview RT, the PXI (8106), and getting the PXI to dual boot labview RT and windows XP. Question here is only about dual booting. I have the PXI set up with a fat32 partition physically before (C:) the NTFS partition that windows XP is installed on (E:). I installed windows, worked great. I then tried to boot in to labview RT/communicate with the PXI (booting into RT using the bios software switch). No dice since no RT software was installed. So I used a USB memory stick and the software from MAX to install RT on to the PXI. Worked, I can communicate with the PXI, awesome. Today I wanted to boot back in to windows. Go in to the bios, set it to boot windows/other OS . . . and it boots in to labview RT. Dammit. What did I do wrong? What can I do to correct this? Please tell me I don't have to re-do the windows install. It will be my fourth time and installing all that NI software takes a painful amount of time!

Thanks,

Chris

[type11969]

Bump . . . Anyone have any ideas? Hate to be a nuisance but I am really stuck here. Plus I am wondering if labview RT installation issues are creating the other deployment issues I am having with my .VIs.

Thanks,

Chris

[Mr.F]

Have you seen this document about dual booting a PXI controller? Technically, making a controller dual boot is unsupported; this document contains information on how to accomplish this but is presented AS IS. Could you use a boot disk instead creating a dual boot system?

[type11969]

Matt-

     I just responded to your e-mail but we can keep the conversation on the forum in case anyone else runs in to the same issue . . . I was under the impression that since the bios of my PXI unit (8106) is set up with the option to boot in to windows/other OS or labview RT that it was more than an unsupported feature!

     I used the desktop PC Utility USB Drive to get initial software installed such that the host computer would recognize the PXI unit. I then downloaded and updated the PXI through the host computer.

     What did I do wrong? Any advice to get this working properly? I really need to be able to dual boot the PXI unit and hopefully I won't have to go through the install process again. But if I do, I would like to only do it one more time!

     I've looked through the document you just sent to me before but I was under the impression that since the PXI bios provides a software switch to boot in to labview RT or windows, I do not need a 3rd party boot manager software package. Is this not the case?

Please let me know as soon as you can because I am pretty stuck right now.

Thanks,

Chris

[GerardoG]

Hi Chris,

It's been a while since I've worked with a dual-boot system, but I think I have an idea of where things went wrong.

First of all, you are correct to say that these controllers are designed with the ability to be dual-boot. The issue is that the installation can be tricky, so we only officially support this configuration when you order it as such out of the factory. See this KnowledgeBase article for more info.

Back to your situation...

I think we went wrong when you tried to use the USB key. My guess is that you reformatted the RT partition and unknowingly blapped the Master Boot Record. This would be why you can't boot back into Windows. To use the USB key to dual-boot your system, you have to rely on it every time you want to boot into RT. The USB key is designed for systems that don't have the nice BIOS features we've put into our controllers. So the moral of the story is that generally speaking you shouldn't mix the USB key with the PXI BIOS features...

The bad news is that your MBR is probably hosed. You can try fixing it without reformatting by booting using your Windows OS recovery CD and running fixmbr from the console.

The good news is that once you fix the MBR you shouldn't have to use the USB key to boot into RT with this controller - you were on the right track in formatting your system with the first partition as FAT 32 for the RT side. Now when you booted into RT for the first time using the bios switch, your PXI controller should boot into what's called "safe mode". This means that the controller boots into a lean version of the RTOS is stored on the BIOS that gives you just enough functionality to see the target from MAX and configure the IP address.

Once you reboot, your system should be in a "no software installed" state - which is expected. You then go to MAX and install the full RT stack. In your case you should get rid of the files that were installed when you booted with the USB key so use MAX to reformat the RT partition, (right click on the controller and select format when in safe mode). Then go reinstall the full RT stack. Once you do this, you should be good to go with the BIOS menus for switching back and forth.

Good luck.

Gerardo

RT Software Product Manager 

[GerardoG]

Oops - One correction to my previous post, don't use the format hard disk option from MAX. According to this KB, that will format the whole drive. You can probably just delete files manually using ftp from your host. But if you want to reformat it completely, follow the instructions in the KB I just linked.

Gerardo 

[type11969]

Gerado-

     Thanks, this is good info and more or less where I was heading. I used the format first available RT partition from the USB utility tool so windows should still be on the HD. This is confirmed when I use the windows repair tool when booting from the windows installation CD, it recognizes that windows is still installed on the system. But yeah, it seems like I "blapped" the mbr (I like the term blap by the way). I am a little concerned about using the fixmbr tool, it states that it could destroy all the partitions on the HD. I guess it doesn't really matter at this point but I would like to exhaust any other options (if any) before I try this. Is there any other way to alter some file to point to the windows installation? I've tried the bootcfg tool but when I run the scan it kicks up an error stating that it failed to successfully scan the disks.

I just looked at the fixmbr link you posted and it appears that it assumes that windows is on the c: drive, which it is not in my case. So I guess that won't work anyway. Dammit.

     Any other ideas or should I start prepping for the windows reinstall?

Thanks,

Chris

[Josh_KNH]

If you attempt to fix your master boot record, here's a couple other things to keep in mind:

1. When you used the RT USB key, did you select the Format option to only update the 1st available partition or format the entire disk?  Gerardo's suggested approach will of course only work if you did the former.

2. If you don't have any success with FixMBR since it is a slightly more complicated disk configuration with two partitions, there is another approach you can try if you meet the following requirements:

 (a) You originally set up two partition configuration on your disk with the  NI OS Recovery media

 (b) You have another disk of the exact same type that you are willing and able to erase.

 (c) You only did the partital format of the original drive from the RT USB key (see item #1 above)

 (d) You have a bootable USB key (see note below)

If so, you could do the following:

1. Put the 2nd disk on your PXI-8106

2. Run the OS installer, and configure it exactly as you did with the first disk.

3. You should now have a disk with a master boot record that exactly matches the one you'd like on your original controller.

4. Boot to DOS from your USB key and run MBRWizard to save a copy of the master boot record (http://mbrwizard.com)

5. Put the original disk back on your PXI-8106, boot to DOS again, and run MBRWizard to restore that saved MBR file to update the master boot record on the original disk.

It sounds pretty involved but really can be done in a few minutes because for step 2 -you don't need to fully install the OS.  We're only interested in getting a copy of the master boot record, which is one of the first things that the installer will configure.  Once you see the installer copying files to the disk, you can stop the system and proceed to step 3.

Note on DOS-bootable USB key: If you don't have a DOS-bootable USB key, there is a variety of ways to set one up but a relatively easy one is to grab this disk diagnostic tool from NI: Fujitsu Disk Diagnostic.  Careful, once you run the tool, IT WILL ERASE YOUR ENTIRE USB KEY.  Technically it is for setting up a disk diagnostic, but you should be able to copy the mbr wizard tool to the key and also run that from DOS.  Delete the autoexec.bat file that gets created on the USB key to prevent the Fujitsu tool from running automatically.  You could for example re-use the RT USB key you previously configured, although it will be wiped and new files put on it.

Last thing: If you don't have a second drive available, please post the exact details on the drive you do have and the specifics on how you originally partitioned the drive (what tools, what partition sizes).  I might be able to help you out and create the MBR file for you, so you would only need to worry about step 5 above (and setting up a DOS bootable USB key).

Cheers,

Josh

[type11969]

Josh-

     Unfortunately I do not have a second HD available to do what you said. When I used the RT USB key I only formated the first available RT partition, not the entire HD. The partitions still exist as I set up when installing XP (verified through the windows XP installation CD):

C: FAT32 4997MB     \Device\Harddisk0\Partition1

😧 NTFS   49999MB   \Device\Harddisk0\Partition2

E: NTFS   250240MB \Device\Harddisk0\Partition3

F: FAT32 495MB       \Device\Harddisk0\Partition1

I don't understand what the F: drive represents but this is the list.

I recall when setting up XP that I had to format the C: drive first before formatting the 😧 NTFS drive so it makes sense that files were installed on it. That were ultimately deleted when I formatted the drive with the USB utility tool . . . dammit.

Josh - is that the info you need to create a new mbr? If you could, that would be great. I just tried using the fixmbr tool with no success, it boots up saying that ntldr cannot be found. My guess (hope) is that it is looking for the windows installation on the c: drive and not finding it.

Thanks,

Chris

[Caseyw]

Hi Chris,

I am also glad to help here. I have been through the process that you are running into before, and I should be able to assist as you attempt to get your dual-boot system back up and running. Basically, there are two things that we need to do here. One is get Windows XP booting properly like when you started, and the second is set up the dual-booting with LabVIEW Real-Time.

1) Booting into Windows XP

I noticed that you are seeing an error message referring to NTLDR. The MBR is looking for this file on the active partition of the primary disk, so there is a chance that the wrong partition is now marked as primary (the RT partition). You can use a boot disk or USB key and use the FDISK utility to change this active partition. You can probably also do this from the Recovery Console, although I'm not sure of the exact commands off hand. After the correct partition is set to primary and you have run FIXMBR, you should be able to boot into Windows XP again. Please let me know if you need more help with this step and I'm glad to help.

2)  Setting up dual-booting with LabVIEW Real-Time

The key step that caused the issues you are seeing now was using the PC USB utility (meant to set up LabVIEW Real-Time only on a 3rd party PC) to format the drive. When you are working with most PXI systems, the ability to dual-boot is already built-in, meaning that you should not be using a USB utility drive. Enter into the BIOS on startup and select either to boot "Windows\Other OS" or  "LabVIEW RT". When you select LabVIEW RT and continue booting for the first time, you will see a message indicating that no software is installed. This is ok. You can connect to the PXI system from Measurement and Automation Explorer (MAX) on your host computer and download all necessary software. When you reboot the PXI system and boot into LabVIEW Real-Time again, now all software should  be installed and you'll be up and running.

Please do not hesitate to let me know if you need any additional help. Boot problems are always tricky to solve, but I am confident that you can restore your dual-boot system without needing to reinstall Windows. Of course, reinstalling is still an option depending on how much time you have to change the active partition, etc.

Best Regards,

Casey Weltzin

Product Manager, LabVIEW Real-Time

National Instruments