Booting PC-Real Time-Target without Bootdisc

[RTuser]

Hello

I prepared an Desktop Pc to be a real time target with the Format HDD Disk provided by the MAX>RT-Utilities.

I can't usboot on USB-Drive because Mainboard doesn't suport that, so I'm using the flopy discs.

I can find the RT-Target, configure it and install Software on it using MAX.... so the RT-Target works well.

Now my problem:

I can't boot the RT-Target without using the boot disc also provided by MAX>RT-Utilities

If I boot my RT-Target  without a boot disc

>> Searching for Boot Record from IDE-0 .. OK

...

>> Boot  Failture
>> Insert BOOT disc in A:

>> Press any Key when ready

apears.

If I boot my RT-Target with bootdisc in drive or put it in and prees a key

RT-Target starts to boot from disc and than starts to boot from harddisc

>> Searching hard drive for boot program ... found.

>> Using boot program on hard drive

Is that normal or is there any way to Boot the RT-Target without the disc

or is there any way to set up or fix the boot record?

I tried to copy all files from flopy- to harddisc, but that didn't work. 

Thank you for your answers.

Message Edited by RTuser on 07-08-2008 10:27 AM

[DanielHermyt]

Hi RTuser,

principally, this is the expected behavior. You need a boot disk to startup your PC as a RT system. But: There is a way to use the PC as a RT system without the boot disk. This is described in the following document on pages 5,6:

Using Desktop PCs as RT Targets with the LabVIEW Real-Time Module
http://www.ni.com/pdf/manuals/371857d.pdf

Here you will find some additional informations on how to use your PC as a RT system.

[RTuser]

Hello oyster,

I have read the Manual "Using Desktop PCs as RT Targets with the LabVIEW Real-Time Module"  bofore asking my question here.

I followed the instructions on page 5,6 "Configuring a Desktop PC Using Format Disk" step by step  and did it again today with fresh FAT32 formated harddisk.

I inserted format disk and did a reboot

>> Information: ...........
>> THIS WILL DESTROY ALL DATA ON C:\ DRIVE
>> Do you want to do this (yes/no)  yes

>> Reinitializing FAT32 drive..... done
>> Installing hdmon.bin......done
>> Installing PHARBOOT.sys......done
>> Replacing boot sector ......done
>>
>>   Installing system files...
>>   C:\safemode.exe
>>
>>The hard drive is now set up to boot National Instruments software. 
>>After removing the floppy disk and restarting the system, you may set the
>>system's network configuration and install software to the hard drive.

after that I can reboot, set IP and install all Software in Max and RT-Target PC works, but only using the Boot disk

The Boot order from Bios is
1. HDD
2. FDD
3. CDROM 

If I boot my RT-Target  without a boot disk

>> Searching for Boot Record from IDE-0 .. OK

...

>> Boot  Failture
>> Insert BOOT disc in A:

>> Press any Key when ready

apears.

If I boot my RT-Target with bootdisk in drive or put it in and prees a key

RT-Target starts to boot from disc and than starts to boot from harddisk

>> Searching hard drive for boot program ... found.

>> Using boot program on hard drive

Message Edited by RTuser on 07-09-2008 07:39 AM

[DanielHermyt]

Hello RTuser,

I assume that your PC meets the Hardware Requirements?

http://digital.ni.com/public.nsf/allkb/440BAF128AA75F95862572580081EB3D?OpenDocument

and you removed the Floppy Disk before restarting the PC?

Another chance would be that your partition isn't set as "active":

http://forums.ni.com/ni/board/message?board.id=170&message.id=247660&requireLogin=False

[RTuser]

Hi oyster,

Thank you for your response, it could help me a bit!

The Problem was realy that the partition was'n activated, but shouldn't the OS do that while installing?

But now there is an other problem booting without floppydisk, with floppy disk it still works!

The RT-Target PC now starts to boot from HDD but an error message appears:

>> Loading LapVIEW Real-Time.......(searches about 5-10 seconds).... Could not find OS in root directory

but the files are installed on HDD in  the root!

I tryed to reinstall with format disc and MAX after activating the partition with EASEUS Partition Manager Personal 1.6.4,

but same error!

Ever heard about this problem?

Message Edited by RTuser on 07-11-2008 02:06 AM

Message Edited by RTuser on 07-11-2008 02:06 AM

[DanielHermyt]

Hi RTuser,

thanks for your reply.

Your problem happens on a few systems of many.... In most cases there are some problems with the Master Boot Record. Please try to clean it up using "fdisk /mbr".

[RTuser]

Hello oyster,

I tried to fix Master Boot Record several times with several tools... one of them was fdisk, but no change!

Now I'm using an other PC with the same HDD! The only difference is, this time I could use USB to boot and now I can boot without using a disc.

Thanks for your help and kind regards

RTuser