AUTOEXC.BAT no workie

[snapperhead]

Yep..... I know AUTOEXEC.BAT isn't run as per win98 now in winXP, however..... I have a good question I hope u genius's can answer (enough sucking up ??)

I have just purchased a second hand Compaq Presario 2500 P4 2.4 Ghz running XP Home SP3 as a fresh install. As with all my puters, the first thing I do is to create a Norton GHOST Image of the entire C: Drive as back-up for when I truly kill it by playing around too much.

Problem is the AUTOEXC.BAT does NOT run when the system is cold booted into a GHOST boot floppy as it does (from the same floppy) on all my other systems. Every time it boots it runs PC-DOS then sits at an "A:" prompt and goes no-where.

I must type "autoexec" at which time it loads all the mouse drivers on the floppy, and executes the Norton Ghost program in the DOS environment just fine.

I have read about autoexec.nt etc till my eyes are bleeding, but found nothing helpful about booting from a floppy into a DOS environment using an XP Computer.

The reason I need this is as Norton Ghost runs very well in the DOS environment but needs help loading drivers for USB storage and DVD burners etc in order to place the GHOST Image somewhere large enough.

I guess my question is simply "How can a puter NOT run an Autoexec.bat file when that puter is cold booted into a floppy containing that autoexec.bat file ?"

You guys probably have a simple answer, so I'm ready to raise my hand and slap my forehead any time

Cheers,

Snapperhead.

[Philquad]

1st link

[snapperhead]

Yup.... here's hoping theres a 2nd link

[BCNZ]

There's a couple of things that strike me as relevant here.

First off, as you already know, XP machines are not DOS machines. You get limited functionality by booting into a DOS prompt, and a shell window under XP but that's about it.

Second, do you HAVE to tinker with things to the extent that you bugger everything up?
I have XP machines that have been running for years with no real issues. Put on them the important programs you use and leave everything else out. Avoid the proliferation of toolbars and other unnecessary crap and run a sleek and slim machine.

Yes, Norton Ghost works, but is there a version that is more suited to XP?

I am not sure why you need to load USB drivers etc in a DOS environment simply to back up from. Surely your ghost image is to a second hard drive of equal or larger capacity?

I have struck this problem of autoexec batch files not executing correctly under XP systems before, but I have no idea why.
With the range of backup software available today that DOES work and integrate well with XP, I don't really see the need to bother with antiquated DOS based versions.

It just seems like a lot of trouble for nothing. My 2c worth

[Fernbay]

Whats a floppy?

I think the link that Phill has posted is only relevent once a PC has booted and is in windows. It's not valid for dos mode.

Try booting off a win98se boot disk instead of a winxp boot disk

You could also download a fresh image & putting it on floppy (or even make a CD boot disk).

Look here for disk images ->

[best4less]

Whats a floppy?

[/url]

Whats DOS ??? LOL

[mickc]

try formatting a new floppy in the new machine
then a disk copy of your boot disk
it dont matter if its a 98 or xp or whatever you are only booting what is on the floppy which is a ghost pcdos boot disk
some floppy drives were not very compatible

[snapperhead]

Studio one(1), Thanx for your reply. Yes, I do prefer sleek/sparton systems also, but do still find any operating system falling over after about 6 months.

Using my systems as experimental and interface plaforms I do have to install/uninstall the odd program a little too often. This of course is not good for ANY microsoft registry. I like to have a recent (every month at least) image so as to NOT lose any work.

Then there's the kids puter, try telling them NOT to install that game, or click on the link just because it says "Click Here" !!

I am using the version of GHOST best suited for XP, and the drivers are for backing up to external USB Drives or USB memory sticks etc etc. As stated this is on a Laptop.... so no second drive is available (it came out of the box with only one partition also...grrrr)

I just want to back-up this factory 'out of the box' installation, so I can start tinkering (make a few partitions etc) and use it for work in the nice warm lounge room

I'm sure everyone know's what it's like to lose all the system drivers from a new system, especially qwerky laptop hardware (keyboards/diplay drives/touch pads etc) when u have no CDROM come with the systems!

"A lot of trouble for nothing ??" Well what's trouble when we talk about puters Hmm ? ) Ghost is my favorite back-up program, and I'm sure it's the one GOD uses, so nothing is too much trouble. Especially a little dos promt.

Thax again for your reply.

[Fernbay]

I'll try again.

1. goto

2. Download the windows98se bootdisk.

3. Make a new floppydisk from the image and try that.

you might also want to have a look at one of their bootable cd's. They can include a lot more utilities than a 1.44mb floppy.

Another option is to use a bartpe boot cd & then you can boot a virtual copy of XP & use ghost32.exe to do the backup from within windows

[snapperhead]

Thanx for ur reply FERNBAY, however as stated the floppy I'm booting from (and always have with winXP) is a GHOST boot floppy, very similar to most other boot floppy's. It's designed to boot and run this specific program in DOS.

Secondly the images I'm referring to are about 4 gig, little too large for floppy's. Creating bootable dvd's is still an option, and something I do quite often, but still requires the use of DOS and Atapi drivers etc within the DOS environment.

Thanx again 4 ur reply m8.

Cheers,

S.

[snapperhead]

Best4Less...... thanx for the laugh

[snapperhead]

Mick C,

I'll try that now that i'm post caffiene,

Cheers,

S.

[Fernbay]

Some people can't be told

I suggest you google bartpe.

There are at least 20 different ways to achieve what your after. You seem to have blinkers on & only interested in the way you've been use to doing it

[Moof]

I think some people are missing the point of the question.

Why wont a computer run the autoexec.bat batch file on a dos boot disk in one computer that will run on others?

I personaly dont know but others may

[best4less]

Maybe the floppy drive is stuffed LOL

[Fernbay]

Maybe the floppy drive is stuffed LOL

Worn out heads I would say. Most likely the floppy drive was made last century

Bootable USB / CD / DVD would be the go, but then again, what would I know about those cantankerous confounded contraptions

[BCNZ]

I think some people are missing the point of the question.

I didn't miss the point of the question - I just don't know the actual answer to it and rather than reinvent the wheel, I thought it better to see if there was another option.

My comments are based on trying to run boot discs (and this includes bootable CD roms, so that excludes shonky old floppy drives from the equation) that have autoexec batch files on them on a known good XP install, and having it boot to the DOS prompt and refuse to go any further.

I can take an educated guess and say that things like memory stacks, register adresses and other things that DOS likes to point to are foreign or inaccessible to a machine that has had WinXP installed on it.
DOS, being a 16 bit application, may not like working within a 32-bit environment.

In much the same way that Vista re-arranges a drive to its specifications, XP probably does something similar and makes the drive an inhospitable habitat as far as DOS is concerned.


These, as I say, are educated guesses. I can solve most PC problems but when it comes to incompatibility issues, I'm out of the race.
In these situations, my philosophy is to find a way around the wall, rather than trying to go through it or over it.

Yes, I do prefer sleek/sparton systems also, but do still find any operating system falling over after about 6 months.

Snapper, I know what you're up against. In these situations, this is what I (would) do:

For yourself, have one good machine of decent specs that is a lean machine with your important work on it. Don't tutu with it.

Have a notebook which is also lean, for working away from home, or mobile around the house etc. Don't tutu with it.

Have a "test" machine for playing around with. Use a desktop so you can have a second hard drive in it with a backup of your OS for speedy recovery. Don't store anything important on it. Tutu as much as you want.

Computers are not expensive now and for secondary machines (internet, email, playing around on) you don't need the latest and
greatest whizz-bang machine. An old 1800XP Athlon will suffice and they are dime a dozen.

For the kids, give them something bulletproof - and tell them (once) how to keep it functional - ie don't click on links, don't download strange programs or offers.
If they bugger it up - then they are without a computer, for however long it may be.
It's the only way they learn. Believe me, they learn quick.

[skozzy]

Problem is the AUTOEXC.BAT does NOT run

It's not spelt correctly here, maybe the same on the floppy.

Use Win98se for making your bootable floppy not XP.

The laptop should be able to boot from USB shouldn't it, at least most ones up to several years old can so there might not be a need to play around with boot floppys. I have a caddy set aside thats bootable with ghost that works well on computers that can boot from usb.

[crypto7]

I agree with most of what has been said.
If the floppy does not boot, then it will most likly be a bad floppy drive.
You could try makeing a new boot disk (from ghost) and see if it helps.

Over time heads can drift. When this happens if you create the floppy on that drive, it will be able to read and write to it, but may not work on other systems. kinda think about it like the heads are a bit to the left or right, meaning the track on the disc is not where it should be. As long as your read/write heads in the drive are where the tracks are it will work.

Of course the floppy drive could be broken and not work at all (a head clean may help).

I would try, if you can, to create your ghost boot disk on that drive and see how you go.