After imaging "no boot device available" ?

matts5074

Hey guys. I setup a new computer, ran sysprep and booted with BartPE to run Drive Image XML on it. It made the image fine and the system rebooted and was sealed up as it should have been.

The problem came when I restored the image to an identical computer. The restore completes successfully, but when the machine reboots it displays "No boot device availble - strike F1 to retry boot, F2 for setup utility."

I tried fixmbr, fixboot, and even deleting all the partitions and making a new one so there is only 1 partition and restored it again. Still getting the error despite my best efforts. I ended up formating and re-installing XP, Repair wasn't even an option.

Any ideas? It would be really nice if I could get this to work.

Webmaster

Funny, I'm actually imaging the the disk of my laptop to replace it with a larger disk, using BartPE and Ximage, at this moment. Ximage is a new file-based imaging tool that is used for deploying Microsoft Vista, but can also be used to image other Windows versions. It is included in the Windows Automatic Installation Kit (WAIK beta). Basically the same thing as Drive Image XML but a command-line util.

It's 23:00 hours here and I need a blank CD for a new BartPE with my networkcard drivers included and I can't find one...

None of that solves your current problem though.

Repair wasn't even an option.

Was it litterally not an option or didn't it work?

mobri09

where can i download x-image at?

Webmaster

Ximage (like the Xcopy command on steroids) is included in the Windows Automatic Installation Kit (WAIK), which is currently available only in beta (not for download at MS... like Vista) and in the OEM Preinstallation Kit (OPK), also only limited available as a beta.

Drive Image XML is available free for home users at:
www.runtime.org/dixml.htm


...found a blank DVD

Webmaster

Sorry for hijacking the topic, but I just wanted to add that ximage worked very well for me. I needed to replace my notebook's 20 GB hard disk with 40 GB one, but didn't want to reinstall everything cause that would take at least a full day. A former colleague who did get the early beta, told me about Ximage from the Windows Automatic Installation Kit (WAIK), which uses the same imaging file format (WIM) as the Windows Vista installation CD. Here's a short overview of what I did:

- Cleaned up the PC, disabled hybernation (to remove the 768MB hyber file), ran AV and anti-ad/spy-ware tools, defragmented the disk.

- Started the pc with BartPE (a pre-boot environment, basically a mini-windows that can replace a dos startup disk and is very suitable for repairing windows if it doesn't start. I couldn't get my hands on the Microsoft WindowsPE beta).

- mapped a drive to a file server on which I also installed ximage.

- captured the notebook's volume to a file on the file server using ximage command. It took about 5 hours to capture 15 GB in a 9 GB file (using ximage's fast compression instead of default maximum compression). There wasn't enough room on the notebook's disk itself, this would have speeded it up though.

- replaced the hard disk and booted in BartPE. For some strange reason it didn't recognize the disk at all, so I booted from the Windows XP installation CD, partitioned and formatted the drive from Windows Setup, and stopped Setup. Booted again from BartPE.

- Mapped a drive the file server again, and copied the image file to the target drive in BartPE (didn't want to do it over the network again).

- Applied the image using Ximage, which took less than an hour. Rebooted and apart from having to reactivate (which is normal when you replace the main disk) a couple of times for some applications as well, everything worked like a charm.

matts5074

Glad it went well for you. Sounds like you used the same steps I did just different software.

I actually got a reply from the makers of the software and they told me the problem is because the partition isn't set as active. So I once again sacrificed my fresh XP install to try reloading this image. If XP boots to it, it would have to be the active partition.

No luck...... it just hangs on a black screen with the _ in the top left corner. I went to install XP again (sigh) and it recognized the partition as having only 64MB of space used after I'd just restored a 3 gig image. : Something isn't right and I think it's the software I used to make/restore the image. For now I am giving up on the imaging idea, I've already fought with Ghost 2003 and it's problems with SATA drives. Maybe I'll try again when Vista comes out.

JDMurray

matts5074 wrote:

I've already fought with Ghost 2003 and it's problems with SATA drives.

What's your problems with Ghost 2003 and SATA drives? I use it all the time on Dell Optiplex GX280 machines that have only SATA drives installed. The only adjustment I've needed to make is starting GHOST.EXE with the -noide option.

matts5074

jdmurray wrote:

matts5074 wrote:

I've already fought with Ghost 2003 and it's problems with SATA drives.

What's your problems with Ghost 2003 and SATA drives? I use it all the time on Dell Optiplex GX280 machines that have only SATA drives installed. The only adjustment I've needed to make is starting GHOST.EXE with the -noide option.

I'm trying to use it on a GX620 (280's replacement) and with the -noide option the PATA CD-ROM drive doesn't show up, I was able to make the image using -noide and an USB burner. I tried all the other switches, and the best I can get is about 80% restored and then it gives a error. It almost seems like the CD-ROM just disappears and then it can't read the image anymore. It's been a while, so I don't know the exact error # off hand. At first I thought my image was bad, but as I played with the various switches I noticed that it happens at a different time depending on what switch I use, so I know it's not the media/image.

Slowhand

This is a problem my coworkers and I wrestled with on more than one occasion. SATA can be, and is, a pain in the ass. Unlike IDE, you have to have the proper SATA drivers loaded in with the software install, or Windows, (or any other OS,) may not recognize the HDD. This could definately be the reason you're getting "boot device not found". Keep in mind, there isn't one standard set of SATA drivers, each manufacturer has a set of their own, in most cases.

The one thing you can do, if you're able, is to hit F6 during setup, when you're asked for "Third Party SCSI or RAID Drivers", load the drivers on a floppy disk, and install them from there. Check with your motherboard manufacturer, (Dell doesn't always have what they say they should,) to get the proper drivers. If you don't know who the manufacturer is, use a tool like Lavalys' Everest to find out.

(Hopefully, this'll help. This has been the case with SATA drives a lot in my experience, I hope this is the fix for you.)

JDMurray

matts5074 wrote:

I'm trying to use it on a GX620 (280's replacement) and with the -noide option the PATA CD-ROM drive doesn't show up,

This happens on multiple machines? Do you have the latest BIOS installed? Have you tried using a different IDE CD-ROM drive?

matts5074

jdmurray wrote:

matts5074 wrote:

I'm trying to use it on a GX620 (280's replacement) and with the -noide option the PATA CD-ROM drive doesn't show up,

This happens on multiple machines? Do you have the latest BIOS installed? Have you tried using a different IDE CD-ROM drive?

I tried 3 or 4 brand new machines straight out of the box from Dell, all with the same result. I didn't upgrade the BIOS, but it shouldn't be more than a few months old. I can image the GX260's (IDE) just fine.