BIOS->UFD->G4D->PLoP->UFD->G4D Partially works on my MoBO

Sadeghi85 · January 07, 2011, 21:11:53 PM

Hi Elmar,

My MoBo is ASUS P5Q PRO, I've done some tests:

| USB 2.0 Controller Mode
PLoP Version |
| Disabled FullSpeed
___________|_________________________________|_________
5.0.10 | "Missing MBR-helper" + Blinking Cursor | Works!
5.0.11 | "A20 Debug: C806 done!..." + Restart | Restart
Test* | "A20 Debug: C806 done!..." + Restart | Restart

* Downloaded about an hour ago

Is this an incompatibility between Grub4DOS' MBR and PLoP? How come 5.0.10 works in FullSpeed mode but later versions won't?

Thanks.

Elmar · January 07, 2011, 21:22:23 PM

hi,
what do you mean with UFD?

regards
elmar

Sadeghi85 · January 07, 2011, 21:24:36 PM

USB Flash Disk i.e USB Stick

Elmar · January 07, 2011, 21:39:16 PM

i updated http://download.plop.at/tmp/plpbt.bin
please try it

Sadeghi85 · January 07, 2011, 21:51:40 PM

I've just tested it, the result was same as above, restart in FullSpeed mode and "A20 Debug: ..." message + restart in Disabled mode.

Elmar · January 07, 2011, 22:00:41 PM

and now? (same link)

Sadeghi85 · January 07, 2011, 22:19:38 PM

Hmm... Strange

In Disabled mode, with the first try PLoP didn't find any USB drive, without a restart I tried again and it worked, I then tried two more times but both times it restarted the PC.

FullSpeed mode is fully working now! In fact it's faster than MoBo's HighSpeed mode.

Elmar · January 07, 2011, 22:45:55 PM

please test if it still works (same link)

Sadeghi85 · January 07, 2011, 23:32:30 PM

Doesn't work with either of the modes anymore, behaves like described in the first post.

PS. It's a little late here so I'll reply tomorrow (I will also try all these test versions on an older PC). Good Night!

Sadeghi85 · January 08, 2011, 13:09:09 PM

Elmar · January 12, 2011, 15:40:09 PM

hi,
please try the new test version http://www.plop.at/en/bootmanagerdl.html
i think, the a20 problem will be still there, but i don't know

regards
elmar

Sadeghi85 · January 12, 2011, 17:18:22 PM

Hi,

Quote from: Elmar on January 12, 2011, 15:40:09 PM
i think, the a20 problem will be still there, but i don't know

Yes, it gives a20 error + restart.

Could you explain what could be wrong with my PC?

Thanks.

Elmar · January 12, 2011, 18:46:41 PM

when does the reboot happen? when you use ctrl-u does it reboot before or after you have to press enter to boot?

Sadeghi85 · January 12, 2011, 18:59:09 PM

I've done all the tests on this thread using the Ctrl+U method, it always restarts after hitting enter.

Elmar · January 12, 2011, 19:07:54 PM

Quote from: Sadeghi85 on January 12, 2011, 18:59:09 PM
I've done all the tests on this thread using the Ctrl+U method, it always restarts after hitting enter.

ok, this was a very important info. try this http://download.plop.at/tmp/plpbt.bin

Sadeghi85 · January 12, 2011, 19:37:29 PM

In EHCI mode, it restats, in UHCI mode it either hangs when probing the usb stick or shows a black screen with blinking cursor after hitting enter.

Elmar · January 12, 2011, 19:47:42 PM

new test, same link

Sadeghi85 · January 12, 2011, 20:11:36 PM

I think you changed the file again, I tested both files, the result is the same as in my previous post.

Elmar · January 12, 2011, 20:19:15 PM

new test, same link

Sadeghi85 · January 12, 2011, 20:35:39 PM

Still same result.

Elmar · January 12, 2011, 20:39:59 PM

very strange. and this, same link

Sadeghi85 · January 12, 2011, 20:52:09 PM

EHCI mode works now, but UHCI gives a20 error and restarts.

Elmar · January 12, 2011, 21:00:18 PM

hmm, lets continue tomorrow.

Elmar · January 13, 2011, 07:22:31 AM

new test http://download.plop.at/tmp/plpbta20.bin

Sadeghi85 · January 13, 2011, 13:50:35 PM

Both EHCI and UHCI restarts, I don't see a20 error or any other error message.

Elmar · January 13, 2011, 13:59:07 PM

those are maybe the last tests
http://download.plop.at/tmp/plpbta20_1.bin
http://download.plop.at/tmp/plpbta20_2.bin

Sadeghi85 · January 13, 2011, 14:46:20 PM

plpbta20_1: EHCI works. UHCI restarts(without error message).
plpbta20_2: EHCI works. UHCI either restarts(without error message) or shows a blinking cursor.

There is also a problem I haven't talked about before, one of the ISOs I regularly need to run is LiveXP, after using PLoP to boot the stick, LiveXP hangs(keyboard doesn't work), the only time that it worked I was using the test file related to reply #20.

Elmar · January 13, 2011, 15:06:04 PM

is there a special reason why you use grub4dos? the a20 debug message comes from grub4dos. normally, there is no problem with plop and grub4dos, but it seems on your pc its a problem.

Sadeghi85 · January 13, 2011, 15:25:14 PM

Well, I need a multiboot stick, grub4dos seems to be better suited for my needs as it can boot Windows PE and Linux based ISOs alike, it supports gfxmenu too. To be honest I don't need to use PLoP to boot on this PC, because it supports USB 2.0 booting, however I sometimes need to boot from other PCs and some of them may not support USB 2.0 or it's disabled in the BIOS and it's password protected, I can reset the password in DOS but sometimes that's not desirable. For this reason I use the boot menu(F8 or F10 or F11) to boot the stick.

I'm using grub4dos beta versions: http://code.google.com/p/grub4dos-chenall/downloads/list
So maybe that's the issue, I'll try older versions and see what happens.

Sadeghi85 · January 13, 2011, 21:51:11 PM

OK, I tried a few older grub4dos versions but they didn't work either. I then installed PLoP(5.0.11 2010-10-18) to mbr to replace grldr.mbr(I use BOOTICE to prepare my stick) and tried again but a20 error is still there, this means grub4dos gives that error before PLoP has a chance to boot from the stick. This probably means I can use another bootloader(syslinux?) as main loader to run PLoP and use grub4dos as second loader.

P.S. Booting the usb stick from PLoP that is installed into mbr results in blinking cursor.

Sadeghi85 · January 17, 2011, 19:47:05 PM

Update:

I'm now using Syslinux to load PLoP and done some tests:

UHCI never worked, in case of 5.0.10 the message is "Loading plp-5.0.10... ready." and keyboard locks up, using other versions result in blinking cursor and keyboard locks up.

EHCI worked with 5.0.10 and two of test versions(same as above testing with g4d as boot loader), in all other cases it restarts the pc.