Loop in the "Plop Boot Manager install program"

[Martin]

Hello

I am new to the plop. I made the harddisk installation using the Windows boot menu on Windows 7 ultimate 32bit. I was able to execute the two batch programs InstallToMBR and on the subsequent reboot I used the entry to install plop to the mbr.
I then used InstallToBootMenu to run plop from the Win boot menu. This also worked.
Now I am stuck: whenever I boot the computer, the Plop menu starts but I find no way to actually boot my Windows partition. Plop offers me "OS harddisk 1" (that is where my W7 is) and it starts to boot. For a thenth of a second I see the Windows boot menu (but I can't read all entries because it disappears very quickly) then the Plop Boot Manager Install program appears.
Below the red text (... your own risk ...) my destination hard disk is correctly shown. I can select from [1] to [9] (but not [4]). I have tried all entries but I simply can't get anything to boot anymore.
So I can't uninstall plop because I can't get into Windows anymore to start the unistall batch as described.
Can you help me? My original intention when I tried out plop was to be able to boot from usb (or alternatively from a flash card in the pcmcia-slot) because my BIOS does not support usb-boot.
Thanks in advance

[Elmar]

hi,
did you remove any entries in the windows boot menu? or changed the default boot entry in the windows boot menu?

regards
elmar

[Martin]

Hi,

no I didn't make any changes in the boot menu (there was only one entry - Windows 7)

Although I can't read the entries in the Windows boot menu (it just shows up for about 1/10 sec), it believe that I still see Windows 7 plus Plop, possibly a third entry. Then the Plot BM install program screen shows.

I would love to find a way to get into Windows ...

Regards,
Martin

[Elmar]

absolutely strange

in the plop boot manager press "1" instead of pressing enter at os harddisk 1

[Martin]

there is no change: when I get the plot boot menu with the first entry "OS harddisk 1" and I press either enter or "1", after a short appearance of the cursor the Windows boot menu appears for a tenth of a second and then I fall back into the Plop BM installation menu, as described. I seem to be completely stuck ...

Martin

[Elmar]

bootup your win7 dvd and choose the repair option. then something like command prompt.

when you are on the command prompt then enter "bcdedit|more"
what do you see in the line with "default"

how many lines with "-------------" do you see (how many entries for the menu)

[Martin]

I will have the W7 DVD available only in the afternoon as I am presently underway. Thx for the instruction - I'll report as soon as I'll try it out

--
Martin

[Martin]

Elmar,

Here is a screenshot of the bcdedit program. Hope you can decipher it!

[Martin]

once again, with the screenshot ...

[Elmar]

very strange. somehow the default boot entry and the timeout has been changed. none of my programs is doing that

run the following commands and write the "Bezeichner" of Windows-Startladeprogramm between the { } of the second bcdedit command

Code Select Expand


bcdedit /timeout 10
bcdedit.exe /default {7002......7cd0}


[Martin]

Elmar,
thank you so much: the Windows boot menu now stays on the screen, offering three entries:
- Windows 7
- Install the Plop Boot Manager to the MBR
- Plop Boot Manager

Windows starts fine, no problem encountered. The above three entries are correctly represented in the "erweiterte Systemeinstellungen", with Windows 7 as the default.

I presume that I would have to start the installation program once more; I hesitate to do it to be on the safe side ... since last time I got stuck in the loop ...

My final intention is to have a bootable usb-stick and/or a bootable flash card in the pcmcia-slot (my old Sony Vaio bios does not support usb-boot). I have read the plop-manual but maybe you could give me a hint on this topic to preclude another caveat ...

Thx, Martin

[Elmar]

I presume that I would have to start the installation program once more; I hesitate to do it to be on the safe side ... since last time I got stuck in the loop ...

i understand that, but i never had or heard anything similar. i was not the only one that tested my programs.

to change the default boot and timeout value, its required to start bcdedit with the parameters that i gave you to change the default boot entry and setup the timeout. but none of my programs is running bcdedit with those parameters!

however, there is no need to install the boot manager to the mbr. you can start the boot manager from the windows boot menu too. you already created the entry.

[Martin]

I never blamed you or your program that it would have done wrong things. For some reason I managed to get stuck.

I have removed the third entry in the Windows boot menu ("Install ..."), so there are two entries left: Windows 7 and Plop. However, when I start the computer, plop starts immediately although "Windows 7" is the default in the Windows boot menu. Then I choose "OS Harddisk 1" and I am presented with the normal Windows boot menu, offering me the choice of Windows 7 and Plop. So I now have a dual stage boot which is a bit annoying. Can I reconfigure something so that after start-up I directly get the Windows boot menu where I can choose Plop, if desired, to boot for example from a USB drive.

[Elmar]

I have removed the third entry in the Windows boot menu ("Install ..."), so there are two entries left: Windows 7 and Plop. However, when I start the computer, plop starts immediately although "Windows 7" is the default in the Windows boot menu. Then I choose "OS Harddisk 1" and I am presented with the normal Windows boot menu, offering me the choice of Windows 7 and Plop. So I now have a dual stage boot which is a bit annoying. Can I reconfigure something so that after start-up I directly get the Windows boot menu where I can choose Plop, if desired, to boot for example from a USB drive.

this is because you installed the boot manager to the mbr (you where running InstallToMBR, windows boot menu -> install to mbr, installer option 1) and the mbr is loaded before windows starts.

there are many ways to remove the boot manager from the mbr.

• one way is to run again the "InstallToMBR.bat" to add the menu entry and then start the installer from the boot menu. the installer has an uninstall option to remove the boot manager from the mbr.
  
• another way is to run the windows program fixmbr.
  
• and there are a lot of other ways ...