ReactOS 0.3.1 fails to boot from hard disk

[beagle7]

I installed the OS to the first partion of my first hard disk. It fails to boot with the message "cannot find NTOSKRNL.EXE" (or words to that effect).

I tried copying the file to the root and other places, but no-go.

This is my first attempt-(fest) to install this OS.

My machine has 2 HDs; I normally boot from the 2nd. The CPU is AMD Athlon XP 1800+ MB is K7S5A Pro and has 1G of RAM. First HD is a 40G drive and has 1 primary partition and 2 logical , one of which I use for Linux swap.

The system will not boot from Lilo or by the MB boot menu.

Is there a work-around?
I am a ReactOS newbie, but far from a computer newbie.

Thanks
...Dave

[Haos]

Ok... If you really must use real hardware, use latest trunk. Its far more advanced than 0.3.1 and several bugs have been fixed.

It would be better to use ROS with some emulator or virtualizer, like Qemu (with KQEMU) or Vmware Server. Those apps are free.

[beagle7]

Thanks
I'll D/L the VM or other install and Try Again (TM)
...Dave

[Z98]

There was a really annoying bug with AMD processors a while back. We originally thought it hadn't slipped into the 0.3.1 release, but a lot of people with AMDs kept reporting trouble running it.

[Reacter]

How many thousands of threads did we go through saying, "That must be the AMD bug." ? Besides, even if it isn't the AMD bug, it might be the "too few developers" bug.

[beagle7]

OK, maybe that's the problem.
I tried setting DEBUG=SCREEN in the loader .ini file but didn't get anything at all. Does that give a clue?

Two more questions:
1. Is there a patch I can apply to the release iso?
If not, or there's a better way to do it(TM)
2. How do I get the latest release and build or get an iso?

(I can easily read the compiler docs; just want to know the basics first)

Thanks
...Dave

[Z98]

http://svn.reactos.org/iso/

Pick the highest numbered bootcd. Debug or release, either one is fine.

[Cool Dude 2k]

2. How do I get the latest release and build?

Right Here tells you how to setup a ROS build environment.

2. How do I get the latest iso?

You can also download latest iso here.
You will need 7zip to unzip them.

[Haos]

I tried setting DEBUG=SCREEN in the loader .ini file but didn't get anything at all. Does that give a clue?

If you could paste here this section of freeloader.ini and add what did you want to achieve, i may be able to correct it.

ad.1 No way, unless i misunderstood you. Since 0.3.1, over 2000 revisions were applied. Almost all source files were changed, many several times. Creating binary patch for 0.3.1 would be just beyond anyone`s strength, and as you will see in the next point - unnecessary.

ad.2 Two ways. When some time passes after a revision is commited (few minutes?) our autobuild server downloads the last revision and builds it. The bootcd and livecd iso`s, each of them in two variants - debug and release are being build and linked in our download page. This way you can easily download and test the revision that you want. Not every revision is built, as some of them are commited quickly one after another, too fast for our buildserver to keep up.

Second way is to install svn manager (for example TortoiseSVN) and download source code from our svn repository. You can download any revision that way, you can also view the log message for each revision, with changelog and description.
Then, you need to download and install out Build Enviroment, which is a specially prepared, patched GCC/Mingw compiler, with batch scripts for easy use. Building is easy. You just run the shortcut, make sure you in the right directory (same as Makefile) and just type make bootcd (or make livecd). ISO will be built and put into the same directory as the makefile. You can download and build several trees, just remeber that Ros BE will build the tree in dir of which you are currently in.

For new revisions, use only GCC 4.1.2 or 4.1.3. Older do need GCC 3.4.5. The border is somewhere between 25xxx-26000 (for example revision 25627 still does need GCC 3.4.5 to produce a working ISO).

Requirements: compiled tree will take up around 3.4gb, with sources taking around a hundred mb. Building requires quite a fast CPU, mem and HDD (my Barton 1,8gz (2500+) takes between 30-50 minutes to fully compile ROS, from clean tree, but a moderns Core2Duo will take 11-15 minutes and our Quad Xeon buildserver - even less.

Following builds, when you will update your tree to the new revisions, will take a lot less time. Sometimes though, a serious change or some strange bugs can force you to clean and rebuild from scratch.

If you want to observe the changes and keep up with our development, i strongly suggest to join and stay on our #reactos irc channel. Every new revision is reported there by out irc infobot. Apart from that - devs and testers hanging around, you can always ask questions (and what`s fascinating - get answers:) ), fresh news, revert wars, DRAMA, kjk_hyperion sharing his secret knowledge to us, infidels, Myria the Smartest ASeMbler cat, Encoded`s crusade of Running Strange Things On Ros And Capturing Screens, online programming and NT help, rants, philosophical, scientific, social, religious, techical and other discussions, rants, quarrels, MORE DRAMA and many many more...

Warning: it is highly addictive. Sleeping is overrated. Better hang here, like me, currently 3.12 am, posting on ros forums...

[beagle7]

I like Z98's solution. Bookmarked URL and downloaded iso.
Thanks also Cool Dude 2k

In answer to Haos:
[ReactOS_Debug]
BootType=ReactOS
SystemPath=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\ReactOS
Options=/DEBUGPORT=SCREEN /NOGUIBOOT

I'm not sure that everything else is as it should be, either.
Where is the syntax for the bootloader ini file documented?

Not sure I want to be a developer - like to, but tooooooooo old for it now - don't want so much stress anymore. Besides, I got a couple of Linux projects I'm working on now (and then).

[Haos]

Try to remove the /NOGUIBOOT. Screen output is not the most precise one. Best solution is to use serial output, either through null modem to other PC (if you are using real hardware) or mapped to file/ namepipe (in emulator. With screen output, important info may disappear too quickly.

A pity... we like to catch all C/ASM devs we can.

[beagle7]

I just from installed the latest bootcd.
More features.
Same problem - can't find ntoskrnl.exe

copied it to c:\ and every likely looking subdir.
Still no-go.

Would removing /NOBOOTGUI help with it finding ntoskrnl.exe?
what is ntoskrnl.exe anyway? and what's it supposed to do?

incidently, I couldn't put the bootloader on a formatted floppy, the installer refused to copy it, said no disk in A:

---Dave

[Reacter]

I believe we have floppy issues. The ntoskrnl.exe file you need is the Core of the Operating System (Kernel). The kernel manages what the rest of your software does, but I bet you know that. What the heck is up with your PC? Try this first:
Make sure you don't have ReactOS on an NTFS partition.
Get a FreeDOS boot disk.
Kill the /NOBOOTGUI. Then you can see a GUI if it starts.
Now, this is my FreeLDR.INI. Just start to put in parts until it works. If it doesn't, then I have no clue how to help. (This assumes you have ReactOS on drive 1, not 2, assumes it is on the first partition, and assumes you installed to C:\ReactOS.)
Okay:
[default]
Default=ReactOS
Timeout=10

(leave all the color crap here the same.)

[Operating Systems]
ReactOS="ReactOS"
ReactDebug="ReactOS with debugging help."

[ReactOS]
(make SURE you follow this part closely. I learned from past mistakes.)
BootType=ReactOS
SystemPath=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\ReactOS
Options=/SOS

[ReactDebug]
BootType=ReactOS
SystemPath=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\ReactOS
Options=/SOS /DEBUG /DEBUGPORT=COM1 /BAUDRATE=115200

(That concludes that, if you need to get into your system to change it, Start off the FreeDOS floppy just like old MS-DOS ).

You can get a FreeDOS boot disk from: http://www.freedos.org/

[beagle7]

I got 0.3.1 installed.
What I did was boot from a win98 boot disk and used fdisk /mbr

Then installed the latest boot cd version.
I installed and it started to boot and then failed with a FIXME error of some sort at the end of the screen debugs.

then I successfully installed 0.3.1.
It booted and worked - sort of.
I didn't have my stack of driver disks handy (Linux doesn't use them) So I didn't get many drivers installed (except for the graphics adaptor, which didn't seem to make any difference)
It won't run any executables (seems to be the state of things) but it runs and I can access all the menus and stuff.

I hope to be able to install a .4x version soon.

I think that's about all I can do, I guess.
Thanks all

If I need to edit anything (like an .ini file) I mount the hard disk under Linux and use vi. That seems to work *much* better than booting from win98 and using edit.

...Dave

[Reacter]

Good luck on getting those drivers installed, ReactOS isn't the best there either. Glad the system works now, and I agree that any editor is better than edit.