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Thread: Trying to read (AND run) executables natively off my flash drive under real DOS

  1. #1
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    Trying to read (AND run) executables natively off my flash drive under real DOS

    For this old PC here next to me, there is a well-programmed beta bios which I'd like to give a whirl.
    Note: PC *cannot* boot via USB flash drive. This is not supported.
    I'm using Hiren's boot CD as a substitute.

    - Put all necessary files on my flash drive
    - Booted into Hiren's boot CD and selected DOS Tools option

    To get USB to work under DOS, you will require TWO things: an ASPI manager and an USB driver. The latter cannot work without the former.
    Alright, so I chose USBASPI1.SYS (the Panasonic one), which detected the drive and provided me a LUN (Not a driver letter yet!). Not until DI1000DD.SYS is loaded afterwards, you will have a drive letter at your disposition.

    Most of the .SYS drivers provided on that CD will NOT work with EMM386 (memory manager) being active, so I turned this off. Plus, most are even allergic to HIMEM.SYS, suddenly pretending there is no flash drive connected. Surely, because it's just such great fun ripping out the drive and jamming it in again all the time...Arghhhh...

    With lots of more tricks (skipped here), I managed to get 540K free even in low memory.

    Still, I get the following:

    Code:
    S:> mem           (internal DOS command!!)
    
    Program too big to fit in memory
    
    Cannot load COMMAND, System halted
    Mind you, I didn't even run the AWD flash tool yet because I wanted to test if anything will work! And obviously nothing would.
    Can anyone else confirm these strange issues?
    Last edited by syntaxerror74; August 30th, 2015 at 02:55 PM.

  2. #2
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    Re: Trying to read (AND run) executables off my flash drive under DOS

    I can't follow what you are trying to do (run Linux executables, or are they dos executables?) from a USB flash drive on a machine running an OS; but what OS?

    If they are Linux executables on the flash drive that is formatted to fat32, as most are, you will not be able to do that. For a file to be executable in Linux is has to have the correct Linux file-permissions and fat32 knows nothing about those.

    Copy the file or files you have to the Linux HDD and try again and you may be lucky, though it will depend on exactly what you're trying to do.

  3. #3
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    Re: Trying to read (AND run) executables off my flash drive under DOS

    Question - what program are you trying to run and why does it need to be run natively?

    I would suggest running Dosbox instead. Way less hassle.
    http://www.dosbox.com/download.php?main=1
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    Re: Trying to read (AND run) executables off my flash drive under DOS

    Quote Originally Posted by CharlesA View Post
    why does it need to be run natively?
    Quote Originally Posted by ajgreeny View Post
    I can't follow what you are trying to do (run Linux executables, or are they dos executables?) from a USB flash drive on a machine running an OS; but what OS?
    Initial problem #1: The floppy days are long gone. /me doesn't own a floppy no more.
    Initial problem #2: This machine's BIOS does not support booting off a USB flash drive, so you have to think of other ways.

    Sorry for being a little confusing in my OP (It was late). I want to run the AWD bios flash tool natively off my flash drive (I do NOT trust WINE here), which needs real DOS, and won't run when Windows is running as well either. (Hence "Mini XP" from Hiren's CD won't do the trick here)
    Last edited by syntaxerror74; August 29th, 2015 at 07:49 PM.

  5. #5
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    Re: Trying to read (AND run) executables off my flash drive under DOS

    Freedos: http://www.freedos.org/

    Good luck.
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  6. #6
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    Re: Trying to read (AND run) executables off my flash drive under DOS

    One possible way is to boot FreeDOS from Grub and run it from that:

    http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2040710

    YMMV

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    Re: Trying to read (AND run) executables off my flash drive under DOS

    Thanks a lot Lars - this looks sooo promising! And congrats for having been able to "piece together" something like this just from scratch!
    Lars, by taking your post as a basis I found the right keywords to search for (my searches were fruitless before), and now look at that:

    https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php...IOS_from_Linux

    If there was a Nobel Prize for wikis, I know who the winner should be. Just what I needed ... anyway, read on...

    [EDIT ] Almost there! However, the wiki turned out to be WRONG here!!
    As we haven't mounted / (the root drive) yet at this stage, you MUST OMIT the /boot from either line! (using GRUB2)

    WIKI suggests:
    Code:
    menuentry "Flash BIOS" {
     linux16 /boot/memdisk
     initrd16 /boot/somedisk.img
     }
    As this will take you back right into error hell, here are the corrected lines as follows:

    Code:
    menuentry "Flash BIOS" {
     linux16 /memdisk
     initrd16 /somedisk.img
     }
    SUCCESS!
    There is your long-awaited A:> prompt - welcome to FreeDOS!

    However, I am afraid I'll have to look for GENUINE MS-DOS instead! (using same technique as before)
    My AWD flash tool joyfully felt like spitting out a flood of Illegal opcode 03EE ...+<lots of hex dump garbage>, likely to be caused by bad support of the internal AWD routines by FreeDOS.
    I hope you are also aware that I would no longer be able to write here if this had happened *while* reflashing!!
    PHEWWW. Well, I mean ... that was close. Really.
    Last edited by syntaxerror74; August 30th, 2015 at 02:52 PM.

  8. #8
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    Re: Trying to read (AND run) executables natively off my flash drive under real DOS

    Next stupid question - why are you even bothering to try to update the BIOS in the first place?
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  9. #9
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    Re: Trying to read (AND run) executables natively off my flash drive under real DOS

    Haha, love the great amount of truth in your introductory sentence ("stupid question" ) Couldn't have worded it better myself...really (hrr hrr)

    But all sarcasm aside...yes there is a good reason to do so, as AMD-only boards are known to often have poor support for CPUs that followed some months later after the mainboard was first introduced on the market... For instance, a very old board may properly support the Athlon XP 2100+, but show lots of weird behavior once the CPU gets replaced by a 2500+. With a little luck, a BIOS update may (or may not) fix this. And yes, I am planning to get this ol' lady revamped a little by givin' her some more power underneath her old hood...

    P.S. @all I'm really wondering why I have to explain this to anybody in this sub-forum...
    Last edited by syntaxerror74; August 31st, 2015 at 01:13 AM.

  10. #10
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    Re: Trying to read (AND run) executables natively off my flash drive under real DOS

    Depends on the board and what the new BIOS actually does. If it isn't broke, don't fix it is a rule of thumb when dealing with BIOS updates.

    It would probably help if you mentioned the model of the system board you are trying to run this flash utility on.
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