external dvd writer 1

[Colbycol]

I have an external dvd writer and some laptops that need to be built with a pre-organised Ghost image.
The dvd writer is USB and as soon as I boot off the first ghost cd it drops back to DOS as I am assuming that it doesn't recognise the drive....

can anyone offer any advice??

Cheers!

 

[kestrel1]

What version of ghost are you using? From version 7.5 USB 1.1 should be available. for more info look here:

http://service1.symantec.com/SUPPORT/ghost.nsf/docid/2000101617144125

 

[cdogg]

I'm not sure I understand the problem from your description.

So you already have a bootable Ghost CD, and you're trying to boot from the external DVD drive on each laptop, right?

If so, then you have to make sure that the drive is recognized by each laptop's BIOS as the first boot device. As the Ghost CD is read, it will start the DOS application that has a graphical interface. That's what you're supposed to see happen...

~cdogg
"Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." - Albert Einstein
[tab][navy]For general rules and guidelines to get better answers, click here:[/navy] faq219-2884

 

[Colbycol]

Yes we get the boot screen in DOS showing our options to use the internal drive, or internal alternative or to go to DOS. It doesn't matter which option I select, it fails to find the USB drive then simply goes back to DOS.

HELP!

Many thanks one and all....

 

[kestrel1]

Are you sure that you are using the correct version of Ghost?

 

[Colbycol]

The image wasn't created by us, basically we get the laptops in, put the image on that is supplied to us by the client and ship them out after.
It just so happens that their requirements were for laptops that have no optical drives!

The bios does support booting from usb devices but it is when it is trying to load the dos drivers for the cd rom that it falls over......

 

[kestrel1]

I would say that they could be using an older version of Ghost then. Can you ask them?

 

[Colbycol]

I have just started with the company and I will endeavour to find out!

On another note someone has suggested that I boot up from a boot cd and then run ghost.exe from the initial disc. Will this work??
If you reckon it will how do I create a disc? Any instructions??

 

[cdogg]

It's worth a shot. Go to

http://www.bootdisk.com

and make yourself a Win98SE boot disc, which will give you the option to boot with CD-ROM support.

I'm not sure about Ghost, but I know Partition Magic, for example, uses Caldera DOS. Therefore, I'm not sure if the standard MS-DOS is going to allow Ghost to run properly. But again, it's certainly worth a shot.

Have you tried the disc in a desktop PC in an internal drive? You should rule out the disc as the problem. Perhaps it's not bootable or has a sector that's not readable?

~cdogg
"Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." - Albert Einstein
[tab][navy]For general rules and guidelines to get better answers, click here:[/navy] faq219-2884

 

[Colbycol]

I hate to say this but the laptops have no floppy drive either! If they did have a floppy I would have tried the old 98SE boot disk thing ages ago!

I know the ghost images are good as they have been used before (witnessed by me!) it is just when it loads the Ghost boot menu that it can't detect the drive!

I have a copy of the ultimate boot cd, wonder if I can boot off that then try to get the discs to work?

Going to try now.....
In the meantime if anyone has any other ideas then let me know!

Many thanks once again!!

 

[kestrel1]

The problem here is getting DOS USB drivers installed. The newer versions of ghost have generic drivers. If the Ultimate boot CD has some USB drivers built in it may help. Once you have access to the CD drive from dos you could just run the ghost executable.

 

[Colbycol]

Right, just thought that I would let you know that I have cracked it at last!
I have used the ultimate boot cd, booted into the dos and it picks up the usb dvd drive I have connected. I then change discs to the first ghost image one and run ghost.exe....! Simple as that heh heh!!!

Thanks everyone for your help and assistance, it is appreciated!

Colbycol

 

[kestrel1]

Glad that the ultimate boot CD had the DOS USB drivers for you. Bit of a long way around, but at least it worked.