Topic: EasyBoot 5.09 is released
started by: xoben
Posted by xoben on Mar. 21 2006,22:47
What's New:+) Improved boot loader, increases compatibility with BIOS and supports coming back to boot menu from DOS environment (with new ezboot.com)
+) Supports filenames with ISO9660 version number
+) Supports relative/full path of boot image file in 'run' command
+) Can run .INI files by 'bcdw' command
*) Some minor improvements and bug fixes
Download: < http://www.ezbsystems.com/easyboot/download.htm >
Note: The latest version is 5.0.9.553.
Tips for use new ezboot.com:
Step 1: Adding ezboot.com to floppy image
- Open the disk image (.IMA/.IMG, such as setup98.img) by UltraISO, add c:\ezboot\resource\ezboot.com to the image and save it.
Step 2: Active this feature
- Start EasyBoot, click on 'Options' button and choose 'Configuration' from the popup menu. Then check 'Enable coming back from DOS' and click 'OK'.
- Save the menu file
- Make a bootable ISO and burn
Step 3: Return to boot menu from DOS environment
- After booted into DOS, type 'ezboot.com' and press <Enter> to call boot menu of CD directly.
- You can also add this command to a batch file.
Posted by pantz on Mar. 24 2006,16:57
I installed 5.09 over my 5.08 and it corrupted my menu. Luckly I had it backed up. Be careful!! I think 5.09 has issues..
Posted by xoben on Mar. 24 2006,21:02
Hello pantz, could you provide more detailed information about the problem? We appreciate your cooperation.
Posted by BobT on Mar. 25 2006,17:32
Hi, I have downloaded and evaluating EasyBoot 5.0.9.WHen I make a CD from the iso it works in VPC under WinXP and works when booting my pentium 4 systems. But it will not boot from a friend's MSi 650gm-l Celeron 2.4ghz system and 32mb of system ram applied to on board video. It just displays the end of the bios boot screen and shows a flashing cursor.
It is not just a display problem as the cd drive does not show an attempt to read the disk and pushing buttons 1-9 does nothing.
Suggestions.?
TIA
Posted by BobT on Mar. 25 2006,17:46
I forgot to add that the WinXP install CD boots from the Celeron system (described above) and many other bootable CD's, just not the EasyBoot CD.So far this system is the only computer I can find that the CD will not boot from. It boots from all the others I have tried.
Thqanks Again,
BobT
Posted by xoben on Mar. 25 2006,20:19
Hello BobT, please re-download EasyBoot from < http://www.ezbsystems.com/easyboot/download.htm > , setup and start EasyBoot, open your menu file and click 'Save', then create a bootable CD and see if a message 'Start booting from CD...' message will appear.
Posted by BobT on Mar. 25 2006,21:34
Hi,I downloaded EasyBoot again and I notice it is now version 5.0.9.553. I did as you suggested and the EasyBoot CD now works.
I also updated the ezboot.com file in some of my dos images as I noticed that the file had changed.
So all is now working, Thanks.
BobT.
Posted by xoben on Mar. 25 2006,22:22
Thank you BobT for your feedback.
Posted by pantz on Mar. 27 2006,10:26
xoben,What was fixed in 553? I want to be able to use the ezboot.com feature.
All I did was install 5.09 over my 5.08 and then opened it and could see everything fine. But when I went to save it would not let me. Then when I exited Easyboot and went back in my menu would not open so I reinstalled my old verison and the menu was corrupt so I restored it from a backup.
pantz
Posted by xoben on Mar. 28 2006,01:34
Thanks pantz for your explaination.| Quote |
| All I did was install 5.09 over my 5.08 and then opened it and could see everything fine. But when I went to save it would not let me.Then when I exited Easyboot and went back in my menu would not open so I reinstalled my old verison and the menu was corrupt so I restored it from a backup. |
We tested this way:
1) Setup EasyBoot 5.08 first, create a menu file
2) Setup V5.09 over it, open and edit the menu, save it. No problem was found.
3) Re-install V5.08, the menu file can be opened properly
Posted by EasyBootTester on Mar. 29 2006,07:38
I am evaluating the new version and found a problem... 
If I use EasyBoot to boot to a hacked cdsh.bin that launches a Floppy Image with MEMDISK (for write access) and use ezboot.com and choose another image that also uses MEMDISK...
I get this:
and hangs...
Posted by EasyBootTester on Mar. 29 2006,07:41
Actually, it's not just MemDisk, it hangs when I change to anything opened by ISOLinux (through CDShell)...To be more clear:
It doesn't hang in CDShell, it hangs when CDShell uses ISOLinux to run any image... (using Memdisk or not...)
Posted by EZBooter on Mar. 29 2006,07:51
Sorry for double posting (was not yet registered)...This issue only happens if I use EMM386 in the DOS image from which I run EZboot.com ...
Can EZBoot.com be made EMM386-compatible ?
Did anyone test this with any other EMS manager (other than EMM386 ?)
Posted by xoben on Mar. 29 2006,07:54
My suggestion is using another hacked version of isolinux/memdisk:1) Download the attached zip file
2) Extract files (isolinux and memdisk) to c:\easyboot\disk1\ezboot
3) Put your xxx.IMG file in c:\easyboot\disk1\ezboot as well
4) Use 'bcdw /ezboot/isolinix memdisk initrd=xxx.img' to load it
Posted by EZBooter on Mar. 29 2006,08:55
But how do I 'use' "bcdw /ezboot/isolinux memdisk initrd=xxx.img" ?ie: What is the command that EasyBoot is going to launch to run BCDW ?
Do I run it through CDShell (ie: Use bcdw plugin)? I don't want to do that because that would more complexity to the boot system..., if I do that then I'll be using EasyBoot to run CDShell to run BCDW to run ISOLinux to run MEMDISK to boot the image ...
What do I type in the command box in EasyBoot for that menu item ?
Posted by xoben on Mar. 29 2006,20:21
| Quote (EZBooter @ Mar. 29 2006,13:55) |
| What do I type in the command box in EasyBoot for that menu item ? |
bcdw /ezboot/isolinux memdisk initrd=xxx.img
Note: It is confirmed that ezboot.com does not work properly when EMM386 is loaded.
Posted by pantz on Mar. 30 2006,12:24
I just installed your new version of 5.09 553 and the issue is fixed. Maybe I had something weird in my Menu.Pantz
Posted by Guest on Apr. 20 2006,14:52
ezboot.com works good under VMware Workstation, but it dos not work under real cd-rom. ezboot.com block complitely the menu under real cd. Thanks for clarifications.
Posted by xoben on Apr. 23 2006,04:56
Please make sure EMM386.EXE is not loaded by config.sys.
Posted by Guest on Apr. 23 2006,14:21
Sorry for my bad english. I do not know what is EMM386.EXE and how can I be sure that is not loaded by config.sys?Thank you very much for your patience with me.
Posted by mmarx82 on May 19 2006,11:31
I have a problem autodet.img, isolinux, and memdisk
are all in the ezboot folder
(The isolinux and memdisk are the hacked version on page 1 in this post.)
I run the command below to load my img file.
bcdw /ezboot/isolinux memdisk initrd=autodet.img
When the cd starts it loads bcdw and stops, the computer is not locked up as the keyboard is still responsive.
So I tried using the original versions of isolinux and memdisk that I know work when creating seperate folders (boot,bt01,bt02,etc,.) I over wrote the hacked versions and still get the same thing.
So to test if bcdw was even working I ran it as
bcdw /ezboot/autodet.img
That works fine loading the image but I need write access to that image so I get an error.
I'm using version 5.09.553 on a Windows XP Pro SP2 machine.
The autodet.img file is for doing auto Nic detection with Symantec Ghost 8.2
Posted by xoben on May 20 2006,22:37
Hello mmarx82, this is a problem of memdisk, which may not work on some BIOS's.
Posted by mmarx82 on May 22 2006,12:58
Update: Couldn't take no for an answer.I did some more tests because I knew that my memdisk file works fine when creating the seperate boot folders with the ini files in it, so I knew I didn't have a bios problem, N-E-Ways, I did get it to work.
I re-downloaded the hacked isolinux and memdisk files and placed them in the ezboot folder as described earlier.
What I found is that original command didn't work and that I had to give the
file extention for the isolinux file. Something small and stupid.
Didn't Work:
bcdw /ezboot/isolinux memdisk initrd=autodet.img
Worked:
bcdw /ezboot/isolinux.bin memdisk initrd=autodet.img
So try this before you give up guys.
Posted by xoben on May 23 2006,19:41
Thanks mmarx82 for your feedback.Do you mean the hacked isolinux did not work, but the original isolinux.bin worked?
Posted by mionica on Jun. 02 2006,22:48
@xobenActually, it's more likely that both would work ok. It's just that bcdw doesn't append '.bin' to the name of the loaded file.
That is, to load /menu/isolinux.bin,
bcdw /menu/isolinux would not work, while
bcdw /menu/isolinux.bin would.
Technical details: the "hacked" isolinux.bin has only one change in the code: a test cl, 8Eh was replaced with test cl, 8Ah, so that the attribute bit UltraISO and EasyBoot set for "superHidden" be ignored. Apart from that, there's another 3 bytes I messed up in some error messages, to keep the checksum right.
I was too lazy to either install ActivePerl or to rewrite the checksumming code in C. Basically, the algorythm for generating the checksum is a trivial 32bit summation:
char *isolinux_bin;
unsigned isolinux_bin_length;
for( unsigned long sum=0, i=64; i<isolinux_bin_length; i+=4 )
sum+=*(unsigned long *)(isolinux_bin+i);
*(unsigned long *)(isolinux_bin+0x14)=sum;
if I recall correctly
Posted by mmarx82 on Jun. 28 2006,12:56
Sorry about the really, really, late reply but...By not using the ".bin" extention when specifying the isolinux file made it seem like the hacked version was not working. Although both the hacked and un-hacked versions do work I still had to specify it as isolinux.bin
However, I did notice that the updated, non-hacked version worked on the newest machines in our workplace, where the hacked version didn't.
The newest machines that I am refering to are, the machines that Gateway has released in the last year. (Excluding Servers, we have touched every machine that Gateway has released in the last 5+ years to businesses NOT consumers)