Megatouch XL CD-ROM to Hard Drive

[orizzle]

I recently acquired an XL cabinet (Super 5000).  Runs off a CD-ROM drive but is incredibly slow and from the sounds of it, I believe the CD drive is going.  I did some Googling and found some people attempting to install the software onto a hard drive but without success.  Does anyone know if this has been pulled off successfully?  If not, I may attempt it myself and post back with my results.

[yotsuya]

Do a search on this topic on klov. I'm pretty sure you'll find some luck. I ended up picking a pre-configured hard drive up for mine to replace the CD ROM drive, and it works great.

Sent from my SM-G386T using Tapatalk

[obcd]

It's possible to use a harddrive. I use a compact flash card with a cf2ide adapter.
From the Merit pc point of view, it's identical to a harddrive.
I once started a tutorial for someone who PM'ed me here with the same question.
He suddenly disappeared, so I never finished and posted the stuff.
First, you will need to copy the cd contents in a folder on your pc.
It's just a regular copy of all the stuff, no need to create an iso.
I used freedos on the compact flash card and booted from there. It gave me more options to experiment with the system.
The Merit XL original boots from a flash disk on it's io card. You can disable that with a jumper on the io board.
Removing JP1 normally does the trick.
Drive letter D was a small ramdisk
Drive letter F was the cdrom drive. I used the freedos subst or assign command to point the folder with the contents of the cd rom to that drive letter. I am sure I can dig up more details if needed.

[orizzle]

Thanks for the info. I wound up playing around with this myself today and got it working.

I installed MS-DOS 6.22 on another machine, created 4 partitions (C, D, E, F), and copied the contents of the CD-ROM to F and the autoexec.bat/config.sys from the flash memory from the ioboard. A couple tweaks and it's running like a champ.

Much faster and the touchscreen even seems more responsive.

[DaddyLongLegs]

It's possible to use a harddrive. I use a compact flash card with a cf2ide adapter.
From the Merit pc point of view, it's identical to a harddrive.
I once started a tutorial for someone who PM'ed me here with the same question.
He suddenly disappeared, so I never finished and posted the stuff.
First, you will need to copy the cd contents in a folder on your pc.
It's just a regular copy of all the stuff, no need to create an iso.
I used freedos on the compact flash card and booted from there. It gave me more options to experiment with the system.
The Merit XL original boots from a flash disk on it's io card. You can disable that with a jumper on the io board.
Removing JP1 normally does the trick.
Drive letter D was a small ramdisk
Drive letter F was the cdrom drive. I used the freedos subst or assign command to point the folder with the contents of the cd rom to that drive letter. I am sure I can dig up more details if needed.

Would you be able to post this guide? Does it require me being able to dump the contents of the socketed chips?

If you could post a step-by-step guide, that would be incredible. I don't want this machine to die on me.

Definitely dig up more details, please

[orizzle]

Do you have a USB IDE external hard drive enclosure? I could probably send you my XL 5000 image, and you would just need to copy your CD over to replace my files.

[DaddyLongLegs]

Do you have a USB IDE external hard drive enclosure? I could probably send you my XL 5000 image, and you would just need to copy your CD over to replace my files.

I actually do have one of those. That is awfully generous of you. So all I would need to do is download your image, dump it to an IDE hard drive, and paste my CD into the hard drive somewhere?

[orizzle]

Yeah, I'll PM you a link to my hard drive image.  Download and extract it (important - do not leave it as a zip file).

You'll need to get a program called USB Image Tool: http://www.alexpage.de/usb-image-tool/download

When you run it, go into the Options tab and tick "Show non-removable devices (USB hard disk drives)" and then you should see your external drive.  Click it in the left pane.  Click "Restore" and open the image file (should be a .img file since you extracted the .zip) and let it write to the drive.

When it's done writing, you should see 4 more drive letters appear in "My Computer" or Windows Explorer.  Find the drive with all my XL 5000 files on it and delete them all.  Then copy the contents of your CD to the root of this drive.  If all goes well, you should be able to boot from the drive.

There are some jumpers on the ioboard that you might have to play with.  There are 2 jumpers on mine side-by-side.  One is labeled NVRAM and I can't honestly recall what the other one is.  But I believe my jumper on the NVRAM part is on, and the one beside it is off.  Pulling the jumper off the other one will prevent the machine from trying to boot to the ROM-DOS image that's on the flash memory.

Good luck

[DaddyLongLegs]

Yeah, I'll PM you a link to my hard drive image.  Download and extract it (important - do not leave it as a zip file).

You'll need to get a program called USB Image Tool: http://www.alexpage.de/usb-image-tool/download

When you run it, go into the Options tab and tick "Show non-removable devices (USB hard disk drives)" and then you should see your external drive.  Click it in the left pane.  Click "Restore" and open the image file (should be a .img file since you extracted the .zip) and let it write to the drive.

When it's done writing, you should see 4 more drive letters appear in "My Computer" or Windows Explorer.  Find the drive with all my XL 5000 files on it and delete them all.  Then copy the contents of your CD to the root of this drive.  If all goes well, you should be able to boot from the drive.

There are some jumpers on the ioboard that you might have to play with.  There are 2 jumpers on mine side-by-side.  One is labeled NVRAM and I can't honestly recall what the other one is.  But I believe my jumper on the NVRAM part is on, and the one beside it is off.  Pulling the jumper off the other one will prevent the machine from trying to boot to the ROM-DOS image that's on the flash memory.

Good luck

Thanks so much! I got your PM. I also PMed you the ISO you requested.

Unfortunately my machine won't boot with the IDE hard drive installed. Firstly, it makes the speakers have some really terrible crackling. I am not sure why. Possibly the additional power load? And it won't boot, it keeps rebooting right after it starts up. My guess is that since this is such an old PC, it doesn't know how to handle a 250GB hard drive (it was the only IDE hard drive I had available).

[orizzle]

Do you see messages like starting MS-DOS? The image I sent you was only 1gb...I think even with the old ass bios on those motherboards, it should boot because it doesn't need the rest of the space. I looked at the ISO you sent me. There is no megacdll.exe in the root like on my CD.  I'm guessing the startup sequence is different.

[DaddyLongLegs]

Do you see messages like starting MS-DOS? The image I sent you was only 1gb...I think even with the old ass bios on those motherboards, it should boot because it doesn't need the rest of the space. I looked at the ISO you sent me. There is no megacdll.exe in the root like on my CD.  I'm guessing the startup sequence is different.

I do not see anything about starting MS-DOS. It starts rebooting endlessly as soon as the machine turns on. It barely gets to the part where it lists the devices.

You got me thinking though and I saw this on my disc inside LAUNCHIT.BAT

:runit
d:
f:\delall
copy f:\exec\megacdll.exe d:\
copy f:\thefiles.dat d:\
megacdll
if not exist d:\escape f:\reboot.exe


Could this be my problem?

[orizzle]

You should at least see the startup messages like it's booting into DOS. Are you sure the hard drive is being detected?

[mahkeymike]

There is jumpers on the IOboard you need change so it boots from hard drive instead of CD.

[obcd]

Have you tried cleaning the finger contacts on the IO board?
They are known for bad contacts. As the sound chip is also on that io board, it could explain those issues as well.
I don't think the mobo will recognise a 250GB harddrive. Basically, if you are able to go into bios setup, you could see if the harddrive is recognised.
My PM might not be to the point, as I only noticed these forum topics afterwards.

You should be able to set floppy drive A to none in the bios setup. I don't think it will make a difference.

[DaddyLongLegs]

You should at least see the startup messages like it's booting into DOS. Are you sure the hard drive is being detected?

If I do not plug in the hard drive, it says it's booting into "ROM-DOS". If I *do* plug in the hard drive, if I set the jumpers on the hard drive to limit the drive to 2GB, it goes through the motions but freezes right before it should say "Datalight Pages Memory Disk Installed as Drive C:". The BIOS will in fact show the hard drive name just fine.

If I plug in the hard drive and just set the jumpers to "slave" or "master" the machine just keeps rebooting like crazy within 2 seconds of powering on.

In both scenarios, the speakers make awful noises that are not there when there is no power going to the hard drive. I powered the hard drive on a different power supply and it still refused to boot, but the awful sound from the speakers went away.

You should at least see the startup messages like it's booting into DOS. Are you sure the hard drive is being detected?

The BIOS does show the hard drive while booting if I have the jumpers on the hard drive set to limit the hard drive to 2GB. If I do not have the jumpers set that way, the machine won't even boot with the hard drive in.

Have you tried cleaning the finger contacts on the IO board?
They are known for bad contacts. As the sound chip is also on that io board, it could explain those issues as well.

I did clean the contacts. It is funny you mention that because before cleaning the contacts, I would get a "PLEASE INSERT BOOT DISC" error like 80% of the time. Now that it's cleaned, I get this error instead.

I actually completely got rid of the "riser" board and I just plug both boards into each other directly. This is the full upright Megatouch, and I can put the machine back together with no riser board, so I am not even sure why they included it with this model.

There is jumpers on the IOboard you need change so it boots from hard drive instead of CD.

Which one?

[mahkeymike]

There is jumpers on the IOboard you need change so it boots from hard drive instead of CD.

Which one?

JP1 must be removed i believe.

[DaddyLongLegs]

There is jumpers on the IOboard you need change so it boots from hard drive instead of CD.

Which one?

JP1 must be removed i believe.

If that's the one right next to the NVRAM, yeah I did that. If I leave it in I get "Not ready error reading drive A" which is why I want to bypass everything and just boot from the hard drive. If I pull that jumper out, I get the errors mentioned before.

[obcd]

So, in bios you can set both floppy drives to none?
You can set the boot order as C first, A afterwards?
With the jumper installed, what error do you get?
Without the jumper and a harddisk (limited to 2 GB), what behavour do you get?
Sorry to ask again, but with 2 threads going, it's confusing.

[DaddyLongLegs]

So, in bios you can set both floppy drives to none?
You can set the boot order as C first, A afterwards?
With the jumper installed, what error do you get?
Without the jumper and a harddisk (limited to 2 GB), what behavour do you get?
Sorry to ask again, but with 2 threads going, it's confusing.

Don't apologize, you have no idea how much I appreciate you replying to me.

I can set the floppy drive to none and swap the boot order between A and C easily. There is no difference between any of those options though. I get the same errors regardless.

With the jumper I get the error of "Not ready error reading drive A". Without the jumper I get to the part where it gives me the PCI device listing and it stalls there forever (right before it should say "Datalight Paged Memory Disk Installed to C: / Starting ROM DOS"

[DaddyLongLegs]

Yeah, I'll PM you a link to my hard drive image.  Download and extract it (important - do not leave it as a zip file).

You'll need to get a program called USB Image Tool: http://www.alexpage.de/usb-image-tool/download

When you run it, go into the Options tab and tick "Show non-removable devices (USB hard disk drives)" and then you should see your external drive.  Click it in the left pane.  Click "Restore" and open the image file (should be a .img file since you extracted the .zip) and let it write to the drive.

When it's done writing, you should see 4 more drive letters appear in "My Computer" or Windows Explorer.  Find the drive with all my XL 5000 files on it and delete them all.  Then copy the contents of your CD to the root of this drive.  If all goes well, you should be able to boot from the drive.

There are some jumpers on the ioboard that you might have to play with.  There are 2 jumpers on mine side-by-side.  One is labeled NVRAM and I can't honestly recall what the other one is.  But I believe my jumper on the NVRAM part is on, and the one beside it is off.  Pulling the jumper off the other one will prevent the machine from trying to boot to the ROM-DOS image that's on the flash memory.

Good luck

OK so I got my compact flash card and now for some reason your guide doesn't work for it.

I followed the exact same steps as I did for the hard drive. The only difference is now it's a Compact Flash card. When I am done restoring the image, only one hard drive letter shows up. It has the MS-DOS files in it and is around 50MB. There are no other drive letters and no way to access the partition/drive that has your Megatouch folder in it. Do you know why this could be?

[orizzle]

It's because Windows is crap. No really.

Windows won't recognize multiple partitions on a removable drive. Use your cf ide adapter in the external hard drive and they should show up.

[DaddyLongLegs]

I am so glad this forum is back!

It's because Windows is crap. No really.

Windows won't recognize multiple partitions on a removable drive. Use your cf ide adapter in the external hard drive and they should show up.

 I received a CF to IDE adapter and sadly what you said is not working. In an external USB enclosure it still will only show one hard drive. My Megatouch will not boot with it plugged in    

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

[DaddyLongLegs]

I don't know if this can be causing it but...

my 1GB CF card will show up in USB Image Tool if I check "Show non-removable devices" as your instructions state. However, I cannot use this card because it's too small for your image.

If I put in my 2GB CF card, the device shows up EVEN IF I DON'T check  "Show non-removable devices"

Why would this be? And could this be why I am having this problem?

[obcd]

It all depends upon how the cf card was partitionned. Every partition get's a number that identifies what type of partition it is. Removable partitions have a different number compared to fixed ones. If you use the image tool, it will overwrite the master boot record and partition table. Due to that, the CF partitions should behave identical to those the image came from. In fact, a 2Gig CF card can suddenly claim it's only 1Gig if the image came from a 1Gig.

Have you experimented with different harddisk settings on the megatouch bios. You have normal, LBA and large. If that's set incorrectly, the mobo won't boot with your cf card.
Is your cf card recognised as harddisk in the bios startup screen?

I had a CF that refused to boot as well. I never really examined why it was the case, but it looked like my dos was calculating the wrong LBA sector number. It was a 512MB card so I never really examined it any further.

If your CF 2 ide adapter is having a master slave jumper setting, make sure you set it to master.

I have 1 Gig card that should work. I might be able to image it and upload it somewhere for you if orizzle his image keeps refusing to work.  (But prefer not 2 as it's a lot of work)

[DaddyLongLegs]

It all depends upon how the cf card was partitionned. Every partition get's a number that identifies what type of partition it is. Removable partitions have a different number compared to fixed ones. If you use the image tool, it will overwrite the master boot record and partition table. Due to that, the CF partitions should behave identical to those the image came from. In fact, a 2Gig CF card can suddenly claim it's only 1Gig if the image came from a 1Gig.

Have you experimented with different harddisk settings on the megatouch bios. You have normal, LBA and large. If that's set incorrectly, the mobo won't boot with your cf card.
Is your cf card recognised as harddisk in the bios startup screen?

I had a CF that refused to boot as well. I never really examined why it was the case, but it looked like my dos was calculating the wrong LBA sector number. It was a 512MB card so I never really examined it any further.

If your CF 2 ide adapter is having a master slave jumper setting, make sure you set it to master.

I have 1 Gig card that should work. I might be able to image it and upload it somewhere for you if orizzle his image keeps refusing to work.  (But prefer not 2 as it's a lot of work)

Well I would greatly appreciate it if you could upload the 1gb image. The reason being that my 2gb cf card shows up whether or not I click the checkbox  "Show non-removable devices" as per the instructions, but the 1gb does not (it only shows up when clicking  "Show non-removable devices" which is what the instructions say should happen. Unfortunately I can't try it on my 1gb CF card because the image that was given to me is 1.5gb for some reason.

Yep it shows up as a hard drive on the Megatouch just fine. It won't boot it though. it goes through the motions but freezes right before it should say "Datalight Pages Memory Disk Installed as Drive C:". The BIOS will in fact show the hard drive name just fine.

[DaddyLongLegs]

Oh and before I forget, even if the megatouch WOULD finally boot this card, it wouldn't do me any good because there's no way for me to write my CD's files to the CF card and replace the files from his CD's folder because my Windows will NOT show any folder/drive besides the 52mb DOS drive/folder. I can't even get access to the folder to overwrite his files!

Keep in mind I do not have this problem with an actual 3.5" IDE hard drive; only when trying to do this with a CF and adapter! So confusing!

[obcd]

Datalight Pages Memory Disk Installed as Drive C: should only appear if the romdos flashdisk on the io adapter is enabled. You should disable it if you intend to use and boot from a compact flash or harddisk. Do you have a location where I could upload the image? You can pm it if you don't want to make it public. Maybe it will be small enough to find my own upload location. Just give me a little time for this. I use the dos subst command to create the extra drive letters as folders in the only cf partition. So, you shouldn't have your problem with the other partitions in dos. 

[DaddyLongLegs]

Datalight Pages Memory Disk Installed as Drive C: should only appear if the romdos flashdisk on the io adapter is enabled. You should disable it if you intend to use and boot from a compact flash or harddisk. Do you have a location where I could upload the image? You can pm it if you don't want to make it public. Maybe it will be small enough to find my own upload location. Just give me a little time for this. I use the dos subst command to create the extra drive letters as folders in the only cf partition. So, you shouldn't have your problem with the other partitions in dos.

I sent you a PM with the image. Thank you so so much!

[DaddyLongLegs]

So I figured out the issue with my CF  card. For some reason the 2GB Trendnet wouldn't allow me to see the drives after restoring the image, but I just got a 2GB Kingston (one with the white flower on it) and that one did! Who knew there were differences in CF cards like that?

Anyway unfortunately my Megatouch XL still will not boot. I am having the same problem. The  machine just stalls at around the time when "Booting ROM-DOS" normally comes up. Yes I have removed the jumper so it does not try to boot ROM-DOS. I have the card set up perfectly like in the image, and it shows up fine as a hard drive in the BIOS. What else could be going on?  I really want to get this machine working

[DaddyLongLegs]

OK messing with the LBA settings worked. It boots to DOS, however I get an error of "Invalid drive specification" and am then left at a C:

It seems as though in the DOS folder of the CF card is a LAUNCHIT.BAT file and if I open it in notepad it says:

:runit
d:
f:\delall
copy f:\exec\megacdll.exe d:\
copy f:\thefiles.dat d:\
megacdll
if not exist d:\escape f:\reboot.exe


So my guess is that when it tries to launch megacdll.exe it cannot.

Maybe DOS isn't seeing the partitions for some reason? I tried to browse every drive letter besides C: and it would not let me.

Please help!

[obcd]

I assume you have a keyboard connected to the megatouch computer.

Create 2 folders on the c dirive

mkdir c:\ramdisk
mkdir c:\megat
In the autoexec.bat, add the following

subst d: c:\ramdisk
subst f: d:\megat

Copy all the 'megatouch cd' stuff in that megat folder.

Sorry for letting you down with the image (until know). Other priorities in the way.

Maybe you will need to increase the partition size of the C partition. No need for other partitions on the cf card.

Make sure the subst command exists and is reachable. Maybe the freedos version can be used if it's missing.

[DaddyLongLegs]

I assume you have a keyboard connected to the megatouch computer.

Create 2 folders on the c dirive

mkdir c:\ramdisk
mkdir c:\megat
In the autoexec.bat, add the following

subst d: c:\ramdisk
subst f: d:\megat

Copy all the 'megatouch cd' stuff in that megat folder.

Sorry for letting you down with the image (until know). Other priorities in the way.

Maybe you will need to increase the partition size of the C partition. No need for other partitions on the cf card.

Make sure the subst command exists and is reachable. Maybe the freedos version can be used if it's missing.

Hi, I do have a keyboard attached. 

Just so I got this right, you are saying I should *NOT* have four partitions on the CF like what I get from the image provided by orizzle? I should just have 1?

Also where in the autoexec.bat should I add those commands? Here is my autoexec.bat:

Code: [Select]

@echo off
rem - Reset output ports
rstports

rem - Load DataLite CDROM extensions
MSCDEX.EXE  /D:banana /L:R

rem Burn In Test will run when DS2 Switch #2 is on at boot up. mda 3-13-97
burn_in

rem Attempt ELOGraphics load
nomouse
elodev 2310,1,9600 -c139,4144,3995,90,1,255
if errorlevel 2 goto done1
if errorlevel 1 goto LoadMT
:done1
mmmerit -m2 -c- -b-
goto done
rem Attempt MicroTouch load
:LoadMT
nomouse -x
mtconfig /C1 /I4 /B9600
dostouch
tchctl2
:done

rem - Check for 2 button clear and/or CD clean
2butclr

rem --- Start up the XL program
deltree /y d:\
copy f:\megacdll.exe d:\
copy f:\thefiles.dat d:\
d:
megacdll


[obcd]

Yes, only one partition is enough. Since you say that the megatouch isn't seeing the other partitions, it should fix your issue.

You will need some partitionning software to delete the extra partitions (if they exist) and to increase the size of your one partition so that the mega cd files fit in.

In your autoexec, remark the MSCDEX line (as you don't have the cdrom connected anymore). You can place the subst commands there. You could als add a
path= %PATH%;c:\dos\xxx before those subst commands if you have subst in a c:\dos\xxx folder.

After the subst commands, you should have a d drive and an f drive. The f drive should have all the megatouch files.

For windows, you could use paragon partition manager free to play with the partitions on your compact flash card. In linux, you can use gparted for that. (You have to do that on a windows pc and not on the megatouch one.

Maybe the buildin windows disk manager could do the job as well. (Pc managment...  storage....disk managment...)

On recent windows (7, 8 , 10) you will likely need to run the program as administrator. Even done so, some card readers can deny access to a partitionning program.

Just be very carefull not to mess with your windows system partitions.

[DaddyLongLegs]

Yes, only one partition is enough. Since you say that the megatouch isn't seeing the other partitions, it should fix your issue.

You will need some partitionning software to delete the extra partitions (if they exist) and to increase the size of your one partition so that the mega cd files fit in.

In your autoexec, remark the MSCDEX line (as you don't have the cdrom connected anymore). You can place the subst commands there. You could als add a
path= %PATH%;c:\dos\xxx before those subst commands if you have subst in a c:\dos\xxx folder.

After the subst commands, you should have a d drive and an f drive. The f drive should have all the megatouch files.

For windows, you could use paragon partition manager free to play with the partitions on your compact flash card. In linux, you can use gparted for that. (You have to do that on a windows pc and not on the megatouch one.

Maybe the buildin windows disk manager could do the job as well. (Pc managment...  storage....disk managment...)

On recent windows (7, 8 , 10) you will likely need to run the program as administrator. Even done so, some card readers can deny access to a partitionning program.

Just be very carefull not to mess with your windows system partitions.

OK thank you. I did exactly as you said but unfortunately I get the error "PRESS A KEY TO REBOOT" and then of course the Megatouch simply reboots. Did I screw something up in my autoexec.bat? Here it is with your recommended changes:

Code: [Select]

@echo off
rem - Reset output ports
rstports

rem - Load DataLite CDROM extensions
rem MSCDEX.EXE  /D:banana /L:R
path= %PATH%;c:\dos\
subst d: c:\ramdisk
subst f: d:\megat

rem Burn In Test will run when DS2 Switch #2 is on at boot up. mda 3-13-97
burn_in

rem Attempt ELOGraphics load
nomouse
elodev 2310,1,9600 -c139,4144,3995,90,1,255
if errorlevel 2 goto done1
if errorlevel 1 goto LoadMT
:done1
mmmerit -m2 -c- -b-
goto done
rem Attempt MicroTouch load
:LoadMT
nomouse -x
mtconfig /C1 /I4 /B9600
dostouch
tchctl2
:done

rem - Check for 2 button clear and/or CD clean
2butclr



rem --- Start up the XL program
deltree /y d:\
copy f:\megacdll.exe d:\
copy f:\thefiles.dat d:\
d:
megacdll

Please let me know if I messed anything up that would be causing this error.

[obcd]

I messed something up

The second line should read
subst f: c:\megat

So, it's c instead of d

Also, make sure the megat folder and ramdisk folder exist on your C
mkdir c:\megat
mkdir c:\ramdisk

after the subst commands, you might also add
del d:\*.*
since d is a ramdisk, upon a reboot, it will be empty.

don't forget to put your cd rom files and folders in the c:\megat folder

If you put a rem in front of the last line of the autoexec.bat file, do you get a dos prompt?

rem megacdll

If so, check if you have a d drive and f drive.

You can manually start the program by typing megacdll.

Sorry for the mistake.

[DaddyLongLegs]

I messed something up

The second line should read
subst f: c:\megat

So, it's c instead of d

Also, make sure the megat folder and ramdisk folder exist on your C
mkdir c:\megat
mkdir c:\ramdisk

after the subst commands, you might also add
del d:\*.*
since d is a ramdisk, upon a reboot, it will be empty.

don't forget to put your cd rom files and folders in the c:\megat folder

If you put a rem in front of the last line of the autoexec.bat file, do you get a dos prompt?

rem megacdll

If so, check if you have a d drive and f drive.

You can manually start the program by typing megacdll.

Sorry for the mistake.

OK so is "mkdir c:\megat" supposed to be somewhere in my autoexec.bat? Because if so, you did not mention it being missing was a problem. I thought you were just telling me how to make directories in DOS. I created those folders in Windows. If that is supposed to be somewhere in my autoexec.bat, please let me know. Anyway I just tried again with your proposed changes and I just get the same "PRESS A KEY TO REBOOT" error.

Please let me know what changes I need to make to my latest autoexec.bat

Code: [Select]

@echo off
rem - Reset output ports
rstports

rem - Load DataLite CDROM extensions
rem MSCDEX.EXE  /D:banana /L:R
path= %PATH%;c:\dos\
mkdir c:\megat
mkdir c:\ramdisk
subst d: c:\ramdisk
subst f: c:\megat
del d:\*.*

rem Burn In Test will run when DS2 Switch #2 is on at boot up. mda 3-13-97
burn_in

rem Attempt ELOGraphics load
nomouse
elodev 2310,1,9600 -c139,4144,3995,90,1,255
if errorlevel 2 goto done1
if errorlevel 1 goto LoadMT
:done1
mmmerit -m2 -c- -b-
goto done
rem Attempt MicroTouch load
:LoadMT
nomouse -x
mtconfig /C1 /I4 /B9600
dostouch
tchctl2
:done

rem - Check for 2 button clear and/or CD clean
2butclr



rem --- Start up the XL program
deltree /y d:\
copy f:\megacdll.exe d:\
copy f:\thefiles.dat d:\
d:
megacdll

Please note that I did add the mkdir commands but I have no idea if I was supposed to or  if they are in the wrong place. Thank you!

[obcd]

The mkdir commands should not be in your autoexec.bat file.
You only needed to execute them once to create the folders on your compact flash card.
If the folders exist, the mkdir commands will simply print an error on the screen and move on to the next instruction, so they are not your problem.
I am a bit confused by your "PRESS A KEY TO REBOOT" message. Is your machine booting into dos? It's the kind of message you would expect when no boot device is found. If you remark the last line of your autoexec.bat file, does it go to the dos prompt?

So, change megacdll into echo megacdll (in your autoexec.bat)
It should boot into a
d:\>
prompt
If you than press megacdll <enter> it should start the game.

 

[DaddyLongLegs]

The mkdir commands should not be in your autoexec.bat file.
You only needed to execute them once to create the folders on your compact flash card.
If the folders exist, the mkdir commands will simply print an error on the screen and move on to the next instruction, so they are not your problem.
I am a bit confused by your "PRESS A KEY TO REBOOT" message. Is your machine booting into dos? It's the kind of message you would expect when no boot device is found. If you remark the last line of your autoexec.bat file, does it go to the dos prompt?

So, change megacdll into echo megacdll (in your autoexec.bat)
It should boot into a
d:\>
prompt
If you than press megacdll <enter> it should start the game.

 

OK it does not seem to be booting into DOS.

When I format my CF card with the image sent to me by the other poster, it boots into DOS.   Using your method is not getting me into DOS. Maybe the CF card has to be defined as a "boot device" or something? It is simply formatted to fat16.

Here is the file list of all the files on my CF card, maybe you can spot something wrong?



In the DOS folder are the DOS files.

[obcd]

It's impossible to know from the files if it boots or not. If you just formatted the cf card in windows, it won't boot.

In early dos days, you booted from floppy and ran the fdisk command to create partitions on your disk (cf card in this case) You had to make 1 partition active that became the boot partition.

Next, you had to format the partition.

Third, you needed to run sys c: which transferred the 2 hidden sys files and the commmand.com to the harddisk. If I remember well, the 2 hidden sys files needed to be on a specific location of the harddisk. (You couldn't just copy them over)

After this, the harddisk became bootable.

I see no other option anymore besides providing my bootable image. It's a bit of a chicken egg story. Without a bootable medium, you can't make the compact flash partition bootable.. 

[ed12]

ok I have a question if I may
I get that windows cannot do this
but could the @ drop to cmd prompt and do it ?
or is best to boot his computer to dos and do the subsets ?

ed