Hold on to your hats guys, this one is complicated.
I’m trying to set up a new embedded type computer to act as a hydraulic system controller as a part of my PhD but I have run into a few problems.
The computer in question is a brand new rugged in vehicle PC with PC104 type architecture, it is not intended to run windows but will run a controller kernel from Mathworks (xPC Embedded). It has an Intel Core 2 Duo processor, an IDE compact flash card adapter in place of a conventional hard drive, no floppy and no CD drive. It does have USB ports. I do not know the model of the motherboard as I have no documentation, removing the case has not helped as access is poor (this is not a normal PC).
The first thing I did was to format a CF card with a FAT file system and placed some basic dos files on the card (command.com, io.sys, msdos.sys); this allowed the computer to boot to a dos prompt. The next step was to create and add the controller kernel using the Mathworks software, this seemed to run ok but there was an error which would prevent data logging. I wont go into this too much because it is off topic but suffice to say that the perceived wisdom was that I needed to re-format the CF card ensuring the file system was FAT32 (not FAT 16). Before I formatted the card I saved a copy of its files, I then reloaded this onto the newly formatted card.
Now when I start the machine I get one of two errors; the ‘Verifying DMI Pool Data’ hang OR it gets to the next stage and I get ‘Boot Disk Failure, Insert System Disk and Press Enter’.
Here is a list of things I have tried:
1) Multiple CF cards. I have tried putting the files on two separate CF cards and the result is the same.
2) I have re-formatted the original CF card as FAT16, FAT32 and FAT default setting (using a Windows 7 PC).
3) I have formatted the CF card using a HP flash formatting utility that seems to crop up on lots of forums.
4) I have sourced new command.com, io.sys, msdos.sys files from several places, all give the same result. I have also tried Free Dos but not been able to get it to work.
5) I have experimented with various boot drive sequences in the CMOS.
6) I have re-set the CMOS to the factory default settings.
7) I have tried booting from a USB flash drive.
8) I have checked all cables inside the computer are securely connected.
Upon start up the manufacturer and capacity of the CF card are correctly identified but do not appear in the SATA list inside CMOS (but I think that is right as it is an IDE device?).
Reading various forums suggestions seem to range from the hard drive being dead (but it’s a flash card and I have tired two) to the BIOS being corrupted.
If it were the BIOS corrupted how would I reinstall it without a dos prompt or windows OS?
I have spent the last 3 days of my life on this and I’m all out of ideas so any help would be much appreciated.
Regards,
James
I’m trying to set up a new embedded type computer to act as a hydraulic system controller as a part of my PhD but I have run into a few problems.
The computer in question is a brand new rugged in vehicle PC with PC104 type architecture, it is not intended to run windows but will run a controller kernel from Mathworks (xPC Embedded). It has an Intel Core 2 Duo processor, an IDE compact flash card adapter in place of a conventional hard drive, no floppy and no CD drive. It does have USB ports. I do not know the model of the motherboard as I have no documentation, removing the case has not helped as access is poor (this is not a normal PC).
The first thing I did was to format a CF card with a FAT file system and placed some basic dos files on the card (command.com, io.sys, msdos.sys); this allowed the computer to boot to a dos prompt. The next step was to create and add the controller kernel using the Mathworks software, this seemed to run ok but there was an error which would prevent data logging. I wont go into this too much because it is off topic but suffice to say that the perceived wisdom was that I needed to re-format the CF card ensuring the file system was FAT32 (not FAT 16). Before I formatted the card I saved a copy of its files, I then reloaded this onto the newly formatted card.
Now when I start the machine I get one of two errors; the ‘Verifying DMI Pool Data’ hang OR it gets to the next stage and I get ‘Boot Disk Failure, Insert System Disk and Press Enter’.
Here is a list of things I have tried:
1) Multiple CF cards. I have tried putting the files on two separate CF cards and the result is the same.
2) I have re-formatted the original CF card as FAT16, FAT32 and FAT default setting (using a Windows 7 PC).
3) I have formatted the CF card using a HP flash formatting utility that seems to crop up on lots of forums.
4) I have sourced new command.com, io.sys, msdos.sys files from several places, all give the same result. I have also tried Free Dos but not been able to get it to work.
5) I have experimented with various boot drive sequences in the CMOS.
6) I have re-set the CMOS to the factory default settings.
7) I have tried booting from a USB flash drive.
8) I have checked all cables inside the computer are securely connected.
Upon start up the manufacturer and capacity of the CF card are correctly identified but do not appear in the SATA list inside CMOS (but I think that is right as it is an IDE device?).
Reading various forums suggestions seem to range from the hard drive being dead (but it’s a flash card and I have tired two) to the BIOS being corrupted.
If it were the BIOS corrupted how would I reinstall it without a dos prompt or windows OS?
I have spent the last 3 days of my life on this and I’m all out of ideas so any help would be much appreciated.
Regards,
James
