Hi have a similar vintage Dell Studio Laptop, and it does boot off usb stick. I have run readspeed on it. I did have to change some bios settings to do it, but once done, it is fine. The Laptop is an XPS studop 17/1749.
What is this DOS thing
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BootAble – FreeDOS boot testing freeware
To obtain direct, low-level access to a system's mass storage drives, SpinRite runs under a GRC-customized version of FreeDOS which has been modified to add compatibility with all file systems. In order to run SpinRite it must first be possible to boot FreeDOS.
GRC's “BootAble” freeware allows anyone to easily create BIOS-bootable media in order to workout and confirm the details of getting a machine to boot FreeDOS through a BIOS. Once the means of doing that has been determined, the media created by SpinRite can be booted and run in the same way.
The participants here, who have taken the time to share their knowledge and experience, their successes and some frustrations with booting their computers into FreeDOS, have created a valuable knowledgebase which will benefit everyone who follows.
You may click on the image to the right to obtain your own copy of BootAble. Then use the knowledge and experience documented here to boot your computer(s) into FreeDOS. And please do not hesitate to ask questions – nowhere else can better answers be found.
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BTW I cannot boot off of cd because 5 years ago a dvd got stuck in the dvd player, and I have not been able to extract it. Very annoying.
On most laptops, the whole CD drive can be removed by removing one screw underneath, and sliding it out. If you can do that, you may have better access to extract the stuck DVD, or, could even fit a replacement drive if you need one.
The screw is normally about 5 inches in from the edge, around the centre line of the CD drive. It may even be marked with a "pile of CD's" sysmbol.
The screw is normally about 5 inches in from the edge, around the centre line of the CD drive. It may even be marked with a "pile of CD's" sysmbol.
I haven't read the whole thread. But, in terms of getting a CD out, or a DVD player out, the optical drive usually has a small hole that you can push a paper clip into to release the latch and open the tray, assuming the tray isn't jammed. Also, on my laptop, one of the screws you have to remove to get the optical drive out is inside the computer. I had to take the bottom cover off to get at it. I just replaced the DVD drive with a NOS (new old stock) drive from a Chinese vendor. I can provide the web address if desired.
May your bits be stable and your interfaces be fast.
Ron
May your bits be stable and your interfaces be fast.
RonI have a new PC it is an HP Laptop running Windows 10. I can access the BIOS. Where I am stuck is what to do with the USB stick I have. I have downloaded Readspeed.exe into my Downloads directory but am lost as to where to go next. Is there a walkthrough as to what to do with the download?
The instructions are on the "About ReadSpeed" page https://forums.grc.com/pages/About-ReadSpeed/
Basically they are:-
"The easiest way for Windows users to run ReadSpeed is to run GRC's “ReadSpeed” Windows program. It will reformat any USB-connected thumb drive, make it DOS bootable by installing a copy of the FreeDOS operating system and some miscellaneous DOS programs including RS.EXE -- ReadSpeed for DOS."
Just run the program from your Downloads folder, and follow the instructions.
Basically they are:-
"The easiest way for Windows users to run ReadSpeed is to run GRC's “ReadSpeed” Windows program. It will reformat any USB-connected thumb drive, make it DOS bootable by installing a copy of the FreeDOS operating system and some miscellaneous DOS programs including RS.EXE -- ReadSpeed for DOS."
Just run the program from your Downloads folder, and follow the instructions.
Thanks Alan. I was not running as Admin. I have fixed that and got the USB stick working. I am now stuck at getting the laptop to boot from the USB stick. I have reordered the Boot menu to put the USB stick first, however, the laptop is still booting from the Windows OS.
@SimonAllen: Does your new PC only support UEFI and not Legacy Boot (many new PCs only support UEFI)? If so, no need to go any further. UEFI won't be supported until SpinRite 7.0 (the next scheduled release after 6.1).
It supports Legacy Boot. It was greyed out. I have enabled it and moved USB Flash Drive/USB Hard Disk to the top. I saved the changes. The PC asked me to enter a code to confirm this. I did. However, it still ignores the USB stick and boots normally.
Did you also enable the CSM? Also, does it say UEFI: in front of the device name (or is that missing or does it say something else?) If it says UEFI: {USB device name} then it is not doing a legacy boot on that device. (Unfortunately almost every UEFI/BIOS seems to be different so there is no way to know what you should specifically expect.)
What is CSM? I do not see that in the BIOS Setup Utility. There are two panes. One for UEFI and the other for Legacy. I have moved USB to the top of both lists. Ther is a sort of blocky arrow which may indicate a default. I cannot get that to move. It still points to WinOS
The CSM is known as the [BIOS] compatibility support module. Basically it causes the UEFI to load support for BIOS functions while doing a legacy boot, and will be absolutely necessary for FreeDOS to boot on a UEFI machine in legacy mode.
I believe most UEFI's require secure boot to be disabled before the CSM can be enabled.
M
Mainframe
Guest
I would love to have an old Dos machine again. Miss those days. Kinda why I got into Mainframes, I love command lines. The only thing a GUI is good for is getting stuck.
Try VirtualBox, you can play with any version of DOS (or Windows) you want! For old DOS game you are better using Dosbox, does not have all the commands, but runs games a lot better.
I reported the problem with my PC (home-built) that it could not boot DOS and thus could not run Spinrite. The GRC staff did not know what I could do. So I would be really happy to see Spinrite boot from something other than DOS. It could be a Linux CLI, surely that would work? Why stick with the Dinosaurs' Old System (DOS)?
Steve is moving away from DOS after 6.1 to support more modern systems such as UEFI. unfortunately it's not as simple to just move to a Linux CLI.
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