USB Emulation in Dell Dimension 2400 and 3000?

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

If the motherboard BIOS supports booting from a USB drive, you will have the
option to select it in the BIOS setup. The pen drive also needs to be set up as
a bootable DOS drive (FORMAT <drive letter> /S), so the BIOS can recognize it as
such.

If booting from the USB drive is either not possible or not what you want to do,
go to Google and search using the keywords USB DOS and drivers. You will find
drivers to help you do what you want... Ben Myers

On Tue, 23 Aug 2005 08:26:17 -0400, "win in ram" <win@ram.cc> wrote:

>I have a 256MB pen drive which I left formatted as FAT16 and I copied my DOS
>games to the drive. Some of them don't work
>effectively under XP, even tried VDMsound and DOSBOX. However, I do have a
>bootable dos CD with all the sound card drivers and would like to know if
>upon bootup the BIOS treats the USB pen drive as a fixed disk (assuming
>INT13) and thus tricks DOS/Win9x into seeing it as a fixed hard disk so that
>when I type c:, it goes to the pen drive since my actual fixed drive is NTFS
>formatted and DOS won't recognize it of course.
>
>Also, is this what USB emulation is all about?
>
>

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

<ben_myers_spam_me_not @ charter.net (Ben Myers)> wrote in message
news:430b28eb.2142712@nntp.charter.net...
> If the motherboard BIOS supports booting from a USB drive, you will have
> the
> option to select it in the BIOS setup. The pen drive also needs to be set
> up as
> a bootable DOS drive (FORMAT <drive letter> /S), so the BIOS can recognize
> it as
> such.
>
> If booting from the USB drive is either not possible or not what you want
> to do,
> go to Google and search using the keywords USB DOS and drivers. You will
> find
> drivers to help you do what you want... Ben Myers
>

First of all, been there done that just to let you know. Secondly, if I put
the USB drive in the USB port before turning on my PC, wouldn't the BIOS
(Dell Dimension 2400 or 3000) first treat it as a fixed drive regardless of
whether or not the drive is bootable so that if I booted off a win98se OEM
cd, the usb drive would be accessed as drive c:\ ? Doesn't the BIOS
eliminate the need to use USB drivers in DOS by tricking the OS into
thinking the drive is a fixed hard disk (int13) and isn't that what USB
emulation from the BIOS is all about?

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

"win in ram" <win@ram.cc> wrote in message
news:vqIOe.2914$Ix4.1195@okepread03...
>
> <ben_myers_spam_me_not @ charter.net (Ben Myers)> wrote in message
> news:430b28eb.2142712@nntp.charter.net...
>> If the motherboard BIOS supports booting from a USB drive, you will have
>> the
>> option to select it in the BIOS setup. The pen drive also needs to be
>> set up as
>> a bootable DOS drive (FORMAT <drive letter> /S), so the BIOS can
>> recognize it as
>> such.
>>
>> If booting from the USB drive is either not possible or not what you want
>> to do,
>> go to Google and search using the keywords USB DOS and drivers. You will
>> find
>> drivers to help you do what you want... Ben Myers
>>
>
> First of all, been there done that just to let you know. Secondly, if I
> put the USB drive in the USB port before turning on my PC, wouldn't the
> BIOS (Dell Dimension 2400 or 3000) first treat it as a fixed drive
> regardless of whether or not the drive is bootable so that if I booted off
> a win98se OEM cd, the usb drive would be accessed as drive c:\ ? Doesn't
> the BIOS eliminate the need to use USB drivers in DOS by tricking the OS
> into thinking the drive is a fixed hard disk (int13) and isn't that what
> USB emulation from the BIOS is all about?
>


Good Lord, man, just *do* it, will you?

If you're smart enough to need this function, then you should beeasily smart
enough to make it work by googling the question.....


Stew

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

On Tue, 23 Aug 2005 12:47:12 -0400, "win in ram" <win@ram.cc> wrote:

<SNIP>
>
>First of all, been there done that just to let you know.

Okay, you've been somewhere and done something. Not too specific.

> Secondly, if I put
>the USB drive in the USB port before turning on my PC, wouldn't the BIOS
>(Dell Dimension 2400 or 3000) first treat it as a fixed drive regardless of
>whether or not the drive is bootable so that if I booted off a win98se OEM
>cd, the usb drive would be accessed as drive c:\ ?

In a word, NO! Any USB drive must be bootable for the BIOS to do anything at
all with it. So make it bootable.

>Doesn't the BIOS
>eliminate the need to use USB drivers in DOS by tricking the OS into
>thinking the drive is a fixed hard disk (int13) and isn't that what USB
>emulation from the BIOS is all about?

Once again, in a word, NO! Unless the USB drive is bootable.

In short, your choices are to make the USB drive bootable or to boot from
another device, installing the necessary DOS-mode USB drivers or TSRs between
CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT to find the USB drive and to give it a drive letter.
That's about all I can suggest, because there are no other options.

Keep in mind that the designers of modern motherboard BIOSes give USB-DOS access
just a few picoseconds of thought during the early stages of development, not
enough to provide any significant DOS-related features. Or, in other words, the
motherboard manufacturers think DOS is dead, whether it is or not... Ben Myers

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

Go to the following URL. Knock yourself out... Ben

http://www.bootdisk.com/usb.htm

On Tue, 23 Aug 2005 12:47:12 -0400, "win in ram" <win@ram.cc> wrote:

>
><ben_myers_spam_me_not @ charter.net (Ben Myers)> wrote in message
>news:430b28eb.2142712@nntp.charter.net...
>> If the motherboard BIOS supports booting from a USB drive, you will have
>> the
>> option to select it in the BIOS setup. The pen drive also needs to be set
>> up as
>> a bootable DOS drive (FORMAT <drive letter> /S), so the BIOS can recognize
>> it as
>> such.
>>
>> If booting from the USB drive is either not possible or not what you want
>> to do,
>> go to Google and search using the keywords USB DOS and drivers. You will
>> find
>> drivers to help you do what you want... Ben Myers
>>
>
>First of all, been there done that just to let you know. Secondly, if I put
>the USB drive in the USB port before turning on my PC, wouldn't the BIOS
>(Dell Dimension 2400 or 3000) first treat it as a fixed drive regardless of
>whether or not the drive is bootable so that if I booted off a win98se OEM
>cd, the usb drive would be accessed as drive c:\ ? Doesn't the BIOS
>eliminate the need to use USB drivers in DOS by tricking the OS into
>thinking the drive is a fixed hard disk (int13) and isn't that what USB
>emulation from the BIOS is all about?
>
>

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

<ben_myers_spam_me_not @ charter.net (Ben Myers)> wrote in message
news:430b7b26.23196165@nntp.charter.net...
> <snip> Knock yourself out, Ben

Sheesh, Ben, nobody's perfect. Just because I'm new to USB booting doesn't
mean you have to be so brash about it.

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

"S.Lewis" <stew1960@mail.com> wrote message
news:FuJOe.13473$ZD4.4442@bignews3.bellsouth.net...

> Good Lord, man, just *do* it, will you?

Excuse me but I already know about googling a question but since I couldn't
find the answer I was looking for, I have a right to ask.

> If you're smart enough to need this function, then you should beeasily
> smart enough to make it work by googling the question.....

Instead of posting condescending replies and wasting bandwidth, either post
a relevant response to the question or don't post at all. I already made it
clear that if I had found the answer to what I asked on google I wouldn't be
asking already ! Learn some manners and respect, sir !

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

Hey, you been there and done that. To quote. Stew's right. I googled the
words USB and DOS. The second entry was the very excellent bootdisk web site
with all the answers needed... Ben Myers

On Tue, 23 Aug 2005 22:46:27 -0400, "win in ram" <win@ram.cc> wrote:

>
><ben_myers_spam_me_not @ charter.net (Ben Myers)> wrote in message
>news:430b7b26.23196165@nntp.charter.net...
>> <snip> Knock yourself out, Ben
>
>Sheesh, Ben, nobody's perfect. Just because I'm new to USB booting doesn't
>mean you have to be so brash about it.
>
>