All I need from IBM OS/2 is the boot manager. (years ago I found no other bm that works stable with automatic hiding/unhiding selected boot OS). I have the warp4 CD now, however I do not intend to install it.
I fully understand I need 2or3 startup disks - those I just cant have. (the loaddskf quits when disk1 is at 99% created - error writing data)
I have followed up all posts on this forum and all links regarding the many issues envolved with startup disks. Warpdoctor's 2-disk-set I have downloaded but getting error message of !!SYS***** at boot time, whatever that is I cannot solve.
Guys, if any of you have a working(!) set of floppy diskettes that containes fdisk updated I would highly appreciate to receive an image copy of those onto my e-mail. And of course, any other help is welcome. Thx in advance.
Mark

Check out the sites below. They might help answer parts of your problem. If you had a fully installed version of Warp including fix packs, you could use the create utility disks function to create up to date disks. That is how I created my updated disks & they are working fine. Another alternative comes to mind. Partition Magic used to come with a free copy of BM, so if you have an older copy of Part. Magic, you might be able to install it that way, without using OS/2's FDISK at all. I use Acronis's OS Loader & find it superior to BM in many ways.

Here are the URL's:

http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/YAST-3MARH8.html

http://www.os2voice.org/VNL/past_issues/VNL1298H/vnewsf5.htm

Good Luck,

Wally

Hello Wally,

Yes, that is the hassle I wanted to avoid when posted here - Not wanted to install Warp4.
Partition Magic is a great tool. However, I simply do not like the BootMagic part of it. Blame me for that.
I'm gonna check out the Acronis Loader for sure.
I have browsed through all posts here before I submitted mine. I have to tell you none of em were so informative and helpful as yours now. Appreciate your taking time for me.

Many thanks for your help.
Mark

Older releases of Partition Magic actually came with Boot MANAGER (before Power Quest developed Moot Magic, they actually included a copy of IBM's BM). I think version 3 had BM. I don't know how to email a copy of a floppy disk, especially one that is supposed to be bootable. Futhermore, with a dial up connection here, the amount of time to do so would most likely be prohibitive. I think Acronis may have wrapped OS Loader into one of their other products. So if you can't find it, review the features of their other products. If you happen to use Power Quest Drive Image, I might be able to send you an image of a boot manager partition that you could restore onto your system. Thanks for your kind words.

If you just need a bootmanager, use airboot. It is the most tiny, functional and whatsoever bootmanager. You'll find it att hobbes.nmsu.edu Works for all Os:es. Really good!

PROCEDURE FOR INSTALLING IBM BM WITHOUT OS/2

If you want to install OS/2 Boot Manager without installing the complete Operating

System, you have nowadays (05.12.2004) two solutions (both tested working on HD up to 60

G):

1. Use older version of Partition Magic to install and configure the BM. Latest version

with integrated OS/2 Boot manager is 3.5.1, latest version which has the function to

configure the BM menue is v4.0 (maybe also v4.01). This will install an older FDISK -

version of BM.

2. Using the OS/2 BM image which comes with the latest versions of DFSee. The versions

above v6.1.1 (till actual v6.1.5) contain a file DFSIBMGR.IMG which is a binary image of

the latest version, LVM-enabled, BM shipped with eComStation (OS/2 v4.5).

How to proceed... Here I will describe only what I have done on my desktop PC and on my

laptops, and has worked. I'm using this procedure since 1997 till now from AMD 486/100

MHz to Pentium 4/1,7 GHz,on SCSI and ATAPI drives.

The usual disclaimer: on your configuration it may work or not... so do it on your own

risk... and don't complain if it turns your computer, your HD or your cat in a brick...

OK?:-) Actually in all these years I never had a failure... but who knows...

The basic idea is this: install the Boot Manager only ONCE on some partition, and then

use use a partition cloning tool (Ghost, DriveImage, etc.) to create an image of that

partiton, or simply to copy it to the new location each time you need it, and (re)

configure the menue after that.

REQUIRED TOOLS:

- Partition Magic v3.5.1 (DOS)
- Partition Magic v4.0 (DOS)
- Partition Magic v7.0 (DOS)
- DFSee above v6.11 (alternative to PQM v3.5.1)
- Disk Editor like: Norton DE, Acronis DiskEditor, WinHex, etc.
- Partition Cloning Tool (Norton Ghost, DriveImage, etc.)
- Some OS with DOS or a DOS Boot Disk.
- Patience... to read the instructions AND all comments and UNDERSTAND what you are

going to do.

STEP 1. INSTALL THE OS/2 BOOT MANAGER

This step is the most complicated but you have to do it only oce in your life... :-)
The BM code you can get fro two souces (beside from OS/2 itself:

A. Using PQMagic (the easy way):

Due to the various limitation of PQMagic (regarding large HD AND OS/2 support) procedure

is like this:
a. Take an older small HD from your collection, think less than 1-2 GB is OK,
b. create with PQMagic v3.5,1 (I use DOS version)at least 2 primary partitions on it.
c. make some free space on the beginning of HD by resizing/moving first partition,
d. install the Boot Manager (Menuitem Tools/IBM BootManager) in this space,
e. do not configure it yet (is up to you... can be changed later).
f. in case you booting from this HD, remove the "active" atribute from this partition

and set it to the partition containig your OS. In case you are booting from a floppy...

it doesn,t matter.

Comments:
- You may boot from a floppy, or directly from that HD if some OS with DOS is installed

on it.
- Smaller HD is required because this v3.5.1 of PQM will not work on large HD. Is also

good idea to use an empty disk or a disk with data of no importance.
- Installing the BM on the beginning of HD as first partition is required because this

part of the HD can be ALLWAYS accessed by ANY version of PQM.
- The size of the BM code is less than 30 sectors (approx 14 kb), but the size of the

partition may vary depending on the size and geometry of your HD (1 cylinder = 0,5 to 7

,0 MB). But Size doesn't matter... right? :-)
- Make the free space a little bit bigger... BM will take only the size it needs.
- In case you have data on that HD, consider that BM needs a primary partition, and the

max. number of primaries is 4 (or 3 primaries and 1 extended). If you exceed this

number, you have to delete one existing partition.
- For partitioning purposes the HD can be connected everywhere on the Controller, but
for installing the BM it MUST be connected as the First Master.
- It is good idea, that before installing the BM, create in that free space a FAT

partition, then from within DOS or Win use an suitable tool and erase the free space on

that partition. This will overwrite the surface with "0" and o may compress the image to

a very small size. After this, you have to delete this partition and continue to install

BM. You may use the function "Delete Partition & Safe Erase" from later versions of PQM

which do these 2 actions in one step.

B. Using DFSee (the hard way):

a. download any DSSee above v6.11 from Hobbes or from http://www.dfsee.com),
b. unzip the package and save the file DFSIBMGR.IMG to some folder,
c. take some old, empty HD with some DOS on it, or boot from a floppy,
d. resize/move frist primary partition using any PQM to free some space on beginning of

HD,
e. create in that free space the smallest possible primary partition(1 cylinder) as

first partition,
f. take a disk editor (Acronis DiskEditor, WinHex, Norton DE, etc.),
g. go to the first sector of your newly created partition, usulally: cylinder 0, head 1,

sector 1,
h. load the file DFSIBMGR.IMG and write it to disk with offset 0, starting at the first

byte of this sector (the code is 28 sectors long),
i. save the modification,
j. go to the partition table of the disk and modify the partition type from whatever it

was to "0Ah" OS/2 BootManager,

Comments:
- All appropriate comments from Step 1 A are valid here too.
- DFSee has also a funcion to install / configure the Boot Manager, but so far, I

haven't tested it yet.
- DFSee can cope with any disk-size... so size of the disk really doesn't matter, but is

better to take a small HD to keep the partition as small as possible.
- With this procedure the HD can be connected anywhere on the controller.
- Take care to write on the right HD and right partition... this can not be undone, and
you may loose a partition if selecting the wrong partition!!!

STEP 2. COPY / IMAGE THE OS/2 BOOT MANAGER

Use the tool of your choice (Norton Ghost, DriveImage, etc.) to create an image of the

BM partition, and keep it for later use.

Comments:
- If you have followed my advice from above, and zeroed the partition, then the size of

the compressed image is only couple of KB in size.
- Newer versions of PQM can not handle BM partitions (copy, resize, move), but can just

delete them.
- You can use the mouse.com from any PQM version prior to use Ghost.

STEP 3. RELOCATING/CONFIGURING/ACTIVATING THE OS/2 BOOT MANAGER

a. use the tool of your choice to write the image created in STEP 2. to the HD you want,
b. boot into DOS and start PQM 4.0 (the Win version has no BM configuration),
c. configure the BM and ad the partition of your choice to the BM menue (menuitem Tools

/BM Configuration),
d. exit PQM 4.0 and start PQM 7.0 (DOS)
e. set the BM partition as active, and hide all other primaries except one.
f. REBOOT
g. ENJOY YOUR NEW BM MENY:-)

Comments:
- On larger HD PQM 4.0 needs HIMEM.SYS and EMM386.EXE to be loaded in config.sys,

otherwise it will hang (copy these two files to the boot-floppy and add these 2 lines:

device=himem.sys and device=emm386.sys to config.sys).
- Win 9x will hang on boot if emm386.exe is loaded (at least on all my PC's it does)
- PQM 7.0 doesn't need emm386.exe, and if present it will complain about small memory

size, but will do the job.
- Don't use PQM 3.5.1 for other job than installing the BM (on small HD), and PQM 4.0

for other purpose than configuring BM (on any HD). Both can not handle large HD and will

mess up your LBA / CHS setings.
- After finishing the job ALLWAYS run a PQM 7.0 or higher. In case some earlier PQM has

messed up the LBA / CHS setings, PQM 7.0 will fix it.

FINAL

To ease your job, make on some place on your HD a folder and place in it some sub-

folders containing all tools and files you need (PQM3DOS, PQM4DOS, PQM7DOS, GHOST, NU80,

BM-IMG). This will ease you the change from one folder to another under plain DOS.

PQM70, and Acronis DiskEditor are working under XP too. The others only under plain DOS

or some DOS from Win 98.

With Win 95 I have no experience coz i changed from OS/2 direcly to Win 98, but i think

there will be no problems.

If possible, use Ghost v7.0 (think it is 2002). Other versions have some hassle

regarding registration-serial imput whenever you make or restore an image.

If somebody else has a better or easier method to do this job, he is wellcome. Actually

configuring the OS/2 BM isn't big deal, just writing some few bytes on some place on HD,

but till now, i could not find any other tools except PQM 4.0 and recently DFSee which

can do this job from DOS / Windows.

As far as I know, the OS/2 BM (without LVM) can boot only primary partitions, but is

extremely stable and doesn't modify anything else in the MBR or the first track on your

HD.... hence compatible unlimited...

No other BM (i have tested over 20 of them) is so less intrusive than this one (except

maybe Boot-us), although they may have other fancy features but on the costs of

compatibility with conventional tools like disk managers, IBM-recovery, Fdisk, PQM,

various virii!!! (bigest virus is Windows :-)) etc. and gives problems when uninstalling

or changing the configuration.

Don't forget... compatibility means integrity of your data, which can be lost sometimes

by a simple mouse-click or a RET hit by mistake...

Enjoy

Oldie__