Virtualbox ose impressions and floppy problem

[rolf]

Thanks to all for the pointers. I've been a bit busy, so sorry for the slow response time.

@ viking60: I've upped the memory for xp from the default 192M to 1592M of my 2x2G A-DATA DDR2 sweetness, just for in case but I don't think this is the basic problem, will look to the iso on hard drive strategy, next. Can k3b just create a proper iso from the xp CD?

@jkerr: Thank you, I've looked at "Devices" in the ose machine and, typically, the drive holding the xp CD is checked, whenever I encounter the "CD not found" message.

I have tried moving the xp CD amongst the three drives I have attached:

HL-DT-ST DVD-RAM GH22NS30 <-an LG DVD SATA burner
ATAPI iHBS112 2 <- my newest, Lite-On BD SATA burner
DVDRW SHW-1635S <- the Lite-On ATAPI/IDE burner I hooked up as master on the cable out the side of the tower, the only device on the single channel controller of this ASUS P5Q Deluxe mobo. There are 5 SATA hard drives connected.

As the KDE Device Notifier applet pops up each time I load the xp CD, I thought there might be a conflict and removed it. There doesn't seem to be a difference. I can get through the F8 acceptance of the agreement but, after that, setup complains it can't find the CD. Just before setup reports no CD, the information message at the bottom of the setup screen says, "Loading information file..." ending with, perhaps, a .inf filename but it is just a fraction of a second. It 'feels' like setup sees the CD, then not.

As I said, the "Devices" menu of the virtual machine always seems to recognize which drive has the CD loaded and is checked. As my last attempt, I have removed all other CD drives from the machine other than the Lite-On IDE drive. I removed the floppy controller. I understand how this machine might not require the special SATA drivers of the mobo controllers that xp does when installing to the hard drive, so do not pursue that route. When I set up the virtual xp machine initially, the xp_pro.vdi IDE storage virtual drive was configured as IDE Master.

Although I doubt it makes a difference, I thought, since the CD drive is connected to Master on the IDE cable, maybe that is the problem. When removing all other attachments but the xp_pro.vdi virtual drive, then re-adding the Lite-On drive, I got the option to add the burner as Primary Master, with the xp virtual drive as Secondary Master. The outcome was as all other configurations: setup gets past license acceptance but can't find the CD.

One detail I noticed is that mouse-over for all my CD drives shows "Not attached", whenever I look:

Thanks, again, for the guidance.

[viking60]

I am not sure if 3kb can do it - worth a try. I wonder if you could take your bart.iso and hook it up on the CD. That will run "windows" and one of the functions there is to install windows to harddisk. I wonder if it would be sufficient for that to just copy the contents of the XP CD to the hard disk. (I might have a bart iso here that you can "borrow" if you don't have it)

I am sure jkerr has something smarter to say about this tho-- he usually has.

[rolf]

Yes, the iso from k3b copy is loading in virtualbox atm. Will report back!

[rolf]

The behavior is the same:

When copying, k3b reported needing to retry from a different sector toward the end of the copy process. I might try another reader.

[jkerr82508]

The last time that I installed XP, I used an iso created by slipstreaming SP3 into an earlier version of XP (using nLite). I do have an iso of the original XP CD, but I don't think I ever used it in vbox.

You've probably tried this, but when you see that screen disconnect the iso from the VM and then re-connect it.

I don't suppose there's any possibility that the CD itself has been damaged in some way? This might explain the problem reported by k3b.

Sorry, but at this time I can't think of anything else to try. Installing XP in vbox is usually a trouble-free exercise. I don't think I've ever seen a report of a problem like this.

Jim

[rolf]

I re-made the iso with the new BD burner; the old Lite-On was retired, in part, because 'eject', via button or command line, got blocked by some foul-up in the drive; currently, it tries to open but slams against some block, stays in that state for some seconds, then relaxes, closed. Multiple pushes of the button work-arounded that, in the past, not atm. k3b had no problem reports on the second try.

I have tried re-connecting the iso virtual drive. Vbox is pretty slick in the gui. There are little icons in the bottom tray and I can switch the connected drive quickly with a right-click. However, nothing seems to get setup past ok'ing the license.

Often, I've thought it could be a problem with the CD, although it doesn't come out from its folder very often. I thought my difficulties were with the controllers on the motherboard being too alien for xp. My understanding from what you've said is the guest os should benefit from the fact that drivers/controllers/disks/optical drives are already configured and working on my host (Mandriva), which ought to take xp's shortcomings in that area out of the equation, no?

As an aside, I've tried and rejected the VMware-Player from powerpack restricted, as it could not find (installed) kernel headers. Having downloaded the vmware player .bundle from the website, I've spent a couple hours at google learning about patching the vmmon-only module source code, and that seems to have installed, finally, so I might try that. Not willing to buy another Microsoft product, just now, could just settle with continuing with the dual-boot, on the rare occasion I need it. Thanks.

[rolf]

VMware-Player ran nicely, recognized the iso as XP Professional, took the product id, and has a similar interface as virtualbox. However, the behavior is the same as for virtualbox. Setup loads, then can't find the CD or the iso, whichever I use. It is reminiscent of a driver/controller problem when installing an OS to hard drive or could be explained by a bad CD, I guess, idk.

[viking60]

I am prone to vote for the bad CD.
Like Jkerr I never had a problem, so I don't even remember how I do it because it normally works.

[rolf]

Has anyone been able to get a defective CD replaced from MS w/o paying full fare? I have not had many dealing with Billy and Stevie, have not heard of such a thing, would tend to doubt it.

[rolf]

For the record, http://support.microsoft.com/kb/326246
There are contact numbers for U.S. & Canada, a link for international users. At my number, a nice young lady asked about dirt or scratches, found that my report of some fine scratches sufficed for justifying a replacement of my CD. I had to read a part # off the disk and told that it was an Academic Version. She said the computer had it as a full retail version, which is good, as there is not a replacement program for the Academic Version. Long story short, $30.45 and a full retail version of XP Pro, Service Pack 2 should be mine in a couple of weeks. I think not too bad.

[viking60]

Not to bad. Cheaper than the powerpack I belive.

[rolf]

Yes, well, PP can be re-downloaded unlimited times. At least, I can see a 2009, 2010, and 2010.1 pwp isos, atm. Compared to the retail price of XP Pro, it is not too bad.