Creating Alternate Boot Selections on AXP Machines

ID: Q139333

The information in this article applies to:

Microsoft Windows NT Workstation version 3.51
Microsoft Windows NT Server version 3.51

SUMMARY

If the primary drive in a mirror set fails on a DEC Alpha computer, it is necessary to have alternate boot paths created in the system firmware. There are two methods which can be used to boot the machine to the shadow drive in the mirror set.

NOTE: The system partition contains OSLOADER.EXE, HAL.DLL and the *.PAL files required to load the operating system. The boot partition is the partition that has the Windows NT system files.

MORE INFORMATION

Method 1

This method requires that the system partition be the same as the boot partition, or that both the system and boot partitions be mirrored:

Boot the system. The first menu will be the System Boot Menu.

Select Supplementary menu.

Select Setup the system.

Select Manage boot selections.

From the Manage boot selections menu, select Add a boot selection.

At the following prompts enter the correct information for your system.

NOTE: When a specific path is requested may vary from one computer to another.

"Select a system partition for this boot selection"
Choose: New system partition

"Enter location of the system partition for this boot selection"
Choose: SCSI Hard Disk

"Enter the osloader directory and name"
Type: \os\winnt351\osloader.exe

"Is the operating system in the same partition as the osloader:"
Choose: No

NOTE: This will also vary from one computer to another. The example here reflects the most common RISC configuration. The system and boot partitions are separate

"Enter the location of the os partition"
"Select media"
Choose: SCSI Hard Disk

"Enter SCSI bus number"
Type in the appropriate bus number.

"Enter SCSI ID"
Type in the appropriate SCSI ID

"Enter partition"
Type in the appropriate partition number.

"Enter the operating system roor directory"
Type in the path. For example: \winnt35

"Enter the name for this boot selection"
Type in a name. For example: Boot Shadow Drive

"Do you want to initialize the debugger at boot time:"
Choose Yes or No

After you enter the data the Setup menu appears again. Choose "Supplementary menu, and save changes" to exit the Setup menu. The changes will be saved in NVRAM. The new boot selection will become the default. The "Manage boot selections" menu has a option to rearrange boot selections if you do not want the new selection to be the default.

Method 2

This method is useful if you want to create a Fault Tolerant Floppy (FTF). This will allow you to keep the system partition files on a floppy disk.

Format a floppy disk of the correct size.

Create a directory on the floppy that is the same as the osloader directory on the system partition. For example:

\os\winnt351

Copy the following files into the osloader directory:

OSLOADER.EXE
HAL.DLL
All files with the extension PAL.

NOTE: The .PAL files may have the hidden and system attribute set. These files will always be in the osloader directory on the system partition.

Follow the same steps as outlined in Method 1 with the following exception: After selecting New system partition, choose Floppy Disk as the target media. Then enter the floppy disk number when prompted. The rest of the steps are identical to those outlined in Method 1.

Additional query words: prodnt

Keywords : ntsetup
Version : 3.0 3.51
Platform : winnt
Issue type : kbhowto