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  • E09 Image

    Hey all,

    We've heard about some issues using the some of the E09 USB keys to image the E09 Classmates. We're working on the issue, but until then, here's what you can do to keep making progress...

    We apologize for the inconvenience!! Thanks so much for your patience,

    Kate
    FIRST
    Kit of Parts Manager

  • #2
    Re: E09 Image

    I am a programmer mentor who ran into the same problem imaging the driver station due to what appears to be a defective boot sector on the USB flash drive that was shipped. I am in the IT industry and thus chose to solve the problem myself.

    OPTION A: Re-Create the BOOT sector only but still make a backup copy of your files just in case.


    1. MAKE A BACKUP COPY!!! Copy all the files from the USB flash drive to a directory on your computer. Lets imagine that your flash drive mounts as drive F: when you insert it. I used a command prompt (start->run->cmd.exe), and did the following:

    C:\> CD \
    C:\> MKDIR E09
    C:\> ROBOCOPY /S /COPYALL F:\ C:\E09

    *Note: robocopy is an efficient Windows7 command line copy utility that has replaced the old XCOPY that people used back in the WinXP days.

    2. REWRITE THE BOOT SECTOR. Find an original DVD of Windows7 and place it in your DVD drive. Lets assume that your Windows7 media drive ends up being D:\ when you have inserted the DVD and USB flash drive is still drive F:\.

    What is a boot sector? It is the first 512 bytes of any bootable flash, hard driver, or optical media that your computer reads to bootstrap itself.

    *IMPORTANT -> make sure you are only writing the boot sector to the drive letter you intend to write it to!!!

    C:\> D:
    D:\> cd boot
    D:\BOOT> bootsect /nt60 F:\
    *this writes a new boot sector to your flash drive.
    /NT60 means to write a Windows Vista/7 boot sector which will
    use the bootmgr file.

    Now safely remove the USB flash media, and try to boot the driver station from the USB generic media option when pressing F11. If successful, your USB flash should work properly and you can image your driver station according to the directions provided by USFIRST.

    ************************************************** *****

    OPTION B: Backup your files, REFORMAT your flash media, and then re-create the BOOT sector. Copy your files back again.


    1. MAKE A BACKUP COPY!!! Copy all the files from the USB flash drive to a directory on your computer. Lets imagine that your flash drive mounts as drive F: when you insert it. I used a command prompt (start->run->cmd.exe), and did the following:

    C:\> CD \
    C:\> MKDIR E09
    C:\> ROBOCOPY /S /COPYALL F:\ C:\E09

    *Note: robocopy is an efficient Windows7 command line copy utility that has replaced the old XCOPY that people used back in the WinXP days.

    2. REFORMAT YOUR USB FLASH: To reformat the USB flash media, you will need to use the disk part utility from the command prompt as follows:

    C:\> DISKPART
    DISKPART> LIST DISK
    ** Look for your USB media. Lets assume it is DISK 3 for this example.
    DISKPART> DETAIL DISK 3 (show and verify that it is the media of choice)
    DISKPART> SELECT DISK 3
    DISKPART> CLEAN (clears all config off the USB media)
    DISKPART> CREATE PRIMARY PARTITION
    DISKPART> SELECT PARTITION 1
    DISKPART> ACTIVE
    DISKPART> FORMAT FS=NTFS (format will take a while)
    DISKPART> EXIT

    3. Copy all of your files back again.

    C:\> ROBOCOPY /S /COPYALL C:\E09 F:\

    4. Use BOOTSECT to recreate boot sectors as described above in item 2. You will need Windows 7 DVD optical media. If mounted in the D: drive, and assuming your USB flash is mounted as F: drive, then:

    C:\> D:
    D:\> CD BOOT
    D:\BOOT> bootsect /nt60 f:

    5. Safely remove your USB drive, and try to boot your driver station system.


    Hope this helps some people, and just remember to be VERY careful when writing that boot sector. Make sure you are writing that data to the correct drive letter that truly represents your USB flash drive. You have the option to use a completely different USB flash drive if you are concerned about destroying the original media.

    -Joff Thyer
    Last edited by jsthyer; 01-11-2012, 10:49 PM. Reason: extra info

    Comment


    • #3
      Re: E09 Image

      We've created a step-by-step document describing the process to create a replacement or backup USB restoration key.

      The document is now live on the Driver Station section of the Kit of Parts website.

      LINK
      FIRST®
      FRC Electrical Engineering Manager

      Comment


      • #4
        Re: E09 Image

        For those of you with access to linux a really quick fix is using gparted to toggle the boot flag as well as doing a file system check. I don't know which one fixed the problem but I could then boot off my usb without copying all the files over and back.

        Something to note is it says my copy of windows is not genuine although I don't know how anything I did would change the files in a way different then doing the copying meathod.
        Kevin

        854 The Iron Bears
        Martingrove CI
        Toronto, Ontario

        Comment


        • #5
          Re: E09 Image

          Originally posted by youarefunny View Post
          Something to note is it says my copy of windows is not genuine although I don't know how anything I did would change the files in a way different then doing the copying meathod.
          You have to activate Windows after imaging. See page 8 of Getting Started with the 2012 Control System
          FIRST
          FRC Robotics Engineer

          Comment


          • #6
            Re: E09 Image

            Originally posted by Kevin O'Connor View Post
            You have to activate Windows after imaging. See page 8 of Getting Started with the 2012 Control System
            Thank you. My mistake.

            So if you want a quick (under 1 minute) fix, gparted is a great way to go.
            Kevin

            854 The Iron Bears
            Martingrove CI
            Toronto, Ontario

            Comment


            • #7
              Re: E09 Image

              I followed the directions on this link and I can not complete the uninstall, I keep getting an error message

              Error: 1612 - can not uninstall this item, do you want to continue

              what does this error mean and how do I get around it.

              Comment


              • #8
                Re: E09 Image

                Originally posted by brimsa View Post
                I followed the directions on this link and I can not complete the uninstall, I keep getting an error message

                Error: 1612 - can not uninstall this item, do you want to continue

                what does this error mean and how do I get around it.
                Hi,

                Can you be more specific about the overall problem you are trying to solve, and to which link you are referring? There are several mentioned in this thread. Also, at which step to encounter this message?

                Thanks,
                -Matt
                FIRST®
                FRC Electrical Engineering Manager

                Comment


                • #9
                  Re: E09 Image

                  Hey Matt,


                  I was unable to run the update off the flash drive you supplied - it seems to have a corrupted boot sector.

                  I followed the directions on your web site to create a new usb restoration drive and got the following error.

                  >NSIS Error:
                  >
                  >install integrity check has failed. Common cause include incomplete
                  >download and damaged media . contact the installers author to obtain a
                  >new copy.

                  then I got the like below from this forum:

                  here is the link that i was refering to ;


                  I am able to select all the files “National Instruments Software folder in add/remove programs. But when I press remove it give me the Error:1612 error message.

                  Thanks

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Re: E09 Image

                    Hi,

                    We have posted 2 sets of instructions on how to deal with an corrupted E09 restoration key.

                    This first procedure was released early on, the one Kate posted in the first message of this thread, and required uninstalling the 2011 software from the E09, and replacing it with the software needed for 2012. Link #1

                    Once we understood the issue with the E09 restoration key, we posted a procedure to create a new one. Link #2

                    Based on your message, it sounds like your using the procedure in Link #1, is that correct?

                    Thanks.
                    -Matt
                    FIRST®
                    FRC Electrical Engineering Manager

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Re: E09 Image

                      I did link 1 and link 2 - It went smooth finished step 11

                      - then i powered down the laptop and booted off the usb flash drive.

                      same error message as before - "a disk read error occurred"

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Re: E09 Image

                        Sounds like procedure for creating the USB restoration key did not go correctly. Have you tried doing it again? Can you try it with another USB drive?
                        FIRST®
                        FRC Electrical Engineering Manager

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          Re: E09 Image

                          Hello, It seems i have one of the faulty image boot drives also. I took the steps to update my machine without re-imaging the computer but it seems we don't have the media USB drive that they are talking about. Any suggestions on how to obtain the data on the drive or how to get one as quickly as possible?

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            Re: E09 Image

                            Originally posted by Dokusou View Post
                            Hello, It seems i have one of the faulty image boot drives also. I took the steps to update my machine without re-imaging the computer but it seems we don't have the media USB drive that they are talking about. Any suggestions on how to obtain the data on the drive or how to get one as quickly as possible?
                            The LabVIEW 2012 media is included with the LabVIEW packet, it's a small flat USB drive, about the size of a business card.

                            If you did not receive one, contact [email protected] for more information.
                            FIRST®
                            FRC Electrical Engineering Manager

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              Re: E09 Image

                              Thank you. I'm sending them an email now. Thanks for the help.

                              Comment

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