Regarding the USBASPI Issue with USB CD-ROM Booting - China DOS Union Forum

This is a very old device, and the optical drive can barely read discs anymore. When I connect a USB optical drive, the system fails to recognize it.

I wanted to modify the optical drive driver on the installation disc, but USB drives turned out to be more complicated than I thought.

In config.sys, after running `device=usbaspi.sys`, the files on the boot disk become unreadable. As a result, subsequent commands like `device=usbcd.sys /d:usbcd001` fail to execute, and even `command.com` cannot reload.

A workaround I found is to first load `ramdrive.sys`, then copy all files to the virtual drive in `autoexec.bat`, and finally use `devload` to load `usbaspi.sys` and `usbcd.sys`.

However, the drive letter for the ramdrive cannot be specified; it automatically follows the existing partitions. For example, if there are already drives C and D, the ramdrive becomes E. If the hard drive is unpartitioned and the boot disk is drive A, the virtual drive becomes drive C.

The problem is that the installation program on this disc checks for the existence of drive C. If drive C does not exist, it automatically creates two partitions and proceeds with the installation. If drive C exists, it installs directly to drive C. This causes the ramdrive to interfere with the drive letter assignment, leading to issues.

I wonder if any experts here have a solution to this problem. Either avoiding the use of ramdrive or specifying the ramdrive as drive B would work.

Floor1　karlman	Posted 2020-02-22 13:51
初级用户　Posts 7　Credits 20
This is a very old device, and the optical drive can barely read discs anymore. When I connect a USB optical drive, the system fails to recognize it. I wanted to modify the optical drive driver on the installation disc, but USB drives turned out to be more complicated than I thought. In config.sys, after running `device=usbaspi.sys`, the files on the boot disk become unreadable. As a result, subsequent commands like `device=usbcd.sys /d:usbcd001` fail to execute, and even `command.com` cannot reload. A workaround I found is to first load `ramdrive.sys`, then copy all files to the virtual drive in `autoexec.bat`, and finally use `devload` to load `usbaspi.sys` and `usbcd.sys`. However, the drive letter for the ramdrive cannot be specified; it automatically follows the existing partitions. For example, if there are already drives C and D, the ramdrive becomes E. If the hard drive is unpartitioned and the boot disk is drive A, the virtual drive becomes drive C. The problem is that the installation program on this disc checks for the existence of drive C. If drive C does not exist, it automatically creates two partitions and proceeds with the installation. If drive C exists, it installs directly to drive C. This causes the ramdrive to interfere with the drive letter assignment, leading to issues. I wonder if any experts here have a solution to this problem. Either avoiding the use of ramdrive or specifying the ramdrive as drive B would work.

Floor2　karlman	Posted 2020-02-22 13:54
初级用户　Posts 7　Credits 20
To add, I tested with DUSE 4.4 and 4.9, but the system crashed.

Floor3　karlman	Posted 2020-02-24 22:35
初级用户　Posts 7　Credits 20
Continuing the testing, I found that if a SATA hard drive is formatted as FAT16 and DOS 7.1 is installed for booting, after running "device=usbaspi.sys", the system does not fail to read the C drive, and everything works normally! However, booting DOS 7.1 from a USB drive does not work. The USB drive is 2GB, and I created it using USBoot 1.7. Whether I select FDD or HDD format, after running usbaspi.sys, the system cannot read files. I wonder if anyone has experience creating a DOS bootable USB drive and can identify where the issue might be. I currently do not have a functional floppy disk, so I cannot test FDD booting. I will try again once I purchase one.