Category : Utilities for DOS and Windows Machines
Archive   : BOOT.ZIP
Filename : BOOT.DOC

Custom-Made Boot Messages
(PC Magazine Vol 5 No 2 January 28, 1986 by Peter Norton)

A problem arises when you send out nonsystem disks to people who
may not be experienced enough with their PCs to know the difference
between ordinary disks and the boot disks you use to start your
computer. If someone starts up his computer with an ordinary disk --
one that doesn't contain the DOS system files -- he gets a message
such as: "Non-system disk or disk error. Replace and strike any key
when ready." While that's certainly not the most technical and
confusing message you've seen, it's also not very helpful to PC
beginners who may not know what system disks and disk errors are.

For the disks I send out to customers, I decided it would be nice
to display a less intimidating message that would provide at least a
little more helpful information. So I created my own boot record
program to display something more reassuring. The program can be
useful to user groups, which distribute thousands of public-domain
diskettes, and others. Lots of these disks go to those who are just
learning how to use their computers. It's nice to have a user-friendly
message that identifies what disk they have and tells them what went
wrong.

The boot program you create will display a series of messages,
giving the user whatever information you want. In my case, I tell
users the name of the product, so they know what they've got, and then
what they need to do. The program then waits for a keystroke and
reboots the computer.

Three files are used. The first file, BOOTMAKE.BAT (see below),
is a regular DOS batch file that automates the process. It assembles
the boot program and converts it into the proper format, first by
linking it and then (with EXE2BIN) by converting it from an .EXE to
a .COM format. Next comes the key step, which uses DEBUG to transfer
this program onto a diskette's boot record. The batch file finishes
up by deleting the extraneous files that were created along the way.

To automate the command sequence that tells DEBUG to transfer the
boot program onto a prospective user's diskette, you use BOOT.DBG,
which consists of two lines:

W 100 0 0 1
Q

BOOT.DBG provides DEBUG with the commands that write the boot record
onto a diskette. BOOTMAKE.BAT uses DOS's redirection facility to pass
these commands to DEBUG; in order for this to work, of course, you'll
have to have these commands stored in the right filename. The first
command in BOOT.DBG writes (W) from memory location hext 100 (where
the boot program has been loaded) to the A: drive's (0) first or boot
sector (0) for a length of one sector (1).

BOOTMAKE.BAT and BOOT.DBG take the labor out of creating your
custom boot record. The part that's really interesting is the assembler
program (BOOT.ASM) that creates the boot record itself.

BOOT.ASM begins with a jump past some data that describes the
disk's format. All the disk formats introduced since DOS 2.0 have this
descriptive information in them. Since my boot record is set up for
the PC's lowest common denominator, the single-sided, eight-sector
diskette (a DOS 1.0 format), this information isn't needed. I included
it partly out of compulsive tidiness and partly to show what is needed
for other disk formats. If you set up a custom boot record for another
format, substitute the appropriate information in these fields. The
best way to find out what belongs here is simply to inspect the
standard boot record on the disk format you're interested in; you can
use DEBUG or Norton Utilities' snooping tool to see what the right
data is.

Next comes the program that makes this boot record work. The
first three instructions (following the label "begin") give the
program addressing access to its own data. The hex value 07C0 is used
because that's the memory segment paragraph address where the PC loads
the boot program.

Following that is a short program that displays whatever messages
you want to show. The assembler code is set up so that it automatically
adjusts to the size of whatever messages you substitute for the ones
used. The program through "loop continue" does the work of displaying
the message.

The next two lines of the program simply read a character from the
keyboard. This makes the program pause so that the user can read the
messages. After a key is pressed, the program proceeds to clear the
screen and then reboot the computer. The screen is cleared by using a
simple trick: It tells the computer to change the video mode (the
format of the display screen), which always causes the screen to clear;
to avoid disrupting anything, we first find out what the current mode
is and then "change" it to the same mode.

Following that simple bit of programming comes the messages to be
displayed. You can substitute your own messages for the ones used in
BOOT.ASM. Those used give you all the clues you need to set up yours.
The lines that read "0Dh,0Ah" are the return carriage and line feed
characters needed to move from one display line to another. All the
messages fit within 40 characters in case the computer starts up in
40-column mode (as the PCjr does), but that really isn't necessary.
If you want to position your messages further across the screen, you
can use the tab character, 09h, to substitute for a bunch of spaces.
About the only thing you have to be careful with is not to make your
messages too long to fit. You'll have 424 bytes to hold your messages.

After the messages that you place in the boot record come a few
assembler statements that count how much space is left in the 512-byte
boot record; fill it out with padding, and finish the record off with
a standard 2-byte signature, hex 55 AA.

With this simple program, you'll be able to create your own custom
boot record messages to help and guide anyone who tries to start his
computer with your diskette.

There is one minor flaw in this custom boot record. On some PCs
-- it seems only to be old-model machines with the earliest ROM BIOS
and those that use only the color/graphics adapter (and some Compaqs)
-- only part of the messages are displayed. In such cases the rest of
the program, which waits for a keystroke, clears the screen and
reboots, works fine, but only about half of the message lines appear
on the screen.

- - - - -
BOOTMAKE.BAT:

rem This batch file will
rem 1) assemble boot.asm
rem 2) link it into boot.exe
rem 3) convert it into boot.com
rem 4) copy it to the boot record
rem in a diskette in drive A
rem (be prepared for that)
rem 5) delete extraneous files
pause Ready?
masm boot,boot.obj,nul,nul
link boot,boot,con;
exe2bin boot.exe boot.com
debug boot.com del boot.obj
del boot.exe
del boot.com