~Toughbooktalk~

Credit to OP, NBR interestingfellow

Post link

http://forum.notebookreview.com/panason ... em-cd.html


Since almost all of our systems have the COA for xp on the bottom, one could postulate that one panny xp image is as good as another, from a EULA/legal standpoint.
I have an mk1 that was shipped with 2k. I acquired a coa sticker, transferred it to my unit, and got my hands on the oem cd's. But, ALAS, it won't work becuase there is a system of checks built into the cd's that reads your model number (and thusly, whether or not it should have xp on it).

So, to install the "wrong" panny xp image on my mk1, I did the following:

create an iso of disk 1
extract "AUTOMAIN.BAT" and edit it as follows:

delete "echo off"
leave "Promt $P$G"
remove everything before "rcv_os check" and leave everything after untouched

It should look something like this:
(only not etc, etc, etc... but the actual rest of the bat as it was

PROMPT $P$G
rem -------------------------------
rem RCV_OS check (as HD recovery)
rem -------------------------------
:PRECHKAC
if "%RCV_OS%" == "XP_PRO" etc, etc, etc....

Next, delete the old automain.bat from the iso, and drop the new one in.
burn,
boot,
install
DUN


Now, I don't know about the image cd's for other than mk1, but I'm assuming they are all set up about the same, and I don't believe that there is such a significant difference in hardware that it would be an issue to cross mk#s' images (as far as xp cares). Dunno.

Anyway, I hope it helps, I know a few people have had issues with which image they have vs which mk they have.



This should force the restore cd to install on ,wrong COA , and specialised toughbook models


Alex

Thanks Alex. I'm making this a sticky and moving this to the public portion of the site so that everyone can see it.

Thanks!

Confirmed working on a cf-18 mk-2 touchscreen, that would not load the standard mk-2 disks ,as the model number ended with a -DU digit

A look in device manager shows all hardware detected correctly

Its a worthwhile workaround for specialized models in the same series

I used Roxio to save the iso file to the hard drive , and Ultra ISO full version to edit the file


Alex

Trying to do the same thing with a CF-28MK3 restore disk. Any Ideas


AUTOEXEC

@ECHO OFF
PROMPT $P$G
CDEX.EXE /D:PQCDROM /L:Z
MORE < LICENSE.TXT
REM PQER [/IMG=Path and file name of image to restore]
PQER /IMG=Z:\PQER.PQI

ATOEXEC2

@ECHO OFF
PROMPT $P$G
CDEX.EXE /D:PQCDROM /L:Z
Z:
MORE < LICENSE.TXT
REM PQER [/IMG=Path and file name of image to restore]
PQER /IMG=PQER.PQI

Or you could change the model number to support the OS you are trying to load!

I copied this from another web site. It's for the recovery DVD's. I have not tried it yet. -Power Quest Image Center = pqimgctr.exe



In the last article, I gave a brief description of how Panasonic Toughbook recovery discs work. Now, I’ll tell you how you can force a recovery using those discs even if it’s on a slightly different model.

This started when I bought a set of the T5 recovery discs online and tried them out on two CF-T5 Toughbooks.

The first unit restored fine and started working right away with little more than booting from the recovery dvd. The second, however, wasn’t so friendly. Evidently, it is a slightly different flavor of the T5 and the recovery DVD said it wasn’t intended for use with that model and abruptly halted. Not being one to easily give up, I found a way to force it to work on the second system.

The recovery disc boots into PC-DOS and works its way through a maze of batch files. One of the functions of the batch files calls an odd (probably proprietary) utility called “makebeer.exe” which performs most of the configuration functions. On of the functions is to determine the exact model of the Toughbook and if the recovery DVD is meant to be used with it. Fail the test and the process stops before anything is done to the system.

Here’s how to force a recovery image to be installed whether it’s meant for your model or not. This requires only a knowledge of basic DOS commands and will restore the Toughbook image over your entire hard disk. Everything else will be erased!

After the system boots from the recovery CD, you’ll see it loading PC-DOS, then the CDROM drivers. There will be a line about MSCDEX and it will assign the CD drive a letter. Immediately after you see the letter that is assigned, press Ctrl-C and keep pressing it until you are asked if you want to stop the batch file. Answer yes, and you will be at a DOS command prompt. Switch to the L drive, as this is where your dvd drive was mounted. Change to the L:\ER directory and run the following command:

pqimgctr.exe /nrb /rav /mbr=1 /cmd=l:\tools\full2kxp.txt /img=l:\images\install1.pqi

On a side note, normally the image file (install.pqi) is encrypted and requires a password to browse inside of it. I believe the pqimagctr.exe file has the necessary password hardcoded into it so it isn’t needed for this process.

PQI’s image restore will startup and begin imaging the hard disk of your Toughbook. Since you are recovering a system the media was not intended for, you will need to visit Panasonic’s support section to download the necessary drivers for your model. When your toughbook boots the first time, your screen resolution, wireless, sound and other hardware will most likely not work until the drivers are located and installed.

A reminder that this will allow you to force a recovery image be applied to ANY system. It will work if the model is slightly different than the model it was intended for. Other models will most likely use a different storage driver and the system will simply bluescreen at boot.

[quote="Shawn"]I copied this from another web site. It's for the recovery DVD's. I have not tried it yet. -Power Quest Image Center = pqimgctr.exe

After the system boots from the recovery CD, you’ll see it loading PC-DOS, then the CDROM drivers. There will be a line about MSCDEX and it will assign the CD drive a letter. Immediately after you see the letter that is assigned, press Ctrl-C and keep pressing it until you are asked if you want to stop the batch file. Answer yes, and you will be at a DOS command prompt. Switch to the L drive, as this is where your dvd drive was mounted. Change to the L:\ER directory and run the following command:

pqimgctr.exe /nrb /rav /mbr=1 /cmd=l:\tools\full2kxp.txt /img=l:\images\install1.pqi
quote]

Hi Shawn

I could not get this command work. What did work was to press Ctrl-C and keep pressing it until you are asked if you want to stop the batch file. Answer yes, and you will be at a DOS command prompt. Switch to the L drive, as this is where your dvd drive was mounted. Then type pqimgctr.exe and navigate with the tab and enter keys. Like these photos

This is interesting. What I want to do,is to be able to use a CF30 mk3 win7 image on my CF30 mk2. The hardware should be close enough. I should have an extra 32gb sata drive. When I get a chance, I will try and report back.

Thanks.


Well...apparently I have wim files. They are Microsoft imagex image. Good news is wim files can be modified according to Microsoft. So you could slipstream in the sp updates.

7z opens wim files. If someone can recreate the batch file/command line to restore the whole drive..then we could use the wim based DVD's on different mk's


I wonder if I could just swap the wim files from the Vista recovery dvd and drop in the win7 wim files? That way, it would pass whatever checks it does for the correct model and mark.

Here is a link to the manual that may help for the Symantec based images

ftp://ftp.symantec.com/public/english_u ... DC55ug.pdfwrong info

Here is a copied post

Using DeployCenter (not exactly Ghost) here

That is very easy to make from bootable USB disk or from the hard disk itself through scripting.

If USB sticks are used they should to be bootable on these laptops.

Needed files:
1. Booting DOS environment on a USB stick (look for it on these Forums or 911cd.net).
2. Three files from Ghost Suite: pqDplCtr.rtc, PQImgCtr.exe, pqImgCtr.ovl.
3. Image of a working system partition (in my example on partiton D: of a hard drive).
4. Add a line in AUTOEXEC.BAT:

PQImgCtr /CMD=rescue.txt /IMG=\\.\disk1.part2\image.pqi /SNC


3. Create text file RESCUE.TXT:

SELECT DRIVE 1
SELECT PARTITION 1
SELECT IMAGE 1
RESTORE
REBOOT



Now if you boot from this USB stick a prepared image of a working system partion on disk D: will be automatically deployed.

NOTE: This procedure works flowlessly if there is only one primary partion and others are logical. If there is more then one primary partion on a hard disk maybe some adjustments are needed.

You can make some adjustments to the procedure yourself (read included manual about scripting). For example you can place the image to USB stick itself or make some more options in deploying (passwords, deploying through your network, creating backup images of a document partition, running other utilities after deploying, make a menu with multiboot options, etc.).
I never tried PowerCasting option (don't have network here) but it is possible to make auto restore procedure with it too (read the manual).


Booting from hard disk (no matter if it is FAT or NTFS formated).
I posted here my old instructions to boot directly to recovery enviromnent when booting the computer. Now I switch from using Virtual Floppy to Grub4DOS - simply using only one GRLDR file from package in BOOT.INI to make a good looking menu and to boot in any floppy image without actually having floppy and CD-ROM devices (much easier and more universal).
If you are interested contact me through PM (I can miss a posting here).