I am trying to install MS-DOS 6.2 and Windows 3.1 on my 250MB HD. AMI WinBIOS boots up fine and I was able to start the installation program for DOS. Within the program, I chose to configure all the unallocated space on my HD and then it asks me to restart the system so that installation can continue. So I did, with the disk still in Drive A:. After the memory check, the system configuration screen is immediately replaced with the error 'NO ROM BASIC SYSTEM HALTED', and trying again without disk in drive does not help. So why am I getting this all of a sudden? Does it have something to do with my HD parameters? I thought that this message only applies if you use an IBM PC/AT/XT machine.
It does not like the hard disk that I added. Once I remove it from the PCem Configuration Manager, it boots fine.
Look at the boot order in the BIOS setup. Odd are it's currently set to "C:, A:" - flip it the other way round.
More technical description - when the hard drive is initially partitioned it has a valid boot sector, but no OS in any partitions. On failing to boot from any of the partitions, the boot sector will call INT 19h as a last resort, which means 'boot ROM BASIC'. As it's not the 80s anymore AMI BIOS doesn't have a ROM BASIC hence it crashes with that useless message.