James_A

I can't seem to find the Vantec listed in any UK supplier I deal with. Any other recommended brands? .

You do not say what RAM you have tried -- was it bought as a matched pair? Is it PC6400 or PC8500? At present the Overclockers UK and manufacturer's forums are full of experiences like yours. If a reasonable over-volt doesn't cure it, the standard advice is to RMA the pair. Unless you have loaded all 4 slots, in which case try a slight north-bridge over-volt first. .

Going back to your first post, how long did you run MemTest for? I once repaired an IBM laptop that ran MemTest perfectly to start with (so I thought the RAM was OK) but it then showed errors after about an hour. To cut a long story short, it turned out that one of the SO-DIMMs was fried after all. .

Over 200MB only applies to .NET 3.5, not to .NET 2.0 which is much much smaller. But it's stil a nightmare to fix when it goes wrong and I agree with the BLOAT sentiment. .

Certainly it's useful to me: I already have Ubuntu 8.04, just never thought to use it to solve a Windows chip ID problem. That's going in my "on-site" toolbox right now. Thanks for the info. .

I am not really an expert on this, but I do know you should not change the class (CC_nnnn) from CC_0106 (= AHCI) to CC_0101 (= IDE) I can't advise you on the subsystem values as that is beyond me. And, yes 2829 (and 282A) are also ICH8 mobile as well as 2828. But they should already be in the .INF .

I've encountered this as well on an old Athlon system. I tried different versions and they all hung. I tried the floppy version and that hung too. I eventually gave up and used the Microsoft diagnostics same as post#2. I never did find a reason why. BTW chkdsk will make no difference. MemTest86/MemTest86+ loads straight from floppy/CD to memory. The disk is never touched. MemTest86+ is at http://www.memtest.org/ .

Is there any reason why the link shown in the last post should be pointing to Savvis Communications (nsatc.net) rather than the expected/usual link to microsoft.com ?? .

You'll have to check the INF file, but 2821 = 82801 (ICH8R) SATA AHCI Controller 2923 = 82801IB/IR/IH (ICH9 Family) 4 port SATA AHCI Controller I think you need to look for:- 2828 = 82801 (ICH8M) 3 port SATA Controller .

Now the situation is reversed. Now the file at the Download Centre http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details...;displaylang=en is newer thatn the one referenced by Tomcat76.

Windows 2000 has indeed fixed the large HD problem, but not during setup. If you have a utility to resize partitions, see http://support.microsoft.com/kb/305098: Otherwise there was a discussion here on msfn about 2 years ago (HERE). .

Hi, This question has already been answered. Recently, see HERE "Why does it install itself" Earlier, see HERE "HFSLIP in Add/Remove Programs?" .

Yes, you're absolutely right for anything after DOS 3.3, because Microsoft utilities change the serial number. Now I remember why I wrote my own. How about John Newbigin's RawWrite / dd for Windows, then? http://uranus.it.swin.edu.au/~jn/linux/rawwrite/

I agree!

Illiud Latine dici non potest.

Do you mean DiskCopy?

Contuinuous beep from the POST could be the "case has been opened" alarm or it could be missing/faulty keyboard. Using a blower does not usually blow off jumpers, even if you are using a compressed air line (NOT recommended, BTW). It may have been lying unconnected to start with. Randomly putting the jumper back anywhere may have cleared the CMOS, in which case you now have more than one problem. Without at least some information of the motherboard (Make? Model? Anything at all??) a precise answer is not possible.

Yes, except you need to be absolutely certain that it IS genuine. There are conterfeit versions around that fulfil ALL those conditions. Hologrammed disk, everything... Use http://www.microsoft.com/resources/howtote...;displaylang=en to check the COA.

Well, i never actully count the pins, I just make sure it looks like this: And for deciphering the markings, I look here: At the bottom of that last picture, it says: 1000/256/133/1.7V which tells me, from experience, that this is a Pentium III Coppermine. Also on the bottom line, it says SL4MF, which (if I didn't know already) I can look up on the chart on my wall or I can go to http://processorfinder.intel.com/ and look it up. The SLxxx number is Intel's sSpec, which will (for you) usually be SL4xx or SL5xx.

No, by no means are all Celeron and Pentium Coppermine. This name applied only to a particular core that was put in a 370-pin package (hence the name Socket 370) The name Celeron is very very general: it was used before that for smaller CPUs and it is still used to day for something that arrives in a 775-pin package. If you have one in your hand, it needs to be the right size, have 370 pins, and you need to decipher the markings on the chip. There is no easier way. Almost anywhere, perhaps on the side of the PCI sockets, probably close to other serial number information. If there is no sticky label saying "Tualatin-ready" near the label with the board serial number, or anywhere else that is easily visible, then it isn't.

I agree with what Galt has said. Especailly the bit about backing up everything first. Buy an external USB hard drive if you don't already have one. Also, you'll probably have gathered that files like C:\WINDOWS\$NtUninstallKB957095$ are put there by Windows Update. The free version of Doug Knox's program will clear all of these in one go. If you want to remove only some of them, or remove them one at a time you have to purchase the paid-for version.

I already said that. There's no need to say it again.

Well, I finally made it to the end of the last post...... I am inclined to say even more strongly: steer clear of msicuu / msizap, at least for the time being. The first step would seem to be trying to identify at least one of the packages in the installer folder. I assume that most of them have names that end in ".msi"? Also when you say 61 folders, are they all in folders with names like WINDOS\installer\{ABDC1234-AB12-CD34-EF56-123456789ABC}? If so, you MAY be only dealing with 61 programs not 2200. Try picking one (let's call it xxyyzz.msi) and search for it in the registry. That might at least tie it in with a program name that you recognise.

With an i810 chipset and a Socket 370, the maximum was not a lot faster than you already have. The fastest Celeron made for that was 1.1GHz The fastest Pentium III with a 133MHz FSB made for that was 1.0GHz. Those were both Coppermine series (as is your board). There also was a later Tualatin series of CPUs, also with a Socket 370, but they will NOT fit your board unless it has a prominent "Tualatin-ready" sticker on it. Tualatin series will physically fit in the socket, but the computer will not start up.

msiinv/msizap are normally used for cleaning out failed installations. If you use these wrongly you could indeed end up reinstalling everything. You do not say what steps you have already taken. Have you, for example, run Disk cleanup?