jaclaz

The one you described is one way. There are others, you may want to experiment with them: https://msfn.org/board/topic/183753-windows-me-patch-for-dos-mode-is-incompatible-with-letter-assigner/?do=findComment&comment=1222058 jaclaz

The idea of posting the reference to that page was exactly to avoid any debate (which besides being endless would also be meaningless), if you need a better endless one, meet over vs. under: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toilet_paper_orientation And it is over[1]. jaclaz [1] pun intended

@NotHereToPlayGames In case of need, refer to the web page of the program: https://www.rizonesoft.com/downloads/firemin/ (bolding/underlining is mine) jaclaz

No, they are for Windows only (at the moment). But maybe by december a Mlite version may come out. jaclaz

Well, they work just fine from here. Maybe you have *something else* blocking the download of the .exe, try the zipped one: http://www.endpoint.eclipse.co.uk/wordpress/powermeterplus-exe.zip or get it from Softpedia: https://www.softpedia.com/get/PORTABLE-SOFTWARE/System/System-Enhancements/Windows-Portable-Applications-Portable-Power-Meter-Plus.shtml jaclaz

https://mattcollinge.wordpress.com/software/power-meter-plus/ But do you have ACPI enabled? https://msfn.org/board/topic/176492-laptop-says-its-always-plugged-in-solved/#comment-1136039 https://msfn.org/board/topic/100859-my-experience-installing-windows-98se/page/3/#comment-1159519 jaclaz

Only to keep everything as together as possible. https://msfn.org/board/topic/183847-last-update-broke-msfn-for-me-on-a-couple-old-browsers/ It is interesting the different approach between myself and reboot12, as I see it, the issue is with the forum software, while reboot12 seems like putting the blame on the (old) browser (that works just fine on most other sites). The funny thing is that this forum is largely populated by members that are among the few people remaining that run old OSes (and browsers). jaclaz

Personally I never liked the way BigMuscle put down the "donation/license" stuff, but technically it is more like you went to a church, got a candle, lighted it up and left a small amount of money in the offer box. There is no guarantee of sorts, and certainly there wasn't any agreement on the price, half of the board threads on Aeroglass are by people whining about the way the keys are distributed or about trying guessing how much is the minimum "free" offer they have to make to get rid of the watermark via a key. Now - for *whatever reasons* - the project is dead, so it would be interesting to understand if the donation/license effectively shelled out was (or wasn't) a fair amount for what the software offered. jaclaz

Both an old Chrome (actually Iron) and Arctic Fox do not allow to make a new thread or to reply to an existing one. The "rich text" box isn't simply there. For *some reasons* Basilisk/Serpent is working (I am writing from it). Though I know that most probably there is nothing that can be done, I thought to let people know. Any suggestion on a currently working browser (that can run in XP) is welcome (I simply cannot make head or tails of the various browser mentioned in the various threads on latest browsers for XP, I cannot even understand how they are called, the basilisk.exe I ran welcomed me to Serpent). jaclaz

Out of curiosity, don't you have right now an account (xpfan1)? What would be the need to un-ban the HaytamFrh one? I mean it has a handful on posts, none of which of particular relevance, on a single thread, . And I believe you should re-read Rules, paying particular attention to #4.b: https://msfn.org/board/guidelines/ jaclaz

May I ask you how much is what you consider a "honorable sum of money"? Since it would be not elegant to express this in dollars/euros, what about "buying power" comparison? I.e. can the total cost of using that software on three machines for a few years be compared to: 1. a coffee at Starbucks 2. a full lunch at McDonalds 3. a dinner for two at your local Pizza Hut or Domino's jaclaz

But which settings do you have for the video driver (resolution, number of colours, frequency, etc.)? Maybe you need something like Setres to change that (automatically)? https://atrandom.iansharpe.com/setres.php jaclaz

Could not find any manual from Microsoft, that's why I asked you. The quote you made, coming from this: https://superuser.com/questions/1117858/how-to-install-and-run-windows-xp-operating-system-on-an-external-hard-drive-or is about ANOTHER thing (installing XP to an USB drive, which BTW is perfectly possible), what OP did was installing XP from a USB drive, as well perfectly possible. jaclaz

Good , and you are welcome of course. Still, even if it allows you to boot without excessive typing (or with no typing at all) it remains a workaround . And the "<Windows root>\system32\ntoskrnl.exe" issue remains strange, in the sense that I can find no reason why (without any re-mapping) the grub4dos (now on the floppy) allows to boot it . There are three ways the grldr (in a setup like yours) can load an XP: 1) rootnoverify (hd0) chainloader (hd0)0+1 <-this chainloads the MBR 2) rootnoverify (hd0,0) <- or - alternatively - root (hd0,0) chainloader (hd0,0)0+1 <- this chainloads the PBR 3) root (hd0,0) chainloader /ntldr <- this chainloads the NT loader directly and it is what you are using successfully You can still try to boot to the grldr on hard disk, get to the grub> prompt and issue only: chainloader (hd0)0+1 boot and then choose the rdisk(0)disk(1) entry, if it fails, it should mean that the "fix" is the rootnoverify command, which would again point to something "wrong" in the BIOS autodetection/mapping of the hard disk. The only other possibility is something in the Registry (but what?). If you have a sure (tested) way to backup and restore the Registry (i.e. possibly a tested PE of some kind) you could try deleting the contents of the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\MountedDevices and let XP re-build them on next boot, but I don't think that it can be related (I mean an error there wouldn't be solved by grub4dos booting). jaclaz

jaclaz

Care to post a link to this manual from Microsoft? jaclaz

Basically you get IMDISK , create a 1.44 MB floppy image (2880 blocks or 1474560 bytes in size), let's say the file is called NTBOOT:IMA, format it under an XP and copy to it: NTLDR NTDETECT:COM BOOT.INI (and - since you still have some space available, also grldr, just in case) *like* http://fekete.x10host.com/xxtb3000.htm#xxtb_33 The BOOT.INI in C: you modify it to have as default the c:\grldr entry and the rdisk(0) as option, with a lowish timeout, like 1 or 2 seconds. Then in C: you add a menu.lst with something *like* (to be checked manually before writing to the menu.lst): timeout 10 title Boot XP from C: find --set-root /ntboot.ima map /ntboot.ima (fd0) map --hook root (fd0) chainloader /ntldr In the BOOT.INI inside the floppy image you make default the multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional 1st disk" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect and a lowish timeout. again like 1 or 2 seconds. The idea is that when booting you go: BIOS->hard disk MBR->PBR of active partition->NTLDR->BOOT.INI->(default) grub4dos->menu.lst->NTLDR on the floppy image-> BOOT:INI on the floppy->(default) XP on C: and (normally) you don't have to press any key/make any choice when booting. While testing (and also after) you still have the possibility to drop to the grub4dos prompt, and MBR and PBR on hard disk remain untouched/unmodified. The whole stuff, when finalized should slow down booting by 2-3 seconds at most. Still, if we can find the reason why your PC behaves strangely (do check BIOS settings, like RainyShadow suggested) it would be better. jaclaz

So, we are back to square one . I am short of ideas on what could be the cause of the issue, maybe some "queer" BIOS setting? :dubbio: Let's start talking of possible workarounds: #1: install grub4dos to the MBR (so grldr will boot first, and from its menu.lst you will chainload the NTLDR+BOOT.INI) #2: change the loader name in the PBR to grldr (same as above, but has to be seen if "passing through the PBR" still works) and/or change the grldr name to NTLDR and rename NTLDR to NTLDRXP: https://msfn.org/board/topic/95537-multiboot-vista-xp-and-other-oses-with-grub4dos-menu/ #3 make a "parallel" NTLDR+BOOT.INI (with a copy of NTLDR renamed to - say - NTLDZ and hex edited to look for - still say - BOOZ.INI) #4 use (via grub4dos) a "NT boot floppy" (a "virtual" floppy, an image containing a NTLDR+BOOT.INI+DETECT.COM) There are also other ways, but they are way more complex. Of the 4 proposed ones, if I were you I would try first #3 or #4 as they are "safe" in the sense that you do not risk making a non-bootable system. jaclaz

Re-reading my previous post I made a typo, my bad , the right offset is 0x24 (36 decimal): cat --hex --skip=36 --length=4 (hd0,0)0+1 the 00000000 at offset 32 decimal is normal, check again with offset 36. Or with cat --hex --length=40 (hd0,0)0+1 (the last four bytes should be 80 00 80 00) In any case, you can boot to the XP and use a GUI hex/disk editor, such as Tiny Hexer, either the Portable version: https://www.portablefreeware.com/index.php?id=2504 or installing the "full" version: https://www.softpedia.com/get/Others/Miscellaneous/tiny-hexer.shtml to confirm the result (and if needed change those bytes[1]) jaclaz [1] they can be changed also via grub4dos, but there is the risk (as just happened) of an error/typo in the offset

Additional: Try also: 1) get to grub4dos, issue root (hd0,0) chainloader --edx=0x0080 /ntldr boot 2) choose the 1st disk entry jaclaz

Yep, this is what I am suspecting. But it shouldn't be the Registry (there the Dosdevices key uses Disk Signature+offset to partition to assign drive letters) In the MBR there is nothing about the disk number. So it can only be the bootsector. There is a field in it for disk number, but in theory it should not be used and should always be 0x80, though it seems that it is actually used when booting, see here: https://thestarman.pcministry.com/asm/mbr/NTFSBR.htm Get to grub4dos and run cat --hex --skip=32 --length=4 (hd0,0)0+1 Post output, should be 80 00 80 00 Try also this: 1) get to grub4dos and try "directly": root (hd0,0) chainloader /ntldr boot 2) choose the 1st disk entry (by chainloading the NTLDR you should be bypassing both the MBR and the PBR, but it has to be seen if NTLDR reads the disk info *somewhere else* nonetheless) Check also, once you have booted to XP with one of the workarounds tested, how is the disk seen in Disk Manager and/or diskpart, you only have one disk connected and it should be Disk 0. jaclaz

So, somehow the internal disk is actually 1st disk (as the arcpaths for the following, non-existant disks both fail, with the "right" error). Could it be *something* in the Registry? But what in the grub4dos re-mapping would fix it? I need to check (cannot remember right now) if it is possible to clear the DosDevices key from the booted system. I'll try and check and let you know. Or could it be *something* in the bootsector? It could be that somewhere the drive is marked as 129 (or 0x81) instead of 128 (0x80), and that grub4dos re-mapping fixes it. As well. I'll see if I can put together a procedure to check for that. Try once again: 1) get to grub4dos, as usual geometry (hd0) map (hd0) (hd1) map --hook 2) root (hd1,0) chainloader /ntldr 3) choose the entry for 2nd disk jaclaz

I am still clueless about why this happens. The disk swap that Winsetupfromusb performs (via shifthd.bat) and that you re-performed manually (because of the booting from the USB stick shifts the hard disk to hd1) should be (in theory) exactly the same as when you boot without the USB stick, i.e. the internal hard disk (shifted to hd1 by the USB stick booting) is mapped as hd0 (and everything works) while if you boot from the internal hard disk, the internal hard disk is (as you tested) already hd0. Is it possible that *somehow* the re-mapping by grub4dos fixes *something* (but what?). Try the following: 1) boot "normally" (without the USB stick), get to the grub4dos prompt, and issue: geometry (hd0) map (hd0) (hd1) map --hook geometry (hd1) <- this should have the same output of the geometry (hd0) command above 2) now issue: map (hd1) (hd0) map --hook geometry (hd0) <- this should still have the same output 3) try again booting with: chainloader (hd0)+1 rootnoverify (hd0) boot If it works it seems is like (for *whatever* reasons) the BIOS fails to detect properly the internal disk and by issuing a few commands in grub4dos it somehow manages to get it right. Try adding to the BOOT.INI two lines: multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional 2nd disk" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(2)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional 3rd disk" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect And try them "directly" (without going through grub4dos), the second one (3rd disk) won't ever boot, but if there is (why?) some mismatch between the BIOS and arcpath, the first one (2nd disk) may work. jaclaz

JFYI, tin foil hats are obsolete technology since many years, you should upgrade to Thought Screen Helmet with velostat: http://www.stopabductions.com/ <still OT> jaclaz

There is an old version of npop: https://www.nakka.com/soft/npop/index_eng.html in the "UK version": https://npopuk.org.uk/2.11/index.htm that runs on plain Win98: https://npopuk.org.uk/2.11/downloads.htm npop is an e-mail tool that is stripped down to "just what is needed". No idea if it works with gmail or protonmail, though. jaclaz