jaclaz

I am failing to see the reason for having autologin with a blank password , though I possibly have a workaround for that, which I DO NOT suggest in "normal" operation (just as I would NOT suggest Autologin , nor a "blank password", but of course any informed choice is to be respected ): http://www.msfn.org/board/topic/163190-passpass-bypass-the-password/ Cannot really say if it could be considered "suitable" in your case, you can have a user with a password which is completely ignored. jaclaz

Yep. jaclaz

Maybe I got some definitions wrong. Would this be accurate? The device with media inserted is slow to start, but the device without media is not slow to start. jaclaz

Still, is the delay actually in: CLASSPNP.SYS PARTMGR.SYS DISK.SYS (as hinted before the two latter ones may have a connection with partitioned/not partitioned/fixed/removable status of the media). And personally I wouldn't rule out specific brand/model/*whatever* of the actual card, it seems to me like CF cards are one of the pieces of hardware where every make/model behaves slightly differently. At least some time ago I converted a couple old machines (win2K) to use CF cards (but on IDE/PATA bus, and obviously using el-cheapo no-name adapters) and I remember having quite a few difficulties in finding "decently performing" CF cards (this might be completely unrelated, cannot really remember if the issues I had initially were connected to booting). jaclaz

Here: http://sevenoptimus.x10.mx/ http://sevenoptimus.x10.mx/uniextract17.exe jaclaz

First thing we wish to thank you for this question. Besides changing light bulbs and tagging as by design anything they had no idea how to fix : http://reboot.pro/topic/3541-how-many-microsoft-programmers-does-it-take-to-screw-in-a-light-bulb/ and publishing either misleading or plainly wrong documentation: http://www.msfn.org/board/topic/170497-whats-it-going-to-take-to-restore-previous-versions-from-shadow-copies/page-2#entry1086058 (and shuffling it a lot around their site), a substantial amount of them used last 13 (thirteen) years to solve (maybe) a small issue created when - in the course of bettering the Operating System - they managed to worsen it by removing support for an already existing feature: http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~mgk25/mswish/ut-rtc.html jaclaz

Set a "rule" for it (in Outlook): http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/outlook-help/automatically-send-someone-a-copy-of-messages-that-you-send-HA010239583.aspxhttp://email.about.com/od/outlooktips/qt/et_auto_cc.htm jaclaz

So, to sum up. There are Optical Bay caddies for HD/SSD of two types: some with a switch some without a switch The switch use and it's settings are either undocumented or mis-documented, in any case ALWAYS make sure to get one with the switch. If you get one without the switch, it is possible - if needed - to emulate the features of the switch with a rather simple hardware "hack" Besides the already mentioned ones it is worth of note this "feature": http://www.ebay.com/itm/Universal-12-7mm-SATA-to-SATA-2nd-HDD-Hard-Drive-Caddy-for-Dell-Laptops-/221509690280 Which once again brings us to flippism as a good way to solve issues, try the thing as it arrives (you have 50% probabilities the switch is in the right position). If you experience either CPU overhead or shutdown/hibernation issues, try again after having flipped the switch to the other position. jaclaz

That is most probably the so called "z order" it is a known issue, see: http://www.zdnet.com/microsoft-reissues-flawed-windows-security-update-7000033049/ I don't think that there is (yet) a completely fixed update. jaclaz

This one? http://www.msfn.org/board/topic/35869-driver-compressor/ jaclaz

My crystal ball is foggy right now , I failed to wash it yesterday with fresh dew , and I cannot see clearly the plans of your house/office/shop and their locations. Are there in the same building? If yes, and if they are under the same electric meter/switchbox, most probably your best choice would be to use some "powerline" adapters, i.e. "thingies" that can transmit and receive network data by injecting and extracting them from the mains cabling of the house. Though they cannot compete in speed with a dedicated cabled network they are usually very reliable and much faster than wireless and seemingly "more than enough" for your needs. If they are in different buildings you will need to go through an internet connection, the 56K modems are far too slow for your intended use. jaclaz

If the disk is seen in BIOS with it's real size, and it is seen in disk manager as "uninitialized disk" your next step would be to attempt making a "dd-like" or "forensic sound" image. You will need a larger HD formatted in NTFS to host the image, or a same size or bigger to make a clone. And the use of ddrescue (under Linux - recommended) or datarescuedd (or similar porgrams) under Windows. Mind you it is entirely possible that the disk is now recognized in BIOS but that you won't be anyway able to access the physical sectors. Once you will have made this image (or clone) start a new thread and we will see how to recover data (if possible), or if you have difficulties in finding or using the tool, as well start a new thread, the disk drive is now "unbricked" and it does not belong here anymore. The message "No Phy: Staggered Spin bypass" should have no relevance. jaclaz

Hmmm, changing: into or, reversing the logic, Doesn't seem to me that much an issue, you can't have the 0 value in any case if the PC where this is running is within the pinged range. or: jaclaz

Sure, that is the typical result of Microsoft's WHQL testing, you cannot expect that no-name brand like Atheros or Intel cards were tested extensively . The fact that this "feature" sometimes works, sometimes it doesn't seems to me like a good definition for "half-baked". jaclaz

Sure, what I posted is obviously just an example, in order to give you some ideas in order to help you write your own batch. The two actions executed are just ECHO commands, you should replace them with the action you want to be executed in one case or the other. I read the: as "I am trying to make a batch file ...." and NOT as "I am wanting someone to write a batch file for me ..." jaclaz

Yep sometimes you look for something very far when you already have it at home. Good, another happy bunny in the basket! http://www.msfn.org/board/topic/128727-cant-access-repair-my-pc-option-via-f8-startup/?p=828512 Yep, and of course the vague reference to "dual channel" makes very little sense, as well as the attribution of position A for "HP SC" and B for "DELL, IBM, and others". Out of curiosity, is your Sony Vaio a "HP SC" or a "DELL, IBM, and others"? (i.e. is your switch now working in the A or in the B position?) jaclaz P.S.: Attaching your image so it hopefully does not get lost. P.P.S.: Found another image of another caddy, where the line is drawn between Thinkpad/Dell and HP and "all others"

Sure it is possible. Something *like*: @ECHO OFFSETLOCAL ENABLEEXTENSIONSSET BaseRAnge=192.168.1SET Min=100SET Max=115SET Counter=0FOR /L %%A IN (%Min%,1,%Max%) DO (ECHO Pinging %BaseRange%.%%APING -n 1 %BaseRange%.%%A >nul 2>&1 &&SET /A Counter+=1)IF %Counter% GTR 0 (ECHO Successful ping[s] %Counter%) ELSE (ECHO No successful pings)should do. jaclaz

Ask yourself these questions first: Is that partition before or after 128 GB (or LBA28 limit)? Is my Windows 2000 set to go beyond the LBA28 limit and use LBA48? See here: http://www.msfn.org/board/topic/142688-how-do-i-partition-a-320-gig-drive/ http://www.msfn.org/board/topic/107627-install-setup-problems-for-large-diskspartitions-with-dual-boot/ jaclaz

Maybe they got the wrong date and it was made on April 1st, 2012 : http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc772172.aspx And seemingly someone else: https://kb.acronis.com/content/45472 believed that without really checking . But it seems like (not really news when it comes to MS documentation) it cannot be found *anywhere* in Windows 8/8.1: http://serverfault.com/questions/558190/can-diskshadow-be-installed-in-windows-8 jaclaz

Sure, but, this seems to me "pretty much normal", from what I can understand from the given links the situation should be : Windows 7 and earlier: the status of the diagnostic pin is ignored (by the Windows driver)Windows 8 and later: the status of the diagnostic pin is interpreted (by the Windows driver) as "Device Attention"To this you have to add that the original optical device must have this feature (which is optional) and that the laptop should also have it and that your caddy may either have a switch internally that by pure chance is set "properly" or it has it not but the pin is either disconnected or connected to a high resistance to ground. Here (though of course does not really say it), it says how a given Vaio model need a "special" caddy: http://hddcaddy.com/en/sony-vaio-hdd-caddy/165-sony-vaio-svs13-s13-hdd-caddy.html Similar caddies for DELL's do not sport that, but mention a shutdown issue: http://hddcaddy.com/en/dell-hdd-caddy/322-dell-inspiron-14z-hdd-caddy.html As someone before me said : jaclaz

Very good. If you could also update the sticky here: http://www.msfn.org/board/topic/133387-debricking-the-seagate-drives/ It would be perfect. jaclaz

Judging from the mentioned resources is something that not all laptop makers actually implemented or did not implement in all models (otherwise it would have made NO sense whatsoever to provide the caddy with the switch), and there is the "concurrent need" of a Windows 8 or later as seemingly Windows 7 and earlier miss this feature (which is logical since the drafts I could find are late 2009/2010). If you want to draw a line, it is likely that anything manufactured until 2011 or so (possibly half 2012) does not have that pin used as "Device Attention", and anything manufactured after that date and/or intended for Windows 8 uses it. Of course the good DELL guys - as always - may well have made their own slightly-different-from-any-standard-or-specification-known-to-man setup . jaclaz

Which is not at all bad for a young padawan , of course once you'll get to feel the force you will be able to see them even blindfolded ... But really, it is very likely that your disk (with the original PCB) is not in either BSY or LBA0 states. jaclaz

Well, the idea was that you should have NOT EVEN THOUGHT to do a PCB swap, as in here: http://www.msfn.org/board/topic/150215-dont-even-think-of-swapping-pcbs-on-720011/ The guide by CarterinCanada has been retired (as his site was taken down) BUT there is a FULL copy here: http://www.msfn.org/board/topic/128807-the-solution-for-seagate-720011-hdds/page-189#entry1080813 https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B5DyuVvuODctc2R4bDJJT19rMDQ/ Rest of resources are accessible AFAIK (or point me specifically to what you cannot find, and I'll see what I can do). But from what you write you have NOT a "bricked" drive, but rather a "drive that is dying". The "test" is simple, does the BIOS (when the disk is connected directly to a SATA port): 1) fail to see the disk <- either the disk is gone for good or it is in busy or "BSY" state 2) see the disk, but with 0 LBA capacity <- the disk is LBA0 state The behaviour you described may be connected to any platter/head damage (please read as "connected to actual areas of the hard disks), to *any* defect (please read as the disk for any reason heating too much) or to "voodoo" (the highly technical definition for whatever may happen on a har ddisk I have no idea about). The "standard" approach in this kind of cases is to use a tool like ddrescue to image the disk "in chunks" and in "several attempts". Of course it is possible that the disk became bricked during your attempts, or that it is dead for good now (and it is also possible that the crazy PCB swap contributed to this) . jaclaz

Do you remember that such a batch script existed? Or you are asking if anyone has made one? AFAICR, it is an easy but manual process, using the .exe installer or Universal Extractor or 7-zip: http://www.msfn.org/board/topic/134913-howto-get-your-inf-and-driver-files-from-an-exe/ jaclaz