jaclaz

You didn' t receive the e-mail from MS reminding you that it was either "activation before January 31, 2013 or nothing"? The one reproduced here: http://www.edbott.com/weblog/2013/01/deadlines-loom-for-cheap-windows-8-upgrades-and-media-center-pack-keys/ jaclaz

See if this applies/works: http://winaero.com/blog/fix-mouse-pointer-sticks-on-the-edge-when-moving-between-multiple-monitors/ jaclaz

Well Vista was not "misunderstood". It sucked (and sucked big ) at the time it came out and was senselessly pushed to customers on generally much underpowered hardware. After 2 (two) SP's it became "good enough" , but that took 3 (three) years (and in the meantime the "average" machine became much more powerful in terms of processor and Ram available), which is - in operating system terms - an eternity. JFYI (about the USB3.0 assumed "superiority"), it makes no sense, there are XP USB 3.0 drivers for *some* hardware/controllers and there are missing Vista drivers for some other controllers, examples: https://downloadcenter.intel.com/Detail_Desc.aspx?DwnldID=19880 http://www.intel.com/support/chipsets/usb3/sb/CS-033072.htm But it is IMHO true that nowadays a Vista SP2 is not much different from 7 (please read as Vista SP3 ) and that it can represent a valid OS . jaclaz

@Ponch Our friend submix8c had an accidental bricking of these E521 (or however managed to transform them in doorholders): http://www.msfn.org/board/topic/162807-asus-bios-update/ and while he brilliantly went over denial and anger : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kübler-Ross_model simply cannot get to the acceptance stage . Sad to say so , but he has not been the same since , we must try doing our best to support him until he manages to get through the mourning for this loss, he is simply not ready yet for jokes on Dells. jaclaz

@Trip I mean crime as crime (meaning #1): http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/crime/ A crime is prosecuted under criminal Law by the State. A violation of terms of service is - before anything else - a civil matter, that may additionally involve a crime. The first is something the provider may react directly to by suspending service, cashing the deposit (if any), suing the violator, etc., all in all it is about money. The second is something that the police or competent State agency will take care of, and it is mainly about sending violators to prison and protecting other people from their criminal actions. jaclaz

Well, you could at least detail WHICH driver is working, possibly also providing a link to them, so that other people in a similar situation as you were will benefit from your findings. The issue with the "can't allocate an IP address" may be connected to those drivers (then thus are pretty much useless) or to *something* else, you will need to provide some more details and possibly someone can help you solve this latter issue. Still, if you can find the "right" drivers for *another* OS, let's say Windows 7, it would be a good idea to try (even a PE 3.x would do) if the NIC's are actually working with it, as it is possible that the issue is actually in some form of malfunctioning. jaclaz

Trip has brought the issue a little sideways from what I meant. Terms of service abuse is one thing, CP is another (and it is in most countries a crime). Point is not about UNauthorized access (though technically feasible, either leaving or not leaving traces of it) to someone's e-mail(s) or mailbox, but rather about authorized access and extents of this access, and by whom is this access performed. The theoretical procedure for a digital forensic investigator, at least in the US, read this thread (one of the two stickies on Forensic Focus Forum "General" section): http://www.forensicfocus.com/Forums/viewtopic/t=1431/ is quite simple: If - while doing forensic (or data recovery) work - you happen to find even a single image that you suspect could represent Child Pornography, you should immediately stop whatever you are doing and call the Police and Federals, that will seize the storage device and any copy you have made of it. In the UK, though seemingly "softer", there are similar provisions. Since the view and possession of a CP image happens "by accident" and while doing some professional activity, civilians (computer technicians and similar) are generally - as long as they report the matter in a timely fashion - held safe from prosecution. Of course different states may have different provisions, see: http://www.ndaa.org/pdf/Mandatory%20Reporting%20of%20Child%20Abuse%20and%20Neglect-Nov2011.pdf As I see it, verifying whether an "automatic alarm" was triggered correctly or by mistake would imply checking the actual contents of something that is ALREADY likely to contain CP, it is not anymore an accident (unless of course the "automatic alarm" is way off and has - say - 99% of false positives), it is more like a concrete possibility. Now, the process of "manual review" of the "automatically triggered as suspect" e-mails or mailboxes is something that someone must do, i.e. in practice someone is employed to commit on a daily basis one or more crimes connected to CP. While it is largely possible that the good MS or Google guys managed to get by a Court some form of specific exoneration from prosecution, all the good LE guys (which are actually authorized -within limits - to deal with this material in connection with an investigation or trial) have a specific training and psychological assistance, see this (the other sticky on Forensic Focus Forum "General" section): http://www.forensicfocus.com/Forums/viewtopic/t=2329/ it is not something that you may allow an intern or a non fully trained, not fully cleared and deemed psychologically suitable to do as a job. So, the question remains, Who are the watchers? jaclaz

Just to understand how common is this misunderstanding : http://www.hdtvsupply.com/hdmi-to-5rca-component.html jaclaz

Easiest: http://www.msfn.org/board/topic/172357-aero-glass-customizer-for-win8x/ jaclaz

Sure, all new OS's starting from Windows NT 3.1 in July 1993 ..... (though at the time you didn't actually *need*/*want* to make them "lite", the game was to add to them things you needed). A few years later I had a NT 4.0 with only the help/doc files deleted and slightly optimized on a ZIP 100 disk http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_NT#Hardware_requirements jaclaz

The point is that - particularly for the "real" BSY that happened on SD15 - the "User Partition Format Successful" (and having it with a few seconds delay or immediately, i.e. 0s, or having to wait for it a couple minutes or more) is only a "message" . What actually matters is "exiting the loop" due to the stupid LOG data pointer (you can read a detailed explanation see the link in the Read-Me-First to the 40 posts of so talking of the matter) and thus "moving" the pointer (or resetting the counter) from the 320 value (or multiple). So it should work at first attempt (but trying it again won't make anything "worse") what is happening to your disk is likely to be (while still a BSY) a busy state caused by a completely different issue (for which we have no knowledge on it's diagnosing ). jaclaz

Yep, we made a sticky for it : http://www.msfn.org/board/topic/150215-dont-even-think-of-swapping-pcbs-on-720011/ Of course it is possible to replace the PCB (but ONLY if the "ROM" is transplanted from the "old" PCB to the "new" one, but your PCB is fine, at the most it is not working becuase of a corrupted ROM, so it would be a nice Catch 22.... Since it is a SD15, you can then use the "diagnostic" command Aviko posted, see: http://www.msfn.org/board/topic/128807-the-solution-for-seagate-720011-hdds/page-22#entry832876 but cannot say whether it will be of any use. jaclaz

There is a known misconception/misunderstanding. SOME (which means "a few", not "many" and definitely NOT "all") readers/devices/whatever may have a HDMI connector on which the device (outside any standard) outputs composite (analogic) signals on some pins. Cables (NOT converters) are simple "pin adapters" connecting these pins to RCA jacks, they will ONLY work on these particular devices (if they exist at all). A HDMI to AV converter (NOT "cable") is an electronic (powered) circuit that takes a digital HDMI signal as input and converts it in a composite video + audio signal. Cables are "cheap" (but useless), converters not so much, but still they can be found for less than 50 bucks. jaclaz

Lot's of ideas point being if any of them are good ideas. Resetting the G-list ( the i4,1,22 command) is not something that I believe can help, I would do it as a "last, desperate" kind of attempt. Which firmware is the disk drive/which model? The original FD15 500 Gb one had a "diagnostic" F712 command (search posts by user "Aviko" containing "F712"), but even if it applies cannot really say how much it could help... jaclaz

Hmmm. It's likely that it is a Walmart conspiracy to have you spend more than 100 bucks for a converter, like: http://www.walmart.com/ip/Startech.com-HD2VID-HDMI-to-Composite-Converter/26957555 jaclaz

Let's see. Before anything else, WHAT is the actual problem? I mean, restoring/resetting to factory is probably what you think is the proper way to solve a problem like "Cannot boot from disk" or "Cannot find BOOTMGR" or some other issues that - hopefully - can be repaired (as opposed to go through a factory reset). If, on the other hand, you really *need* or *want* to do a factory reset, try doing according to Toshiba instructions. What happens if you follow (before anything else) the recovery procedure in the manual? http://cdgenp01.csd.toshiba.com/content/support/manuals/userguides/su3396343/GMAD00306010_Sat-SatProP800_12May16.pdf You want to check pages 54 to 69. First try the recovery through F12 from the recovery partition. What happens? Describe EXACTLY the steps you took and what you got back as result. If it doesn't work, try with the discs, but before answer please the following questions are they "factory" discs or did you "burn" them? are they CD's or DVD's?have you them numbered in such a way to know which one is first, second, etc.?did you test each of them on another PC and made sure that the files on them are read without errors? jaclaz

Which basically means : Try FORGETTING whatever "other" procedure/site and what not you have attempted. Simply go here: https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B5DyuVvuODctc2R4bDJJT19rMDQ/edit and follow those instructions (and not ANY other ones you may find around) faking that your disk is in a BSY state. I mean, IF it was in a BSY state AND IF the "fix" was unsuccessful, it is still in BSY state. It is not like you have so many options, you either try the mentioned fix (which is sure to be working and has worked for thousands of cases) or you keep the drive "as is" . Of course NO warranties whatever that the guide by CarterinCanada will work in your case or that it is any better than any other set of instructions. jaclaz

You don't travel by plane, I believe. Seriously, there is a point to be very attentive to. I personally believe that there are few more revolting crimes than abusing of children or dealing with child pornography, but of course it is just where the bar has been set. So, it is morally acceptable that someone peeks in your baggage for "safety reasons" (or in the post package you sent), like for bombs/explosives/weapons when you travel by air, it is morally acceptable to forfait your privacy in order to protect the environment having custom officers checking everything in your baggage when you land in (say) Australia of organic nature that may be infected with any kind of virus/biological threat against which the under-down environment has no defense, and it is also morally acceptable that in order to prevent direct or indirect children exploitation there is someone peeking in your baggage (or - by the same token - e-mails). But what about murders? Aren't they a serious crime? Shouldn't society do whatever technically possible to check that noone is planning the murder of another human being? And who are the watchers? Appointed Law Enforcement officers on duty or a Google or MS employee? Once the "automated scanning" triggers an alarm is this sent without human intervention to the relevant Police force or is it "reviewed"? http://www.extremetech.com/computing/187521-google-scans-your-gmail-inbox-for-child-porn-to-help-catch-criminals-but-dont-worry-about-loss-of-privacy-yet Does this MS or Google employee has an automated, one time only, temporary and limited, access to the single message that triggered the alarm or does he/she have full access to the whole mailbox from where the "triggering" message was sent? Or does he/she have access also to the recipient's mailbox (if also on their servers)? So, the bar is set at a high position, yet a bar exists, and can be lowered at will. jaclaz

GO Dave-H GO! jaclaz

Yep, typo/mistake , correcting previous post. I seem to remember having found - while looking for this - reportds that actually Internet Explorer (at least in some versions) did not behave like described , which would be typical, just like most office applications (Word, Excel etc. not using the "normal" file open and file save/saveas dialogs). This is one of the funny things about the good MS guys, they "precribe" something to all the world and then they themselves do another thing . jaclaz

Can we re-use "existing names"? http://www.ntool.it/en/home I would rather prefer "The Nameless Tool by Nuhi", abbreviated into "TNT" (by Nuhi).... jaclaz

No, a BSY is simply a busy status. If the drive clicks it is not a "pure" BSY it is the commonly called "click of death". Typically when powered the disk drive will click 10, 11 or 12 times and then spin down. See a few posts starting from here: http://www.msfn.org/board/topic/128807-the-solution-for-seagate-720011-hdds/?p=1062178 and this (only three posts above yours): http://www.msfn.org/board/topic/128807-the-solution-for-seagate-720011-hdds/page-189#entry1082429 Unfortunately if this is the case, there is no known/ready DIY way out . No need to assume : http://www.msfn.org/board/topic/150215-dont-even-think-of-swapping-pcbs-on-720011/ finding a suitable PCB is fairly easy, for the record, and even the ROM swapping - though not easy-peasy - is something that is achievable by an "advanced/experienced" DIY guy or by a TV/Radio/Phone repairman, it is just the matter of desoldering and re-soldering a (tiny) component properly. But the fact is that IF it is a "click of death case" the PCB has no issues whilst Head(s)/Preamp or actual platters may have them. jaclaz

I am missing the model of your Sony laptop. Some of them are known to have issues booting from USB. Can you post (or re-post) the EXACT model of that laptop? jaclaz

Well, using a 64 bit OS without any *need* for it is foolish (you can browse the web fine with a 32 bit system). Compare with the "But ... then, why?" in my signature. Using a 64 bit OS on a machine with 1 Gb of Ram is not respecting the minimum requirements by MS (that have been traditionally a real bare minimum). Running a 64 bit OS with less than 4 Gb of Ram makes no sense, unless there is a *need* for it, as the only practical advantage of a 64 bit OS is that of being capable (or being licensed) to run more than 4 Gb of RAM. A 64 bit OS will occupy more space on disk. There will be more bytes transferred from the mass storage devices to RAM. The only possible *need* for a 64 bit OS is that of using some "high end" programs that need lots of RAM and fast operations with large numbers, typically graphical programs, very large databases, computational programs and the like that are actually optimized on 64 bit architecture. This said, if pointertovoid matches the minimum requirement of 2 Gb and senselessly installs a 64 bit Windows 7 on his "browsing the internet only" friend's machine it's perfectly fine :, his friend would not notice any particular difference in his computing experience, though, IF a difference will be noticed it will most probably be that of having the machine less fast/responsive than before. jaclaz

Just for the record. Deleting the partitions means nothing. What you do when deleting the partitions is to remove their addresses in the MBR partition table (and eventually in the chain of EMBR's). And in any case if you have - say - a green car and you want to re-paint it in green (or red or black) you don't usually re-paint it in white before spraying it with the final colour. In other words, when a program writes a byte on disk, that byte is written, no matter what was written in that location before. As I tried to explain in the previous posts, in your particular case, a clone on a different kind of disk is not the most suited approach for your needs, an image would be IMHO better suited. After all, there are - say - 95% probabilities that you won' t need to restore it, as the transplant would go fine, and a clone - since it cannot be connected concurrently to the original (without keeping one of the two disks unmounted or without having a backup of the MBR of the "original" ready to be re-deployed) on a NT based system is anyway less convenient, should it be needed. jaclaz